Ups and downs 2

Party invites out. If you don't have one, it's probably because your email address has changed. Either that or you are a complete stranger.

Odd week this one. Beer n Pretzels last weekend was as usual fun, if slightly lacking in "must have that" games. I must be getting old- too many of them look like their predecessors. Thurn und Taxis was fun though, so I'll be looking out for a copy. And now I know all about the rather bizarre Thurn und Taxis family.

Tues didn't go to work, because world was very odd. Went for long walk around Solihull's rather surprising nature reserve instead and pestered an elderly couple in the tea shop. Wed I slept most of the day, which seemed to right the worst of it. Now slightly oddly cheerful but otherwise fine. Wish I could keep this state, I rather like it and it is actually productive at work (when I'm not updating blog entries).

Son is inconsolable about the fact that Cities has fallen over, which, added to the continuing saga of his broken computer (now returned to Mesh- glad we paid extra for onsite service) has plunged him into gloom. But I made him watch the Eurovision Song Contest semi finals (half of them- other half was House) last night while playing Clans so I'm sure that did him good.

Trying to catch up on maths before we go camping end of next week- next essay due three days after we get back and I haven't finished the basic reading yet. Tutorial tomorrow morning in Birmingham. I have done one of the two essays required- on Proposition 9 of Billingsleys English translation of Euclid's Elements, if any one is interested.

Tomorrow afternoon I shall go canoeing again if I get back in time; getting quite hooked despite the cold and wet aspects.

Thanks to the BBC's inability to make their programmes run on time I have seen the first 35 minutes of last week's Dr Who. Hopefully I'll get it off BBC3 tonight, although as we are off to a meal to mark one of Paul's colleague's leaving it will only happen if I remember to set up everything before I go.

No more news. Just over a week until we are happily ensconced in a tent in the middle of the wind and rain. Hopefully there will be puffins, which will make everything worth while.