Done and Dusted!

Yep, that's right, we're both done. Finished. Have our lives back. Neither of us knows how well we've done, and we probably won't know for about another two months, but at least neither of us has the pressure of studying hanging over us any more. Yay!

Ian had his written exam last Tuesday. It was mainly multiple choice and he thinks he's done OK. He's been doing really well on the mock tests so there is no reason to think he's done anything than pass. He was talking to his Captain today asking what he would have to do as well as get the pass to get his "probie" label removed. They've been that impressed with his commitment and performance that they're happy to recommend his promotion as soon as he gets his pass so it shows that persistence pays off.

After his exam, Ian and the boys headed round the corner for a "few" drinks! He then managed to wake Annalie up when he sauntered home at 1.30am but she forgave him, because he deserved it. Shame it was a school night for her though!

Ian has also been involved in other Fire Department activities over the last couple of weeks. First there was a "mock car accident" demonstration at Glastonbury High School to show the kids how scary it is to be extracted from a car wreck. It is supposed to put them off drink driving. So Ian got involved in photographing the exercise for the team.

Monday 25th May was Memorial Day in the US so we got a bank holiday out of them. As part of the celebrations, most towns have a parade and Glastonbury is no exception. The Fire Department are a big part of the parade so the engines get spruced up and the Department turns out in its finery. As Ian hasn't "graduated" yet, he couldn't exactly march with the others, but he found a way to get involved! He ended up stood in their rescue boat, donning an ice rescue suit in 70+ degree heat!! Maybe they did that to him on purpose! Being the newbie and all

And today he's been putting all his newly-learned skills to the test on a forest rescue drill. Annalie's sure it's just an excuse for boys to play with toys! He was racing through the woods on an ATV and chopping trees down with a chainsaw. Sounds like too much fun to be serious!!

There's also been some advancements at the limo company. He's had a couple of small jobs, but now he's free from all his study, he can be more gainfully employed So he was at the yard getting his pay check and chatting about availability when he overheard them complaining about a shortage of bus drivers. Given his past experience, he piped up and is now getting ready to get his bus license so he can get more regular, and better paid work.

Also on the work front, Ian went for an assessment with Glastonbury Town for the position of 911 Dispatcher, which would complement his work with the Fire Department. There were 16 candidates taking this test, which included note taking while watching a video, then questions were asked based on the notes, and finally there was a computerised moving map with 4 different simulated police vehicles on it and scenarios where he had to "dispatch" which vehicle and how soon it had to get to the scene.

Annalie's dissertation reached its climax today as well. She'd got through most of the main content earlier in the week and had been getting good feedback from her tutor. And amazingly she is only 1,000 words over the limit which is a good percentage seeing as that is 18,000 words At the end she just had to write a "learning statement" to reflect on what she'd learnt during the course of the project. As usual, the word count simply wasn't enough for her though! So she hasn't written about as many subjects as she'd have liked, but what she's provided is better than nothing! Just when she thought she'd finished, she decided to review the dissertation handbook one last time, only to find there were some niggly little bits she needed to include in the appendices. So a couple of hours spent this morning finishing it off and she was ready to hand it in.

So off it was posted to her tutor. But she also had to arrange to get the thing bound. Luckily, her friend Melly (thanks Mel ) had recommended a website through which binding can be ordered. And to top it all off, it is just down the road from University in Leeds So the plan is, that Annalie will stop off in the UK on the way to the Paris Air Show in order to hand the damn thing in herself. Then she can get it out of her mind completely! It's currently due to be ready for collection on Friday 12th June, but she's hoping to convince them to get it ready on the 11th.

Annalie has also received feedback from her penultimate assignment that was handed in back in March. Amazingly she has maintained her 70+% scores, so the pressure is really on for the dissertation if she's going to get a first!

There's also been a Girls' Night Out with the Rolls-Royce ladies at one of our favourite restaurants in Glastonbury, Sakura Garden. It was the first time she'd had a drink in several weeks so made the most of the fact that she wasn't driving (Sake anyone? ). On Friday there were some drinks after work as one of the Rolls-Royce guys bid goodbye to IAE and Glastonbury. There was a good turnout at Houlihan's but it's not surprising. Iggy is a nice guy and has been around for a while. Ian joined the IAE crew to see some of the guys for the first time in ages. He also met our new next door neighbour, who is another RR secondee. Annalie is concerned about their mutual love of motorbikes though and how much Ian's desire for a bike has returned. Hmmmm.

Over the long weekend we also went out to get some new additions for the deck, now that the good weather is getting more regular. Check out the photos (House and stuff) for a view of our hammock and a hummingbird nectar feeder. We've already had a couple of new visitors to that, but they are so flighty and skittish that they're gone before you can photograph them. And then you wait to photograph them and they never come back. They're such teases!

And finally, we've been getting more prepared for our our trip to NZ in October. We've got an itinerary agreed, so we've finally managed to book the campervan for our travels, the ferry from the North Island to the South Island, and the hotel we're going to end up in when we reach Queenstown for the last few days there. We've decided to fly from Queenstown back up to Auckland to catch our return flight to the US, so we're going to ditch the campervan a few days early and finish off with some luxury before flying home.

Not that we're wishing time away, but we can't wait for that trip!

(By the way, Orlando photos are now uploaded sorry about the delay - we've just had other things on our minds!)