Do you know what an axolotl is?

I didn't until my daughter bought one as a pet today. It lives in a fish tank and they are the larvae of the Mexican tiger salamander but they fail to undergo metamorphosis so they stay aquatic and gilled. Very strange looking things but Jess has called her one 'Alan' and seems to love it! I'm not sure how we're going to transport it backwards and forwards to uni!

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Paul and I went to Oxford on Saturday night, had a quick bite to eat and then went to see this film. Both of us had read the book and were keen to see the film although the book does have some nasty graphic violent scenes in it. The film was in Swedish with English subtitles and did have some shocking scenes, so shocking that quite a few people left the cinema during the film, but because we'd read the book we knew what to expect and we enjoyed it, despite the violence! I would recommend seeing the film if you've read the book but be ready to hide your face at certain points!

My nephew's 21st

Last weekend we all went to a family party in London to celebrate my nephew Tom's 21st birthday. It was lovely to see everybody and Tom seemed to have a good time and he then went out afterwards with some of his uni friends to a club! Tom's at uni in London and his sister is at uni in Edinburgh but we found out at the party that the rest of the family - my brother, his wife and their youngest daughter are moving to Singapore this year for about 18 months. We're trying to work out when we'll be able to go out and visit them!

Half Term

Last Sunday we went to Reading to watch Jess sailing with her team from Cardiff Uni in a competition. The photo shows her with her team mates before their first race. It was cold and wet but they seemed to have a good time!
Paul and I went sailing this weekend - our first sail of the year but we had a good wind and some sunshine so it was a good start! Back to College tomorrow and I'm looking forward to reading lots of new posts from all the full-time students?!

Last Weekend

We spent the weekend sorting out our new house - hanging mirrors and a bathroom cabinet, putting hooks on doors, etc and it's now beginning to look more lived in! I managed to assemble this kitchen table and chairs all by myself on Friday while I was waiting for our new sofa to be delivered. I was very pleased!
We managed to have a break during all this hard work and went out for Sunday lunch to a restaurant in Lymington where you can sit and look over one of the marinas and watch all the boats coming in and out. The sun was shining and it was beautiful.

Half term

I'm already looking forward to half term at the end of next week - it seems a long time since our holiday at Christmas when we were skiing with lots of lovely snow and it will be nice to have some time off. We're planning to go down to Lymington for a few days and also to go to London to see 'The Misanthrope' at the theatre. I can't wait!

Snow!

Well, the start of term has been very disrupted with College closed for three days in the first week and then again today. This picture shows how thick the snow was at home. It sounds like it should start to thaw this weekend though...