The Boy's Birthday

Annoyingly, the Boy's birthday is on 4 February - ie: only a month from Christmas after the long 'pay month' which is January :(

However, I found the 'perfect' present for him. I won't say what it is as whilst I don't think he reads the blog, Sod's law has to kick in at some point.

However, annoyingly, it's a 'thing' to do which I can only do on 7 February. I just asked him if he was free that day - telling him to keep it free- but he says 'he might go to a work do'.

What is it about possessing a Y chromosone that makes someone completely useless?

He also didn't notice my haircut the other day.

Whoop!

Have a new computer :)

Now I have no excuse to not blog frequently!

Grimm and Grimmer

Child abuse, abandonment, slavery, cannibalism and being burnt alive - the recipe for a good story, usually, as Hanzel and Gretel would seem to show.

However, these sorts of tales are now 'too scary' for children, apparently.

I remember as a child, one of my favourite books was a complete collection of Grimm's fairy tales. There were loads of stories in there that aren't in the 'usual' fairytale collections, which I loved. Might get the copy which is at my parents house and see if it is still as good today.

Shame that some parents are so good at projecting their own fears onto their children that a generation will lose out.

'Tis the season....

For pupillage fun and games to begin again.


Logged onto newsflash today to find 6 new pupillages up. On the other hand, two of them are for property/land sets so not going to be applying to those. The other 4 are London and look way out of my league meaning my decision to apply could well be partly based on how long their application form is...!

I'm more worried about the fact that they want all results for all three years at uni. I did 8-10 modules a year for each each of my degree years and I'm really not sure chambers are actually bothered about my detailed knowledge of British Economic History (1800-1914) or my ability to discuss the evolution of houses in Chester and the way this shaped family living. Fascinating as these may be to everyone else. More annoyingly, it means I'm going to have to phone the university to get my mark transcripts.

On a happier note, thanks to a barrister at the hearing today (Scary Defence Barrister (SDC for short)) I think I have just found my ideal set. They specialise in medical law (yay!), employment (double yay) and police (never studied, but who am I to waste a 'yay', Yay!). Plus, the pupillage award is actually livable. I'm excited enought that I idly looked at the cost of renting an apartment in London (before fainting in shock as I realised many of the 'oh, that sounds reasonable' prices were per week, not per month.... I was especially impressed with the studio apartment in Islington (or similar) going for £50. Then I realised that this wasn't a weekly sum but a daily one.

SDC recommended that I mention her on my form but I don't know whether to take that offer up or not. It feels wrong somehow, those I'm not quite sure why. Thoughts?

So, now for the OLPAS application followed by rejection :( (boo!). Oh well, let's have the brief moment of hope in the meanwhile!

Desert Island

I have an answer to the old question of "if you could take one thing to a desert island, what would it be?"


Think taking Ray Mears would be the obvious choice, really!


On a side note, work computers weren't letting me blog and the computers at home have packed up. However, my new computer is due to arrive in the next week (fingers crossed!) so will start blogging again far more regularly then.

Geekiness, green envy and gin

I can possibly forgive Virgin the hell they have put me through returning to London over the past few months as the Sunday journey time is now the same as any other day of the week - 2 hours, instead of 5.

Few blog posts as work a bit manic at the moment (and I was covering a hearing this weekend) and too little time. Boo hoo.

Pupillage situation (ie none) still sucky. Especially as I meet this year's crop of successes. They're lovely people, I'm just too green with envy.

Fundamental question on my mind at the moment is that given I will be spending new year in Ireland, and the Euro-Pound is E1=£1 and wine in Ireland is c E10 per bottle - do I take 2 x port, 1 x gin or vice versa - or some other combination?

Answers on the back of a postcard....!

Prague

Just got back from spending a weekend in Prague (with the Boy, not debating).

Was great fun :)

If you go, I do recommend doing one of the walking tours for one of the mornings, our guide was fantastic and it meant we got lots of extra anecdotes.

Hotel was great (5 mins from Josefov, the Old Town Square and Wenceslas square) and I hava e anew found love for Bohemiam Sekt and Moravian red wines... I'm not a beer drinker or I would have stayed on the Pilsner, I'm sure :)

Weather was fantastic (it was colder in Manchester when we arrived back yesterday!).

I wasn't so impressed with the Chirstmas markets. Whilst the ones in Germany are, of course, the best, the ones in Prague had piles of tat a lot of the time. Though the hot mead hit the spot as did a funny curly cake which was grilled over an open fire on a wooden rolling pin, not baked (trdlo - though God only knows how you pronounce that!) I was far less impressed with most of the other things on offer. that said, we did get an angel for the top of our Christmas tree, so it ca't have been all bad!