Back to Routine

Once Bob came back to classes, everything fell back into the normal routine. He still sat next to me in classes, doodled on my notes and teased me over anything and everything, but that's where it stopped this time. No more going round to watch films at the weekend, I started cycling to university instead of walking with him every day, and I told Ray to yell at me if I even hinted at entering awkward territory again.

Besides, fourth year at university was as horrific as people had promised. In Scotland, the Masters degrees take five years to achieve but as half of the final year is spent on placement in industry, the really hard stuff is all combined into this year. In addition, because I'm certifiably insane, I'd asked to shift my workload to 65% : 35% between the two semesters. As I'm convinced that our lecturers hate us, 40% of this year's grade is based on an 11 person design project completed in the second semester. As I'm a complete control freak, I decided I'd rather free up some time to devote myself to the project then, and get the extra classes out of the way now.

However, although it seemed like a good idea at the time, I was regretting it now! I had so many assignments and mini group projects going on at the same time, and on top of that I had football training, my choir and my increasingly failing attempts to keep going to zumba classes. Most of my friends were getting by on pure caffeine but I'd never acquired a taste for coffee, so a combination of sugar, early nights and super long lie-ins at the weekend were keeping me going.

"Jane! So, have you thought about what to get them yet?"

Rubbing my eyes, I resisted the urge to fake bad signal and go back to sleep. Although I loved my sister, phoning before 9am on a Saturday morning went against all that was pure and holy.

"Uggh. Not awake. What are you talking about?"

"Oh my god Jane, you've forgotten! How could you have forgotten? It's only their 50th birthday, it has to be perfect, like absolutely perfect. We've only got two months to get everything ready!"

Again, I have to state I do love Alyssa. When we're not living together or organising presents, we get on like a house on fire. Our mum always raised us to put time into choosing thoughtful gifts for people but with Alyssa it had backfired into her becoming a Giftzilla, to my regular frustration. However, luckily for her I was way too tired to start any fights this morning. And in this case she was actually right - both my parents were turning 50 within a week of each other, so they'd planned a family weekend away at Crieff Hydro, a very posh hotel in the middle of Scotland. Sorting out presents was up to us three kids (myself, Alyssa and our younger brother Peter).

"Ahh. I hadn't forgotten - time is just flying past so quickly, that's all. Let me get up and showered, and then we'll Skype and try and sort something out?"

Slightly pacified, she agreed to at least let me get up and eat breakfast first. Twenty minutes later, all clean and scrubbed, I was poaching a few eggs when Dave wandered in. Dave is one of my flat mates and my best friend - I met him in first year and soon realised he was one of the few people I could deal with talking to early in the morning. When he proposed living together for second year, it was a no brainer. We came from very similar backgrounds, so it felt very normal to share food costs and eat together - something which apparently wasn't the normal thing to do amongst many of my other friends. We also had our Ginger Wednesday night tradition - essentially us taking advantage of the 241 cinema ticket offer that Orange provide every week, but as Dave is perhaps the most ginger person you've ever seen, we had to rename it. It was proving to be an education, as I always preferred musicals and comedy/dramas whilst Dave loved awful action remakes.

However, perhaps the most important thing as to why he was my best friend was that I had absolutely zero romantic attraction to him. In my eyes, he was my elder brother in all but blood.

As Dave greeted me groggily, his girlfriend Jess entered behind him. Giving me a sickly-sweet smile, she asked how university was going. Hiding a grin of my own, I kept my answer brief. Although she was never mean to my face, Dave had moaned repeatedly of how jealous she was of our friendship. In particular, she hated our Ginger Wednesday tradition. Dave had reassured her multiple times that our relationship was like brother and sister, but it didn't seem to help. Unlike the Bob situation, I was certain that I had given her no reason for her jealousy, and it was clear to anyone that Dave was head over heels for her.

"Jane, where's the carrot things? Those cupcakes you made yesterday?" Dave poked his head round into our tiny kitchen and I gestured with my head towards the fridge.

"Dave, are you sure you really need to eat those? Why not just have toast?" Jess tried and failed to sound light-hearted.

"Oh come on babe, they've got walnuts and carrots in them - basically health food! Plus, you need to try one, these are de-licious, Jane's a baking master!"

Laughing, I stepped out into the lounge to let him past. "Can I get that in writing for every time I have a baking disaster? No more teasing me for my epic cake failures ever again!" I goofily started doing a victory dance around the table, stopping abruptly when I saw Jess glaring at me.

"Um, my sister's probably waiting for me, so I'll go eat this in my room..." I grabbed my eggs and toast and scooted out of there as quickly as possible. I don't really understand what Dave sees in Jess, especially with the number of times he's ended up crying on my shoulder after one of their arguments. However, I'm not exactly the Relationship Queen myself, so who am I to say anything?

I powered up my laptop and messaged Alyssa and Peter to let them know I was ready. They immediately video called me back.

"OK, so I figure we need at least one big present each. And then possibly a few joint presents... oh and a cake! And decorations for the lodge we're staying in - I'm thinking balloons, lots of sparkly things - oh, we could put that mini '50' confetti in their presents so it goes everywhere when they open it!"

Opening up a browser window, I started googling whilst Alyssa kept firing suggestions at me. Peter occasionally chimed in, and between us we came up with a good few suggestions. Apparently Dad had already bought Mum a new golf bag and a few clubs on our behalf, so that was Mum's big present sorted. For the first joint present we decided to get a few really nice prints of our dogs, both current and passed away, and luckily we managed to find a few deals online which meant it wouldn't break the bank.

We were struggling for another joint present when Peter suggested Blue Mountain coffee - a coffee that my parents swear by, which they first tried when on holiday to Jamaica for their 40th birthdays. From there the foodie ideas started flowing - cheese from Lancashire where they were born, the local chilli artisan jam my Mum loves so much, the aforementioned coffee, Blackpool rock for Mum and fancy dark chocolate for Dad. Alyssa already had a small hamper so that was that sorted!

The real problem was a big present for my Dad. He is one of those people who will just go and buy whatever he wants, so buying him presents he doesn't already own is always a real pain. Spurred on by our 'food from the past' theme for the hamper, I was running through my favourite memories of my Dad. Suddenly, I had it.

"Peter, remember the 2005 Ashes? When we decided to go down last minute for the last day of the test and ended up with amazing seats? How about we recreate that?"

Peter and Alyssa loved it. The Ashes were returning to England next year and one of the tests was being played in Durham, relatively close to Edinburgh. Of course, we'd have to book the tickets now instead of buying them on the door as we did last time, but I was sure Dad could cope. That day was one of my favourite memories: it was the day I really became interested in cricket, and an amazing experience with my Dad and brother. Cheering on the England teams against the Aussies, the tension as we came so close to winning, and the glorious sunshine - it couldn't have been better. Trying to recreate it was maybe a risky attempt, but I was thinking that if I put the tickets inside a handwritten letter letting Dad know how much that day meant to me, and how much it would mean to spend another day like that with him... well, if that didn't bring a tear to his eye, I don't know what would!

"OK, so Peter, you need to find good photos for the prints. I'll look up the foodie items and start ordering them. Jane, you need to talk to Mum to see if she'll cover the cost of the cricket tickets. Anything else... Oh! Cake!"

"Actually, I might have an idea for that..." I was thinking of Ray - I knew that he was a very accomplished amateur baker, and had often baked cakes for friends and family. From many tasting sessions, I knew his cakes tasted good!

"Just tell me what theme to go for and I'll have a chat with him". We decided on a golf-themed cake, with the flag having a '50' on it. Alyssa reminded me that Mum wasn't too keen on butter-cream icing, so I made a mental note to ask Ray what alternatives he could come up with.

Saying goodbye, I sat back smiling. For once it had actually been a very productive brainstorming session, and when we weren't arguing Alyssa and I were an amazing team. Spinning slowly in my chair, I caught sight of the pile of notebooks waiting for my attention. Groaning, I nipped through to the kitchen and grabbed a carrot cupcake before settling down with my good friends Fluid Mechanics and Equations of State. Who needs caffeine when you have sugar?