h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well, M (my niece) has been here for a week now - or to be more accurate, four nights. She arrived on Monday night and went straight off home to her narrowboat after work on Friday.

Talk about bad timing - she rang the doorbell on Monday evening at *exactly* the moment the results of the DNA test were being announced on TA! I opened the door and just shouted 'come in, come in quickly - something exciting is just happening!' Needless to say, she thinks I'm a complete saddo.

When she got upstairs into the flat, I gave her a hug, and she just burst into tears (having been dumped by text message the week before, she's a bit sensitive), so then of course we had to sit down, have drinks etc, then get her room sorted out, so I missed most of the key eppy.

Anyway, we seem to have settled into a routine, cooking and washing up together, and watching TV companiably enough. I've been pretty exhausted this week, working long hours on jobs which need lots of attention to detail. I've had a couple of temps in to help - unfortunately the first one was a bit careless, so I've then had to spend time repairing the mistakes she made ...

M is working in a local vets' practice and has also had some stressful experiences: her first job on Tuesday morning was to go with one of the vets to pick up a dog which had been hit by a train. It had only been re-homed a few days ago and had run away from its new owners, who were, understandably, devastated when it had to be put down. She has also been working with a trainee who has a tendency to drop animals when they wriggle - not good in a vet nurse - and M didn't appreciate it when she was trying to take a blood sample from a cat and the trainee let go of it!

Today I took the plunge and had a new haircut. Photos may or may not appear in the Lockin, depending on whether I decide I like it. So far only one friend has seen it and she thinks it suits me. It's still quite long, but has some layers cut into it.

Spent quite a lot of time in the city centre - it was very cold but sunny, although coming along the Backs at one point early this afternoon, there was a bit of mist and there was still ice in the puddles. I *do* love Cambridge - today I went to the part of the Cambridge Illuminations exhibition which is in the University Library (the main exhibition is at the Fitzwilliam Museum), and made a copy of part of Caxton's translation of Ovid for my calligraphy class. On the way through town I saw a busker with a singing dog - the guy was singing a mournful love ballad, and at certain points the dog (which was sitting next to him on a seat, wrapped in a blanket) joined in by howling or yelping.

Morning Annie. Your niece is a lucky girl to have an aunt like you.
It is a judgment of God,isn't it, that she should have arrived when she did. Repent, repent! But I must say I listened to that one too. I had been sure it was Will's all along (tug-of-love baby and all that). I can never quite believe those two talk like brothers. But what do I know.

"Today I took the plunge and had a new haircut. Photos may or may not appear in the Lockin, depending on whether I decide I like it. So far only one friend has seen it and she thinks it suits me. It's still quite long, but has some layers cut into it."

I've had mine layered too. I might post a picture too (from the back, no need to advertise those wrinkles).