Nephew is gone. Bah. He was trouble, but I really liked having him around.

Now I must face the fact that my thesis is waiting, my work is waiting, we still only have £247 in the back for the ENTIRE MONTH OF MARCH, while our bills total more than £600 (without buying ANYTHING except food). Sigh. However, we will survive – money from the new tenant will come soon, and while it won’t be enough, it will help.

Meanwhile, humiliating choices remain. Like how to go and welcome an old friend back when he wants to go out to a bar and no doubt everyone will split the tab and it will come to £25 or £30 each, times two, thus one fifth of our total bank account. Do we not go, leave early, drink only water (making what excuse?) etc.

Oops, good TV on. Must go.

Hi all

A nice day today making elf scenery with nephew. That is to say, he proposed fatastical treehouses and I got on with the business of taping some toilet paper innards together to form the core of a watchtower. He’s rotten at actually making stuff. Now both of us are doing homework. His is logarithms, mine is writing a lecture for research methods into media production. He’s sulking, I’m avoiding. I wonder if in fact I’m any older than 14. Good news is that Dr M’s salary arrived today, along with money from an old client that I’d about given up on. So we are temporarily solvent. V good, as Bridget Jones might say. Dr M returns from Stockholm tomorrow, also good.

Hey you guys, this is my first journal entry. Why I’m doing it I can’t say, everyone else seems to be, isn’t that a good enough reason?

This week has been a week of financial worry and woe. Dr M and I have only £200 in our bank account, and the tenants whom we depend upon to supplement our income are moving out. They are very nice. But the tenant we’ve found to replace them, while presumably having the same spending power, is b*****y and demanding. No doubt she will call us every week and make us cry. But we need the money.

My nephew is also visiting, and so in other respects it’s been good. For example, I’ve been ice skating. And I’ve once again used the righteous (if narrow-minded) forces of Bretonnia to crush his puny elves in Warhammer Fantasy Battle. Fear me, for none can stand against me.

However, this has meant putting a hold on my thesis, which is terrifying for its own reasons. I’ve seen other people finish, so I know it can be done. But I’m not sure if I believe it can happen to me.