Monday 22 September 2014

Political ups and downs, and the start of term

I write this while watching last night's WWE Night of Champions: some good matches so far but missing poor ol' Roman Reigns. The past few weeks have been a time of refocusing and throwing ourselves back into Lincoln life.

I had a very jolly week at the Theatre and Performance Research Association Conference at Royal Holloway. It was a really brilliant conference and I caught up with a lot of old friends while meeting a good many new folks. Unusually the keynotes were absolutely amazing, especially Jacky Bratton's rather spectacular and inspiring call to arms for the theatre history community. We had a wonderful graduation day; the sun shone as it always seems to on graduation day and everyone looked very smart and happy. Last year's third years were a really extraordinary group of talented people and we'll miss them around the LPAC. I've been working on a heap of new and old projects: book proofs, a couple of edited collections and some funding bids. It's funny but just as the new term appears on the horizon, suddenly you realise how many little jobs you have to finish before the students get back!

We've also managed to squeeze in some fun: a lovely day out at the Collingham Show meeting lots of lovely doggies and eating good food, a trip to the theatre to see Time and the Conways (an excellent production despite the brutally long first half!) and the customary wrestling watching.

For the past few months our lives have been rather dominated by politics. Being married to a Scotsman and having lived for six years in Edinburgh, we got rather into all the debates. In fact D watched absolutely everything (not an exaggeration!) on the referendum. And it came and went. I won't write too much about the fallout on a blog but if you have spent any time in our company over the past few days (or indeed follow me on Twitter), you'll know how we feel.

Anyways, Night of Champions continues in the background and I need more tea before University Challenge starts. Hope this finds everyone well. To those it applies to, have a great term: here's to inspiring teaching, protected time for research and Autumn adventures.

CSW