So it's just the two of us again. To be honest last week wasn't the best of family visits I've had. My grandfather had had some surgery and even though he was doing fine my grandmother was worried sick all the time. I suppose (I hope) that was why she seemed so unimpressed by everything. She had come to visit us from her own free will, yet made it very clear she hoped she hadn't.

Me and my mother ended up having a big row one night, but it blew over and we made up and were ok afterwards, whereas my mother and her mother were arguing most of the week. It's all to do with parts of my family going insane and everyone falling out recently, into which we don't have to go in more detail.

But me and Jim have had a happy two days after they've gone. On Sunday morning we took them to their bus, and afterwards I experienced a moment of pure happiness. It was a cold and windy morning and we'd gone to have breakfast in Subway (nowhere else was open, honest) and were munching breadrolls and scalding our tongues with the coffee and no other people seemed to be up and about yet and it was just perfect.

Yesterday we went to buy a computer. Now before we could, we had to get Jim's check cashed, so into the bank we went, only to be told that the only way we could cash it was to go to the branch that it was written from. Jim's boss lives in Hometown, so it is a mystery to me why he uses a bank in a little town far away, but there you go. We didn't have anything else to do, I suppose, or Jim just really wanted that computer, so we bought some snacks and tickets and away we went in a cute little train fit for a museum.

It was about an hour and a half's journey one way, through the countryside and lovely views. The tiny town itself was very quaint and pictoresque and all those kinds of things. We cashed the check in the tiny bank, walked about, had lunch in a tiny restaurant.

And yes, we did buy the computer. Apparently it's a very nice one that ought to run Sims 2 nice and fine with everything set to the highest quality. It's also £200 cheaper than I thought and £100 cheaper than what we hoped for. The only drawback is that we don't actually have it yet, as it's a custom job and takes some days for them to get together...

Oh, and we're still not smoking, although these couple of days it's been almost too difficult.

before & after