BACK-HANDED COMPLIMENT

Two nights ago the doorbell rang and I answered the door to find a perky charity worker who took one look at me and said, "Hi! I'm from Charity X! Is there someone over 18 years old at home that I can talk to?"

Easiest way to get rid of a cold-caller ever, me: "I'm sorry, my mom's not home right now. Good bye!"

It worked.

Need I remind anyone that I am going to be 28 in just over a month??!!

BUSY!

In the last six days, we've been to the pub with friends (okay, we've done that a couple of times), a BBC Symphony Orchestra performance in a concert hall that used to be an indoor farmer's commodity market, a formal dinner at college, and a choir/orchestral performance in Kings College Chapel. It's amazing what lack of television, combined with a sense of urgency when one is living in a place for a relatively short, and defined, amount of time, can do for one's motivation levels when it comes to getting out of the house.

(More Prague photos to follow this week, as we take a breath and stay in for a few nights...)

PRAGUE'S ASTRONOMICAL CLOCK

More Prague photos! Just a quick taste today - this is the astronomical clock on the old city square:

PRAGUE!

Ray and I spent four lovely days in Prague last week, and rather than give you the usual guidebook run-down (beautiful architecture, friendly people, heavy food and good beer) I thought I'd just start posting photos to give you a bit of a slideshow of our trip. I have many many photos, so my strategy will be to post a few each day until you get all the highlights. So here we go!

We stayed in a fantastic boutique hotel in the Castle District (yup, lots of small castles around), only a three minutes' walk from the main palace and Wenceslas Cathedral. The hotel was a former imperial building, then institute for the blind, then a private house - among other incarnations, as it was built in the 13th century. Thank goodness they've made a few renovations since then!

From the Vltava River, looking back towards the palace and Wenceslas Cathedral (with all the spires) - we stayed just behind where you can see.


This gave us a terrific view over the city, looking down towards the river and far side.

...And I'm wrapping things up for today; stay tuned for more photos tomorrow (or the next day)...

CLASSTIME

Old nerds die hard.

I'm taking a training course for my job and this involves quite a bit of reading/memorizing, followed by daily tests. It's sure been a while since I've had to study material with the idea in the back of my head that I would be tested on how much of that information I had absorbed, and I have to say that I'm enjoying the challenge (although the tests have been far from challenging, at this point).

I'm finding that writing tests is bringing out my old competitive instincts, both in wanting to do well for my own benefit, and in wanting to do better than everyone else. I've been whipping through the tests, enjoying knowing the answers to the questions. It's like I've got this whole internal monologue going on...That one's done! Next! Okay, easy! What's next! Am I done already?! Is anyone else done?!

Saying that, it's of course totally possible that I'm not nearly so clever as I think I am, and I've bombed the tests. But regardless of the final results, I'm having a good time reclaiming my inner nerd and being a student again.

MORE EVIDENCE OF SPRINGTIME

Even though the sun wasn't too keen on making an appearance this weekend, Ray and I made a point of getting out to enjoy the mild temperatures (almost 10C) and spring blooms. The crocii Ray photographed a few days ago along the Backs, behind Trinity College, have really sprung open and have created a lovely lilac carpet. From a distance it looks like it would be wonderful and soft to lay on (if a bit damp and cool).



Today we ventured slightly farther afield, to the village of Lode and its main attraction, Anglesey Abbey. Although the Abbey no longer stands, its grounds are still home to a lovely old house and nearly a hundred acres of mature garden. Their winter gardens are particularly spectacular and we enjoyed the tremendous variety of winter foliage on display. Our personal favourites were the snowdrops which were scattered all over the grounds - gives our humble garden something to dream about - and a lovely little birch grove.

BLOOM

Not only has the snow melted, but the spring flowers have recovered nicely! It was 12 degrees today, not particularly sunny but otherwise very nice.