Well I have to say this flu has totally knocked me sideways. And right on the back of my flu vaccination too. Someone somewhere has a warped sense of humour. Feeling better each day but just have an annoying cough that starts up when I'm trying to go to sleep. I know it will go away in a few days though, and hopefully my energy levels will increase as well!

Had a quiet weekend. Went to see a play called Blue Eyes and Heels at the Soho Theatre on Saturday afternoon. One of the three roles was played by Martin Freeman from the Brit TV series 'The Office'. It was billed as a comedy but I found it more a drama with a few laughs. It was very good, but quite sad at the end. It was about a TV producer trying to bring back onto TV screens wrestling a la WWF style. Odd, but it worked.

Caught up with Cath and Bill on Saturday night and tried a new little restaurant called Little Bay, which was just lovely. Sunday I went to a newish farmer's market in Queens Park with Cath and Bill, which had fresh organic fruit and veg and baked goodies. Picked up a few bits and pieces, including a delicious celeraic that Stu used with dinner tonight. It still had mud on it, and there was something so wholesome and healthy about vegetables still having the earth they grew in on them. I'm far too familiar with the hosed-down and pre-packaged supermarket veg now.

A university friend came over late on Sunday afternoon and we went over some of the staistics techniques we covered in class this week (the Linear Regression Model - yay), as well as talking about our current assignment. He is the genius who helped me through the exam last year and he can explain things in such a clear way.

My wonderful Stu made a gorgeous dinner tonight - fillet steak poached in Barolo (red Italian wine) and stock with celeraic mash and savoy cabbage (thanks Jamie Oliver for the recipe). It was melt in the mouth flavoursome and divine.

And where did the weekend go? It's time for some cough mixture and bed, and wondering how many emails are waiting for me after I've not been at work for three days. My bet is more than 80!

Speaking of bets, can someone put $10 on Mayke Diva for me in the Melbourne Cup???

Brad's new independent boat building business Oceanic Boats is humming along nicely - here is his first boat in the new venture - a beautiful 19 footer. Sea trials were last weekend and she performed perfectly. Boats built and customised to spec - just call Brad! Or visit http://www.oceanicboats.com.au

Brad Roz and Lauren on a family visit to Cohunu wildlife park with special guest appearance by Fatso the wombat.

I'm not at work today as I sound as though I have a large painful frog residing in my throat. Ironically I had a flu vaccination on Tuesday, but I started feeling under the weather at the weekend, and have spent the past few days with aches, fever, chills, and the usual misery-inducing flu symptoms that you just have to ride out in between sleep sleep and more sleep.

It's 20 degrees today, but I just know the cold weather is being stockpiled somewhere! I bought some lovely fur-lined boots which are going to keep my feet soooo warm in December and January (and probably February, March, April...!)

Australia - one big Naughty Step
I hear Super Nanny is big on Aussie TV screens as the moment. Well, the Naughty Step technique, according to Stu, is nothing new. Britain has been using this technique for hundreds of years with it's rebellious youth. Steal a loaf of bread? Right you, off to the Naughty Step by way of a 3-month voyage down under to think about your sins. You're not coming back til you're ready to say sorry and mean it!

Bad jokes (but you just can't help yourself):

A man walks into a bar and says "I'd like a double entrendre"

So the barman gave him one.

Skeleton walks into a bar and says "Give me a beer. And a mop."

Bird Flu hits Euro Disney in France.... RIP Donald. (and thanks to whoever photoshopped this image!!)

Summer has packed its bags and headed south for the winter this week. The mornings are now crisp, I’ve had to dig out my scarf and medium-weight long coat (it’s not cold enough for the heavy duty pink ‘fur’ one yet) (yes that says pink fur – it cheers me up no end on a miserable grey freezing day!), and the streets are littered with the fallen crumpled leaves from the trees above. The squirrels are back raiding my bird feeders for their winter stocks, and we’ve had to put the heating on in the mornings. Autumn is definitely here.

You know you are shopping in Harrods when:

1) The string quartet strains you can hear drifting over the hubbub of the crowd is actually eminating from four musicians in ballgowns seated around the corner from you.
2) The solo male voice soaring to Nessun Dorma is actually standing two flights above you on the escalator.
3) The pet section sells pieces of jewellery for spoilt pets worth more than every single piece of jewellery you own combined
4) You can smell Krispy Kreme donuts being baked (and when you go to order 4 of them and they offer to sell you 12 for the price of 7 you have no resistance, even though somewhere there is a voice shouting 'no you don't need 12 donuts!) (but boy were they good)
4) When you don't have enough hands to open the door (because fantastically they are FILLED with shopping bags!) a very nice man will open it for you and wish you a good day!

WINNER!!!
Sadly not of the lottery, but of a 30 quid meal for two voucher at Wagamama's! The Aussie/Kiwi/Saffa mag that comes out every Monday (called TNT) runs a column where readers ask questions, and other readers email in answers. Last week a guy wrote in asking where to find magician shops in London. So anyways, I replied with the names of some shops and voila! I'm published! How did I know the names of magic shops? I, er, have some more news. I'm learning magic! I've starting with card tricks but have a pretty nifty trick with some circles of string too. As I'm doing this in my 'spare' time (that time in between working full-time, studying three nights a week, doing reading and assignments, oh and having a life) I'm making slow progress, but am enjoying it very much. I practised on Thomas and Arthur, who were very impressed. I'm working my way up to an adult audience. Abracadabra!

Instead of a photo of the greyhound I thought you'd much rather see an example of how the vet students practice their techniques - on stuffed toy dogs! There is a whole room of them lying on tables, as well as a life-sized fibreglass horse and cow. Students prep them for xrays, wrap them in bandages, practice suturing, put IV drips in, all sorts of clinical skills techniques. The first years don't believe us when we say they'll be practising on stuffed toys in later years!!

Close up of gladioli in the morning sunlight.

Look at my little darling niece now! All pink and growing up by the minute!

Baby Picasso!

Our network is currently up the creek and missing its paddle so I thought I'd spend my time constructively and tell you about my studies this year! I'm doing four units over the year - Developmental Psychology on Thursday nights, Social Psychology on Friday nights, and Research Methods (statistics) on Tuesday nights. Next term we swap Developmental for Psychobiology II. Stats is going surprisingly well, I think I might have cracked it. Of course we haven't started on Analysis of Variance yet which is apparently a nightmare!

As I was student rep last year I've been contacted by two different students to hopefully help set up a Psychology Society for the university, which should be interesting and fun! Fun gets a little short in supply when so many hours of my day are taken up at work or in lectures. Still, I always find it wherever I can! My stats lecturer is very serious and stern and does not let us ask questions during the lecture as it 'disrupts her flow'. So, I found this pen at the weekend with a bright yellow duck on the end of it, surrounded by bright yellow feathers, which lights up when you start writing with it! I am planning on sitting about three rows from the front right in her line of vision and taking down copious notes so my little duck pen lights up right in front of her. A couple of my friends are apparently taking bets as to how she will react!! I'll let you know...!!

Rule #1 of greyhound popsicle dissection filming: never, ever breathe in through your nose, especially after incisions have been made and flesh exposed
Rule #2 of greyhound dissection filming: do not listen to the surgeon when you are told you will not need scrubs because it’s dead and won’t spurt anything when syringed or sliced. My jeans now need to be washed.
Rule #3 of greyhound filming: look through the viewfinder as much as possible, relying on your over-exposure to violence and death in the electronic media to give you the sense that it’s on TV, and there’s not really a stinky, bloody, dead animal in front of you with its eyes still open.

Still, I wasn’t queasy, and it was worryingly familiar once the dog was draped and all you could see was the area of dissection. I think that as a carnivore, I have cooked jointed meat on the bone so watching them cut open to reveal the joints wasn’t that dissimilar.

Wish I’d brought a change of jeans though!

Donkey orchids photographed by Mum at Mandurah.

Pelicans on the bay at Mandurah, taken by Mum, who is now quite the whizz using the digital camera and uploading and emailing the photos!

We caught up with Iain, Cesca and little Freddie last Sunday for a relaxing and enjoyable lunch. Freddie is doing really well, parents need more sleep!

Look - he's smiling now!

Freddie - I know how you feel!

Stu bought me beautiful gladiolis last week - the buds were a deep almost black purple, opening and fading into soft lilac and pink hues each day.

BBQ-tastic! We caught the end of summer offload of BBQ products at Waitrose and went a little overboard on the fabulous range of BBQ sauces, going for 10p each! Smokey mesquite is my current favourite!!

Random Life in London
Saturday evening post-movie grocery shopping (we went to see 'Goal', lovely feel-good movie about football - soccer - take tissues), we were wandering the aisles of Sainsburys buying monkfish and prawns, when a familiar sound landed on my ears.... a didgeridoo. Now, you wouldn't usually associate shopping in Sainsburys with a didg would you? But there he was, a white middle class suburban male, slightly balding, wild-haired, shopping basket in one hand, home-made 5ft-long pvc pipe didg with fur glued around the mouthpiece in the other hand, wandering past the French cheeses and half price duck blowing and breathing away. I kept expecting a camera crew to jump out but no, he was just playing away to himself while choosing cous cous and tinned tomatoes. You gotta love life in the big city!

Stroppy little gits. I just had to give (yet another) presentation to students, this time to Vet Nursing students. Three of them sat right in front of me and talked for the first five minutes, continuously. At which point I stopped talking (they kept going), stared at them (they kept going), and finally said 'Am I boring you?' at which point they stopped.

What I really wanted to say was 'In three years you'll be cleaning up animal sh*t for a paltry salary. Ha!' Are you direspecting me? Face? Bothered? Face? (excuse reference to the Catherine Tate Show).