Who's gonna drive you home
Mar. 8th, 2004 09:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
j4Sorry I didn't make it to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
spb's party. Feeling too anti-social for partying, and far too tired to sacrifice all Saturday night's sleep.
Decided to go and visit my parents instead. It's a 2-hour drive, nearly all A14 and M1, first time I'd driven that far on my own (and first time I'd done motorways on my own). I didn't get lost, I didn't do anything stupid, and I did get a chance to listen to lots of tapes (The Shamen, "Boss Drum"; Alisha's Attic, "Alisha Rules the World"; Mary Chapin Carpenter, "A Place in the World"; Kate Bush, "The Kick Inside").
As always, I felt my spirits start to lift a little as the landscape started developing contours. Cambridge's flatness really does depress me; I need mountains in my life! In the meantime, though, even the rolling Wolds country helped a little bit, especially with the setting sun pouring red-golden light over the fields and hills.
My parents fed me nice food (tuna steaks marinaded in lime & ginger, with new potatoes, asparagus and broccoli) and lots of wine. We watched "Who Wants to be a Millionaire", and bits of the Old Grey Whistle Test on DVD; and we talked, and generally just relaxed. I got plenty of sleep, and then spent Sunday sorting out Stuff in my room. Sifted through heaps of paper and threw out loads of rubbish: council tax bills from rented house in Oxford; letters about fire extinguishers in College; heaps of random crap from St Aldate's, etc. Also put aside piles of books to go to charity shops.
Most of the stuff I've got rid of was Oxford-related -- papers from my time as a student, or books that I bought because I thought they'd come in useful some time while I was studying English. Somehow I feel as though I don't need to hang on to it all any more. I'm still hoping to go back Oxford in the not-too-distant future, but if I do it'll be on different terms, for different reasons. It won't be to reclaim the opportunities I missed as a student, but to start a new chapter of my life.
spb's party. Feeling too anti-social for partying, and far too tired to sacrifice all Saturday night's sleep.Decided to go and visit my parents instead. It's a 2-hour drive, nearly all A14 and M1, first time I'd driven that far on my own (and first time I'd done motorways on my own). I didn't get lost, I didn't do anything stupid, and I did get a chance to listen to lots of tapes (The Shamen, "Boss Drum"; Alisha's Attic, "Alisha Rules the World"; Mary Chapin Carpenter, "A Place in the World"; Kate Bush, "The Kick Inside").
As always, I felt my spirits start to lift a little as the landscape started developing contours. Cambridge's flatness really does depress me; I need mountains in my life! In the meantime, though, even the rolling Wolds country helped a little bit, especially with the setting sun pouring red-golden light over the fields and hills.
My parents fed me nice food (tuna steaks marinaded in lime & ginger, with new potatoes, asparagus and broccoli) and lots of wine. We watched "Who Wants to be a Millionaire", and bits of the Old Grey Whistle Test on DVD; and we talked, and generally just relaxed. I got plenty of sleep, and then spent Sunday sorting out Stuff in my room. Sifted through heaps of paper and threw out loads of rubbish: council tax bills from rented house in Oxford; letters about fire extinguishers in College; heaps of random crap from St Aldate's, etc. Also put aside piles of books to go to charity shops.
Most of the stuff I've got rid of was Oxford-related -- papers from my time as a student, or books that I bought because I thought they'd come in useful some time while I was studying English. Somehow I feel as though I don't need to hang on to it all any more. I'm still hoping to go back Oxford in the not-too-distant future, but if I do it'll be on different terms, for different reasons. It won't be to reclaim the opportunities I missed as a student, but to start a new chapter of my life.
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Re: Go mountains
Date: 2004-03-09 07:41 am (UTC)Oh, nor does mine. Particularly since I've stayed mostly with family/friends while I've been over there, which is always Different.
Also, different areas of Switzerland seem to vary wildly -- there's virtually nothing in common between the little mountain villages and the big cities -- and that's only what I've seen in the Swiss-French areas, I don't really have any knowledge of the rest of the country!
Could possibly manage a weekend over there financially, but the main problem is that I don't want to go on my own, and I don't really have anybody to go with at the moment. Mountains would help, but even mountains are better shared.
Sponge cake -- not sure what you mean by a marble cake -- just sponge cake but marbled choc/plain? If so, make two lots of cake-mix, one plain and one chocolate (the only difference is substituting cocoa for cornflour) and swirl (I would say 'fold' but I have no idea how to 'fold' properly, 'swirl' is more like what I do!) them together into the cake tin. Bake as normal.
You could even divide your (plain) cake-mix into several parts and add different food colouring to each one, and thus make a rainbow marble cake...