Somerset, Sackcloth and Shopping

Here I am, once again, posting a Blog on College Quiet Day. Actually I think it's quite a good thing to do because it's reflective.

So we've just had half-term weekend - Friday 1pm to Monday 3.30pm for me, as my weekend was bookended by a lecture in Oxford and a placement meeting. Still, it was enough time to get to the Westcountry and back. Driving down the M5 an extraodinary thought bestruck me, and it is as follows: I am getting a little bit homesick.

Now before you come rushing up to Oxford with a box of Kleenex, worry ye not, I'm not talking the full-on-bawling-in-the-middle-of-the-night-wish-i-could-come-home kind of homesickness. I'll be just fine in Oxford for now. But as the land flattened out and the willow trees began to appear, the place names on the signs becoming familiar, and I realised I was in my favourite place.

The reason this is such a great revelation for me is that, ever since I chose Exeter as my University (Exeter being but a mere 44 miles from the house in which I had lived all my life) and then, in 2009, taking the plunge and buying a house in Devon, I always wondered if I wasn't being particularly adventurous. I mean, living in the same part of the UK all your life, why would you want to do that when there's a world out there, or at least other bits of the UK to explore? But, actually, I don't feel that way any more. So my revelation of the week is thus - if I live in the Westcountry for the rest of my life I really don't mind, as it seems to be where I belong. Fortunately, Paul agrees.

Maybe this philosophical turn has been brought about by my impending parenthood. Talking of which, we have been baby shopping. Mum, Paul and I spent a pleasant few hours on Saturday buying what seems to be about a million sets of clothes (which, Mum informs me, is about a day's wear for the average baby) and checking out buggies. My absolute favourite purchase has got to be these lemon yellow bodysuits from Mothercare - awwww they have giraffes and elephants on them!!!

On our return to Oxford Paul and I continued to mull over the buggy issue. Who would have thought there are so many different types of buggy? It's like buying a car! Anyway, we have settled on one and ordered it. Should take 4 or 5 weeks to come.

So we're into reading week and College Quiet Day. It's Ash Wednesday so really I should be writing a meditation on that, whereas I've blabbered on about Somerset and lemon yellow bodysuits instead. Well, maybe I'll post a reflection on Lent a bit later. For now, I'm off to maintain radio silence once again. Shhh!