So today my mother told me that my brother wasn't taking a gap year before university - which really startled me. I'd always assumed that he'd take a year out, but no, apparently not - he's planning on finishing school this summer and starting Univeristy this October.

Where he goes depends on his results, but it looks like it'll either be Bath, Southampton or Birmingham, none of which are too far away. All of them are fairly easy to get to, and assuming he's allowed people to stay the night, there's a sort of unspoken agreement that if I go to gigs nearby I can just crash at his digs afterwards.

So, being a younger sister, you'd think I couldn't wait to get rid of my annoying big brother? Well... no. He's my big brother, and I've grown up with him. I can remember the fights we used to have about who sat where, hurling insults at each other until one of us snapped and made for the other (I was usually the one who snapped first, to be honest). I can remember when we were little and had our own made-up world. Nowadays, I'm older but no less annoying, and he just takes it all on the chin. He's great with small children because he's so much more patient than me. I'm impetuous and restless with a temper about as long as my fingernail. I always get ill and overact; my brother never does. He always gets him homework done on time, only ever got a detention once for something which wasn't his fault, and never causes my parents any trouble. He's practically perfect.

And I'm gonna miss him. So I have eight months before he leaves in which to annoy him as much as possible before he disappears for weeks or months at a time.


In other somewhat-related news, my father's coming home today. He's been in his childhood home of Bawdsey, which is a little village near the Suffolk coast about a hundred miles away, visiting his mother (my granny). My granny had a fall on Tuesday and fractured her ankle and knee, and my dad went down to visit her on Wednesday. Her leg's in plaster from toe to knee, and she's now got someone staying with her for the nights so that if she falls over again, they'll be able to do... something.

It's been really weird not having my dad around to threaten me with things if I don't do my homework, or yelling at me to stop winding Mum up, or telling me to stop whistling. But he's been worked up for a while now because of his mother. He'll probably take another few days off work to see her next week, too.

I'm not sure the point of this blog, other than the past few days have reminded me how much I love my family, even if I do moan about them and they do piss me off. I mean... family is family.