Susie's Graduation & A Rainy Day In London

Friday was Susie's graduation day in Oxford. I wore a black wrap dress that actually looked really flattering on me, which makes a damn change. Here's Susie and I looking, I have to say, pretty fabulous on the way to campus:

The weather sucked, but I really enjoyed the ceremony. There were some nice speeches, and it was interesting to see it from the audience perspective (it's very different when you're the one graduating - you don't take much in until afterwards because you're too nervy and excited). I'm so proud of Susie getting her BSc in Adult Nursing - this is her second degree, which is just insane, and she's done so well.

Because I'd already gotten a coach ticket for London, and I didn't want it to go to waste, I amended my return ticket and spent the day in the city on Saturday. My first port of call was an Italian gelato shop in Soho that Susie had recommended to me the day before. It's called Gelupo, and I had a little cup of their berry sherbert flavour. It was delicious, so that was a good shout on Susie's part. Also, it looked totally cute.

I must confess that I had a bit of a shopping spree/retail therapy while I was in London. Now it's out of my system and I must begin saving. I went to the ARTBOX store, with it's adorable TofuCute concession, where I got a few bits and pieces and spent ages looking at all the cute stuff. I went to Cyberdog in Camden and I also visited Oxford Street, where I had a browse in the Topshop flagship.

I was going to have dinner in my favourite Wetherspoons, The Lord Moon of the Mall, located near Trafalgar Square and, strangely enough, The Mall (the long road to Buckingham Palace). But it began slapping down with rain, and the place was packed with people escaping the downpour. It didn't look like a table would ever free up, so I braved the rain and went back over to Piccadilly Circus, where I sheltered in an Ed's Diner and had burger and chips. Delicious! I was soaked through and freezing, but feeling pretty good.

Ended up having to wait two hours for my coach, because I couldn't be bothered to do anything else, and took shelter in the Victoria coach station. The journey was annoying because I had a seat kicker (of course - that always happens to me), and someone on there had absolutely horrific body odour. I didn't get home until after midnight, and I'm glad my taxi was at the station when the coach pulled in because there was some drugged-up chav in a balaclava shouting illegibly. I didn't much fancy being stabbed to death. Anyway, here's my little haul from shopping in London:

Shark, rainbow, and space socks; Puccho sweets; milk carton Iwako eraser; a book on Anatomy; strawberry Pocky; fat hamster stickers; Pusheen notebook with my life philosophy on it; a Tofu Cute panda badge.

Not pictured, because they haven't come off me since I got home, are the super comfortable joggers/lounge pants that I got from Topshop. My Batman leggings are pretty worse for wear, so I needed new loungewear (as I do spend about 95% of my life in pyjamas).

I heard from the Rheumatology Hospital in Bath about my maybe-ME. They've given me an appointment in October. I'm surprised at how quickly they got back to me, and how soon the appointment is. I have to fill out a pretty giant questionnaire to take with me, but I'm hoping this is the next step to getting answers and sorting things out.



P.S. Ashleigh accidentally left the freezer unlocked and caught Ethan munching on frozen Yorkshire puddings. Is there anything that child won't eat??