My brother, sister, brother-in-law, and baby niece are coming over from the U.S.A. on Friday, so we have been frantically trying to make some last minute alterations to the house. These have included painting, waxing, taking apart, repairing, cleaning, etc.

I have been spending most of my time reading Theocritus. Not sure when I will be going back to St. Andrews yet, although I imagine it will be some time during Freshers' Week.

I get the train to work every day. The journey takes about 30 minutes, which gives me plenty of time to glare at all the people around me. There are many people who catch the same train as me every day, and I have wondered many a time what their stories are- where they've come from, where they are going, whether they have any latent mental defects, etc. For some of them, I have tried to construct a picture of who they are when they aren't on the train, based on observations I have made about them- the way they dress, the newspaper they read, whether they do or don't listen to music in the morning, the list goes on.

This morning I find myself at quite a loss, since, as this is my last day of work, there is a good chance that I will never see any of these people again. We've been on the same train day after day for weeks and never said a word to them, and yet I feel like they have almost become a part of my life. Living in Sunderland has, however, given me plenty of opportunity to go out and observe the people around me. For any of you who are lucky enough to have visited this wonderful city, let me assure you that there are many, many interesting specimens to glare at.

So I don't know exactly how many people actually read my blog. Perhaps more than I realise; or, perhaps less than I think. Sometimes I feel like I should be ashamed of myself if I find myself reading peoples weblogs too frequently, or checking out peoples' profiles on the Facebook. But at the same time I want people to feel like they can visit my blog without living with the worry that I might come up to them and say 'you've been reading my blog, haven't you?!'. So, if this is a particular worry of yours, namely that you might think of yourself and/or have others think of you as a bit of a loser, fear not.

My time the last few weeks has mostly been spent at work, from about 8.45am, up until I get home, at around 5.30pm. My evenings, sad to say, have mostly been spent reading Theocritus. I'm looking forward to getting back to uni. I have really missed a lot of people in St. Andrews. Perhaps this is an early indication that I am not quite as detached from that place as I once thought. Just think, only 2 more years to go. I have a feeling that saying goodbye might be quite hard.