Its surprising how difficult it can be to find a computer sometimes. After living in Oxford for three years I was starting to genuinely believe that it would always be possible to get online somehow. I'd factored in the problems of staying with my Gran ('What's a computor then? My friend Val told me she uses hers to take pictures with'), but I'd still thought that most towns in England had an internet cafe. Anyway, after a brief interlude in Birmingham (where I didn't have time) and then in Pontefract (which didn't have one), I'm back in Staffordshire. My DB train tickets have arrived, all my stuff is in one piece, and I'm on the final phase before moving on the 16th.

How I got to this stage is a different matter entirely. From trying to carry six seperate (very heavy) bags, to discovering that a balalaika doesn't fit in a National Express coach overhead locker, to accidently getting sat next to for three hours by someone who, in an ideal world, I would never have met, it was quite an challenging journey. On the other hand there were some fun moments, such as when everyone in the que (sp?) for the bus at Leeds took one of my bags each so that the bus driver wouldn't notice how much stuff I had (thank you Leeds!). Almost as good was when my Gran bought me a shirt with a ragged patches and a picture of a vomiting demon on the front but told me that I had to save it for best (even now that I'm grown-up I don't understand her sometimes). I don't know if anyone else has the same experience with grandparents, but she kept on retelling the story of how many bags I'd arrived with to everyone she talked to (without any exceptions), and added a bag and a new character each time. All the same, I'm really glad I went up to see her, and she's one of the people I'll miss most when I move.

So now I'm back in Leek (Staffordshire) with not a lot of days left. I've put on about a stone since going to Yorkshire, and done almost no Polish, so this may have to be a week of solid work if I'm going to be ready by 6am on the 16th. Its probably going to be a difficult week, but I'm back in the hills where I come from, so if I can't lose weight and study hard here then I won't be able to do it anywhere (Oh dear..). :)