2018: A Summary

Hello!

I know it's only 11 days since my last post, but I wanted to do a New Year-themed post, by celebrating the previous year. Plus, technically, my last post was last year.

Happy New Year!!

January:

Unfortunately, I'm a bit foggy going this far back, but there are several key things that I remember. One relates to my private life so I will not be putting that down. Another thing was a Poetry Live English trip, which coincided with a nasty bug, so I got home and promptly collapsed on the sofa. More or less; details are fuzzy.

I also went to see The Play That Goes Wrong, with my family. It was extremely entertaining. It's a play where highly talented actors deliberately perform a play as badly as possible.

Here is a promotional picture.

February:

Again, details are fuzzy, and there are huge gaps because I'm using the calendar app on my phone to jog my memory. What happened most of February, according to my phone? Half-term. 

March:

March was a lot more eventful. Things got started off to a very interesting start. World Book Day was on the 1st; there was a snow day at school as well. On the same day. The 1st of March is also an important date in fiction; it's Ron Weasley's birthday. You may remember that in September, I went to the Sixth-Form Social as Ron.

Apparently, this is what he looks like in the books.

Also in March was the Youth Weekend Away, which is when St Leonard's Youth goes away for a weekend for activities and worship. There's also a weekend-long game where you have to 'kill' a particular person by handing them a certain object in a certain place. It's a fun game. Unfortunately,  I can't post any pictures, as the youth leader has decided they are his.

I also had the practical side of an NEA task to do in March. (Those doing GCSE Food Tech, take note.) I had to cook three French dishes; I cooked chicken cordon bleu, Camembert wrapped in prosciutto and baked in bread rolls, and creme brulee. For the NEA, one option was to do three dishes from a particular culture; the other option was to cook a meal for a particular group with dietary needs (such as old or young).

Chicken cordon bleu

Camembert wrapped in prosciutto and baked in bread rolls

Creme brulee

I'm not sure that I remember much else from March so I will move swiftly on to April.

April:

Around half of April was taken up by the Easter holidays. We looked after the Atherstones' spaniel, Ginny; she was (and is) manically loveable. I knuckled down and began revision for my GCSEs (though I had been working hard since January). When term started, the year 10s had their work experience. At the end of that same week, though unconnected, was an English trip to see Romeo and Juliet; people from year 10, year 11 and year 12 went. I enjoyed it, though I found it difficult to hear what the actors were saying.

May:

May was a big month; exams! To sum it up, I will use a quote from Order of the Phoenix: "to the fifth-years, this meant only one thing: their O.W.L.S. were upon them at last." O.W.L.S. are GCSE-equivalent for the wizarding world, so it still works. The exams were challenging but strangely fun. 

Goodbye to exams!

May was also a big month for Daddy. His mum (Nana) died from a chest infection, following a long stay in hospital. She had been slowly dying for a while, from dementia, already. But I know that she's with Grandad Bob now, and she's happy. The funeral was on the last day of May.

Rest in peace.

During May, we also looked after two dogs, not at the same time. The first was a Labrador named Java, who was sweet to us, but she was unkind to Pippin. The second was a huge, thick-furred Alsatian named Gracie. She had the endearing habit of fussing over you like a devoted mother if you entered the house; her soft barking sounded to me like "what sort of time do you call this?"

June:

June continued the never-ending stream of exams. I had a Chemistry exam on my sister's birthday. My final exam, Physics, was two days later. Walking out of school in the middle of break, knowing I wouldn't have to go back until September...I'm aware of my reputation for being in love with school, but that feeling of freedom was still very pleasant.

Gracie the Alsatian stayed into June; two and a half weeks in total! Unfortunately, she put a bit of a damper on her final day; she gets quite nervous if a dog runs straight at her; Pippin did exactly that on a walk, and she bit him. He had to go to the vets, and I think he still has the scar.

On Sunday the 17th, right after my final exam, I renewed my baptismal vows in the river at Cassington Mill. The water was very cold! I then went to Granny's house (Granny is my maternal grandmother, in case of confusion) and remained there until Thursday.

Requisite picture of Tessa (it's from recently.)

I spent most of June after my exams playing computer games and reading. I could have spent time with friends, but I'm wasteful like that.

On the 26th, I had the final day of year 11, plus a Leavers' Assembly. The following day was an induction day for my school's Sixth Form. I also went to the induction days for Wood Green Sixth Form, on Thursday and Friday, because I wanted to have a second choice in case I didn't get into the Sixth Form at my school.

July:

The first thing I did in July was travel to Prague with Daddy. We stayed from Monday to Thursday, leaving late on Thursday evening, and saw a lot of things, such as a concentration camp. As a consequence of being in Prague, I missed the summer Cell Social, which was on Thursday. On Friday, which I thankfully did not miss, was the Dinner and Dance for year 11s (this post really is full of spoilers for the year 11s...)

We also had another dog to stay, a miniature Schnauzer named Hector. He's a regular visitor. The reason for having so many dogs on holiday is because my mum and dad are part of the Barking Mad programme, where dogs are shipped off to people who own dogs for a little holiday. We host dogs, and occasionally send Pippin on holiday. All of the dogs we've hosted except Ginny (and Tessa) have been on Barking Mad holidays.

The carnival was the day after the Dinner and Dance. I helped set up. Throughout the first 2 weeks, I also looked after a neighbour's cat while they were away. On the 28th of July, some family friends got married; Sarah Haggie and Harry Hogan.

I used this photo in my first post!!

August:

In August, I went to the Keswick convention. Technically, it started at the end of July, but we wanted to go to Sarah's wedding. Also, if I add more to the July section, it will become an essay. The Keswick convention was a Christian occasion where people congregated to sing songs and worship Jesus. On the final day I went on a walk up a hill that was so tall it was nearly a mountain. It was very fun.

On the way south from Keswick, we went to visit family, on Mummy's side and on Daddy's side.
I got my GCSE results in August, and I did very well. This was the day before Soul Survivor.
Soul Survivor was very fun. I enjoyed the main meetings and the seminars, and I really felt God speaking through me.

I also started my blog!

I used the black and white photo for purposes of dramatic effect, even though this is from a later post.

September:
September meant the start of term, as well as Sixth Form! Sixth-Form has been very enjoyable; as I summarised recently, pleasantly challenging. A lot of what happened in September is detailed in previous posts; in spite of that, I will do a quick run-through: Won the Marilyn Award, had Granny staying at the same time. Tessa stayed behind for a short holiday. Went to Sixth Form social, dressed as Ron Weasley.

Reprise of the outfit!

 In Muggle clothes. Got English Literature re-marked, going up by 2 grades. Hector came to stay again.

October:
In October, Daddy went to Bangui for work. When he got back, he started bass guitar lessons. I also got my new, hi-tech transmitter.

October had the first Cell Celebration of the academic year; I described it a while ago, as a special church service for anyone, regardless of age or religion. October also had the second Sixth Form social. Which I missed because my family was visiting friends.

Much of the end of October was half-term. I was in Wales, staying with the Salters. It was very fun. And one last thing: my uncle Will and aunt Helen had their second child, Huw.

Group photo!

November:

November was a very important month, mainly because both my birthday and my dad's birthday fall during November. I also had several trips, both school-related and not school-related. One such trip was a Frankenstein study day in Oxford, on the first day of November. Another was the Freedog trampoline trip, which was a Pathfinders trip. 

A very nice place to celebrate birthdays!

I had my birthday party at Cosmo's, a buffet-style restaurant.

Later in November, two days before my dad's birthday, was the Sixth Form open evening, where year 11s came looking round displays, to see which subjects they liked the look of. I saw many familiar faces.

Another thing that happened in November was that someone I knew died in a road accident. I wasn't particularly close to him, but he was a good person. He was loyal and passionate about what he believed in.  I just wanted to mention it; the incident was a pretty major part of November. He will always be remembered by his friends and family, and by me.

December:
December: the gradual slide into Christmas. There were many Christmas-related activities, such as carol services and Christingle services and advent calendars. On a less Christmassy note, the year 11s had mock exams. And I had a very nasty bug which resulted in me feeling poorly nearly the entire time mock exams were on. Luckily, they weren't mine to do!

I also cashed in on my birthday present from my godmother Alice, a cinema voucher to go and watch a movie. Alice and I went to see Mortal Engines; I quite enjoyed it, though there were several deviations from the book.

There was also the third Sixth Form social of the year; I opted out, choosing instead to go to the final Pathfinders of 2018. The other St Leonard's Youth event of December was the Cell Christmas Social, involving dressing up in smart clothes, eating pizza and playing games.

The Christmas holidays were fun. We went to stay with Granny over Christmas. We went walking on Boxing Day on Dartmoor, with Granny and her sisters, great-aunt Jenny and great-aunt Sally, and their dogs, Pippa and Marvin. Pippa is a spaniel and Marvin is a Jack Russell terrier, and as I commented to Jenny, the bossiest being, human or animal, I have ever met. He's very pleasant, though.

Pippa, during a rare moment of staying still.

We went home the day after Boxing Day, then the day after that, uncle Will, aunt Helen and Neve and Huw arrived for the weekend. Granny and Tessa then turned up for the weekend on Saturday. The house by that point was so cramped that Granny and Tessa slept in Nana's old house.

Neve and Tessa, in the hallway. You can see Granny's legs and Uncle Will's foot.

On the 31st of December 2018, me, my sister and my mum and dad went to some friends for a New Year party. Then I left early, because I was tired.

2018 has been busy. I think that I would mostly describe it as a sad year because when it came into being, I was going through a rough time in my life; I was being quite badly bullied. I did experience happiness during the spring and summer, but autumn and winter have been full of unpleasant, uncomfortable or plain painful surprises. But I think 2019 will be a happier year.

Wise words from Dumbledore. 

New Year Resolutions:

Work harder and more conscientiously.

Be less pessimistic about friendships.

Make the most of the time I have with my friends.

Always see the positive side of things.

(These are resolutions for me, but feel free to adopt them yourselves!)