In which I kick tutorial ass!

Holy crap, you guys! This is a first! After three weeks, I have finally had a history tutorial in which I did not make an arse of myself!!!

I'm so excited! And I just can't hide it!

We were talking about Charles I and the Personal Rule (basically, Charles got fed up with Parliament and decided he'd rule without it. That worked for 11 years. After that he needed money and called Parliament again). My paper for this week argued that in fact, the Personal Rule itself didn't create a rift between Charles and his subjects - that in fact it was more basic, a set of miscommunications, that created that rift. I still think I'm right, at least to some degree (although a tutor less kind than Jenner could probably have smashed truck-size holes through my facts, I remain convinced on the essential point). And I argued the point with him, and he didn't tear it to pieces, and I'M SO FRICKIN' HAPPY!!!

Next week we're looking more closely at the civil war itself. (Lots of civil wars! This one, the Wars of the Roses...) It's really, really cool to be reading about this time period. I know so little about it that it's all a discovery. I'm even learning to think a little better of James I. Oh, the Stuarts. The tragic, silly Stuarts. (Though I'm very grateful to Charles II for the whole women-can-act thing. VERY grateful.)

Just had to tell you guys!

Tomorrow I'm going into London to Portobello Road, the famous six-block open-air market. While I'm there, I'm also hoping to get to either the Tate or Westminster Abbey. I WILL see the Pre-Raphaelite paintings while I'm here! I am DETERMINED!