Shortening shadows

---

Winter is over. Thank (insert chosen deity) for that. Those of you who were unfortunate enough to talk to us during this time will know that nothing preoccupied us (me) more than getting some kind of insulation in our flat – glazing, curtains, plastic sheets, anything. It was freezing. Others tried to comfort us with tales of snot icicles in bed, but we were inconsolable: our place was an ice-box.

What now, then? Double-digit temperatures, that’s what! Wooh! The view from the lounge gains more colours every day, and the number of layers we need to wear drops proportionately. I’ve never been so happy to welcome spring. This weekend was spent on our bicycles, tootling about Brighton and Hove wondering at how easy it is to get around, cars and pedestrians notwithstanding. Mon has taken a liking to my bike, which of course means that I get to upgrade (expensively). I test-rode a few bikes on the weekend and melted with joy – bicycles that are light as a feather, with gears and brakes that work with nary a hint of protest. And price tags which exceed that of our car, which isn’t saying much, but you get the idea.

Suffice to say, we are enjoying the darling buds of April – global warming has its upsides. More importantly, Mon’s work has calmed down, which means that instead of dealing with an exhausted office lemming, I have my wife back! It’s totally choice. We’ve been going to more tango classes, and the weekends are spent, as always, sampling the culinary delights of Brighton.

So, as mentioned, Mon’s work is less stressful – she has been upgraded to project manager (the crowd goes wild) and at first it was all a bit manic, but she feels like it’s more under control now. I would give more details, but I really cannot fathom what she does all day. More importantly, it now looks as if she’ll have work until October. This is either because she’s very good at her job, or because she’s really slow. We’re going for option A.

As for me, I am plodding along with school – classes are finished now, to the predictable howls of ‘where’s the bloody time gone?’, and we are into the essay-writing period. I have two 5000-word essays to write, followed by a 10000-word dissertation that I’ll have 5 months to complete. Sounds crazy, I know – I think it means they expect each of the ten thousand words to be very, very good.

We’re going to Amsterdam to visit our friends at the end of April, when Will and Kate have helpfully given the country a day off (I still can’t work out the whole monarchy thing), and then it’s summer! Brighton (or London-on-sea as it can seem) comes alive with festivals, music, and the sound of thousands of British blokes slipping off their shirts to reveal acres of pinky-white flesh. I can’t wait.

---