Back in the U.S.S.A....

...I don't know how lucky I am. Back I am, after ten days or so in the UK. Much as I expected, it was damp and overcast most of the time, although not actually all that cold - it's about five degrees warmer than New York, although it's blue skies and dry right here now.

It was good to be home, although increasingly I find that short stays are enough to remind me of both the good things about Britain, and also why I left in the first place. I've spent about two and a half months out of the last three years there, so perhaps it's not surprising I'm a little out of touch. There's good stuff - the telly, Cambridge in the morning mists, London, all my friends - and bad stuff, like the fact that everything is absurdly overpriced, the trains don't work, and the weather is horrible. Much like any country, I suppose...one has to take the rough with the smooth.

I spent most of the time at home, having Christmas Eve at Mum's place, Christmas Day at my Dad's place and going up to Birmingham (or the general area - Kidderminster, actually, for those of you that know) on Boxing Day to see my aunt and uncle, as well as my grandma - thought I'd better pay my respects, since I didn't go to the funeral. Nothing particularly exciting over the duration - unlike the last couple of Christmases, I'm not on a salary to splurge, so I spent most of my time sitting at home and eating or watching TV. Precisely what was needed.

But I'm back now, and more of the same beckons - I have a Master's thesis to do this semester, as well as a whole lot of worrying to do about whether I'm going to be able to stay at Columbia. I'll be upping my hours at the Law Library before term starts to earn some extra cash, and trying to get a couple of annoying uncompleted assigments from last term finished before this one starts. Not taking quite as heavy a courseload as before, so if all goes well I won't be quite so occupied 24-7 with J-stuff. And the obligatory New Year's resolution? Along with (apparently), half of New York, it's to lose some weight...