There is a particular character, a Mr. Vince, who can occassionally be a tad difficult to get a firm hold of during the holidays. And so it was especially good to see Owen last Monday, when he joined a group of us for a binge of classic Doctor Who and then stayed on for the night. We originally went out that night for a quiet drink at Swiss Cottage, but the allure of Camden’s mango beer was too strong seeing as it is virtually down the road, and that started us out on a bit of a jaunt, which eventually led to the haven of Soho and – crucially – 24 hour cafés. It’s important, to me, to know that a toasted baguette could always be available in life should the moment call for it, and hence another reason why Owen and I agree that we couldn’t actually end up living in Cambridge, where there are manifestly no round-the-clock eating establishments. But back in London: a good night.

I then journeyed up to Cofton Hackett (no round-the-clock eating establishments unless you’re in the know ) to see Lucy, go bowling – poorly – and see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince which was, I have to say, unfulfilling by the usual Harry Potter movie standard. But the centrepiece event was Lucy’s ‘Northern’ [cough] dinner party on Friday night, which managed to bring about what is perhaps the highest state of being: drunken ABBA dancing…

Host!

Katy, Lou and Lucy

Lucy, ‘Twitterless Lou’ and Andy

Managing to control photo-autism here, actually

Dance dance!

Cofton: can you hack it?

The next day, Saoirse and Emily were able to stay on for a visit to Cadbury World. Despite their occassionally questionable historical reconstructions – either that or Mr. Cadbury was slipping a bit more than milk into his chocolate – it was a really great day out, and we all managed to form a quasi-family unit but without any of the squabbling. Oh, and let’s not forget the free chocolate! We even got the photo from the white-knuckle ride

(Three quarters of those tested could look into a camera)

Finally: when I got home today (OK, ‘yesterday’) I found that I’d won a prize! The ‘Cambridge Historical Prize – Historical Tripos Part 1 2009’ prize, to be exact, for my Themes and Sources essay. This is really very exciting, partly because I’m quite chuffed and so on but largely because it consists not just of a letter but of £100. Yay! This is a pleasing step up from QPCS’s book tokens (bless ’em) and could buy over 20 glasses of mango beer, which is truly a happy happy thought.

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