The Big Pen has arrived.

As the title quite apty puts it, the Big Pen has arrived. In other words, we leave tomorrow - which will in fact be today in precisely twenty five minutes. After a year of talking about it, and a good two months in the library (literally) dreaming about it it's finally here.

Turns out that when people learn that you are going "travelling" - albeit for thirty days, they feel compelled to ignore what I believe to be instinctive response: "have a good time" and go, instead ,with the somewhat more daunting: "stay safe". Indeed, our favourite scaremonger repeatedly told me she had often seen: "girls like you... drunk and off their face on whoknowswhat... asking for it". For someone to make such a judgemental warning, one would hope they knew me well; they had actually only met me that same day.

My Mum went for the less catchy, and much more worrying advise: "remember girls, before you take a risk, think it through."

C, on the other hand, was advised by our friend Rachel (yes, you Rachel) to do something along the lines off : "slag it up". Although C is far from convinced ("I'm very sceptical on the issue") that this is a good way to spend a month in Europe, and she is even less convinced that the calibre of Australian man will be quite what she has been promised.

We have decided that due to the lack of sensible or helpful advice, we will ignore it all, and get back to the problem of deciding whether I should take the £3.50 children’s pillow with a red car on it that she bought in Asda or the exciting sounding 'Gelert Comfort Micro Fleece Pillow SBG149'...