The last few days have been filled with mini adventures. We went for a picnic, drove to the seaside and ate local ice-cream on a promenade in Teignmouth listening to the waves, climbed a Tor on Dartmoor, and had our road blocked by three different breeds of livestock.

Much more entertaining than writing dissertations.

Wednesday was a beautiful day - cloudy but warm - so we packed sandwiches, a book, and a rug and headed for the university grounds. Beside Reed Hall the land slopes down, tree-studded and covered in flowers, towards a large pond with two fountains. We found a grassy space under the trees and spent just over an hour reading and eating and watching a squirrel playing.

As we left we passed this very odd tree - brittle with the strangest leaves. I've never seen anything like it. (Any ideas what it might be, anyone??)

Tummies full, we drove to Dartmoor, up and up and through warrens of tiny lanes (Lori was looking rather pale, whether because of the windiness or the impossibility of fitting two cars down such ridiculously narrow lanes with no speed limit, I can't be sure!)

Our mission was to find a Tor to climb.

(One of the tiny dots in the distance below -- our car)

Sitting down for a rest at the top of a Tor we were approached by the white Dartmoor pony (above), who proceeded to lick my shoes and Lori's legs. Those funny horsy lips look so comical up close, but for fear of him deciding the camera looked tasty too I didn't snap a shot.

Piles of sheep mingle with the ponies on the steep slopes. They're a little jumpy, but this one took an interest:

And now for the most amusing part of the trip. There we were, driving along the windy roads, only to find our route impeded by a herd of very quizzical cows. The roads up here are separated by cattle grids to prevent the cows crossing from one area of land to another, but there are no fields cordened off for them, so they roam around the roads along with the sheep and the ponies. The following pictures were taken from the car windows.

Speaking of sheep, this little fellow wanted to pose for Lori.

And then there were the ponies... They were much too engrossed in each other to notice the two lines of cars building up on either side, filled with camera-snapping hands. They took no notice as we drove past.

So there we have it. There's some joke here somewhere, about cows, sheep, and horses crossing roads, but I'm not feeling witty enough right now to come up with anything.

But in place of my witticisms, how about a rude cow?

:-)

Just a quick post. A very happy quick post. We're going to Paris!! :-)


It was a bit of a last minute thing. The excuse is that we deserve a break after the dissertations, but to be honest we'll find any excuse to go. We're catching an early Eurostar to Disneyland Paris on Saturday morning (ended up being less than half the price of a Eurostar into Paris itself) and then using that as a base for a couple of days. Paris on Saturday afternoon. Disneyland on Sunday. Back to Paris on Monday before catching a 6:45 Eurostar back to London.

Disney and Paris in one trip!!

Yeah. I'm a little over excited.

In a fit of blogging frustration, I asked (well, perhaps a more accurate term would be “wailed pathetically”) to Lori that I didn’t know what to write about.

You see, the dissertation is now officially written. It is bound and sitting on the bookshelf in all its official-hardback glory. I feel a little like I have poured my whole mind into those pages, and now, when I have all the time in the world to blog, my words have run dry.

Anyway, Lori proceeded to offer me a selection of writing prompts.

“Write about someone who inspires you.”

“Write about what you would do with your life if you had all the confidence in the world.”

Those are pretty inspiring prompts, I suppose. But amongst these pearls of imagination there was this one:

“Write about warm drinks.”

Now that is a true writing prompt.

So to prove that, despite my quizzical look and laughter in the moments immediately following this suggestion, I think it’s a wonderful idea, I have decided to write about warm drinks.

I wish I drank coffee. That, I suppose, could be akin to saying “I wish I ate more chocolate” or even “I wish I smoked,” since coffee is hardly the healthiest of refreshments. But I love the smell and the taste. I want to sit in a café in a hat and gloves with ice-cold fingers warming around a giant Central Perk-style mug of steaming coffee. The problem is, after a few sips I get a little – how should I put this? – light-headed and giddy? As the bottom of the cup draws closer the nausea sets in. Sounds get louder. Lights are too bright. It’s not good.

But I love coffee. Especially a giant mocha with whipped cream. Perhaps a shot of caramel. Heavenly.

However, in the absence of coffee, I am always glad to be English. Earl Grey tea is Britain’s gift to the universe. I like it really hot: just-out-of-the-kettle hot. Too much milk cools it too much. Lori always has to wait a few minutes before that first sip; meanwhile she looks at me as if to say ‘are you human?’ as I slurp away. I love the burning sensation as it goes down. I am firmly of the belief that hot tea is the universal panacea for all ills.

But it has to be a “grey” kind. Earl or Lady will do. English Breakfast is only acceptable in dire emergencies (i.e. lack of any grey types over an extended period, plus lack of transportation to take me to the nearest store that sells the grey types). Oh, and it has to be Twinings, which apparently makes me a snob. “No,” I hear someone saying. “What makes you a snob is that you only like the British Twinings and complain that the American Twinings isn’t as good…” *Ahem*

Having given my paean to hot drinks, I must add a short disclaimer. I can’t stand hot fruity drinks. I think they remind me of being little and having colds or the flu. My throat would refuse to swallow the hot Ribena Mum would make for me. It’s funny how we associate things back to bad childhood experiences. Mum had no idea she was barring me of any ability to ever enjoy herbal tea.

So, there we go. I wrote about warm drinks.

Hopefully this will serve as a breakthrough on my days of silence, and the next post will be slightly more exciting.