Unis, kids, and trying to write

It's been one of those difficult days which I probably should have either gone for a long walk or gone fishing or dug over the garden. I had three must-do writing tasks for today and managed one. Paddy and Clare's saga about getting into the same country continue. They both want to continue at uni. Clare has an Honours from Cambridge, Paddy is just finishing his B.Sc in Physics and Comp. Sci. Clare wants to do post-grad medicine, and with firsts from her uni is going to be welcomed anywhere in the UK. Paddy wants to fiddle with matlab and continue as a career geek. He's already got acceptance for honours and a subwarden job - meaning his honours (in physics) and accomodation are effectively free at Rhodes. Rhodes does not offer Medicine, and anyway, SA Unis for medicine are an undergrad beginning thing and none-too highly regarded these days, sadly. So as Malawi (Clare's home at the moment) is a non-starter for both, SA is a non-starter for Clare, it's down to the UK or Australia. I might be biased here. If they married either one could take the other partner to their country - Paddy as permanent resident, can bring Clare to Australia on a 2 year temporary visa, which then converts to permanent 2 years after marriage - and then enter uni here as a local at local rates. Clare as a UK citizen could take her spouse and after 3 years of residence... he can enter their uni system as a local rates. International rates are just wildly beyond our or their reach. So, basically one or other cannot go to uni, (scholarships or buraries excluded) if they want to be in the same country for varying numbers of years. Working timelines for all this has basically left me unworked, and Paddy sleepless. Of course a scholarship or bursary could change this - but that's an uncertain area - especially for Pads in UK, where the competition is likely to be even stiffer. Most of them require that you enroll first and then apply. At least here he faces mere local rates (which is still worse than Rhodes, where they are trying to keep him).

Anyway, we had two Flinders island grown asparagus spears with our supper. Most delicious they were too! And now to try and focus on the sequel to Dragon's Ring. I need a bestseller, yesterday, for my kids sake. Just getting them out here is expensive enough, let alone all the other hoops. Still, they're all great kids, and we love them dearly.