Just call me Shaun White!

Today I was mostly taking on the Scottish mountains on my board. I look very cool, calm and collected in this photo, but it was super scary! I am shattered tonight but it was a great day. Our trip up north was wonderful as always. The Highlands are just beautiful at every time of year but especially in winter.

Happy New Year one and all.

CSW

A quick festive post

Alright! So, here I sit with the fam, watching darts having eaten the world's largest helping of bread and butter pudding. Ah, I do love the Christmas period! I hope Father Christmas brought you all you wanted. I was thoroughly spoiled: a couple of 66*N jumpers from D (even though he had already given me a pile of pressies - naughty boy!), some lovely new jammies and Doddington Hall vouchers from the rents, and a Kindle from the in-laws. Goodness! I took my Kindle on the bus today and it was very jolly reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

We've spent a happy few days with the family. It was great to get to Carrubbers on Sunday and see all our friends, and we even squeezed in a happy trip to Ocean Terminal yesterday to spend some Christmas money. Tomorrow we are off to Kingussie (weather permitting) for some rest in the snowy Cairngorms. Then, it's back to Edinburgh for New Year, down to Stockport for a couple of days with Mum and Dad and across to Lincoln in time for mad marking week.

And so, back to the darts. James Wade is struggling...

CSW

Happy Christmas from Lincoln

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

Luke 2:11

Here's wishing all our friends and family a brilliant festive season and, most of all, the joy of knowing this Saviour.

CSW

What on earth was that all about?

The title sums up my reaction to last night's film. D suggested that we watch 2001: A Space Odyssey on blu ray. It was on my list of 'classic films I probably should have seen'. As the final credits rolled D (as always) asked, "so what did you think?" Generally I am able to answer this question, but this time I was stumped. About God? Well, for me this film felt completely godless. About evolution? Well, yes, it begins with monkeys fighting with bones but the human race doesn't seem to evolve...it just gets slightly less hairy! About the nature of humanity? Certainly. The 'death' of Hal was really quite upsetting. About Nietzsche? Absolutely! The whole 'ubermensch' business was clear to see throughout and I think this is the reason I presumed it was a godless universe. About subjectivity and perception? Oh, for goodness sake! Anyways, I'd recommend it if you haven't seen it yet. It certainly got us thinking and talking. I think I probably appreciated it for the incredible visual effects and, even more, for its amazing use of music. I guess it is multi-sensory but how that combines with all the philosophical stuff, I don't know - is it a film for the intellectual mind or for the senses? Or both?

I am currently enjoying slow but happy days of research and Book preparation. Today I hit 10,000 words of that tricky Language chapter I keep mentioning. Finally my argument feels as if it is coming together. The problem is that I am trying to argue two, seemingly contrasting things: first, language is vital to our understanding of a British avant-garde and second, that language isn't quite as vital as previous scholarship has presumed. This sort of argument ties me up in knots! But the mist is clearing...

...which is more than can be said for the weather which has hit the UK in recent weeks. We have had some serious frost here and today the snow was back which meant that we couldn't get to a party in one of the surrounding villages. The main roads were fine but with the promise of more snow (which didn't actually materialise) we decided to take a rain check. Here's hoping that all's fine for our upcoming trip up north.

So this evening we had D & M's special Christmas. We have had this exciting event every year since we were married so we don't have to cart presents for each other around the country. Warden Christmas always comes early, always involves something experimental in the kitchen and always means too many presents for me. To celebrate I made Nigella's Mexican lasagne from her new book, Kitchen (we love Nigella and she has rather generously put the recipe online) It's great, easy and it's veggie too! I used half fat cheese so, given that you are really just eating loads of veggies and pulses, it is also very healthy...particularly by Nigella standards. We both did very well. D surprised me with a gorgeous Ugg leather trench coat.

As usual he bagged himself a bargain and I was the beneficiary.

In other news, I recently joined a website called academia.edu where you can post your academic details and make web-friends with others working in your area. But the truly surprising thing about this online community is that it tells you when someone has Googled you! Emails come through to your inbox to tell you as much. Totally weird! It is a great site though and well worth joining if you have any connection with the academic world. Cheers Joanne and Will for introducing me to it!

Anyways, it feels very late but isn't so I think I'll go and have a snooze in a second. We are able to get our lounge really warm but the rest of the flat is colder than cold. Brr...It doesn't make me want to get up off the sofa and walk across the Arctic region that is our hall!

I'll post again over the festive season!

CSW

The start of the Christmas holidays

Today was the final official day of term. We finished off with a jolly school meeting complete with mince pies. I celebrated by fighting through the crowds yesterday to pick up a lovely cardie from Marks - they were on special offer for just £10, down from £35. A proper bargain! The students have exactly 1 hour to hand their essays in and I'm hoping for a couple of weeks of research. I have a pile of books to read and an Introduction to tweak.

We are looking forward to Christmas jollity and, so far, the snow has kept away from Lincoln. It seems to be attacking the other side of the country this time. But there is a chill in the air so what better way to spend our Friday evening than watching the final episode of Kings. We really enjoyed this series. It was beautifully shot and finely acted. It was also really thought-provoking...and virtually impossible to categorise. I love its generic complexity. We couldn't guess how it would end and, with just an hour to go, there seemed to be far too many loose ends. And, brilliantly, they weren't all tied up by the final credits. It was ambiguous and totally compelling. There would definitely have been scope for another series if NBC had realised what a amazing piece of TV they actually had on their hands. But, unfortunately, someone in their wisdom decided that X-Factor/Pop Stars/Celebrity Dancing show would be a better choice. More fool them, I say!

And so we are looking forward to a weekend of tidying, writing and reading. We are off to a Christmas concert tomorrow which is lovely given that for the past decade my December has been chock full of Christmas gigs. This year has felt a little quiet and sad. We are having friends round afterwards which is an excuse for something mulled and some cheese methinks! If you are wondering about my reading list which has been somewhat static for a couple of months then you'll be glad to know that I am also hoping to do a bit of extra-curricular reading during the holidays.

Anyways, enjoy the weekend one and all. I'm off to drink a cuppa and beat D at our basketball computer game. I got close last night...

CSW

p.s. students, you now have 50 minutes...tick...tock...tick...tock...

A Handbag?

Goodness, I have watched a lot of Wilde wit and Restoration bawdiness over the last few days! Third year assessment ended at 6.30 this evening. We were suitably impressed by all. I am currently sitting in a lazy, sleepy state in my new Adidas hat. It is brown and like the one that Amy Williams wore at the Winter Olympics. It is an early Christmas pressie from D. How nice! Tomorrow we have site-specific assessments and the new hat may well make an appearance.

We are getting through the American series, Kings, at an alarming rate. At present it is our dinner time treat. As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, it is a Biblical allegory though it does take some pretty serious liberties with the original story. Yet it is no less entertaining for that. It didn't take off in the States and was cancelled halfway through the first series. This means that the later episodes feel a little rushed. However, it is a really interesting piece about power, faith, deception and courage. We decided that the reason it was cancelled was probably the incredibly complex characterisation. As audience members we have changed our mind a dozen times about the characters. Sometimes we feel sorry for the King and at others he seems to be a wholly despicable figure. Sometimes our sympathy is with David and then he goes and tells a whopping lie. What about the princess, the prince (goodness, no idea about him!), the queen, the advisors? These are not straightforward characters and I think they would prove extremely confusing for an audience, especially as it was advertised under the banner of sci-fi. We, however, are enjoying it immensely and Ian 'Lovejoy' McShane (who reminds me of childhood Sunday nights) is a revelation. He seems to be part of a growing group of Brits making good across the Pond. And 'hoorah to them', I say.

Anyways, I think I'll take another cuppa and go for an early snooze. Looking forward to a half research day tomorrow. It'll be a happy couple of hours on the Book. And it looks like the snow is on the way again so batten down the proverbial hatches. A White Christmas is just fine but a White Christmas Eve (given our planned Chris Rea-style 'travelling home for Christmas') could be a little problematic.

CSW

p.s. Many apologies if you have not yet received a Warden Christmas card - they are on their way!
p.p.s. If you get the gist of tonight's title then we should eat cucumber sandwiches together at a later date.

And another post-Asia

Why is there a blog post appearing, you may ask, on an Asia gig night? Well, good question. We should have been in Holmfirth tonight but poor ol' Steve Howe has hurt his back so the concert was cancelled. Gutted! But at least we got to see an amazing gig on Friday night in Edinburgh. Glad we made the effort to get through the fast-thawing snow and up to Auld Reekie. The gig was incredible. Our seats were on the front row and the whole band sounded terrific. John's vocals were better than ever and Steve even played the guitar with his teeth, which is totally out of character! The new Omega stuff was particularly great. End of the World has been in my head ever since. Here's hoping that the Holmfirth gig will be rescheduled.

In fact, the Edinburgh gig was the start of a great weekend. We enjoyed a happy night with the in-laws on the Friday and even got to see our niece who has grown so much in just a couple of months. We then drove down to Stockport to celebrate Grandad's 90th birthday in style. The whole family descended and it was lovely to see everyone. It was only arriving back last night after his birthday meal out that we learnt of Steve's injury. So, while the weekend was tinged with disappointment, it was all so great that it was very difficult to feel sad.

So, in honour of the Asia boys here are two pictures of me at previous gigs with John in a Glasgow car park...

.,.and Geoff at last February's London gig.

Ah, good times!

From showbiz pictures to student assessment. And we start at 9 tomorrow with the third years. Roll on rakes, fops and swooning ladies!
CSW