Don't panic, Mr Mainwaring!

A title there that only my parents, my parent's generation, and the people of my generation whose parents showed them the glories of Dad's Army will get.

The reason that's my title is because the deadline for my year abroad project has suddenly appeared on the horizon, and rather than appearing on the horizon like a lost lamb it has appeared like the ravening hordes of Genghis Khan. I have written the vast majority of it, it's true, but I've been hamstrung at the last minute by the sin of not researching properly. Let me explain.

When writing an essay, what one ought to do is read 10-15 sources and amalgamate their content, referencing at all times - remember, if you copy from one person it's called 'plagiarism'. If you copy from everyone it's called 'research', and only one of those two is allowed. Now I work full time and struggle to find the energy to read 10 sources. However, one source is about enough for me, and so I had read some excellent research on one particular website and had gleefully written it into my essay, with a reference, because the university uses Turnitin and I'm not an idiot. However, for the look of the thing, I tried to find other sources to back up this one. Nothing.

This is a worrying occurrence when a full third of your essay is based on this particular point.

So I tried searching for the law in question and had plenty of hits, all of which were from news sites, and all of which had the word "abrogé" in them - "repealed".

Bloody cocking wank.

The law had been repealed before it had even been made a law. So there went a third of my essay, but it taught me a valuable lesson.

Just as I got that particular bombshell, my Monday student texted me and asked if she could move the lesson to tonight. When, I asked? About now came the reply.

Magnificent. In this day and age of instant connectivity and email programs where you can simply write "Hey, how about 7pm Monday?" and your calendar will freaking add it in automatically I still only get thirty minutes warning. Incredible. I'd put a load of washing on not ten minutes before, too, which meant I had to abandon it to sit in soggy dampness for two hours before I got back from the lesson.

Gross.

Still, I got back, I've shared innocent's mango and passion fruit smoothie with a Colombian, who says its as good as the ones he drinks at home (where he takes the fruit off the tree outside his window, the lucky man). High praise indeed.

This is what the carton looks like, so you can identify it when you next go shopping. There are six portions of fruit in each carton. Lovely. Plus, they promise never to cheat at Monopoly, and I'm willing to buy anything from a company that can make that sort of commitment.

innocent France. I love you like magnets love iron.

Sunday was brought to you today by innocent

If you've not tried innocent's fruit juices do it now. Right now. They are excellent. I've just drunk an entire bottle of orange juice. That stuff is amazing.

Sunday didn't start off so well; I woke up to pouring rain and on my run discovered that my shoes aren't as waterproof as they once were. They've also got more holes than I'm really comfortable with, the number of which is one. The one I insert my foot into. As a result, I've got to head to town tomorrow and buy some new shoes, and I'm feeling Kalenjis - they've got great reviews and they're less than 20€.  Absolute steal.

I met my two new students today, Clémence and Louis. Clémence watches a lot - a lot - of American programming, and this in tandem with her studies means she speaks excellent English. Her brother, Louis, is a little unsure of himself, but needn't be. The only problem with them is the more complicated English; it's hard to structure lessons around the little corners of their ignorance that still need illumination. I'm excited by the challenge though; coming up against barriers is useful because if I don't know where the problems are I can't work through them.

I'm writing this listening to Animal Farm on the BBC; it's absolutely brilliant and, since it's on the radio, available throughout the world. Those students of mine who read this blog should listen to it, especially if they have access to the book as well. If you can't see what Orwell meant by it, if the metaphor is not clear within ten minutes, then ask. But I suspect you will work it out.

My line learning is getting there; I've got most of the lines down, it's just stringing them together that's proving to be a little tricky. One more push this evening and I should be settled.

Helped a friend out with some Economics and it made me realise how much I miss it, although hearing that Clémence also studies Russian has made me want to take that up too. There are simply not enough free hours in the day. I need more time!

Unfortunately, a friend posted a clip on Facebook from 30 Rock, and now I'm doing nothing but wanting to be Alex Baldwin, and take up acting.

Dorian Gray was a full. He was young for years and wasted it on hedonism and opulence. If I could live forever...

Do I know any good painters? No reason...