This past few days has been a whirlwind of activity for me with much juggling of balls in order to be in three places at once.

SUNDAY

It all started on Sunday with the long awaited and much anticipated trip to you know where . . . IKEA!!! YAY it is open and operating in Belfast now and I wanted to get down there before the newness wore off on it all.

I dragged Iain and the children along and we had great fun trying to get in to the place! There were 5000 traffic marshals for every customer and they all seemed to want to marshal us (with their PSNI style red-batoned-maglights) to the EXIT! We went round the car park system a number of times before realising they hadn't asked us where we wanted to go. Iain grumped about this but as far as I was concerned, I was so happy to be there nothing was going to spoil the day. Not even the girl who flailed her arm up and down to show us the route she wanted us to take - not realising she needed to keep both feet in the same position for it to mean anything to us - at one point she would have had us doing a 360 degree spin but hey - she had a hi-vis jacket on and a torch so she didn't care!

Once inside we listened to the children saying "Canwegototheballpit Canwegototheballpit Canwegototheballpit Canwegototheballpit Canwegototheballpit?" about a billion times but we soldiered on around the building which. is. huge.

It is, in fact, the largest Ikea in the UK so nah nah nah nah nah.

At one point we were going against the flow and we felt a little like salmon trying to get upstream.

We spent a couple of leisurely hours there, treating the kids to food at one point and only leaving the building when they threatened to throw us out. Due to *opening specials* we fed a family of four for £9.80. It is a loooooooong time since we did that! Between us we had 5632 meatballs, the fish dish and a couple of *absolutely delicious* chocolate muffins which were a sensible size. Have you ever noticed how big they make chocolate muffins? Far too large for our kids to eat on their own but we could never persuade them to split one between them. . . In Ikea they have sensible sized chocolate muffins. And free refills of juice which we made use off too.

We only bought a couple of items and found ourselves in the queuing system where all the other queues were going faster than ours and we watched four people whizz past us in the checkout beside us before we had the wit to move queues. Even that failed to spoil my adventure. I laughed the whole way back to the car as Iain grumped some more.

Thumbs up for the new Ikea. The restaurant (which is now called "The Really Large Restaurant With The Wonderful View Of The Airport" in our house) failed to offer any wonderful views of the airport as night had fallen and it was extremely dark when we were eating. Nonetheless, this means we can entice the kids back with the PROMISE of wonderful views of the airport another time. . . . As every house in Northern Ireland has, or is due to, receive a copy of the Ikea catalogue I am happy to say I will be able to shop to my heart's content there from now on.

YAY.

MONDAY

The next adventure I had was a meal out with all my new best friends - a camera club I have recently been invited to join, just in time to attend the first meeting - the Christmas Dinner Perfect timing as always! (When I say *Camera Club* that is to simplify matters for myself. It is in fact NOT a camera club. It is a collective. Or a group of like-minded individuals and this shall be the last time you will see me referring to it as a Camera Club as I know Gordon has a habit of reading here now and then. . . . sorry. . .. wont happen again. . . )

We had mighty craic. I met a couple of new people and sat beside my mate Gordon and caught up on what he has been up to as well as watching everyone playing like eejits with their cameras. Amidst all that flashing I managed to drink quite a lot of wine and was happily tipsy at the end of the night.

TUESDAY

Today was spent in the company of Geraldine, one of the members of the above mentioned collective. We spent a while photographing the Belfast Docks area just for fun. For no reason other than to put in some time playing with settings and looking for photo opportunities. This is something I have sorely missed for a long time now - having always enjoyed doing it with an accomplice. It isn't something I fancy doing on my own. You would think I should have been hard at work finishing off various projects in work - but - I had a day off - sue me.

Geraldine is far more brazen than I am - she walked in to places that I wouldn't have gone and asked men (many men at that) if she could take their photo. I complained that I only ever get told to leave places and couldn't understand how she was getting away with it. We moved from one area to another and the first thing that happened was I was approached by a security guard and asked to see what I was doing. .. . . bloody hell.

By the time the cold got too much for us we decided to head in to Belfast and have lunch in The John Hewitt - never been there before - the food was delicious but they serve Pepsi :O

We trudged in to Belfast Exposed to add to our collection of exhibitions-under-our-belts and then took far too many photos of the City Hall and The Big Wheel.

What a wonderful invention the Big Wheel was. I have never seen so many people taking photos in Belfast as I did today. The Wheel has "single-handedly" opened up street photography to the masses in Belfast. There were LOADS of people with compacts and camera-phones and slrs standing around taking shots of the Wheel. There must be millions of them winging their way around the world now. . . And the feckers kept getting in my way. Didn't they know who I was?

We spent a wee while in the Christmas Markets before it was time to head home for the day. I overheard someone say today was the last day of the Market so when we picked up Jessica from the child minder's, Iain and I took her down to the Belfast again. David was at a concert singing and wasn't to be picked up until 9.30pm.

We walked round the Market and I am so happy to say that Jessica WANTED a camera in her hand, she saw some great shots and got annoyed when the camera didn't do what she wanted it to (it doesn't like night shots). I think I may have a photographer in the making there. . . .

This was a very long day for everyone. But I think it was enjoyable for us all. Jessica enjoyed the time with us on our own and loved having the compact camera all to herself. David enjoyed the day and night of singing with 5000 other children. (NO! THAT one wasn't an exaggeration! There WERE 5000 of them!) Iain? Hummmmm - He got to go to work all day - YAY!

I had one of the best days I have had for a long time. Nothing to do only take photographs, no agenda, no pressure to be anywhere, no project to have to shoot for, no clients to shoot . . . etc etc etc. It was super. And the company wasn't bad either.

And then there is Christmas in a week. yay

Tags: Christmas

Yesterday was the final hand in day in college. We have been there for three years now. It is kinda sad but also a massive relief.

It is hard to think about not being with these people again but there are a couple I will more than likely stay in touch with. Love them or hate them - they have become "family" in that time. I will miss the support and craic of the tutors terribly too.

I can safely say that doing that course changed my life. I am a completely different person to the one who sat in the Lecture Theatre on the first day back in September 2004, nervous and hating every second and wondering if there was any way I could quietly slip out without causing a fuss.

It's a massive relief because I have put my life on hold over the past two months in order to get this last project done. It has eclipsed my family life and my work life - I have done no proper work for ages which, obviously isn't helping to pay the bills and the children are also voicing relief that tonight will be the last night of it all. Of course we have gained the Bailey Dog in that time so I have been a lot more physically active with the children, going for loads of walks with them but they are fed up hearing that I am busy and need to work at the laptop every time they look at me. I have promised that there will be a break from that for a while.

Tonight sees the culmination of all that work. We are having an opening night at a local gallery of ALL the students' work from both the 2nd Year Full Time and our 3rd Year Part Time courses. It will be exciting to see everyone's work finally up on the walls. Judging by what I saw when I called over to the gallery yesterday some of the photography is top notch and I'm in good company.

Lots of people I know are coming to the exhibition and I am really looking forward to seeing them all. Jessica is being allowed to stay up past her bed time in order to visit - the children are mighty excited about going!

So, all in all, yesterday was a great hand in day - full of highs and then a few high-ers!

I was finally sitting down to some tea last night just about nine when I got a text photo from my brother - I AM AN AUNTY!!!! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY

Anne had a HOME BIRTH and produced a whopping 8lb 9oz baby girl - as yet un-named - will update when that changes - but I understand about not having names ready. It took us three weeks to name our David. Jessica I THINK was longer! You have to live with a baby to see what they are - you can't just slap any old name on them!

I had a quick phone call with the proud father this morning getting all the details out of him. I have to say that MIDWIVES RULE. I think that midwives are the most important people in the world and also the most undervalued! It sounds like both David and Anne gained so much from the home birth and that the midwives they had all to themselves were an integral part of that experience.

The 29th May seems to have been a good day for everyone then!

Tags: baby, HND, Final Hand In