Just to give people a heads up, on Friday I'm going home for three weeks. By home in this instance I mean Finland. I'm taking an early summer holiday, before I start on my new job in mid May. While there, I will only have access to the internet very sporadically, so be warned that I will probably be very slow to respond to comments and view new submissions. I'm really excited about going, though, as it's been almost a year since I last saw my sister and my niece, and I haven't seen some of my friends in ages! I'm looking forward to being with my family, and of course I will have ample time to pester  charha, too! And the food. I love the food! British food is nowhere near as bad as people say, but it just doesn't compare to Finnish grub. ^_^

There is a scary element to it all, though. My mother is making grand plans that we will spend as much time at a local stable as possible, as we used to have riding lessons together, when I still lived in Finland. I love the owners of the stables, the people there, and the horses, and yet the thought of getting on the saddle fills me with dread. Last summer, I went on a riding holiday to Hungary, and go thrown off a galloping horse, wrecking my back in the process. I finished physio a while ago, but certain things, like lying down, can still be absolute agony. I've also ridden since (hell, I had to ride back to the stables after my fall, as we were in the middle of nowhere), but it doesn't feel the same. In fact, even on horses that I've known for years I'm permanently afraid of falling. I'll canter and do everything the instructor tells me to do, but the enjoyment has been taken away from it, because I don't feel safe on a horse. So yeah, when it comes to horses, I'm happiest to see them on the pages of a book, or in my sketch pad. *sigh*