It was Maria's birthday today, so after a nice solid and well-attended class we repaired to the Walmer Castle for "theory practice", the dishing out of gifts and the cake - a fantastic creation which Steve had arranged from Chockywockydoodah.

I was mildly surprised that you can walk into an English pub, ask the bar staff for "a really big, really sharp knife", and get what you're after.

Had to dash off earlier than I would've liked... back to the office to get a few bits and pieces out of the way. I had to turn down an opportunity for some work today. I'm really annoyed about it - it's not something I've ever had to do before, and it's absolutely gutting (the work sounded quite interesting and was for a good client we've worked for in the past). Hopefully our current recruitment drive will mean this doesn't happen again.