We have had a somewhat atypical Saturday. The Uni is celebrating the tenth anniversary of an institute dedicated to both sides of the Irish sea. A two day conference is in process. At one point, the prof and I were both supposed to be giving papers, but we were hauled off that familiar […]
For one thing, it didn’t rain today. For another, the Railway King has a shocking cold and has cancelled — normally the possessor of a light tenor voice he claims that, having dropped two octaves, he can sing Old Man River with a reasonable chance of being mistaken for Paul Robeson. However, fond though […]
Meanwhile, on quite another topic, we have experienced a major domestic advance. Some time ago, we went to John Lewis in Aberdeen and spent what seemed at the time a quite inordinate amount of money on light-fittings. Some two months later, we have finally secured the services of an electrician, who did us a […]
Tuesday promises to be really a bit too exciting for the time of year. It is, in any case, fairly strenuous, since I have five first- or second-year seminars and a lecture to give. But this coming Tuesday, the Boss has added to the general jollity by asking us to dinner, because the […]
Going into Aberdeen today, I began to wonder if I was shaping up for the role of Mrs Noah. As the bus bowled along through a saturated countryside, with water standing in the fields, and the Don lipping the absolute edge of its bank, I did begin to wonder how long it would be before […]
I have one more lecture to give this week and then I can go home. Generally speaking, I try and approach my work with a bit more in the way of positive attitude, but the mobius Upper Respiratory Infection which has been with me for the last month has morphed into its most tedious version […]
An account off the Web news: “He seized his gun because he thought he heard someone in his Florida home. Thinking his live-in partner was in bed, the 62-year-old fired at a figure in a dark hallway. He discovered too late he struck his partner, also 62, who he was due to marry the very […]
I took both animals down the wood the other morning. At the far end of our territory, just before it fades off into impenetrable spruce Mirkwood belonging to someone else, Miss Kit froze, staring bug-eyed at a piece of ground indistinguishable, to mere humans, from any other. She approached it cautiously, sniffed it, […]
The last week or so has been by no means lacking in drama. The Uni has been involved with celebrating the quincentenary of the dedication of its chapel – a good thing to celebrate, and from a distance, one might say that it lined up with raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens as something […]