30 Day Snap #20 #21 #22 #23 #24 #25 #26 #27 #28 - Massive catch up!

Well I'm an idiot! I left my laptop in Winchester last Saturday, so I haven't been able to upload any photos. I have been here there and everywhere, so I'm not actually sure that I would have had to chance to upload these even if I'd had my laptop!

#20 - Off on a boat!

#21 - Back to Blighty

Granted this isn't the best photo of Harriet that the world has ever seen, but it does do the job of summing up our journey back!

#22 - Helen's 21st

#23 - Granny and Grampa's golden wedding anniversary!

Not the best photo in the world! My camera was misbehaving for some reason, and everything came out blurry. I think this might have been the only time that Kate, Will, Owly, Mummy, Daddy and I have all been in a photo together!

#24 - Kerry! (Again).

#25 - Poohsticks

#26 - Near photo emergency!

Having spent the day celebrating the birthday of a school friend, I was kicking myself when I got back to Harriet's and realised I hadn't taken a photo! However, I reverted to type and got a picture of Maia. Phew.

#27 - Rain, rain, go away!

Okay... I had another photo emergency. I didn't think I could get away with two photos of Maia sleeping (especially in a row), so I went outside with her umbrella.

#28 - AARGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!

Today, Kate and William got the train to Wolves and we all drove down to Winchester for lunch so that I could get my laptop. The two and a half hour drive took three hours. We were there for about an hour before leaving again. I drove Kate and Will home to Cheshire, it took five hours. FIVE. I then drive over to Kerry's parent's house so I could lend her my sat nav before coming back down to Harriet's house. That was about 10 hours of driving in total! Argh.

30 Day Snap #17 #18 #19 - DISNEY!

I'll be honest, I had a moment today when I thought I'd let myself down by forgetting to take photos for three days. I then remembered that I've barely put the camera down and that the only problem is how to choose which photos to use from Disneyland! They are all pretty lovely. The second one was the hardest to pick, but I decided to go for one that wasn't posed, just to ring the changes! The last one finally has my face in it! It's about time I made an appearance.

#17 - Exploring Disneyland

#18 - Hardcore day at Disney!

I really struggled choosing this photo! There were a lot of them, and it was a bit of a toss up between this and a merry-go-round photo. In the end I decided that this was better as it is more natural!

#19 - It's A Small World!

Finally my face has made an appearance! It is about time really. This was taken on our second go on It's A Small World, which was one of Maia's favourite things.

30 Day Snap #14 #15 #16

I'm very behind with these posts, but I have been taking the photos... So here's a catching up post!

#14 Colouring with Auntie Gina!

#15 The Bitter End

Maia spent the morning "doing jobs" in our uncle's pub! To be honest, I was a little disappointed not to have ended up there on the last day of June as The Bitter End would have made a great post title for the last of these photos!

#16 Frozen frubes!

30 Day Snap #13 - Off to Paris!

Harriet, Maia and I are in Paris! H was going anyway for work, and M and I have tagged along with her. We got chauffeured to St Pancreas this morning and from Gare du Nord this afternoon, as well as being lucky enough to be staffing in a pretty fab hotel - I'm enjoying this corporate malarkey!

I entertained M and myself during the wait for the train with the first chapter of Alice in Wonderland, which we are both enjoying. She is very pleased with her passport - hence the photo - especially since she actually got a stamp in it today. It wasn't strictly necessary, but it was sweet of the border control guy to make it a little more interesting for her!

Queuing

I HATE queuing. I really can't stand it. Don't get me wrong, I'd prefer queues to a random free-for-all and I despise queue jumpers. It's just that I really really dislike standing in a queue.

In communist Moscow (exactly when escapes me... At some point after 1917 (obviously) but before 1935 I THINK), upon seeing a queue people would blindly join them and wait with everyone else as the common assumption was that there would be something good at the end of the queue. I think I would hate that even more.

I'm very impatient, and hate waiting for things. I hate the anticipation that builds up, and as a result of these things I also don't really like surprises! It's pretty clear why I dislike queueing so much - I certainly couldn't cope with queueing for some unknown reward.

I also have a deep dislike for waiting rooms. The instant I am told told to wait for something, I become incredibly bored. Time drags on indefinitely. This is especially annoying, I find, when in an airport or train station. Not only is there waiting involved, but after the wait you have to get into a queue. Arrrggghhhhhh!

I am currently sat on the Eurostar, on the way to Paris. I'm not happy. I DEFINITELY need to work on the ol' patience! I also need to remember, when in a situation involving queueing that I am jolly lucky that I have a standard of living that doesn't necessitate standing in random queues just in case there is some something good at the end of it.

30 Day Snap #12 - Rain.

I'm rocking the boat a little here, and using a photo of something other than Maia! We have been looking after Poppy for the last few days, but she has gone now. M and I were stood in the doorway avoiding the rain while playing with her this afternoon.

It'll be an early start tomorrow - we're off to Paris! Woop woop!

30 Day Snap #11 - Bike ride (or not!).

Maia and I set off with the dog again after school to go and post another letter (to my brothers. She had done a drawing for them at school). She thought at first that she wanted to go on her bike, so we set off and all was good. She changed her mind all of three minutes after leaving, so I was glad I got this photo quickly!

She ended up riding on my shoulders all the way while I was also holding the dog. This was okay until we got to the post box and I discovered that my hair had become impossibly tangled up in her coat buttons. It took a lot of faffing about to get it all out. To make matters worse, we discovered that Maia had forgotten to put the letter into her bag along with the ridiculous (and unnecessary) number of stickers she had taken along "just in case." I persuaded her that it was okay, and we are planning on venturing out to the post box again tomorrow.

30 Day Snap #10 - Letter posting!

Woop! I'm finally back on track with my daily photo posts! I'm not sure I'll be able to keep up with it while I'm in Paris but I'll do my best.

Maia came out of school today with a picture she'd done for my sister and asked if she could post it to her with a note. When we got home, we got out all necessary letter-writing equipment including lots of stickers! While Maia wrote to Kate, I decided to do a quick letter for Kerry as well. Lucky Kerry ended up with a "Hello!" from Maia as well. M has never actually met Kerry, but seems to hold her in extremely high regard.

We are dog sitting at the moment so after we'd finished writing, we took Poppy the dog off on a walk over to the post box. Maia actually chose which photo I should use today, as I couldn't!

30 Day Snap #9 - Busy Sunday!

Today was considerably less relaxing than yesterday! Harriet had a voucher which meant that were we to spend £50 at Sainsbury's today we would get 12p/l off petrol, which is too good to miss really. Because of two events in the local area we got stuck in the most ridiculous traffic. Resulting escapades included reversing down roads to get out of queues. Once we actually got to Sainsbury's, spending the £50 was tricky as we are going to Paris next week and so we don't want to leave the house full of food! We ended up with a LOT of Diet Coke, drain cleaner and loo roll, and got quite a few odd looks.

We then had to peg it over to get Maia in order to take her to a birthday party, at which point we realised we had forgotten to eat or drink. After a sandwich and a game of "Chase Lucy" for the children we headed BACK to Sainsbury's and ended up getting fuel in both of our cars (this is a good point to note actually - up to 100 litres, Sainsbury's will allow you to use money off vouchers on a number of cars' worth of fuel! Tesco's, however, do not) for £1.19p/l, which we we pretty pleased with really.

We headed back to the party for another 40 minutes of "Chase Lucy," which in my opinion is one of the worst games ever. The children seem to enjoy it though. There's something dangerous about being between the ages of 16 to 23 when around small children, they stick to you like magnets and think you are wonderful. It's good for the ego boost but very tiring! I remember being a massive pest myself at times, so I suppose I should do my bit for them.

We ended the day with sausages in the garden. Another friend of Harriet's had come over with her children to drop off her dog who we are taking care of for a few days so we had the paddling pool out again!

It was all very hectic but a lot of fun!

30 Day Snap #8 - SingStar and champagne.

I was going to post this yesterday, but by the time we actually got home it was 2am and therefore already today. Maia was at her father's house this weekend, so Harriet and I got to relax a bit. After a hard day of going to the cinema and watching US crime drama, we headed over to her friend Jo's for champagne and SingStar! All in all, in was a pretty damn good Saturday!

30 Day Snap #7 - Paddling pool!

Yesterday's photo - I didn't have a spare moment to upload it, irritatingly! Since the new kitchen was put in, Harriet's outside tap doesn't work, which meant that I had to fill Maia's paddling pool by lugging endless buckets of water outside from the kitchen! It actually took fewer trips than I had anticipated and fortunately Maia decided that she was happy with it at only a third full. 

A continuation of "Kerry!".

I often pick up little phrases and overuse them massively. Anyone will attest to this! One of my current things is "I do not recommend," followed by whatever daft thing I've just done. Things that I have not recommended recently include driving on the M27, pruning roses with a short sleeved top, sticking your hand in boiling water and trying to do a hill start in fifth gear.

Yesterday,  I had to drive an hour north of Harriet's house near Wolves to where my parents live in Cheshire. My dad owns a taxi company, and there is a car-fixing-type-place at the bottom of the yard which Club Class uses. I also use it as they will look after my car for free, and charge parts to Club Class. Because my car is leaking at the moment, I wanted to get the guys to look at it - hence the trip (as a quick side note, after we'd poured a lot of water over it for the sake of diagnostics we came to the conclusion that I should just avoid the rain). Because I was already halfway there, in the afternoon I drove up to see Kerry in Lancaster.

To deviate from the norm... I totally DO recommend driving a long way just to see your best friend for a few hours! I had the best time with her; it had been an insanely long time since we'd seen one another. I had been out for lunch with my mum at a local ice cream farm while my car was in the workshop, so I came armed with Malteaser flavoured ice cream to treat her along with a few other bits and bobs.

After a bit of shopping/browsing, we hopped, skipped and jumped (actually, I drove) over to Morecambe to hit the beach! The weather was amazing, the surroundings were beautiful and the company was the best I could ask for. We had a cup of tea and then headed off back to Lancaster to get food from my favourite place and then ate in her flat before I headed off. I was only with her for about four and a half hours, but I had a pretty fabulous time!

It was so worth the petrol and the extra driving to see my best friend. I drove back down to Harriet's with a big smile on my face. I'm very lucky to have Kerry, and I'm glad I made the effort to go and see her when I really needn't have. Driving a long way for a short time seems daft really, but I had a very happy and carefree few hours, spent in beautiful surroundings! I repeat - I really, really DO recommend going to visit people, even if you have to drive a long way and only get a short time with them!!

It's also nice that - finally - one of the stupid things I've done turned our not to be so daft after all.

30 Day Snap #6 - Farmers' Market!

I've always thought it a little odd, given it's London location, that my university has a farmers' market every Thursday during the academic year. However, they sell yummy food so I'm not about to complain! I was in London today as I had a meeting with my tutor about my dissertation, and it happened to coincide with the last market of the year which suited me nicely! I arrived a bit early so I got some food and wandered down the canal for a bit (like the farmers' market, the canal also seems a little out of place in East London. It's a very nice random green space though!).

I was rather disappointed that the range of stalls was somewhat diminished in comparison to usual. My favourite sausage people weren't there! My last exam also fell on a Thursday, which meant I could treat myself after the horror that THAT had been. They usually sell really nice spicy sausages but had on this occasion run out! I had to go for bog standard instead and relayed my disappointment to the guy selling them! He also sells the sausages raw, for the insane price of £6 for 4 of them... He gave me a pack for free! I was very pleased with this, it made my day. The sausages came in handy in the end - I ate them with my friend Jess a couple of days later, the morning after we'd been out in Manchester celebrating.

30 Day Snap #5 - Kerry!

I went up to Lancaster today, to see Kerry; I was halfway up anyway and I've missed her like CRAZY so I wasn't going to miss the opportunity to go! We went shopping and then to the beach to spend some well-earned time in the sun, and decided that friendship bracelets would be a totally appropriate thing to buy each other. We had to totally rearrange our jewellery for this photo as I have all sorts of junk on my wrists, and she has a bracelet that hasn't come off in three years on one wrist! My hand is the one on the right, and Kerry's (shockingly) is the one on the left!

30 Day Snap #4 - Flowers!

We've been spending a lot of time in the garden since the sun has come out. Maia is absolutely LOVING all of the flowers! She (with permission) picked these after we had done her homework this evening and Harriet popped them into a vase for her.

30 Day Snap #3 - Homework!

Maia and I were running rather late with her reading this afternoon. This was almost entirely my fault. I had been caught up at the bank and post office and so was later than usual in picking her up from school. In the end, it was lovely when I arrived; the after school club were playing outside and she ran towards me with a massive smile looking delighted to see me, shouting "Lucy, Lucy, Lucy!" It was a really nice greeting.

On our way home, we somehow got onto the subject of intelligent trees. I pointed out that the trees in Narnia are clever trees, and she told me that she'd never heard about Narnia. I ended up telling her an abridged version of The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe. This took a lot longer than I had anticipated and is the main reason that we were so very late in doing her homework.

I love The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe. I suggested to Maia that I read her the book, as she had enjoyed my short version so much. When Harriet got home, I asked her to get it on her Kindle. I have just finished reading the first few chapters to Maia as her bedtime story and she is completely enthralled with it. I love sharing my favourite things (books, songs and films, mainly) with her, and I'm so glad that she's getting the same enjoyment out of this as I am.

30 Day Snap #2 - Sunday in the garden.

This photo is of my wonderful granny with her mother - my 107-year-old great granny! I have been helping in the garden this morning, climbing ladders, tying up and pruning roses and generally tidying up under careful supervision from Granny. Paw (which is the name we use to refer to my great grandmother) came to sit outside in the sun with us, and decided that the garden looked so pretty we had to have a picture! I must say, I totally agree and jumped on the suggestion as I thought it'd be a great chance to get today's photo. I'm very pleased with this one!

Letter writing!

I enjoy writing letters. I think there is something really very nice about putting pen to paper. It seems a lot more personal than electronic communication. I sent Kerry a letter yesterday using my last London 2012 stamp. I said to her later on the phone that I thought I maybe should have kept it, but never mind! Along with her parents, Kerry is definitely the main victim of my love for letter-writing!

I think that the bit of effort involved in writing and posting a letter contributes to it being a 'nicer' way to talk to people. Granted I rarely put any of information of substance in letters that will not be repeated on the phone, but I think that it's a good way to let people that you appreciate them! Let's face it, everybody likes to get something in the post! It has to be better to get a letter than the latest Dominoes leaflet.

There is also the fact that in comparison to when I was in school, I don't write very much at all any more. University work has to be typed up, which I'm not a fan of as I can 'think' better when hand writing something! However, as time has gone by I've got used to using my laptop a lot more, and getting my pen out can sometimes feel a little novel if truth be told - and boy do I like novelties!

I meant to buy a postcard today. I did find some, but none of them really jumped out at me. Additionally, I decided that I'm not so sure about postcards any more; there isn't any space to ramble! Of course, the people who receive all of this rubbish from me could potentially be pretty grateful for that! I have, however, promised to send a postcard, and send a postcard I will. I'll get hold of one tomorrow somehow.

The 2012 stamp also happened to be my last first class stamp. I do have a book of second class stamps in my purse, but regardless I bought some more first class while I was in Southampton today. Clearly my love of writing is in conflict with how used I am to the instantaneous nature of more modern forms of communication! I am too impatient to use a second class stamp. Maybe that needs fixing...

Anyway, given that there is a lot more cost, effort and time involved in sending letters, it seems that the information conveyed should be more interesting and relevant in them. I'm not sure that actually works though. I once posted Beth a drawing I had done of a meerkat.

This isn't really going anywhere, it's just thoughts. Oh well.

30 Day Snap #1 - The sun is back!

I am absolutely delighted that the sun has made a reappearance! Harriet, Maia and I are staying in Winchester this weekend, with my grandparents. I ventured out today to go and see my friend Helen, who lives near Southampton and had a fabulous time with her! We had a pretty successful shopping trip and a it was lovely to catch up with my oldest friend.

This photo was taken this morning, just before I left. Maia and I had just been for a walk in the sun with ice creams, and were playing in the garden with her new windmill. I think it is lovely that such a simple thing can be such fun. The sun really does have a funny way of making everything seem better!