the last couple of days, miss fergusson hasn't seemed... quite herself, i guess. i'm not sure if it's anything really. she's eating and drinking and moving properly and everything, but doesn't seem quite as enthusiastic about it or something. she's calmer than normal, i think. though it's hard to tell, because she's generally a quite, calm piggy. i think maybe i'm getting nervous, because she's almost 6, and i lost wuza a year and a half ago, and i know that one day miss fergusson is going to be gone, and it's going to crush me.

i bring this up because karl and i are going to england for the week of thanksgiving, and will have to have someone look after her (speaking of which i should really arrange that) and after having wuza die just after i got back from england, before i saw her again, i'm nervous going out of the country with this twingy feeling about miss fergusson.

have i mentioned england for thanksgiving? i think not, actually. my sister is graduating from the university of kent in canterbury on the day after thanksgiving. she's getting a masters in international conflict analysis or somethink along those lines. the program was in brussels, but it's through the u. of kent, so that's where the ceremony is. anyhow, karl and i are leaving the friday before to have some time to spend with his folks and friends, and then meeting up with my family for the ceremony in the canterbury cathedral (which, by the way, totally wins first prize among basically everyone i know of cool places to graduate. i dare you to beat it.) we are, of course, flying stand-by on my dad's airline (he's a pilot), which means that we may or may not actually *get* to england. two weeks ago, the flights were wide open, but then they must've had a sale or something and the planes all filled up (who are you people, going to manchester for the week of thanksgiving? don't you know that it is cold and grey and rainy in england in november? may i recommend key west instead?) the plan as of now is to land in manchester, be met at the airport by karl's parents, brother, unofficial sister-in-law, and niece, who will be on their way to liverpool from sheffield (manchester is in between those two cities). we will all go to liverpool for saturday and sunday to spend time with the grandparents, wally and dot. from liverpool we will drive (borrowing a car from the 'rents) to newcastle (up near the scottish border, for those of you without a map) to visit friends. probably on wednesday we'll drive back down to sheffield (basically, right in the middle of the island), stopping for a night before traveling down to canterbury (near london) to meet my family on thursday (where, i guess, we'll have "thanksgiving dinner" which might very well consist of shepherd's pie in a pub. if my family drank, it might be fun. as it is, i'll probably just be weird). at this point, karl will desert me (well, he doesn't have a ticket to graduation, so it really me deserting him) and head off to see, perhaps, a friend in bristol (southwest). he'll pick me back up on saturday, and we'll head back up to sheff to spend sunday with his parents (it's his mom's bday), then train to the manchester airport on monday morning to get back to philly. this, of course, is assuming we get there at all. and of course i will be worrying about the piggy the entire time.