The one catch regarding the research stipend is that whatever you don't spend before the 31st of July, you just don't get. As of 7 July, I still had £350 that needed spending. So last week I decided to take a spur-of-the-moment research trip down to the British Library in London. I went down on the train on Wednesday and stayed with my lovely friend Paula for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings (Thank you, Paula!). Saturday and Sunday evening were spent in a four-star hotel close to the Library and Kings Cross Rail Station (from which I would leave on Monday morning), courtesy of the University stipend!
Thursday, Friday and Saturday were spent pouring over 460 year-old books in the British Library (which is heaven on earth, by the way). As it turns out, my friend Ros was at the Library that Sunday. After a couple of text messages, I found out she was sitting in the same reading room! So we grabbed lunch together. I also managed to get dinner with another friend from St Andrews, Marianne. Marianne is a pastry chef at Jamie Oliver's restaurant 'Fifteen'. She brought me a pistachio macroon... and it was divine! On Sunday I went to my friend Pete's church in the morning. It was one of the most worshipful Sunday mornings I have had in a long time! I spent the rest of the day strolling about London. I went to the Victoria & Albert Museum for an exhibit of some of Grace Kelly's dresses, and had a lovely dinner outside on the patio of a pub in Kensington Gardens. All in all--beautiful old books, spectacular old clothes, and seeing so many not-so-old friends--it was a wonderful trip!
