John & Judith's wedding day

It has dawned bright and cool. I can see the faint remnants of a fiery red sunrise out the window towards the east. Here's hoping it will be a gorgeous day. John rang last night and he sounded a wee bit nervous, but he says he's very happy. Judith is lovely. Since we've met her we've realised John has made a good decision. Up till then we were wondering how a month together then two years apart whilst engaged was going to go... But Judith is sensible, and they have lived together for 6 months now. I think they know what they're doing. They've got as much chance as anybody making this committment. And they look happy together.

Mike & Karen (Mum met them in Dunedin in Forth St - Mike is a PhD student in maths, and Karen is an accountant - Mum quizzed Mike on how he sees rubbish bins as volumes and curves - but he doesn't recall that - fortunately!) have arrived in London after touring Europe. Mike is John's best man. They stayed here in our flat from last Sunday, to yesterday morning. Then they had to be in Cranfield (Judith's parent's house) for wedding rehearsals last night. It's been really nice to catch up with them. They are still living in Hobart- they may have started calling tax certificates 'Group Certificates' (they are called IR12's in NZ), but they haven't started called duvets 'doonas' yet. They'll probabaly be there at least another year. Bit of a shame we didn't visit them while they lived there.

Last Friday I chopped my hair off. I was standing in the tube at the start of the week and thought 'That's it!. I went to a hairdresser's on Friday and wavered ever so slightly when she asked what I wanted (after 5 years of saying 'Just a trim, thanks' it was almost an automatic reflex) but said I wanted a change. So, I have a bob - jaw length... Of course, my hair insists on curling funny at the ends; I have to blow dry it to death to get it to stay vaguely respectable. I'll send a photo if I find a decent one.

We've booked our train tickets to Edinburgh for Christmas, then back here on Sunday night. Then, up again on Wednesday night (New Years) and back again on Sunday night. The English don't get the day after Hogmanay off at all. So, I've asked for a day off to join the Scots in celebrating the New Year. The train will get us to Edinburgh at 9pm on New Years Eve, so it had better not be late for the festivities!