End of an Era

"I'm going back to a time when we owned this town
Down Powdermill lane and the Battle grounds
We were friends and lovers and clueless clowns

I didn't know I was finding out how I'd be torn from you
When we talked about things we were gonna do
We were wide-eyed dreamers and wiser too"

Sovereign Light Cafe - Keane
 
And so, my last few days living in Exeter are coming to an end (for now). I'm leaving soon, heading back to the countryside after five years, and I can't wait. I'm ready to leave this city, although I love it here and have so many happy memories. I'm ready to get back to the country and enjoy the summer (while writing my disseration...).

Over the last few days however, of course I've grown nostalgic, and there are going to be many things I'll miss.

Of course I'll miss the wonderful people, and my wonderful friends.

I'll miss being able to walk to the Boston Tea Party and hanging out there and writing, and being able to walk to the library and Waterstones when I fancy it.

I'll miss walking down to the river and the quay, and up to campus.

I'll miss only being two hours from Fowey.

But it's been a wonderful five years, with it's ups and downs, and it'll be tough to leave. I've got my dissertation still to write, and then it'll be the end of my university career (for now anyway). I can't believe it's been a whole five years - so nearly there now. I'll be glad to finish, but I'm so glad I've done it. I wouldn't change anything in the world.

In the last few days, I've said lots of goodbyes and gone over lots of happy memories, many of which seem to have happened a long time ago! But they're good memories to have. It's hard to leave, but it's the right thing to do.

So, in the slightly changed words of Darren Criss/Harry Potter/Starkid:

"take it easy Exeter... it's been totally awesome." 

See you soon Exeter! It's not goodbye, just.... see you soon*.

*That's totally a quote from something, but I'm not sure what. Anyone know?

And here's some bonus nostalgic Starkid lyrics:

"You can't hold on to what's gone
Don't try to fix it, just move on
Only then you'll see the world
All brand new"

Everything Ends 

2I don't wanna see you go
But it's not forever, not forever!
Even it was, you know that
I would never let it get me down

'Cause you're the part of me
That makes me better, wherever I go!
So I will try, not to cry
But no one needs to say goodbye... "

Days of Summer 

Andy Murray Season

Well, it's been a while! I didn't mean to leave it so long, whoops. Anyway, the end of term has been and gone, and it was crazy as ever. Sad to leave, again, and I realised I've been doing this whole packing up for the summer thing for ten years, which is impressive really. Although I can pack very quickly now, it seems that I can't pack concisely however, which can be a little problematic. Also, the amount of books that I gain over one year is frankly impressive. Anyway, I overcame that and managed to say goodbyes (which I hate) and leave everyone, which was very sad. And I am now back home in Sussex, for the summer (which doesn't seem to have emerged yet). After a chaotic return, which included getting overly excited about the Queens final (Murray, whoop!) and the Rally Against Cancer organised by Ross Hutchins, which was fantastic and a brilliant cause, trying to unpack all the books I obtained during the year, swimming outside for the first time this year (yay!) and then getting a horrible summer cold... totally not related, I'm sure. Managed to catch up somewhat briefly with my school friends, which was wonderful.

Oh yeah, and seeing Neil Gaiman! Which was AMAZING. He talks so wonderfully, and he is so inspiring and just brilliant. And his new book is fantastic - The Ocean at the End of the Lane - you should read it if you haven't, because it is brilliant!

Went to the Eastbourne tennis too, and saw one of the women's doubles semi finals and the men's doubles final with Colin Fleming and Johnny Marray, which was fantastic. It's most definitely tennis season. Which brings me onto... Wimbledon, which starts tomorrow. I am SO excited! Totally ready for this, can't wait! Best two weeks of the year. Let's just hope the weather improves. Although a little saddened to think that last year this was the beginning of a fantastic summer of sport. Sigh. Anyway, we're heading to Wimbledon on Tuesday (eeeek!) so excited, it's going to be brilliant. And tomorrow Andy's campaign starts, and James Ward is playing too, and he's awesome. Well, there go the next two weeks!

Writing wise, I have started editing my latest project, and I am so into this story - these characters dominate my thoughts a lot of the time, which is kinda awesome. At the same time, it's weird to be home, because it seems that a lot of the ideas and inspiration from the setting came from here, which is good for adding detail to the setting and everything, but at the same time, just bizarre. Like confronting my story. But so far, the editing is going well. I have added lots of details, and am also deleting things that aren't relevant, doing some rearranging and everything. I even had a moment a few weeks ago (I know, I should blog more, I don't know what happened) when I was talking with a friend and she was talking about something that was irritating in an acquaintance (I honestly can't remember the details) and I was there thinking, yeah I know someone just like that, and tried to think about who it was I was thinking of, only to realise it was one of my characters. Yeah. So there's that. These characters are taking over my life. Which is clearly a good thing and I am kinda in love with this story. It just feels right. So much editing to do, but it is kind of exciting, and I kind of love it. Despite plans to start other projects, think I might just focus on this one for now, and make plans for others for another time. That seems the best thing. Weird how things turn out - especially after swearing to myself I would focus on MG because YA stressed me out too much and didn't work. Of course then comes along a YA story that just clicks! Well, I'm not going to complain about that. Not at all!