Ten things to be grateful for:

1. It’s Friday. Yay for a weekend of parties, cocktails and movies ahead!

2. Cambridge. It is only beginning to sink in how damn cool that is. I’m also looking forward to living somewhere that’s terribly handy to Europe. (Side trips!)

3. My grandfather’s pocket watch should be ready to pick up soon, then I just need to pick out a chain. It’s not actually that old, and has cost heaps to repair, but a family heirloom has to start somewhere.

4. Friends. It has been a difficult week and people have been fabulous.

5. My toasty little new nine-fin oil heater. In a week of wet Melbourne weather and a house with no drier, I’ve dried my diminishing supply of underwear, shirts and towels on it while making phone calls. Kiddies, do not attempt this without close supervision, it’s how houses burn down.

6. I get to plan a holiday! I’ve set 29 August as my last day of work, giving me a month to tidy up, see family, take a short holiday and ship my body to England by October.

7. Crime novels and comics. Sometimes you need reading matter from a universe without emotional complications.

8. My silly damn dry-cough virus is almost gone. Still worried about an English winter and my cold-magnet powers. I’ll clearly be sick as a dog for at least a few days.

9. I’ve been offered a place at Edinburgh! I won’t be going, but it’s nice to be wanted. (Their brochures are very attractive.)

10. I finally get to see X-men 2 tonight. Hurrah!

Small life admin and anxiety matters:

1. I’ve been rejected by my first-choice college. This is, apparently, not unusual. But your university place can’t be confirmed until a college also accepts you. My second-choice college has not yet responded to my e-mail. Getting panicky, but it seems I may have useful contacts …

2. There’s a lot of administrative bumph to get through in terms of university admission and visa stuff. Nothing I can’t handle, I just keep getting jittery if I think too far ahead.

3. I’m beginning to resent work travel. It’s stupid to complain, but it’s disruptive and tiring. I’m in Sydney next week, and despite looking forward to catching up with friends, I enjoy the travel more when it’s outside the predictable Sydney-Canberra-Melbourne axis.

4. I have that holiday to plan, it’s just a question of finding time to think it through clearly. But I may need to book my flight soon to get a deal. Need to call the Scholarship’s approved travel agent.

5. I need to resign from the corporate firm I am on extended leave from. They won’t extend my leave again, and frankly, I don’t want to go back to having my life sucked out to increase partner profit-share, regardless of the pay. However, I’m nervous about resigning before I have the Scholarship’s funding letter in my hand. (No it hasn’t arrived. The paperwork has to go Sydney – London, London – Canberra, Canberra – Sydney, Sydney – Melbourne for that to happen. I then have to send it to Cambridge. Don’t ask.)