Thursday 31 October 2013

A rock weekend

Afternoon!

What a weekend we had! It started with a musicals class (this course is going rather well btw and I am not yet sick of the Wicked soundtrack) and then a run across to Manchester. Actually the journey was fairly horrendous: 4hr 10min to get from Newark to Manchester. That is a record. I could have walked it quicker!

Anyways, we made it with a minute and a half to spare before the train left (cue heavy breathing and me getting flustered - D was his usual unflappable self) and it was off to the Phones4U Arena (formerly the MEN) for the Peter Gabriel gig. Gabriel was the last on my 'old guys to see before they pack in' list so I was hugely excited. He played an amazing, risk-taking gig with an acoustic set and a performance of a song he hadn't even written yet! It was breath-taking and a total privilege to be there.

After spending a happy day hanging out with the fam (inc Smelly and Stu who were up north as well) we trotted back through to Manchester for our second gig: Steve Hackett at the Apollo. This was a really different event. He returned to the early Genesis progressive rock stuff which is not really my cup of tea frankly but I absolutely loved it. The band were amazingly tight and the music was rather beautiful. I totally zoned into it and came out feeling pretty chilled but intellectually challenged. I should listen to more proper progressive stuff. After lunch with the fam on Sunday we trekked back to Lincoln though the journey was considerably quicker that outbound. A great weekend and a really lovely opportunity to reboot.

Everything is extremely busy here - it's all fun but a bit manic. I have book deadlines, article proofs, lectures to be written, invited talks to sort out, new research paths to explore...and all the usual - exercise, life etc. All in all, the next few months are really pretty crammed. As I say, all fun but a tad overwhelming. The next few days are for grant applications (a job I truly loathe) and a conference trip to Oxford. Then next week we have teaching, lots of student one-to-ones, a mad trip to London (which I'll write about next week!), an appearance on Radio Lincolnshire and book proofs. The week after I am off to speak at the University of Strathclyde and am combining it with a run across to Edinburgh to do some work and catch up with the publisher (as well as enjoy the company of my lovely in laws). And so it goes on..and on... I think this year Christmas will be spent collapsed in a heap surrounded by tinsel and chocolate!

Tonight is also Halloween, my least favourite night of the year. I intend to hide away, do a workout, eat noodles and ignore it. If you really make it all the way to our village, down our pitch black drive and through the forest to knock on our door than frankly good on you - I'll invite you in for a cuppa!

Have a good night y'all
CSW

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