Privileged to step foot inside the grounds of King’s College

As I leave this green and pleasant land, the same way I arrived, slightly hungover, after two and a half weeks with family and friends (old and new), I take with me the following:

• It’s cold and wet. All year. Usually just when I arrive in Wales.

• North Wales is breathtakingly beautiful, in that wild and tempestuous way, only the UK knows.

• My oldest and dearest friends are amazing, and I’m lucky to have them in my life. Catching up with people you haven’t seen for twenty years, and picking up where you left off, like it was yesterday.  And sharing exciting news, priceless.

Just your regular Saturday night out

• I still really rather enjoy a slightly subversive night out….. Think Berlin circa 1920.

• If I don’t go to the gym for a month, the kilo I lose through six months of hard graft, turns into three kilos of arse lard.  Not. Happy.

• Weddings make me emotional, even if I don’t know the couple – crashed a wedding party in my gym kit, 29th August – Everyone is so happy and optimistic. (The fools).

• My mega crush, runs a little deeper than I thought.

• I need to find a replacement word for ‘crush’. It isn’t adequate.

• I am so over my past ‘relationships’. This is exceptionally good news. This has been a year of saying, “f*ck you, you were a pig!” A lot.  The man sabbatical has served its purpose. Score.

• It doesn’t matter where you are in the World, a smile speaks volumes and laughter is the essence of life.  And probably breathing some oxygen.

• I love to be in the classroom. I hugely enjoyed learning new skills in Cambridge and feel privileged to have had the experience to work with some incredible professionals.

• It is possible to meet great people, if you jump in with both feet and find adventure.

•  Women are bloody marvellous!  Girton College, where I studied, was the result of years of campaigning by Emily Davies, for the rights of women to study at Cambridge.  Our classrooms were her apartment.  Very cool.

• Fate has a funny way of making worlds collide. A wonderful new friend along the way.

• Dinner and drinks with them is like totally possible, without falling into bed with them. Sometimes…. erhem.

And so, back to the daily slog, I don’t feel rested, and I don’t feel refreshed, but I do feel happy.