In a lazy moment I solicited any stalkers on Twitter to write the annual review for me. Result: “Amber’s birthday was really good, and so were the times I bumped into Marion and Amber in the park… the rest of 2010 wasn’t very memorable, think I did some sleeping and maybe some eating and maybe some work.” Sounds fine by me, so what follows is simply padding…
January
The return of the midnight pillow fight: it could only be SexFest X, the fifth year of our traditional New Year party. Aside from that, London was mostly… snowy. Up in Cambridge it was all HAP mock exams and political thought, although this did introduce me to my bff Hume. Aside from work, Andrew made some delicious cocktails, we inadvertently turned ice-cream into milkshake due to the lack of any freezer, and at an Emma formal hostilities nearly broke out against a certain totalitarian porter. (I CAN HEAR YOU LAUGHING…)
February
This month, when I should have been working late into the night, I was instead making a computer game for Oliver’s birthday. Well, that or e-mailing Father Alexander – an act that earned me a personal condemnation from the pulpit and, naturally, eternal pride. I also wound up temporarily trapped in Newnham college, was introduced to the glory that is Shark Attack 3 and (rather excitingly) got to interview Ken Livingstone for Varsity. Didn’t give me a job, though…
Plenty of looking up to him this year
March
After many months of stressful planning, the annual Caius History Society Dinner (plus after-party!) organised by me and Abi went off splendidly, thank goodness. Also featuring before the end of term was finally getting to a Formal at Catz with Promise, playing Lego Rock Band (very badly) at Bill’s, Alice in Wonderland (disappointing) and some fancy certificates from Oliver. In the holidays Lucy and I went to Edinburgh, witnessing one woman make contact with a ghost in the underground city. My family also marched into the future with a shiny new TV, Sanna and I went to court (visiting…) and Saoirse, DF and I got to play in Launchpad. But also in March came sad news: my Nana’s death after very many years.
April
Every generation needs a myth: an epic story of adventure, daring and romance to mark our deepest hopes and our darkest fears. Into the absence of anything like that stepped Lord Imhotep (technically born in the dying hours of March, but who’s being fussy?) – a creation sparked by a single piece of spam e-mail but which quickly spiralled into one of the best pieces of time-wasting ever devised. There was even a dramatic reading at my dinner party, once Sanna got her hands rescued from the kitchen cabinet. Before I went back for my final term of uni I also got to meet Paul over sangria and tapas, plus Promise and Sophia both made it to dinner with the Selfs. But after that, it was mostly revision… (and bowling. And voting.)
May
Ah, yes, May. Nothing happened in May. Well, OK, so there was this election thing – we stayed up with red and yellow cocktails and swore at George Osborne a lot – followed by days of worthy-sounding procrastination from revision whilst I checked to see if we had a government yet. And actually, there was also my favourite film of the year – Four Lions – which was a very lovely evening altogether too. Some great Matt Smith, too. But after lots of practice exams and reading and note-taking and revision supervisions and lunching with fellow historians and pre-exam tea evenings with Sophie, my attention was rather taken by the start of my finals: beginning, of course, with the infamous HAP. (Historical Argument and Practice, allow me to remind you. When people say I’m argumentative, I feel I have some legitimate excuses…)
June
And then they were done! I finished my exams, which became even more of a watershed moment as Lucy and I broke up (without any drama 
) around the same time too. The rest of June was therefore a blur of celebration, goodbyes and amazingness. Plenty of bad films with Simon, a final drinking session with the Themes & Sources gang – before Andrew ditched us all! – and not one but two May Balls. First Trinity, for which I owe Sophie a huge debt of gratitude, and then Caius the next night, which was made extra-special by getting Joshua to don a suit and come along to. Then down to London for my birthday, where I turned 21 at some point during crazy pub dancing with some of the greatest people on earth. (We got the top deck of the night bus singing that night.) Back in Cambridge there was just time for some G&Tea in Newnham gardens before the Graduation Night dinner and, the next day, Graduation itself. Busy busy! I even got to speak at Tash’s Sixth Form graduation, too 
Cambridge: the end!
July
Towards the beginning of this month I got my slightly belated but utterly incredible birthday present from Oliver and Abi: my very own handmade board game (which rocks kitten socks). We played this quite a bit in July. I also debated at the QPCS Summer Fair under the guise of a ‘parent’ (hah), watched the World Cup final for the first time with the whole family (shocking), wrote a Comic Sans horror story and celebrated Saoirse’s 17th birthday with a scrumptious pic-a-nic in Green Park. Also in July, Bill Thompson took me on a very cool day around the BBC, I saw Matt and Caroline quite a bit – inlcluding for Inception – and Maryam and Jules kindly volunteered their time to get me into Converses. Not forgetting Alice’s birthday party, Sophie’s visit, seeing Matthew again, another year of working for the Queens Park summer school and the fabulous PuntCon!
August
Back to Croatia this year with my parents and Katie for some hardcore sun, sea, sand, cocktails, rafting, banana boating, Mighten Tighten Vighten and, ur, Lord of the Rings reading. Next it was Deal with Oliver, Abi and Helen, which I remember chiefly for Totoro, Ring of Fire and the acute dangers posed by candles to hair. Two really lovely holidays, though, followed by a little dinner party gathering at Abbi and Paul’s, Back To The Future and the unearthing of some more cool family videos from way back. And at the end of the month, Tash left for Paris…
September
Excitingly, in September I started working as a researcher for Melissa Benn and her upcoming book on British schools: a really great project, and something I’ve been incredibly lucky to get to do for the rest of the year. Not least because there’s been plenty of time for other things too! Time for Caroline’s memorable dinner party, for instance, an evening of Ghostbusters with Joshua or the thrilling finale of Battlestar Galactica with Katie. There was also a great night in Camden as we bid farewell to Robert for his year in California, a trip to Churchill’s bunker with mum for Open House London, a lovely evening in the pub with my dad and Jamie Buxton and – ssshh – the return of guilty pleasure Merlin. Also worthy of note was the very warm-spirited day a group of us had on the Protest The Pope march (once we’d run away from the anarchists). And not forgetting my special appearance on TriNoetic, seeing Josh Ritter with Oliver, meeting up with Owen again (for one night only!) and an exhaustingly good day pedalling across the Serpentine (amongst much else) with Simon and co. Phew.
October
It took me years to get round to it, but I finally saw Avenue Q this month, shortly before it moved on. I also discovered News Revue via Joshua, and loved it so much that we went back as a family for dad’s birthday shortly afterwards. October was also the month of [drumroll] Amber’s 18th birthday party, which was great in its own right (naturally) but also as the founding night of Geek Corner: a quartet of me, Saoirse, Alex and Grace which has proved surprisingly durable. (Our obsession with Psychic TV began shortly afterwards.) I also spent a wonderful couple of days visiting Tash and Beth in Paris, including a whole day of Disneyland joy! Not to be outdone, Katie and I had a superb book-splurging doughnut-guzzling geeky day out (including bumping into Noel Clarke in Forbidden Planet) and I went to Bradford to be reunited with the irreplaceable Andy Kings. Oh, and I dispensed many a trick-or-treat gift from behind a mask on Halloween, too.
November
A dinner party at the Benn Gordons for me, Promise and Saoirse meant lots of warm QPCS chat, and there was unsurprisingly plenty more school talk in November at the Comprehensive Future meeting I tagged along to. I got to see the lovable Irfan again, watched Polly Toynbee pass her verdict on New Labour with Caroline and was introduced to Mary Wollstonecraft in, ur, person. (Long story…) Also had a great time at Abbi and Paul’s engagement party, headed back to Cambridge for a weekend to catch up with loads of people and hosted a rather giant dinner party! (Oh, and took a homeless man for coffee, which is one way of making you feel grateful for a warm bed every night.)
A few of the most important people
December
December: the greatest-hits compilation month for the year! So more snow, more Geek Corner (Heathers, In The Loop and a great deal else), more school work (plus an unsolicited essay to Anthony Seldon, poor man), more Matt and Caroline (including the Unspeakable Incident), more catching up with old friends (Rishal and Harriet in particular), more dinner parties with Secret Festive Vegetarian Dinner 3 and much more family. Yes, December means Christmas, and – wonderfully – Christmas means family. Our cousin Jamie was over from the States this month, and just after Christmas it was a real pleasure to have our cousin Julie and her son Kieron down from Suffolk. (We packed an awful lot of London in, including a very entertaining Camden night out with Joshua and Niamh and some impromptu participation in a crazy street performance on the South Bank. Fun times.)
Tonight, tradition meets innovation: SexFest On Tour. Happy 2011, one and all!
The best traditions are your own, right? Last night was the third annual Secret Vegetarian Festive Dinner: a smaller and more intimate occasion this year – not least because some people had to get to work the next morning – but as delightful and festive as ever. (You can tell we’re growing up, though… imagine eating at a table!) Many thanks to Abbi for her delicious pasta bakes, and to Saoirse for bringing a tasty array of desserts, and definitely to Paul for introducing cheese courses into our group We also toasted all of our absent friends, and here’s to seeing them all again in 2011…
Cracker fun
An edition of Top Trumps devoted to Mullet Power
Love!
Any excuse to show off my latest TeeFury acquisition
Things I haven’t blogged about: Heathers, Deathly Hallows, cousin Jamie visiting, The Infamous Sofa Incident (TM), debating Anthony Seldon, dinner with Matt and Caroline, Sarah’s fancy dress birthday party, the utter scandal of removing EMA and a very interesting history \ school chat with Marion. (I mean, obviously there are other things I haven’t blogged about. These are only the things I haven’t blogged about that are still in my calendar. Honestly, one day I will wake up and find that all the electricity is gone and as a result my life solely consists of what I can actually remember – although at that point, the crushing realisation that I won’t get to finish Mission In Snowdriftland again would probably make the rest of life feel a little superfluous anyway. Love that snowman.)
Probably just as well, really, since at the moment I’m liable to turn anything into a conversation about schools at the slightest provocation, which is great fun for me but risks terminal boredom for everyone else. Also, you should all probably wait and buy Melissa’s book next year instead. Yes!
Nostalgia corner: This was a very long time ago, wasn’t it?
Shared duties
Grace, Tash, Saoirse, Alex, Katie
Abbi, Paul, Josh, Oliver, Abi, Sarah (Sanna was also about, somewhere!)
Big thanks to Simon for putting me up in Cambridge for the weekend – I feel like I packed a lot in, and it was nice to catch up with a bunch of people. There was a real mixture of emotions as I walked alongside the river into the centre of town on Friday afternoon: the mist just beginning to build up, students bustling about not realising how quickly their student lives will be over, and so by the time I was strolling briskly down Trinity Street I was immersed in deep thought. Which, naturally, meant I knocked over one of those bloody bicycles resting outside Caius and sent it crashing to the ground, neatly bringing me back to real life
Anyway, things! Tea with the ever-wonderful and informative Peter Mandler in which we agreed about education a lot, which more than made up for the latest instalment of ‘overheard at Caius and resisted butting in’ the next day. (“…I mean, I do agree with putting more money into state education, because y’know, it’s a disgrace that you just have to go private at the moment…” – oh, really, do you now? Missed that memo.) Met a bunch of Simon’s MPhil colleagues, of which approximately 97.3% are American. Not that this is a problem or anything, but it does introduce cultural barriers when it comes to jokes; I plan on not extolling the virtues of Four Lions the next time I’m in US customs. Friday night actually descended into a rather fun but intensely odd night in which someone decided I must be a communist. (Saoirse: “happens to me all the time”.) He was from New Zealand, and as such extolled the virtues of plenty of sport and cold showers at school, which would have been ever so slightly more convincing had he not also insisted that we all move from sitting comfortably around the table outside the pub to perching awkwardly on the stairs inside the pub because it was a bit chilly outside. Having said that, he did buy me a drink and keep us all entertained, so fair’s fair.
On Saturday Michael took me back to hall at Caius for brunch – very nice to see him, and also very nice to return to our habit of skimming the Daily Express over meals to check for any evidence of the stirrings of evolution towards primitive consciousness or intelligent thought. (Result: negative. I do wonder about Express writers sometimes. Because, let’s face it, if you were an aspiring journalist with a cynical penchant for – well – lying, what you’d really want to do is go work for the Mail, right? To end up at the Express represents a professional failure in the field of shitiness, like ending up as a judge on Five’s Don’t Stop Believing rather than The X Factor.) (Deep breath.) Also caught up with Sharon, who has a wonderful knack for conveying enthusiasm about her science work without reducing it to a series of metaphors designed for arts graduates – i.e. you can really learn stuff from her, and it’s wonderful. Talking of clever people at Cambridge: I also ran into (among others) Felix at the Seeley – yeah, I totally hit the Seeley – who I really hope will end up running Cambridge History one day. Or at least sign a book for me.
That evening I ended up in the Picturehouse bar with, um, the family that’s rather hard to name succinctly but includes Bill, Katie, Troy, Lilith, Max, Caitlín and many others. (It was Emily’s 18th, so happy birthday!) And, as always with these lovely lot, more and more people seemed to turn up until about half the bar had been given over to us, chairs and tables requisitioned piecemeal. It was quite a job to explain the complex interrelationships to Simon when he turned up, but that didn’t stop us tagging along to dinner afterwards courtesy of Troy (thanks!) who still failed to run off with my uber-cool Troy Story t-shirt. Finally, Simon and I ended up cycling home very slowly alongside the river, which I comprehensively failed to fall into – quite an accomplishment. And then, finally x2, Patrick joined us for another instalment in the highly enjoyment series of bad movies: Under Siege. Oddly, at a number of points I jokingly suggested ridiculous half-baked courses for the plot to take, only to watch them materialise. I should work in films, me.
Sadly, the length of this post means that most people will have given up by the time I get to Sunday, which is a shame because on Sunday I hopped across to Suffolk to see my adorable cousins who deserve to be read about. Because they’re awesome. Kieron, who is 9, was so impressed by what I taught him about gravitational vs. magnetic fields (yes, really, and yes I’m totally qualified to do this) that he went round telling everyone else about it – hurrah! Amongst much else, we also modelled the solar eclipse using oddly shaped magnets and established that bonobos are humanity’s closest living relative. (The innate curiosity of children about the real world, unsullied by pretension, is joyous. People get it so wrong when they go on about the ‘innocence’ of children – innocence is just ignorance, and we all share in that. The real magic lies in curiosity.) And it was especially great to spend some time with Julie, my first cousin, who I am determined to see more often. Watch this space.
Linda Moffitt on Colombia: “Such a sweet memory of the four of you meeting up in Colombia!” Dec 2, 07:42
