just being

I'm sleepy. I'm having a travelling Christmas. So far I've been to Melton Mowbray and Cheltenham. Now I'm in Exeter for a New Year's Eve ball on Monday, but planning to spend some time sleeping, reading and maybe even essay writing before that.

It is quiet here in HP's house. Fe lives here all the time, but everyone else is home with their families, or otherwise elsewhere. HP herself is on the Isle of Wight. I do like the quiet dip between Christmas and New Year's Eve, it feels like a time when you can do anything and not feel like you should be working or tidying or otherwise being useful. Except that I do think I should do some essay-type work. But not right now, I'm far too sleepy. Radio 3 and the paper for me.

Merry Christmas

Tomorrow I'm off to my grandparents' house at the beginning of a cross-country journey of seeing family and friends, hopefully with some reading and essay-writing thrown in.

Have a wonderful Christmas, whatever you get up to.

wow!

I was trying to think of an apposite quotation, but my brain's too fuzzy. I've just got back from the English department trip to Stratford-upon-Avon after a fantastic couple of days watching plays and talking about them and it was such fun! I feel like I've been living in plays for the last couple of days and it's a real wrench to have to leave the world of kings and civil war and struggle and come home to real life.

We saw part of the cycle of history plays the RSC are doing at the moment: Richard II on Wednesday, and the two parts of Henry IV yesterday. It was amazing, seeing them in order, within a few hours of each other and seeing the big story and the smaller stories unfold in front of our eyes. I'd have loved to do as some others are doing and stay tonight for Henry V. Having seen the same actor (Geoffrey Streatfeild, brilliant) playing Hal and developing across yesterday's plays, it would be amazing to then see him play Henry today. We had a Q&A session with him this morning, really interesting to get an inside perspective on the role of Hal/Henry. But I had to come back and I'm probably a little too tired to appreciate another play tonight. A bunch of us are plotting to go and see it when the Histories come to London next year.

I'll try a more considered post when I'm more awake, but right now I'm just in awe of the plays and the performances and the feeling of being caught up in the sweep of history.

just in case you were worrying about it

My ear doesn't hurt any more. Feels weird, but doesn't actually hurt.

Off to Stratford tomorrow, er, today, so there might be a post about all the fun I've had and the plays I've seen sometime between now and Christmas. Not that I'm promising or anything.

ow ow ow

My ear hurts. I've had worse earaches, but it does hurt. That is all. Good night.

friday once again

Comes round every week, apparently.

Term ends today, well sort of. I had my last seminar of this calendar year yesterday, the next one's not until almost the end of January. Before then, quite a long while before then, I need to have written and handed in two 5000 word essays. It's been a while since I've written anything that long. Essay one might be fun, essay two I'm less sure about. Neither has been started yet, both will involve a lot more reading and thinking and note-making before the writing can begin. I forsee some last minute late night writing in early January. I'll try to minimise it, but there's only so much writing you can do over Christmas whilst visting family and friends.

Today I made some chocolate and ginger truffles (for Sunday morning's Christmas service. I allowed myself to eat one, but no more), bought things to wear for singing in the choir for Sunday evening's carol service, did some paid work, cooked and ate sort-of-Thai curry, finished the book I was reading and finished the cardigan I've been knitting for yonks.

Time for bed, I think.

ouch!

Just did one of my periodic going through receipts and wokring out how much money should be in my account and was alarmed to find that according to me I was overdrawn. Fortunately a cheque hasn't been cashed yet, so according to my bank I was still OK. A bit scary though. Had to transfer more money than I wanted to from my savings to my current account to make sure it's all covered. There are monies due to come in from various sources (like the deposit from the house I moved out of and pay for work I've done) and when they do, I'll be fine again, but right now I'm feeling very skint.

Eek. Lack of money is one of those things that really scares me. I'm not sure why exactly. Right, lesson learnt. I shall try to watch the pennies even more carefully from now on. At least I'm earning now.

I do love Nightwaves

Ooh, hooray for Anne Atkins. She's talking sense about the Bible in a discussion on Nightwaves with a man who's written a book about reclaiming the Bible from the political right for the left. And not in a good way since he wants to pick and chose the bits he likes (which he quite rightly points out is exactly what those on the right do) and identify with the rebels rather than the 'establishment' figures he who sees as having written it. And Anne is pointing out that you just can't do that, the Bible is a whole and to make sense of it, you have to submit to its authority.

Go and listen on the Nightwaves page, it'll be there for the next week. The bit about the Bible is about 30 minutes in, after the bit about the film abut Mark Chapman.