(Ah, I’d used that title before.)
I’ve already been back for a week and a half, and I haven’t done a proper blog update for at least a month. In short, I was back home, was first baking for a week and a half, and then suddenly, when AL arrived, was drenched for a week and a half. It was fun though and I had never done a tour on a canal boat in Amsterdam before.
Back in Edinburgh, I made a start with editing the Postgrad Conference papers. This is a tedious job because... well, basically because Word is misbehaving. Also, the first-years’ inability to reference properly seems to be an epidemic that is spreading to postgrads. I guess they were never taught how to reference as first-years either.
I also spent time at the National Library again. Somewhere between two and two-and-a-half hours each day. It wasn’t as bad as previously; I guess that reading French is less offensive than reading German (from the time that Stalin was still a hero, so it’s German nonsense as well). I still need to spend lots more time at the NLS, because they have the books that Edinburgh University Library doesn’t have. Also I need about a truckload of Inter-Library Loan vouchers.
Now how did I end up reading stuff on historical demography?
In other news, my friends are slowly returning from various places which is a good cure against social isolation. I still haven’t managed to do any Fringe Festival thing, although I did go to the Book Festival and bought a book. If you take away the workshops which I have no intention of attending, and the meet-and-greets with authors who I don’t know and whose glory I am therefore not very likely to want to bask in*, the Book Festival is nothing more than a café and bookshop in a tent. That was slightly disappointing, although I don’t quite know how I would imagine a book festival other than that.
[* Now draw a Chomskyan tree for that! I wonder if it doesn’t violate a few constraints on pied piping...]
Freshers’ Week is coming scarily close, it’s only three weeks. I’m sure it’ll turn out fine in the end, but there are far too few ticks on the “Things to organize” sheet. It would also be very nice if we could find teachers for two of our classes, and venues for three of them. I have reasonable hope for the venues. Anyone feeling inclined to teach Beginners Country?
It is also amazing how quickly crap accumulates. It took half an hour to sort and put away all the bank statements, gas bills, book bills, New Scotland letters and other paperwork that had piled up on my desk. My folder with financial stuff is now officially full.
Tomorrow and Tuesday are American High School dems. They’re promising to be a hoot. Well, they’re usually okay and a better audience than the IALS ones, we don’t get haggis [that is a Bad Thing] but also we don’t get Mozambiquan dancing, Japanese singing or the so-manieth cross-dressing IALS staff contribution [that is a Very Good Thing]. It does involve silly monkey suits though, and I’m too polite to abuse the fact that BW really needs me to get rid of that uncomfortable pseudo-traditional garment.
Think that’s all for now.
I’ve already been back for a week and a half, and I haven’t done a proper blog update for at least a month. In short, I was back home, was first baking for a week and a half, and then suddenly, when AL arrived, was drenched for a week and a half. It was fun though and I had never done a tour on a canal boat in Amsterdam before.
Back in Edinburgh, I made a start with editing the Postgrad Conference papers. This is a tedious job because... well, basically because Word is misbehaving. Also, the first-years’ inability to reference properly seems to be an epidemic that is spreading to postgrads. I guess they were never taught how to reference as first-years either.
I also spent time at the National Library again. Somewhere between two and two-and-a-half hours each day. It wasn’t as bad as previously; I guess that reading French is less offensive than reading German (from the time that Stalin was still a hero, so it’s German nonsense as well). I still need to spend lots more time at the NLS, because they have the books that Edinburgh University Library doesn’t have. Also I need about a truckload of Inter-Library Loan vouchers.
Now how did I end up reading stuff on historical demography?
In other news, my friends are slowly returning from various places which is a good cure against social isolation. I still haven’t managed to do any Fringe Festival thing, although I did go to the Book Festival and bought a book. If you take away the workshops which I have no intention of attending, and the meet-and-greets with authors who I don’t know and whose glory I am therefore not very likely to want to bask in*, the Book Festival is nothing more than a café and bookshop in a tent. That was slightly disappointing, although I don’t quite know how I would imagine a book festival other than that.
[* Now draw a Chomskyan tree for that! I wonder if it doesn’t violate a few constraints on pied piping...]
Freshers’ Week is coming scarily close, it’s only three weeks. I’m sure it’ll turn out fine in the end, but there are far too few ticks on the “Things to organize” sheet. It would also be very nice if we could find teachers for two of our classes, and venues for three of them. I have reasonable hope for the venues. Anyone feeling inclined to teach Beginners Country?
It is also amazing how quickly crap accumulates. It took half an hour to sort and put away all the bank statements, gas bills, book bills, New Scotland letters and other paperwork that had piled up on my desk. My folder with financial stuff is now officially full.
Tomorrow and Tuesday are American High School dems. They’re promising to be a hoot. Well, they’re usually okay and a better audience than the IALS ones, we don’t get haggis [that is a Bad Thing] but also we don’t get Mozambiquan dancing, Japanese singing or the so-manieth cross-dressing IALS staff contribution [that is a Very Good Thing]. It does involve silly monkey suits though, and I’m too polite to abuse the fact that BW really needs me to get rid of that uncomfortable pseudo-traditional garment.
Think that’s all for now.
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