So, what have I been up to since I last blogged... Well, work has been pretty hectic. There always seem to be lots of meetings to go to in July - the sort that are national meetings held once or twice a year. They're usually very interesting, and it's fun to go to places (when I can get to them easily on trains so I don't worry too much!).

Yesterday I went to Northampton for a meeting in the morning (got a lift with someone) and then on to a pub for lunch and a site visit wandering around Stanford Hall. The site visit was fascinating though we were very wet by the end of it! We were looking at all the bits of parkland that are being done up as part of a Higher Level Stewardship farm scheme. And we almost got trampled by horses, which was exciting.

We finally managed to get our Mini fixed - took it to another garage and they did it within a few days (we were waiting weeks for Ansa to do it, kind of got fed up with them - we only have one car so it was very inconvenient having it off the road). It was only the clutch in the end, not the flywheel, but it still cost £509. (D'oh!) At least now we can sell a working car to John! I will miss that car, I am very fond of Minis. Even if they are new BMW Minis. :)

The British GP was exciting, in the end the Brits did well (Hamilton was second and Button came from 14th up to 4th, impressively), and Mark Webber won (hooray!). I wished I was there. It's so expensive though, I haven't been for years. Maybe I will go again at some point. Hmm...

We bought a new hamster cage. I went a bit mad buying stuff online. We've needed a few things for a while now and hadn't gotten round to ordering them, like a mattress. And I figured we should finally get a summer duvet, which is a bit late considering we've had a lot of hot weather so it'll probably keep raining now for the rest of the year! (This is exciting, isn't it?) Keep buying stuff via this Top CashBack website. It's a good deal, I'm making some money back (woo!).

My brother John's coming tonight, travelling up from Southend. We're all going on holiday together soon. The idea was that if he came up on the train he could go home in his new Mini. And then we'll be without a car for a few days until we can have our new Fiat 500. Oooh.

Anyway, that's about it. :)