Today, like yesterday, and no doubt tomorrow too, was a good day. I feel some important memories were made.

It was also a very happy day, as last night my brother’s partner’s daughter gave birth to a very cute little boy – really great news – congratulations to all involved!

Congratulations also to dear Michael (from the Waldorf years) and his wife on the birth of their baby. Another real cutey!

Somewhat less exciting than the birth of some babies was the selling, this morning, of my Claud Butler bike of 17 years. As a child I saved up for it for a long long time, and finally, when I was about 13 years old, it was delivered to school in a big brown box. I was so excited, as were my classmates. I remember having to attach the pedals, and rotate the handlebars 90 degrees. I still have the instruction manual.

I really loved that bike, but it can’t come with me to Japan. It’s the beginning of the big clear out. Soon, I’ll be giving away the ultimate student kit, including a whole kitchen (rice cooker, food mixer, pans, plates, cutlery, sieves etc), stationary, hanging clothes things, and 4 big springy clip things that have a myriad of uses).

Any takers? Sheffield or Hereford area OK. £10 donation to wedding fund appreciated.

---

This afternoon I had a 90-minute interview for the CELTA English language teaching course. I enjoyed that, and learnt a little about English grammar, something I’ve never really understood despite using it on a daily basis. I’ll hear tomorrow whether I’ve been accepted.

It sounds incredibly hardcore; prospective trainees are required to sign a declaration stating that they understand that they will have no life for the duration of the course.

As one of the instructors told me, “It’s incredibly demanding, and not everyone will make it to the end …but it’s fun too”. I could tell from her voice that the type of ‘fun’ that she was referring to was that that can be had by taking part in a team event that sees one walking 100km non-stop over 7 mountains in 31 hours. One of those experiences that at the time is pretty damn painful, but when you do complete it you feel a special bond with the group without whom you would have never made it to the end.

---

Following my interview it was back to Western Bank library which is now open until midnight. It’s funny, we’ve not studied in there this year, but just this last week myself and my classmate Jason have migrated back to the exact same spot that a group of us used to study in in our first year, on the mezzanine floor above the architecture section. It feels natural to complete the cycle, to end where we began. We even had Matthew join us from Japan (he left in our second year) – at least by email anyway.

I really enjoyed ‘studying’ today – although there was much laughter as I basically spent the first 8 hours re-enacting this video. I finally started to get my ‘stuff done’ at 7pm – this was made possible by my taking my Macbook home, and returning to the library without it (I was actually very productive during those 8 hours, it’s just that none of my activities related to my exam).

Jason had just received notice from the Embassy that he will be working in Osaka next year (on the JET scheme as an ALT), so in-between revising and talking about Apple’s OS 10.5.3 (released today) we chatted about this good news. I’m delighted that he’ll be somewhere that’s easy to visit, and I reckon he’ll love Osaka (he’s not been there before, and is happy with his placement). It has two Leica dealerships and an Apple store – what more could one ask for?!

It was during these conversations that I felt that this was a situation to be truly grateful for, one worth remembering. Sharing stuff with a friend, in a comfortable environment that carried with it a great sense of achievement. University really has been a blessing.

We finished our revision at about 10.30pm, joking that I was going to then rush home and download the new update for my Macbook, then spend half the night exploring the new features. Thankfully, it’s rather a dull update, so I should be able to get a full night’s sleep.

Night night nice world. Thank you for today.