The Night of the Glow Worm (and 17 Chris de Burgh albums)

Picture the scene. 11.15pm. In bed with a book after finishing the late shift. Drifting off to sleep when.... "Pssst! K! Have you ever seen a glow worm?" It was not the start of some crazy dream, but Rachel standing outside my window. I muttered something about putting a few clothes on, to which she replied, "well, that's up to you, but I would." I went to join Rachel, and walked straight into Moss whom I couldn't see in the dark. He must have wondered what all the excitement was about. At first I was a wee bit sceptical - "are you sure you haven't just planted a glow stick in the bush?!" I really couldn't believe some little bug could be that bright. We spotted a light on in Fiona's room, and not wanting her to miss out on the fun we cooo-eeeed up to her (after Rachel said that my suggestion of throwing rocks was not a good one). Fiona was easily persuaded, and a moment later the three of us were squatting down around this Glow Worm, giggling. "I wonder what they'd think, if anyone came across us now?!" 

We do get an amazing variety of wildlife here, and one morning Mick called out, "come and look at this beautiful moth!" I uttered an exclamation which brought Fiona running. She poked her head around the washroom door, and said, "where's this mop?!" What was so funny was not that she'd misheard Mick, but that she ran so quickly to see what she thought was a beautiful mop. Cleaning that particular morning was accompanied by Chris de Burgh's love songs album. I told Mick that I had 17 Chris de Burgh albums on my iPod if he'd like to choose a different one? "Wow!" Said Mick. "Wow. 17 Chris de Burgh albums? I had no idea just how much I'd been missing out on!" (I suspect he wasn't being entirely serious. Surely everyone knows how prolific a musician C de B is?). 

Mick has been known, from time to time, to misplace things. One evening, before he was due to go away for a few days, he walked into the kitchen where Rachel & I were stood, and asked - "has anyone seen my pack of camouflage games? I've been looking for it for twenty minutes, but I just can't find it anywhere!" It took him a few moments to register the significance of what he'd said, and to realise why we were laughing so much. (Said games are still 'missing'). 

On Friday morning we had to say goodbye to Julia. It's crazy how fast a month goes - it only seems like yesterday that she broke the hostel staff record for the number of snickers bars eaten in an hour. We were in serious discussions about how to prevent her from leaving, but short of fabricating a lethal accident with the dishwasher (which would have been counterintuitive to our purposes), we were all out of ideas. Thanks for all your hard work & humour. We are missing you. Have a great summer (see you next year) x