[Holidays] Seacows reunion

I've just got back from a long weekend spent with some of my best friends. It's been almost a year since I left St Andrews, but I still miss the people that I met, and the friends that I made while I was there. I've been able to catch up with some of them sporadically via conferences (for the astronomers) and competitions (for the lifesavers), but time's always a bit short and it's not really the best way of spending time with your friends.

(Credit: David Brown)

As a rule the St Andrews Seacows are pretty bad at organising themselves to do anything, but we finally managed to arrange a weekend away for as many people as we could get. Options were limited for places with enough space to sleep all of us, but my friend Ella's parents were away for the weekend, so we all traipsed down to Sandwich, on the Kent coast, for four days. Well, some of us for four days, others for less than that owing to prior commitments. Even with the dates planned nearly three months in advance it's difficult to get us all together!

(Credit: David Brown)

The weekend was a lot of fun. We visited Dover Castle (including the tunnels underneath), went fruit picking, visited the beach for ice cream, had a massive barbecue, and generally just enjoyed the company. Lots of laughter, lots of silliness, and some ridiculous games of Pictionary. I don't think I've  ever slept as little, eaten as much, and drunk as much in one weekend. But it was worth it, as I had a great time, and can't wait until the next reunion. Hopefully this will spur us on to actually be more proactive!

(Credit: David Brown)

On my way back to Coventry I stopped off in London to attend a book signing event by Brandon Sanderson. Appropriate, given my current read through of the Wheel of Time (which he finished after Robert Jordan's death). We were queueing for roughly two hours despite arriving half an hour before the scheduled start time, and the queue was still half way around the shop when we left!