The Countdown Begins

If I hear one more Christmas song I swear I am going to scream...

I do actually like them, but the same CD is constantly played throughout the house, especially when I come home from work, so it is driving me up the wall just slightly.

Anyway, more updates on my exciting life...

This week consisted of trying to find enough work to do (relatively quiet on the planning front at the moment), until Wednesday when it was the Rivermead Xmas Work Party. This is a practical conservation day involving all the staff, apart from the senior management who were on reception all day! It was great fun - I was leading on the bonfires with Sarah, which involved much flapping of cardboard to try and get them going. The potatoes we tried to cook in the embers failed to utterly, so we had to wait another hour, but we didn't mind. The hedgerow some people planted will have to be dug up again, as they planted it on the wrong land (thanks Swindon Borough Council) - somewhat dispiriting.

Then Friday was spent out at Langford Lakes, and touring a few sections of the Wyle as my induction continued - I have now almost finished finding out what other people do!

Last night was the Graduates Christmas Party at Southampton, which was very nice indeed. The entrance had the most enormous and scary Father Christmas ever, with a string quartet to greet us as we walked down the red carpet. We bumped into Leigh (drunk as ever!), Dave (ex-housemate, still the same if you know what I mean...), and Ellie and Rupert from the ES BSc (they graduated a year before me), which was a bit of a surprise.

I am now very knackered, and still haven't had much time to sit down - why is Christmas such a busy non-relaxing time?