We've had a bit of a frantic week, or at least I have... my feet don't seem to have hit the ground for more than 5 minutes.
On Monday evening, after work I went out to visit P who is recovering from nasty surgery - at home at last, around 30 miles away. It's good to see her getting back to more like her old self each time I visit, they're all excited as L is about to graduate with an HNC for her beautiful work with stained glass. P is going to make it to the ceremony which is great. When I got home, it was time to gather lots of bits and pieces from India and make sure I was happy with the talk I was giving on Tuesday...
On Tuesday evening, I was giving a talk about the work of my project in India  to Christ Church Mothers Union, which seemed to go well. Thanks for inviting me folks, I never have difficulty talking on that subject!
At 8.45am on Thursday morning, I had an interview at my school for a DHT post which was more than a little stressful and lasted for around an hour and a quarter plus 30 minutes to prepare a written response to deliver on a topic which I then had to deliver and answer questions on. I wasn't out until 10.40 and felt like I'd run a marathon although I was mostly happy with what I had said. I didn't think of too many things that I had missed and managed not to dry up either. I applied for the post in March when I was in India which seems a very long time ago.
Thursday evening, A and I had to take our lovely old puss to the vet at the end of her life, very sad and a bit of a weepy time. We took ourselves off shopping in the new centre at Livingston which is quite a building to try to cheer ourselves up... a girl after my own heart! Didn't manage to do much shopping though as we were a wee bit distracted. We rewarded ourselves with a fish supper between us which was naughty but nice!

Pandy enjoying the sunshine!

Here's a pic of Pandy, who we have had since she was about 7 which is almost 10 years - like many things in our house, she came from the nearly new shop... or at least a notice in our local post office window. She was a Persian chinchilla of distinction, apparently with a pedigree although we never actually saw it. She was lovely and gentle, not least as she has had hardly any teeth for the last few years! We're going to miss her and I keep thinking I see her out of the corner of my eye as I move about the house. She's done well, having had kidney problems and a very expensive special diet for the last two years. I actually didn't think she'd still be here when I came back from India in May, so we can't really complain she went suddenly. It's always sudden when it actually happens though!
Friday was a little quieter thank goodness. I take my class out every Friday to a special Playground in Canonmills. It's full of equipment for kids with additional support needs, but is a safe yet challenging environment for them. As always we all had fun both staff and pupils, and the morning just flew by! On Friday afternoon I had every intention of going home to sleep but didn't actually manage to do so.
On Saturday I ran A back to uni, having managed to avoid buying a new cat quite yet! We were in my car, which is an 8 year old polo estate and fab except for the fact that in cold weather it starts to cut out - which can be a little alarming when you are half way past a car on the motorway. To cut a long story short it started to cut out again, so we've decided to buy a new car, or at least a 'new to us' car!
Sunday afternoon was spent looking for said new car, we've ended up with a very nice March 2006 Golf plus, apparently the plus means its a wee bit bigger than a standard Golf. I really wanted a Beetle, but I think to go from an estate to a saloon with hardly any boot might have been too big a change, still maybe next time! I'll just have to find myself a little 'stick on' vase to hold a flower in on the dashboard and pretend! I pick up the new car on Thursday so I'm looking forward to that. Being in India must have rubbed off on me as I haggled the price down by £500 and got my road-tax back from the old car to claim a refund for the 10 months which was still left on it.