Monday
After my piano lesson this morning, I started a new Massolit course (again with Paul Cartledge) on the Persian Wars, something that I’ve been studying a lot recently. I added my notes from that onto my summary of the Persian Wars, which you can read here.
In the afternoon, I read the next couple of chapters of Frankenstein. I’m really quite enjoying the book now, and I can spot a load of themes and foreshadowing going on it! My new favourite thing to do is sitting up on my bunk bed amid swarms of blankets and cushions with a cup of tea and a bowl of snacks, reading Mary Shelley with classical music playing in the background. 🤭
In the evening I went to the gym with Tilly, where I did a really difficult thirty-minute biking class before coming home to watch The X-Files with ice cream!!
Tuesday
In the morning, I read a good chunk of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. I noticed that it escalated very quickly from Victor Frankenstein being at university to him having a huge green monster in his house which was slightly confusing, but at least it got to the good bit quickly! 😂
spent this afternoon doing a ton of creative writing, my absolute favourite thing to do! I’m planning a story about serial killers (of course) so I’ve had to a lot of research on things like psychopathic behaviour, how you can tell what someone is thinking and when they’re distressed and when they’re lying, the chances of so-and-so happening and all this and it’s very fun! 😂
Wednesday
Today Tilly, William and I went out to St Albans for the day! It was so much fun and lovely weather too. We caught the train in at about half ten, went to Costa and had a look in Waterstones for a bit before lunch. We came across a shelf of the Very Short Introductions series and – with my crime story in my mind – I started reading a Very Short Introduction to Schizophrenia 😂
Then we went to Pret and got lunch before going to the cathedral and a pretty little park area nearby. It was absolutely beautiful in the cathedral and we got to take some lovely pictures of it inside and out.
After going to the cathedral, we milled around some of the other shops and the streets for a couple of hours. We then absolutely legged it for about ten minutes down to the train station to catch the closest train, but it was just pulling out of the station as we got there! So we had to sit around for half an hour waiting for the next one. When we got home, I watched some X-Files with Andy and started planning my book in a notepad I got today.
Thursday
Having recently finished reading Herodotus, it’s now time to move on to Thucydides, who wrote a History of the Peloponnesian War shortly after Herodotus wrote his Histories. I started today by researching Thucydides himself, and wrote a short biography of his life which you can read here. Tomorrow I’ll move on to actually reading his works.
In the afternoon, I did my instrument practice and read some Frankenstein. Then I spent a good while writing my book, which is really starting to come together. It’s about a psychopathic serial killer and two FBI agents who have to track him down – I know it’s quite a simple and maybe a little overused plot, but hopefully I can do something a bit different with this and make mine somehow unique!
Tilly and I had two really difficult and intense 30-minute biking classes in the evening. I’m writing this on Friday morning and I swear my legs are going to fall off.
Saturday
Today Tilly and I went out to St Albans! We didn’t get very many pictures but we were sure to take some of the delicious food we got at Pizza Express…
We both shared a calzone, some halloumi bite things and an enormous pizza! Then we mooched around the shops for a bit and went to Costa (my absolute favouritest place to be!) before heading home to watch some TV and skip dinner because of all that pizza. We also did some singing with Andy – we’ve discovered that I have a slightly deeper vocal range and Tilly has a higher one, so I’ve been singing Amy Winehouse and Nancy Sinatra, while Tilly likes to sing Tori Amos and the Rolling Stones and stuff.
Sunday
Today was Tilly’s eighteenth birthday!! I can’t believe she’s an adult already. My mum and Tilly went to pick up Nanny so we could all have a lovely family day together, and then we did even more singing all morning long. My mum made a delicious pea and mint soup which we had for lunch with homemade bread. Then we spent a good deal of the afternoon unwrapping presents (she got some wine which was amusing for us to see 😂) and watching Tilly’s favourite programme Father Ted!
In the evening, Tilly went with my mum to drop Nanny off again and Andy and I stayed at home to do singing and guitar playing. It was a lovely day and we all had loads of fun – we’re going to have an extended birthday party into Monday, so tomorrow will be spent celebrating too!
