Spring Crown adventure
Apr. 4th, 2019 10:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kareinaThe trip to Spring Crown was fun. Josie and I were smart enough to start out Thursday after work and go as far as Umeå, where we stayed in the guest room at Hjalmar's apartment. Bright and early the next morning we picked up Wilhelm at his place, and Jessica at hers, and started south. Josie, wonderful lady that she is, did all of the driving on the southern trip. On a normal road trip I would have been sewing, but on this occasion I didn't sew at all, but was content to just talk with people. I guess that still being in recovery from surgery mode was probably a factor in that.
We reached site Friday evening around 18:30, or about half an hour after site opened. Josie and I had paid for beds, and oh, such a nice room we got. Our room had one big bed comprised of two single beds pushed together, another single bed against a wall, that had already been claimed by someone, a sofa, a door in one corner that looked like it might lead to a big closet, but turned out to be a private shower and sink, and a smaller door in another corner that was a closet, and the heraldry on the costume hanging there told me that the claimed bed belonged to Jahanara. The list on the door revealed that there was one more person yet to arrive, so Josie and I decided to share the big bed, and we moved the couch aside and took the mattresses out from under our bed and set them against the wall for the fourth lady.
Then we got dressed and went out in search of the evening food (I wasn't hungry, but Josie was). After she ate and I hugged All The People (she commented after about half an hour "you sure know lots of people here!" it was time to head to court. It being a Friday evening I couldn't help but wonder if the Crown might take the opportunity to send someone on vigil for one of the orders (though I knew, of course, that they wouldn't be doing that for a Laurel). Therefore, I was hopeful that this was it when, towards the end of court, the autocrats were called up to make their announcements, after which Her Majesty called Ingrid over (and had someone bring up a chair for her), so that she could extend her personal thanks for Ingrid's willingness to step up and take the lead on the event, which had been Isabetta's suggestion in the first place, before she got distracted by her Champion winning Crown. Sure enough, my anticipation was correct, for after the thanks were given, the Order of the Pelican was called forward to take her away to stand vigil and consider joining the Order. Before they did a few nice words were said, and Ingrid was in tears from the moment she understood what was happening. After court Josie commented that it was so touching that even though she didn't know any of the people involved she still teared up.
I was already tired from the long drive (and being only two weeks post surgery), but Ingrid is one of those people I really admire, and I felt it was important to join the vigil queue, so I stayed up. The guy holding the list announced that since the Theatre Arts are important to Ingrid he would be willing to accept bribes in the form of Theatre presentations to consider moving people higher on the list than they started out. So, of course, I had to perform something, and chose the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, since I have had that one memorised since I was like 13 years old, and have performed it for the Norrskens Bard competition, so it was reasonably fresh in my mind (thought I am pretty certain I skipped the line about Zepherus' sweet breath, oops). I enjoyed talking with people for an hour or so as they worked through all the Pelicans (there were a lot of them on site) and then started on the "everyone else" list. Eventually I got to the point that I was just too tired to stay up longer, so I told the keeper of the list that I was going to have to give up and go to bed, unless there were a chance to take cuts. He told me who was next and to ask him if I could, so I did, and Erik said I could.
I am glad that he did, it was so nice to go in and speak with her (in Swedish!), and hug and cry a bit together. Ingrid tells me that she will come north for a visit when she has recovered enough from surgery that she is walking properly again. I really look forward to that. Then I went to bed at 23:30 and slept deeply till 05:30, when I was AWAKE. They had announced the night before that breakfast would open at 07:30 for fighters and consorts, and at 08:00 for everyone else, as the fighters needed time to digest before armour inspection at 09:00. Therefore I had promised Wilhelm that I would join him for breakfast. I didn't feel sleepy at that point, and I knew that if I managed to go back to sleep anyway I would wind up missing breakfast, so I got up and went for a walk. I first checked the building where Wilhelm was sleeping, and found that the crash space room where he was was a sun-room on the side of the building, with lots of windows, and a deck outside it. He was (of course) still asleep, so I went for a walk.
I climbed the hill on the other side of the road from the site and admired the rock there, then walked along the edge of the lake to a nature reserve and climbed the hill there and admired the rock. That got the clock to 07:00, so I went back to the crash space room, where Wilhelm was waking up, and he and I went to breakfast. After breakfast I helped him re-tape his sword and took my tourney chest out to the side of the list field, after loading it with snacks and water for the day. Then it was time for armour inspection (of course he passed). He had made a new surcote for the occasion, so he looked good too, even if his borrowed helm is a bit rusty. There was time after inspection to braid his hair before the tourney.
The tournament had 22 couples sign up, but one couple had to withdraw. Even so this was the largest Crown List Drachenwald has ever had. The normal Drachenwald Crown is run as a round-robin tournament, with every fighter fighting every other fighter. But they knew that would take too long with this many, do they divided it into two fields, with approximately equal skill levels on each (dividing up the knights, etc.). They also took some care to make certain that fighters who live in the same town aren't on the same field, unless there were more than two of them, in which case they tried to split them up equally. They had someone to fight the bye-fights, so that every fighter would get to face ten opponents on their field. Then the best three from each field faced one another for a second round-robin list, and finally the best two from that did a final round.
Before the tournament started was the invocation of the lists, where heralds presented each couple and boasted on their behalf. Except for two couples. When it was our turn instead of delegating our boast to a Herald I introduced myself and told everyone present that I considered myself the most fortunate of a consorts present, because my champion:
Wilhelm, son of Mar, was born to be a warrior
For he swings his sword with grace and beauty as he fights
His speed and fluid movement, as he dances o're the field
brings joy to all who witness as he enters in the fray.
Yet Wilhelm, son of Mar, is more than just a warrior,
true he swings his sword with grace and beauty as he fights,
yet his courtesy and service, as he lends a helping hand
brings joy to all who witness, as he often saves the day.
Wilhelm, son of Mar, is my heart's most favoured warrior
as he swings his sword with grace and beauty as he fights.
He will carry well my favour, as I send him to the field
and he'll bring joy to all who witness as he enters in the fray.
The other couples who choose not to use a herald, it was the fighter who spoke, and praised his wonderful consort, and then briefly introduced himself. Before the tourney Wilhelm said that his goal was, as always, to have fun, and he wanted to make the other fighters work. He achieved his goal, with many good, fun fights. He managed four victories, and three other fights were closely matched and lasted a while. He even managed to lay stick on them, but due to timing issues between when he stepped and when he swung just that moment, didn't have the power needed to take those bouts. The only fast bout he had was when Morales managed a beautiful single shot to his face before Wilhelm had time to do anything, which is pretty impressive considering how quick my champion is.
Once they moved on to semi finals Wilhelm took the opportunity to pull out his phone and report on the remainder of the tournament as it happened, so that the people watching the day via FB could know how it went. After the tournament Josie and I went down to the market and Wilhelm went to fight pickups. I managed to refrain from buying anything, but she wound up getting a couple of gifts. She even gave me one--a lovely cloak clasp in my colours!
Then I took a 40 minute nap and got up on time for the banquette, which was served at 15:00, which meant that I got to eat! Josie had saved us a place at the end of one of the tables, which turned out to be perfect, as the servers were able to easily find me to bring me the special vegetarian no-wine or vinegar dishes that had been prepared (or in some cases just set aside before adding sauce) for me. There was a bit of time after feast to visit with people before court, during which time Josie wound up making friends with a little girl from Finland (the daughter of the Baron and Baroness--the same child whose company I enjoyed when I was at an event in Kaarnemaa year or so ago) who is really good at English. She sat between us for Court, and was delightful company. Court opened with the Pelican ceremony, which, of course, was full of praise for the wonderful Ingrid, followed by a variety of other well-deserved awards for others. Then the Prince and Princess held court, and towards the end of their court the little girl asked "will it be done soon?" I had insider info about one piece of business in the King and Queen's court that hadn't happened yet, so I told her that there was still more to go, at which point the girl relaxed again and waited patiently. Very soon thereafter the court was passed back to the Crown, and not long thereafter they called up Mistress Victoria to give her a Writ summoning her to Coronation (which is being hosted by her local group), where she will sit vigil for the Order of the Laurel. Then court was ended and we kids were free to go play (and, in my case, do yoga).
Not long after court the room was cleared for dancing, and I danced for all of the first set and much of the second before I realised that since I would need to do all of the driving home perhaps I should go to bed. I did pause to say goodnight to a few more people, and chatted with each of them for longer than I should have, but still made it to bed just after midnight. I got up just before 06:00 and started packing. After I got my stuff organised I went to breakfast with the others. Just after breakfast, as I was driving the car around to the door, it started raining lightly, but not enough to interfere with loading the car. While we were loading it turned into pretty light, fluffy (and very wet) snowflakes, and I jumped for joy at the beauty of it (some of the others on site were not impressed).
We managed to get the car loaded and started driving (Josie at the wheel) just before 10:00. We took her to one of the suburbs north of Stockholm, where she was going to meet a friend, and dropped her off an hour and a half later. From there home I had to do all of the driving. When we reached Umeå we dropped off Hampus's stuff at his place, and he grabbed a couple of things to take north with him, then we dropped Jessica off at her place just after 20:00. While we were unloading her stuff my phone rang; it was Hjalmar wondering if we were back yet, and reminding me that I was supposed to pick up the stuff that Linda had left with him for me when she moved to the UK. Since I was feeling a bit tired I decided that it was a good idea to head to his place, where Wilhelm helped Hjalmar eat his dinner and I took a 20 minute nap.
I woke up as Hjalmar was trying on a suit coat that doesn't fit quite right--bigger in the waist than he needs, but a bit tight across the chest if he buttons it. He was wondering if it could be altered to solve that problem, and I thought that it could. So I took the time to pin it at the lower back to show how much fabric could be taken away there to make a better fit at the waist, which fabric could then be split in two at the mid seam, and each segment inserted between an arm and the front of the jacket. I think it will work, and it will be interesting to see how it comes out, but I didn't have time to stay for the cutting, and we got back on the road.
I am so glad that Wilhelm agreed to head all the way home with me, as the conversation kept me awake enough to drive. We got home at 00:30 and opted to only unload the things that really needed to come in right away (pillows! food that wanted to go into the fridge, glasses case, toothbrush) the rest we left for the night. We did yoga, I found him a pillow for the guest bed, and I was in bed by 01:30.
Monday I managed to go to work, but I didn't accomplish as much as I would have liked. Tuesday morning I put Wilhelm on a bus home and I went to the office and had a very productive day, but didn't get to bed till almost 02:00, which meant that I was still tired when I woke up at 05:30 to go pick Josie up from the train station (train arrived at 06:30). Therefore I didn't bother to get dressed--just went in my pyjamas. How wonderful to be able to do that, and not need to stop and put on a bra first!
Then I took a nap, and went in to work around 10:00, where I wasn't as productive as I would have liked. That evening was Josie's last in town, so David, Caroline, and Julia all made it over to hang out with her one last time (I took a nap on the couch after work and before Josie and I went out to the store to pick up more alvadon (while it doesn't *hurt*, I do have enough discomfort in the upper chest area (not where the incision is, which kinda surprised me) that I am taking pills for it every so often, and, since there was still a reliable care available, some bags of dirt that I will use for planting kale when I get back from the UK, by which time the snow should have finished melting. When we got back from the errands I had time to bake a quick coffee cake with red currants in it before the others arrived. We had a delightful evening, and I went to bed before 23:00.
I didn't need to drive Josie to the airport this morning, since she had to return the rental car. Therefore, while I woke up to hug her goodbye when she left at 05:30, I went back to sleep for another 20 minutes before getting up with enough energy to take my trike into work. I had a productive day running an experiment in the lab, then came home, ate too much food, had a nap, and then drove in to Frostheim's monthly crafts night, picking up Louise on the way. Had a delightful evening there, and then picked up my computer from my office and brought it home.
In other news, When I was in Seattle at the end of November/beginning of December I should have applied for the next round of student aid from the Swedish government, but never thought of it. When I first got back I did think of it, and went to their web page, but was obviously not thinking clearly, because I saw the little box notification saying that they had received my application, and a date, and foolishly thought it meant I didn't need to do anything. Some time later I thought to look at their web page again, realised that the date in that box was last school year's info (remember I started my program in January), and I was already late to be applying for this year. oops!
So I quickly turned in everything I thought they needed. They replied with a "send us the following", I did that, and they replied with a "no, we need an official letter from your school saying that you are approved to continue studies" (something not available on Durham's "self-service portal", so I contacted a human and got such a letter printed.
Yesterday I got the good news that my application was approved, and the bad news that one only gets back-dated money for studies for four weeks before the application date, which, in my case, was 22 Feb. So I am out a bit of money for part of January. Good thing I realised I needed to apply when I did. On the other hand, when I looked at the list of payments I will be getting, I see that even without the bit I applied to late for the total for the year will still be a little more than I got last year.
But now it is after midnight, and I need to do my yoga and get some sleep. I think I won't bother to set an alarm, but just sleep till I wake and then work from home.
We reached site Friday evening around 18:30, or about half an hour after site opened. Josie and I had paid for beds, and oh, such a nice room we got. Our room had one big bed comprised of two single beds pushed together, another single bed against a wall, that had already been claimed by someone, a sofa, a door in one corner that looked like it might lead to a big closet, but turned out to be a private shower and sink, and a smaller door in another corner that was a closet, and the heraldry on the costume hanging there told me that the claimed bed belonged to Jahanara. The list on the door revealed that there was one more person yet to arrive, so Josie and I decided to share the big bed, and we moved the couch aside and took the mattresses out from under our bed and set them against the wall for the fourth lady.
Then we got dressed and went out in search of the evening food (I wasn't hungry, but Josie was). After she ate and I hugged All The People (she commented after about half an hour "you sure know lots of people here!" it was time to head to court. It being a Friday evening I couldn't help but wonder if the Crown might take the opportunity to send someone on vigil for one of the orders (though I knew, of course, that they wouldn't be doing that for a Laurel). Therefore, I was hopeful that this was it when, towards the end of court, the autocrats were called up to make their announcements, after which Her Majesty called Ingrid over (and had someone bring up a chair for her), so that she could extend her personal thanks for Ingrid's willingness to step up and take the lead on the event, which had been Isabetta's suggestion in the first place, before she got distracted by her Champion winning Crown. Sure enough, my anticipation was correct, for after the thanks were given, the Order of the Pelican was called forward to take her away to stand vigil and consider joining the Order. Before they did a few nice words were said, and Ingrid was in tears from the moment she understood what was happening. After court Josie commented that it was so touching that even though she didn't know any of the people involved she still teared up.
I was already tired from the long drive (and being only two weeks post surgery), but Ingrid is one of those people I really admire, and I felt it was important to join the vigil queue, so I stayed up. The guy holding the list announced that since the Theatre Arts are important to Ingrid he would be willing to accept bribes in the form of Theatre presentations to consider moving people higher on the list than they started out. So, of course, I had to perform something, and chose the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, since I have had that one memorised since I was like 13 years old, and have performed it for the Norrskens Bard competition, so it was reasonably fresh in my mind (thought I am pretty certain I skipped the line about Zepherus' sweet breath, oops). I enjoyed talking with people for an hour or so as they worked through all the Pelicans (there were a lot of them on site) and then started on the "everyone else" list. Eventually I got to the point that I was just too tired to stay up longer, so I told the keeper of the list that I was going to have to give up and go to bed, unless there were a chance to take cuts. He told me who was next and to ask him if I could, so I did, and Erik said I could.
I am glad that he did, it was so nice to go in and speak with her (in Swedish!), and hug and cry a bit together. Ingrid tells me that she will come north for a visit when she has recovered enough from surgery that she is walking properly again. I really look forward to that. Then I went to bed at 23:30 and slept deeply till 05:30, when I was AWAKE. They had announced the night before that breakfast would open at 07:30 for fighters and consorts, and at 08:00 for everyone else, as the fighters needed time to digest before armour inspection at 09:00. Therefore I had promised Wilhelm that I would join him for breakfast. I didn't feel sleepy at that point, and I knew that if I managed to go back to sleep anyway I would wind up missing breakfast, so I got up and went for a walk. I first checked the building where Wilhelm was sleeping, and found that the crash space room where he was was a sun-room on the side of the building, with lots of windows, and a deck outside it. He was (of course) still asleep, so I went for a walk.
I climbed the hill on the other side of the road from the site and admired the rock there, then walked along the edge of the lake to a nature reserve and climbed the hill there and admired the rock. That got the clock to 07:00, so I went back to the crash space room, where Wilhelm was waking up, and he and I went to breakfast. After breakfast I helped him re-tape his sword and took my tourney chest out to the side of the list field, after loading it with snacks and water for the day. Then it was time for armour inspection (of course he passed). He had made a new surcote for the occasion, so he looked good too, even if his borrowed helm is a bit rusty. There was time after inspection to braid his hair before the tourney.
The tournament had 22 couples sign up, but one couple had to withdraw. Even so this was the largest Crown List Drachenwald has ever had. The normal Drachenwald Crown is run as a round-robin tournament, with every fighter fighting every other fighter. But they knew that would take too long with this many, do they divided it into two fields, with approximately equal skill levels on each (dividing up the knights, etc.). They also took some care to make certain that fighters who live in the same town aren't on the same field, unless there were more than two of them, in which case they tried to split them up equally. They had someone to fight the bye-fights, so that every fighter would get to face ten opponents on their field. Then the best three from each field faced one another for a second round-robin list, and finally the best two from that did a final round.
Before the tournament started was the invocation of the lists, where heralds presented each couple and boasted on their behalf. Except for two couples. When it was our turn instead of delegating our boast to a Herald I introduced myself and told everyone present that I considered myself the most fortunate of a consorts present, because my champion:
Wilhelm, son of Mar, was born to be a warrior
For he swings his sword with grace and beauty as he fights
His speed and fluid movement, as he dances o're the field
brings joy to all who witness as he enters in the fray.
Yet Wilhelm, son of Mar, is more than just a warrior,
true he swings his sword with grace and beauty as he fights,
yet his courtesy and service, as he lends a helping hand
brings joy to all who witness, as he often saves the day.
Wilhelm, son of Mar, is my heart's most favoured warrior
as he swings his sword with grace and beauty as he fights.
He will carry well my favour, as I send him to the field
and he'll bring joy to all who witness as he enters in the fray.
The other couples who choose not to use a herald, it was the fighter who spoke, and praised his wonderful consort, and then briefly introduced himself. Before the tourney Wilhelm said that his goal was, as always, to have fun, and he wanted to make the other fighters work. He achieved his goal, with many good, fun fights. He managed four victories, and three other fights were closely matched and lasted a while. He even managed to lay stick on them, but due to timing issues between when he stepped and when he swung just that moment, didn't have the power needed to take those bouts. The only fast bout he had was when Morales managed a beautiful single shot to his face before Wilhelm had time to do anything, which is pretty impressive considering how quick my champion is.
Once they moved on to semi finals Wilhelm took the opportunity to pull out his phone and report on the remainder of the tournament as it happened, so that the people watching the day via FB could know how it went. After the tournament Josie and I went down to the market and Wilhelm went to fight pickups. I managed to refrain from buying anything, but she wound up getting a couple of gifts. She even gave me one--a lovely cloak clasp in my colours!
Then I took a 40 minute nap and got up on time for the banquette, which was served at 15:00, which meant that I got to eat! Josie had saved us a place at the end of one of the tables, which turned out to be perfect, as the servers were able to easily find me to bring me the special vegetarian no-wine or vinegar dishes that had been prepared (or in some cases just set aside before adding sauce) for me. There was a bit of time after feast to visit with people before court, during which time Josie wound up making friends with a little girl from Finland (the daughter of the Baron and Baroness--the same child whose company I enjoyed when I was at an event in Kaarnemaa year or so ago) who is really good at English. She sat between us for Court, and was delightful company. Court opened with the Pelican ceremony, which, of course, was full of praise for the wonderful Ingrid, followed by a variety of other well-deserved awards for others. Then the Prince and Princess held court, and towards the end of their court the little girl asked "will it be done soon?" I had insider info about one piece of business in the King and Queen's court that hadn't happened yet, so I told her that there was still more to go, at which point the girl relaxed again and waited patiently. Very soon thereafter the court was passed back to the Crown, and not long thereafter they called up Mistress Victoria to give her a Writ summoning her to Coronation (which is being hosted by her local group), where she will sit vigil for the Order of the Laurel. Then court was ended and we kids were free to go play (and, in my case, do yoga).
Not long after court the room was cleared for dancing, and I danced for all of the first set and much of the second before I realised that since I would need to do all of the driving home perhaps I should go to bed. I did pause to say goodnight to a few more people, and chatted with each of them for longer than I should have, but still made it to bed just after midnight. I got up just before 06:00 and started packing. After I got my stuff organised I went to breakfast with the others. Just after breakfast, as I was driving the car around to the door, it started raining lightly, but not enough to interfere with loading the car. While we were loading it turned into pretty light, fluffy (and very wet) snowflakes, and I jumped for joy at the beauty of it (some of the others on site were not impressed).
We managed to get the car loaded and started driving (Josie at the wheel) just before 10:00. We took her to one of the suburbs north of Stockholm, where she was going to meet a friend, and dropped her off an hour and a half later. From there home I had to do all of the driving. When we reached Umeå we dropped off Hampus's stuff at his place, and he grabbed a couple of things to take north with him, then we dropped Jessica off at her place just after 20:00. While we were unloading her stuff my phone rang; it was Hjalmar wondering if we were back yet, and reminding me that I was supposed to pick up the stuff that Linda had left with him for me when she moved to the UK. Since I was feeling a bit tired I decided that it was a good idea to head to his place, where Wilhelm helped Hjalmar eat his dinner and I took a 20 minute nap.
I woke up as Hjalmar was trying on a suit coat that doesn't fit quite right--bigger in the waist than he needs, but a bit tight across the chest if he buttons it. He was wondering if it could be altered to solve that problem, and I thought that it could. So I took the time to pin it at the lower back to show how much fabric could be taken away there to make a better fit at the waist, which fabric could then be split in two at the mid seam, and each segment inserted between an arm and the front of the jacket. I think it will work, and it will be interesting to see how it comes out, but I didn't have time to stay for the cutting, and we got back on the road.
I am so glad that Wilhelm agreed to head all the way home with me, as the conversation kept me awake enough to drive. We got home at 00:30 and opted to only unload the things that really needed to come in right away (pillows! food that wanted to go into the fridge, glasses case, toothbrush) the rest we left for the night. We did yoga, I found him a pillow for the guest bed, and I was in bed by 01:30.
Monday I managed to go to work, but I didn't accomplish as much as I would have liked. Tuesday morning I put Wilhelm on a bus home and I went to the office and had a very productive day, but didn't get to bed till almost 02:00, which meant that I was still tired when I woke up at 05:30 to go pick Josie up from the train station (train arrived at 06:30). Therefore I didn't bother to get dressed--just went in my pyjamas. How wonderful to be able to do that, and not need to stop and put on a bra first!
Then I took a nap, and went in to work around 10:00, where I wasn't as productive as I would have liked. That evening was Josie's last in town, so David, Caroline, and Julia all made it over to hang out with her one last time (I took a nap on the couch after work and before Josie and I went out to the store to pick up more alvadon (while it doesn't *hurt*, I do have enough discomfort in the upper chest area (not where the incision is, which kinda surprised me) that I am taking pills for it every so often, and, since there was still a reliable care available, some bags of dirt that I will use for planting kale when I get back from the UK, by which time the snow should have finished melting. When we got back from the errands I had time to bake a quick coffee cake with red currants in it before the others arrived. We had a delightful evening, and I went to bed before 23:00.
I didn't need to drive Josie to the airport this morning, since she had to return the rental car. Therefore, while I woke up to hug her goodbye when she left at 05:30, I went back to sleep for another 20 minutes before getting up with enough energy to take my trike into work. I had a productive day running an experiment in the lab, then came home, ate too much food, had a nap, and then drove in to Frostheim's monthly crafts night, picking up Louise on the way. Had a delightful evening there, and then picked up my computer from my office and brought it home.
In other news, When I was in Seattle at the end of November/beginning of December I should have applied for the next round of student aid from the Swedish government, but never thought of it. When I first got back I did think of it, and went to their web page, but was obviously not thinking clearly, because I saw the little box notification saying that they had received my application, and a date, and foolishly thought it meant I didn't need to do anything. Some time later I thought to look at their web page again, realised that the date in that box was last school year's info (remember I started my program in January), and I was already late to be applying for this year. oops!
So I quickly turned in everything I thought they needed. They replied with a "send us the following", I did that, and they replied with a "no, we need an official letter from your school saying that you are approved to continue studies" (something not available on Durham's "self-service portal", so I contacted a human and got such a letter printed.
Yesterday I got the good news that my application was approved, and the bad news that one only gets back-dated money for studies for four weeks before the application date, which, in my case, was 22 Feb. So I am out a bit of money for part of January. Good thing I realised I needed to apply when I did. On the other hand, when I looked at the list of payments I will be getting, I see that even without the bit I applied to late for the total for the year will still be a little more than I got last year.
But now it is after midnight, and I need to do my yoga and get some sleep. I think I won't bother to set an alarm, but just sleep till I wake and then work from home.