independence?

This morning my dad left for a month to go gallivanting around overseas, in Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, and, quite possibly, Thailand. (My brother lives in Malaysia and a sister in Australia, the one who has just had a baby.) So I'm alone at home until he comes back on 18 December, unless some of my friends decide to stay for a few days. It was quite weird saying goodbye for a month. I've been thinking for a while that going flatting and getting more independence would be so cool, but I realised this morning that I've come to really rely on Dad's presence over the last while, now that Mum's gone. We're much closer, even though we get on each other's nerves just as often! So it's going to be very strange not having him round for a whole month. Also, he's left a huge long list of the things I need to do while he's away, in the garden (eg turning the hoses on every few days, mowing the lawns, tying back the tomatoes, clematis and sweet peas as they grow, etc), let alone the house. He advises I mow the lawns at least three times before he comes back... which, to me, doesn't seem feasible or likely. :)

It's only EIGHT SLEEPS until the U2 concert, as you may have noticed on the "U2 countdown" on the index of this page. I can't believe it's so close. I am so excited! I can't even try to express it! All I will say is, they had better not postpone it again!

Photos: I took these at a cafe I went to a few days ago. Obviously, the fish photo isn't exactly special, technically speaking, but it was just a cool fish.