A fun weekend with mum and dad

Evening all and sundry. Hope this Monday finds you well. So, this weekend I had the happy chance to spend a couple of days with my Mum and Dad who I haven't seen since Christmas. We had such a great time. Went to Evensong at the cathedral which was very wonderful. I couldn't worship there on a regularly basis for a variety of reasons - the windows are just too beautiful..I could never concentrate! But Evensong as a choral concert was very pleasant indeed. This lunchtime we ate at Brown's Pie Shop which had been recommended by a couple with very excellent taste. We were not disappointed - a pretty amazing beef and mushroom pie, and I enjoyed a large portion of bread and butter pudding. So much for the healthy lifestyle!

In addition to the ongoing Super League season (hope you noticed that the mighty Wigan Warriors won again at the weekend) I'm enjoying the Winter Olympics. I'm a bit of a fan of this event. You get to watch a whole range of sports that you generally never hear about. Enjoyed the Men's Moguls last night. I think you have to be a bit mad to attempt most of the sports. I also like the fact that it isn't all 'Team GB, woo woo woo' as it is at the Summer Olympics - we are, despite our inclement weather, utterly hopeless at most winter sports.

This time last year I was 'printing stuff' at the Scottish Government and whilst crouched over the photocopier (actually I don't know if this is completely true but it makes for a more entertaining story so bare with me) I made a promise to myself that if ever I got a full time lectureship I would take out a subscription for the London Review of Books. My first copy came last week and contains some wonderful articles, including a lovely exposition of the new translation of Simone de Beauvoir's classic, The Second Sex. It also contained this letter which I thought was funny, pertinent and unusual in such a 'right on' publication as the LRB:

'It has been history's biggest birthday party', Steven Shapin writes (LRB 7 January). 'On or around 12 February 2009 alone - the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth, 'Darwin Day' - there were more than 750 commemorative events in at least 45 countries'

Has he never heard of Christmas?

Thank you Mr John Fletcher of Pilton, Somerset for injecting a little humorous satire into the current obsession with Darwin worship (spot the irony).

Have a fab week one and all

CSW