Toot toot all aboard

Well now! What have we been up to? To start with I just finished the first day of my last week of work, and I must say I'm thrilled. Went out for pub lunch with the team since today was the last day we were all available, tasty. Spent some of my afternoon going through my notes and papers and shredding things that I didn't need (those machines are noisy and fun) and passing on projects.

Joe is also in his last week but it's more of a break than an end for him, since he'll be contracting from NZ for them. Yay for earning in pounds! Hopefully the exchange rate will stay favourable.

Weekend before last we rented a car again and spent the Saturday driving up to Hull on a grave-hunting quest for the ma. We had a couple of maps and lists of graves of Sutton-on-Hull parish cemetery and went about taking photos of great great whatsits graves. Most of which were either reasonably crumbly or else completely overgrown by whole trees. Apparently it's the done thing to allow cemeteries to become very overgrown and wild in the name of nature preserves, which does make them quite pleasant really. Hard to find the rellies though! Also went to Wawne cemetery, where we had no map but just hunted for Robinsons and other family last names, found a few. The pics are all up online under the trip to Hull album.

On the Sunday we ventured to Cambridge – very close to bedford but we hadn't gotten round to it prior to last weekend. Did some brief shopping (I was given some vouchers for John Lewis/Waitrose for christmas and neither are in Bedford) and then went for a walk around the town, which is pretty awesome. All full of colleges and museums and universities. We sat for a while at Kings College admiring the view while punters on the river went past, full of tourists. Very nice :)

Last weekend was our last full one before all systems are go. On Saturday we did grooming things (Joe finally got a hair cut and I did girly things at the salon next door) and then went along to Bedford Museum, which is just super cute! Free entry, and it has a section on Victorian life in Bedford, Bedford Castle and its demise in the 1300s, then a lot of archaeological information about the area. Also a great section called the Olde Curiosity Shop, which was apparently a bunch of fellows in the 1800s idea of a good collection – lots of dead stuffed animals, an elephant skull, bugs pinned to boards, all sorts of ancient pottery and some Egyptian stuff too. We sat down in the kids area and raced each other on a butterfly wordfind :)

After that we went to see Slumdog Millionaire, which was grand, and Sunday we lounged extensively. It was nice to have a relaxed weekend – this week we'll be starting the packing process and trying to get the Salvation Army to take our unwanted flat stuff, surely someone will want that stuff. Also planning to pop down to London for a show or two, but mostly packing. Woo hoo...

So basically four days from now, we'll be unemployed, and a week after that, homeless! I'm so very looking forward to being a tramp.