Dissertation

My dissertation was due yesterday. Of course, as always happens, technology failed at the last minute.

My printer stopped working with two sections (of eight) left to print. I thought it would be a simple turn off, turn on kind of fix. Apparently not. When I'd rebooted my computer, the printer drives were sumehow uninstalled.

So I thought I'd save the documents to memory stick and take it to uni to print. Apparently not. I couldn't get the memory stick to accept the files. 'Error' came up every time I tried to print or save.

I could still email, so I got the files emailed as attachments, and headed over to the music department. Unfortunately, the only person on in reception was a temp, who wouldn't let me print the documents.

I headed over to the library, where there is a print shop and bindery. I asked if it was possible for them to print the documents from email attachments. 'Sure. Just email them to print services.' So I sat at the computer and sent off the emails.

Then I overheard the staff member tell another student that the print shop had closed and would not be printing again until Monday at 11am.

I was getting a little stressy by this time, as the clock was ticking.

However, there is a computer cluster in the library. I went an asked the staff there if it was possible to print from email attachments. 'Yes, if you've got a university email account.'

Fortunately I'd used my uni account. I logged onto a computer, opened my account, opened the document and clicked on print. Nothing. I clicked again. Hmmm.

I found the printer bank, and there were two printers amost finished my 40 page document! Luckily I needed two copies. I went back to the computer and sent the other doument twice, logged off and collected the copies. And I didn't have to pay as apparently every student gets a £5 print credit. That information would have been kinda useful earlier...

Back down to the bindery. Put all the documents together (I hope in the correct order) and submit for binding. Receive the bound copies. Get back over to the music department. Time and date stamp the work, and submit. Right on the deadline.

And today I found out that one of my housemates (in another department) has applied for a three month extention, received a two month extention, and NOT been penalised.

No points for doing the right thing hey?!

However, it's in and I can get on with final preparations for my recital.

And pack.

Yorkshire

Last weekend I went with friends to the Whitby Folk Festival on the Yorkshire coast. To get there we drove over The Moors. I had pictures of Jane Eyre (who's aunt Mrs Reid came from Gateshead- across the river from Newcastle incidently) and Tony's health warnings ringing in my head 'Stay off the Moors...'! They are beautiful and bleak.

Whitby is a pretty little seaside town.

There's a replica of the Endeavour in the harbour/ river, because James Cook was born in Whitby. There are also lots of Goths because Dracula arrived from Transalvania at Whitby. It's also the home of beautiful Whitby jet. (I didn't just spend my time having fun, making new friends and playing music!)

On Sunday I performed at a festival concert featuring tutors (including Vic Gammon, Sandra Kerr and Alastair Anderson) and students from Newcastle University. I did a solo, some duos with Vic and a song with Vic and Sandra. It all went well and was very enjoyable.

I couldn't stay for the week as I had to get back to Newcastle to finish my dissertation. Maybe next year...

I did have a lovely trip back in the train, looking across to the Moors again. Apparently it was a 'direct' train. However, when we stopped at the first station, exectly 2 minutes from Whitby, I realised that perhaps my understanding of 'direct' was somewhat different from Northern Rail's!

Graham's Visit

And yet another Australian visitor! Graham came to Newcastle during his recent trip. It was an absolutely gorgeous day so we went to the Coast. We got the Metro to Whitley Bay and then walked to Tynemouth and visited the castle and priory ruins. It was lovely to be out, in the sun, walking on the beach (ok, we didn't take our shoes off). I even got a pink nose from the sun - oops! It was also great to catch up with someone who's known me for more than 11 months!

The first picture is me at Whitley Bay. Note the short sleeved shirt!!!!

This second picture is of the castle ruins at Tynemouth.

Cloudstreet

Cloudstreet came to South Shields folk club again, and once again I got to play with them. Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera though :(
It was a great night, with a nice little session to begin, Rebecca (Aussie cellist touring with Cloudstreet) and I doing floorspots (we were the only two floorspots who didn't reference Australia!), and fun musick making.
And it was lovely to catch up with fellow Aussies!

Another Heartbreak Play

So impressed were we with Heartbreak Theatre's A Midsummer Night's Dream, that Meava, her boyfriend Luke and I decided to see another play. This one was an all male cast performing Henry V, in Jesmond Dene, a picturesque valley garden about a half hour walk north-west of Newcastle city centre. We'd had a couple of gorgeous, hot (25 degrees!) and sunny summer days so Maeva and Luke were in very light clothes. I was in jeans and a longsleeve t-shirt. They both laughed at my overnight-sized bag, in which I'd packed 2 jumpers, my coat and a throw-rug, but I've found the English weather to be quite changable and it was, once again, an outdoor performance. By the time we got to the Dene the temperature had dropped and the audience were sitting there in their coats.And halfway through the play the fog rolled in! So we did need all the cold weather gear after all!

The play was great. They had set it as a sixth form (year 12) preoduction in honour of a deceased former pupil. They wore school uniforms and added relevant prop costumes to represent all the different characters. Once again, it was a small cast (of six) playing all the roles. They particularly hammed up the female and French roles. But the St Crispian's Day speech was beautifully tragic. The only thing missing was Patrick Doyle's heartbreaking soundtrack. My photos of the evening were all disappointingly blurry: I may have been shivering too much to hold the camera still! But this one gives a flavour...

I've got a cellist!

There was a bit of an ongoing saga with cellists for a while. However, I've found a great one (Lucy) who plays with Methera, an amazing folk string quartet who I saw play in Durham in May. I went down to her place for a rehearsal. She lives near in a gorgeous village about 2 hours away. We spent a great afternoon rehearsing. I'm really looking forward to the recital now.

The train on the way back to Newcastle was delayed an hour due to an 'incident on the track'.

While we were waiting to pull into Newcastle Station I took a photo of the Tyne and its bridges. They are the rail bridge (that I'm on in the train), the Metro bridge with a Metro train on it (local train system (don't say the 't' if you want to sound Gorgie!)), the High Level bridge (which is being upgraded and will be open again in 2 years), the Swing bridge ( a low level bridge that opens to let ships through), a bridge that has a similar design to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, but much smaller, and the Millenium Bridge (a pedestrian bridge tha 'tilts' to let ships under. This photo is looking out to the east, towards the Coast. You can just see (almost) the silvery arched roof of The Sage on the right bank, (where I'll be doing my recital).

Apologies

I've heard that a few people were concerned that I hadn't written anything on the blog for a while, especially with the last entry being about not doing well with the food test. I'm really sorry. I'm actually very well, I've just been busy with assessment taks.

However, I have managed to have a few outings during the summer (which finally arrived!).

There were a couple of birthdays in June. We had an outing to a Spannish restaurant for Maeva's birthday, which was lovely. And then she had a dessert party here in the dodgey kitchen. (We're all looking forward to returning to decent kitchens in our respective countries.)

Mareika organised an entire weekend of events for her birthday. While I didn't join the fun at the horse races, I did go to the play.

Heartbreak theatre are a travelling group doing a variety of plays in outdoor settings. We went to a local castle (as you do) to see A Midsummer Night's Dream. There were only 7 cast members, who between them played all the parts. They were fantastic. We were really lucky - it didn't rain on our picnic or the play, although it was REALLY cold. We were all huddled in coats and blankets. However, it was a really great night, despite the cold.