Bound for Kent



The acceptance has been sent, the airline tickets have been purchased and I've booked a B&B in London for this September.  But this isn't about me, The Heiress will be studying Criminology at the University of Kent in Canterbury!

Ever since a mother/daughter trip to London when she was sixteen, The Heiress has dreamt of studying overseas.  Her love affair with England began as a toddler, cuddled up on the sofa with me watching Jane Austen films.  When she was 6 years-old I had to do her hair just the way Emma Thompson wore hers as Elinor in Sense and Sensibility.  The interest in criminology began while taking classes in deviance during her Sociology degree and the very mention of such things as terrorism or youth violence make her eyes light up.  Where The Heiress will end up is anyone's guess but the journey is sure to be an interesting and hopefully, fulfilling one. 

So in September, we will fly to London for a couple of days and then board a train for Canterbury.  Once she's settled and my bank account has been nearly wiped out at the university bookshop I'll return to London to see some sights.  A visit to Cath Kidston for a cheery new bag with a new Persephone title tucked inside should console me during the lonely flight back home.

Required Reading

For those of you who may be interested, I'm including the required reading for The Heiress' fourth year English class, Narratives of an Empire in first term.  There were a couple which I had never heard of but they all sound intriguing.

Oroonoko - Aphra Behn
She:  A History of Adventure - Henry Rider Haggard
Kim - Rudyard Kipling
Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe
Translation of the Letters of a Hindoo Rajah - Elizabeth Hamilton

Back to School

The Heiress is pretty much packed up and ready to head back to university.  I can tell she's pretty excited about it because she did her own laundry a couple of days ago.  You know, like when you're going on a trip and you're so anxious to do just about anything that will make it feel as though you'll be on your way a bit sooner.  A suitcase, a granny cart, two bags of foodstuff and a box of bath and body supplies are waiting to be hauled downstairs for the trip out.  Handing over my bank card and the keys to the van so she could go shopping for a few bits and bobs were one of my last maternal duties of the summer.  I guess I'm feeling a bit sad that she's leaving because the amount I told her she could spend went up a few times before she raced out to pick up her friend.

This is the fourth year of her Hons. BA in Sociology with a minor in English Lit., then she hopes to pursue a MA in Criminology.  I'll wait with anticipation for the anecdotes of how 'time outs' on the bottom stair and other disciplines could easily have turned her into a serial killer.

I plan on using the tactic I've used for the past three years to avoid any tears or upset when we drop her off at school.  I casually mention that now her father and I can go back to playing Batman and Catwoman with the house to ourselves.  Works like a charm every time.  Yeah, I'm prepared to hear how that scarred her for life as well.