Term runs on...

...interestingly the amount of blog posts I write is directly proportional to how quiet or busy I currently am. The fact that nothing has appeared here in the month of November is a sure sign that it has been a rather crazy month. So here goes with a run through of what has happened since my last post:

I visited the House of Lords to promote the University of Lincoln College of Arts.
This was a fascinating event, a chance to schmooze with lords and ladies...and Nicholas Parsons. Parliament is the most sensationally beautiful building from the outside and it is equally lovely inside.

I taught...a lot!
It has been a busy teaching term. It's all been very jolly, including a first year lecture on grammar that had a sweet doggie on each slide, my deliberate attempt to mention Hugh Jackman in every Musicals lecture and our dissertation speed dating party. It isn't all such flippant fun of course; I wouldn't want to give you the wrong idea!

Almost cracking my canter.
Although I haven't had a lot of time to ride dear ol' Tommy over the past few weeks, every time I have he has looked after me beautifully and I am beginning to get the hang of the canter. It is far harder than it looks on the telly!

I have spoken at the University of Strathclyde.
And very exciting it was too! It was lovely to get an invite up north and the small crowd was very appreciative and asked great questions. I was particularly impressed that 4 of their undergrads came along. We had a lovely dinner afterwards.

I enjoyed a great few days in Edinburgh.
After my trip to Glasgow I travelled across to the right side of Scotland (I joke, I joke!) and stayed with the in laws in Edinburgh. I spent two happy days in the National Library, snoozing on their couch and playing Lego with our niece until D arrived on Friday evening. We then hung out all weekend, enjoying lots of family time and eating half pizza suppers with salt and sauce (actually this was D - he had a bit of a craving for this Auld Reekie staple).

I have nearly finished the book.
It is nearly done although I am waiting for 2 clear days so I can do a thorough final read through. I genuinely think it is the best thing I have ever written - I'm rather proud of it and super grateful to everyone who has contributed to it.

My abstract was accepted for the Literature and Sport conference at De Montfort next year.
I am speaking on wrestling and the text. The fact that they accepted this abstract and didn't tell me to forcefully 'go away because wrestling isn't really a sport' is testimony to the gracious openmindedness of the organising committee. I can't wait for this conference, especially as current academic hero Sarah Churchwell is giving the keynote.

I have nearly not quite finished GSP Rushfit.
Over the past two weeks I haven't quite felt myself - just a little under the weather. This has knocked my fitness regime out a bit. Perhaps I just needed a bit of a proper break after 6 months of super tough physical challenge. Anyways, I have two weeks left of the course and will get that done over the next couple of weeks. After watching GSP get beaten up (but somehow winning- I'll never understand MMA scoring), I am glad I just follow his training programme and don't actually have to get in the octagon!

And I think that is it. Days are very full right now - the next two are full of assessments and copyright permissions. Then we have Open Day on Saturday, a collapsing chill out day on Sunday...and then it is someone's birthday!

Have a great evening y'all.
CSW

Lincoln Academy Lecture

Last night I had the honour of speaking as part of the Lincoln Academy series. This is the University of Lincoln’s way of connecting our research with the local community. I spoke on the notion of unperformability and the British avant-garde, so it also acted as my official book launch. And I so enjoyed myself! The lecture went well and there were some great questions afterwards. I loved the fact that the audience included a load of students and colleagues, as well as local folks. And friends and the fam were there to celebrate too. D resisted the urge to ask a difficult question!

By the end of the event (after the best canapés you will eat anywhere in academia) I was exhausted and just about managed to eat a veggie burger before crawling home. The whole thing reminded me of the importance of connecting our research with those outside of academia. As humanities/arts scholars it can be really easy to imagine that no one in the real world is the least bit interested in slightly obscure archival work. Last night reminded me that this is a total lie. Actually our scholarship has the potential to deeply connect with people’s lives. Clearly it is more difficult to determine its influence or importance, unlike, say, finding a cure for cancer or creating new computing systems. But art is one of the things that makes us human – our ability to create art (in its broadest sense) and to engage with/enjoy it. I had some great chats afterwards and it was clear that folks really wanted to connect with the ideas. I found the whole thing incredibly encouraging and it was a great way to start my sabbatical proper. Being reminded of the importance of art research (and my responsibility to engage non-university communities in this research) was a fab prompt for me.

And so on with the sabbatical. The end of this week will be dominated by a host of little jobs – articles to finish and papers to read. And next week it is onwards and upwards with the new book. I love the thought that I have space and time to focus on research, even though I miss the students. Oh, and this is quite a fun new side project. As a colleague rightly said, it is a good job I wasn’t reading ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ (as an aside I haven’t read it and will not be doing so…ever)

CSW

Exiting assessment week and the release of the Book

So, after a quiet day filling in assessment sheets and enjoying the ducks and bunnies that are running about our garden, here is a blog post to fill you in on the successes of performance fortnight. The past two days I have worked 28 hours - phew! But what a great time we had! There was some magnificent work - thought-provoking, peculiar, challenging, mature and memorable. The first years rose to the challenges and produced some of the best work I have seen at UL. Cue lots of backslapping and general jolliness.

But this has been a big week for a different reason.  Today is the day that the Book arrived on our shelves. Yes, British Avant-Garde Theatre hit the shops today after many years of hard work. I haven't seen a hard copy yet so it doesn't quite seem real. I am hugely excited and incredibly thankful for all the support I have had from friends, colleagues and family. I'll do a proper post on it when I have a copy in my hands.

Tomorrow, after many days of university-focused days, I am off to De Montfort for a brief Modernism conference. It promises to be a lovely, inspiring day. And then, to top it all off, the in-laws arrive tomorrow evening. We are so looking forward to welcoming them to our new home. I'm hoping for spring sunshine, walks in fields, lovely chat and a fire pit. Great weekend in store.

Hope your weekend is equally jolly
CSW

Entering assessment week

So, now I have worked out the new blogger format on Google (guys, stop changing things - I have a very limited capacity to understand computing things) here is a blog post to fill you in on all the goings on chez Warden.

Last weekend I travelled down to Bath for my sister's hen party. I can't quite fathom that my little Smelly is old enough to get married. Despite feeling seriously old we had a good time indulging in afternoon tea, dancing on our party boat and living with 20 other girlies. The wedding is coming up in June and I get to be matron of honour which clearly makes me sound about 112!

Apart from that jolly jaunt I have spent most of the last week and a bit preparing for assessments. Our students are right in the middle of performance fortnight so the LPAC is choc full of slightly stressed but seriously creative folks. Today I got screamed at by a lady dressed as wallpaper. This is only a foretaste of what is to come next week with the arrival of Modern European Drama. That is going to be spectacularly jolly and weird.

Research is going relatively slowly right now as when you are knee deep in assessments it is tough to think of other things. That said, I have had some happy hours reading terrific books on Russian modernism - my favourite. The duckies returned to keep me company on Monday although they are getting old enough to move down river pretty soon. We will miss them so much! They were even here to welcome me on my return from my morning run.

The year seems to be skipping by and we have so much to look forward to: the book is due out on the 11th May (yikes!), all the inspiring performances next week, our holiday in Germany/Switzerland, happy sunny days in our new house (ha ha! The rain has been incredible recently) and visits from friends and fam.

Hope everyone is doing well wherever they are.
CSW

Ducklings, New articles and Chocolate

This about sums up the past week and a bit. We've had the wonder of 9 little ducklings wandering about our garden. I've had the excitement and anxiety of getting started with some new research projects. And I spent a jolly weekend in Birmingham with some old friends, visiting Cadbury's World and behaving like a teenager.

I've started to make the most of our new surroundings and have been for a couple of runs in the countryside. It is a great area to run in because it is flat and there are some lovely paths to explore. I even downloaded a new running app on my iphone which tracks my progress. Genius technology! I've had some great days working at home and have got into the garden every day even if I have had to wear my coat: NB waterproof jackets are the order of the day in the East Midlands at present as we've had an unbelievable and unusual amount of rain over the past few weeks...ever since they announced the hosepipe ban!

The weather has turned our minds towards this year's travels and yesterday I booked our trip to Las Vegas in October. I, as usual, am there with work; D is coming along for a jolly holiday. I am taking a day off at the end though to go to the Grand Canyon. Should be an amazing trip.

But before all that we have three weeks of tech rehearsals and final performances, essay deadlines and dissertation panic. I love performance fortnight. It is always such brilliant fun and it is wonderful to see all the amazing work the students have produced. Given the amount of screaming in the corridor today (part of the performance naturally) and the Duchamp-inspired musical instruments currently parked in my office I think we are in for some great stuff.

CSW

We really are still alive!

Many apologies for the distinct lack of posts in recent weeks. I am now sitting in my sunny lounge with a cup of (new eteaket) tea, Peter Gabriel (not actually, you understand) and a quick break from writing a couple of overdue review articles. So here's what we've been up to since my last post (brace yourself):

• Moved house! We are now living in a beautiful little village called Nocton. We have a garden, a big kitchen (what a relief!) and total peace. It is amazing and we feel hugely blessed to have it. 
• Changed our car. We lease our car so it was time to get something new. D is very chuffed with it. Don't say he looks like a hairdresser...he doesn't, OK.
• Spent four days in Oxford (me not D - I left him home alone). We moved house and then barely five days later I went off to New College Oxford for the Moving Modernisms conference. It was a great time and I met a heap of amazing, inspirational scholars. I've come back thoroughly excited...and with a lot of work to do.
• Finished term. Despite the fact that it feels as though we've only just started term, I have taught my last class. This has been one of my most enjoyable terms of teaching ever - brilliant students, exciting courses and lots of great performances to engage with.
• Witnessed one of our good friends Jane get baptised.
• Made chilli for 30 sweet buddies (plus nachos and quesidillas - they weren't as good as your's Em!)

And I think that's it, other than the usual - catching up with Raw (in the lead up to Wrestlemania), re/discovering music (currently listening to Peter Gabriel's edited Big Blue Ball), watching a couple of films (though I am somewhat embarrassed to admit it, my treat for moving house was to watch Real Steel with the wholly delectable Hugh Jackman) and reading (only work books this week I'm afraid: a paper about Wilde's Salome and Erika Fischer-Lichte's Global Ibsen - she is fast becoming one of my favourite scholars). 

Now, my break is over and I'd better get on with these reviews. Suffice to say that life is pretty amazing right now and, as soon as our boxes are emptied, we are hoping to share it with all our friends. This week it is mostly...Sarah Kane Festival, book proposals, arrival of my family for the day, lunches in the garden, sorting our house out, finishing assessment timetables, and then off to Ely/Cambridge at the weekend for two jolly days of relaxation and Australian Pink Floyd. Sweet!

CSW

Getting ready to go

Much of our thinking time has been taken up with moving house. D has managed to source some terrific furniture bargains and we pick up the keys on Saturday. I am very excited about it. We have also booked our summer holiday. We are off to Germany and Switzerland to visit some wonderful friends (Evelyn and family, we can't wait to see you!) and to enjoy the beauty of the mountains for a few days. Rather than flying, we are making the journey by train! It's going to be an adventure. The last time I travelled round Europe on a train I was 21 and didn't mind arriving in Florence with nowhere to stay and kipping down for the night in a nunnery in Venice, not to mention sleeping in a hostel in Zagreb which cost €6 a night! I am now older and demand a hot shower each morning!

Back to Lincoln life, I am currently finishing off a raft of projects including the Hassan paper (which was accepted by the good people of Theatre Notebook yesterday!), the proofs for the Literary North chapter and the final indexing/proofing of British Avant-Garde Theatre. I also have a conference abstract to write tomorrow. We are reaching the end of term (only two more weeks to go!) and the students are starting to think seriously about their performance assessments. Teaching has been so fun this term. Cool students, interesting courses!

So, I'm going to make some tea. D is watching a youtube video about Switzerland. It looks amazingly beautiful and we are so grateful for our Germany/Switzerland May holiday. Will try and post amidst the boxes next week. Until then, hope everyone is doing great.

CSW

It's March already...

...not sure where that came from. So what has happened since the last post? I have been mostly...planning to move house...enjoying a wonderful research weekend in Edinburgh...compiling the index for the Book...reading some interesting plays...watching the students give a great performance of one of my least favourite plays of all time: Osborne's 'Look Back in Anger' (still don't like it but was very proud of them)...lying in my hammock which is still up in our lounge.

My visit to Edinburgh was great. Not only did I get to spend time with some of my most favourite people, I also enjoyed two very long days in the library. If you follow me on Twitter then you'll have seen the piles of books I started with each morning: lots of fascinating stuff about fascist theatre. We so often imagine theatre as a pretty left-wing pursuit so it was very interesting to read about the theatre from the other side of the political spectrum. This week's teaching has been all very profitable. I am so enjoying spending time with the students this term. They are all mega, hard-working and talented folks.

In terms of research, I am currently doing the final bits and bobs for two articles. But proofreading and indexing is getting in the way slightly. Have a couple of books to read over the weekend and could do with finishing this index. We'll try and get some breakfast out tomorrow though - always a good start to the weekend.

Next week is our final full week in the flat before the big move. This morning the sun was shining and I imagined how beautiful our new garden would be. We are really excited about our new pad. Have just finished work (I know, it's 22.40 on a Friday - height of geekdom) and now I'm going to eat a bowl of Weetabix while watching Smackdown.

CSW

Borgen and Bullseye...

...this has been the slightly odd televisual combination chez Warden this week. Last week was a great start back to university. There were some brilliant classes with some inspiring students. And then two (count them) full research days. I sent off three articles and nearly finished the fourth. On a roll! And then we had a very happy weekend looking at cars, eating at Uncle Henry's and stroking beautiful horses.

And so to our TV watching. I am a little obsessed with Borgen, the Danish political series. It is incredibly acted and avoids cliche very effectively. I'm in love with the fabulous Birgitte and, at one point today, actually thought 'how would Birgitte respond to this?' Hmm... They are showing Bullseye late at night on Challenge and it makes us feel all nostalgic, even though I didn't catch it first time round. Great jumpers, magnificent hairdos and the marvellously natural Jim Bowen at the helm. Watching this shows you, not just how much television has changed, but how much society has changed.

This evening I am crashing on with reading book proofs, watching University Challenge and preparing for tomorrow's documentary theatre class. All fun and games.

CSW

January silliness

At this rate you will only get two posts in the month of January! Wow, it has been non-stop so far! As soon as we got back from Auld Reekie, we were straight into final marking and assessment modulation. This is a rather long-winded admin task. Every term it confirms that I am no administrator and renews my respect for those people who are! We are nearly done but I am still online at nearly 8pm awaiting the final marks. It'll all be sorted by tomorrow though.

And then I got sick...again. Actually felt pretty rough this week and now poor old D is a bit sniffly. I have just about recovered. The new courses are coming together nicely and I had some research encouragement from Stateside - new publication on its way this year! Apart from all this, I've been finalising arrangements for the two first year courses I am coordinating. Am excited about both of them!

Last night to celebrate me feeling better and to give ourselves a little time out, D and I went to the cinema. We had tea at Homemade Burger Co., our current fave, and then spent a lovely evening with RDJ and Jude Law in Sherlock Holmes: game of shadows. Interestingly, here is a film that gets better as you go on. It starts rather slowly really but by the final chess game, it is really all quite enthralling. I like what everyone is dong with the Sherlock Holmes' stories right now. The BBC series is very different but equally compelling.

So, as for New Year Resolutions which I promised to share with you, here goes:
Get things in order and keep them in order. I have systems for everything but so often they all fall apart. I would like to have plans/schemes and stick them this year.
Try Zumba. D got me the game for my Wii Fit and, now I'm feeling a little better and have done a new year yoga stretch (ouch!) I feel ready to go. I like to mix up my fitness regime sometimes. This past 6 months hasn't been brilliant as I've been under the weather a lot. Determined to regain the fitness levels I had this time last year.
Read more. It may sound rather odd, given my job and the amount of reading I do each week, but I don't actually do that much 'reading' e.g. enjoying or meditating over a really brilliant book. Hoping to do a little more of that this year.

So, there we go. I'm going to put our Tesco order away - thank you Mr Tesco Man for helping me carry everything up the stairs! To leave you with an interesting image: I managed to eat a whole can of mushy peas on my own tonight. Wow! How good are mushy peas? D and I have very different ideas about fish and chips. For me (North England lass) they are naked without mushy peas. For him as a Scotsman (actually specifically as a Edinburgh laddie) they need salt and sauce. If you haven't tried Scottish chippy sauce then...I wouldn't.

Anyways, on that culinary note I'm off to finalise the marks for release tomorrow, to sort through the shopping and to drink more tea.
CSW

Post-show sleepiness

If you were to walk around the University of Lincoln's Performing Arts department today you would find a great crowd of folks wandering about like zombies, perhaps searching for a last minute costume or perfecting a dance move. This goes for staff and students alike. The tech team seem particularly worn out. We are gradually reaching the end of a mammoth two weeks of performances. Late nights, early mornings and (last night) running around trying to find cardboard boxes to make into robots! But it has been a lot of fun despite the general exhaustion and we have seen some great performances. I was particularly proud of my first year class last night who pulled off a really interesting version of Capek's R.U.R. complete with blue robot blood!

What else has happened in the past week? Well, the Christmas Market came and went. We had two wonderful girlies from my undergrad days to stay. It was so good to see them. There is something about spending a couple of days with people who know you so well! The market was unbelievably busy but we did have a go on the dodgems which was fun (D drove, I had my foot on the accelerator!) and ate chestnuts in the cold. Other than that, I've been reading the wonderful Romantic Moderns by Alexandra Harris: an incredible, inspiring book! I also had a new article posted at PhD2Published. Check it out, particularly if you haven't read through this remarkably useful and well-edited website. I have lost a number of ladder matches on WWE12, have had my heating on a little too much and have eaten just a little too often at the Engine Shed, Lincoln's student union.

And that is my world up to tonight! Research time is on its way. I still have two articles to finish before Christmas, as well as a couple of grant applications. Our house remains undecorated, although I might shove the tree up tonight. We spent Saturday night watching Peter Gabriel on DVD and making snow flakes so I might stick those up too.

Hope everyone is getting in the festive spirit. If you are in Edinburgh or Stockport then we are so looking forward to seeing you over the Christmas period. If you are awaiting a card from me then I promise they are on their way. And if you, like me, are crawling towards the end of term then "strengthen ye the feeble hands and confirm the weak knees"...

CSW

AcBoWriMo

Evening folks,
So the title may look a little cryptic but today is the final day of the Twitter-tastic AcBoWriMo. What is that? Well, it stands for Academic Book Writing Month and has been run by the good people of PhD2Published. In November a bunch of scholars from across the world have been trying to write as much as they can. Now, my contribution to this scheme has been a little limited for two reasons: 1) I have had a crazy teaching schedule and 2) I have finished my big book project and have spent the month faffing around just improving syntax here and there - this never adds up to a big word count, sadly.

But this week has been much better as I've combined writing with Shakespeare assessments, and have sent two articles off this week - Hoorah! Go AcBoWriMo friends! The Shakespeare has been excellent. Monday night was a Victoriana version of 'Pericles' and last night was a particularly bloody take on 'Titus Andronicus', surely old Will's weirdest play. The second years have done us proud.

And so the rest of the week is taken up with meetings, reading (inter-library loans are in!) and more Shakespeare. At the end of the week the Lincoln Christmas Market is in town and we have wonderful friends coming to stay. What fun in store!

Hope everyone is doing great!
CSW

Celebrating!

So today is my birthday! Thanks to everyone for making it special! Tonight we are off out to a new restaurant called Melanies in Louth. D booked it as a special treat. This is after having a wonderful lunch out with my friend, Ali. Food all the way today. On top of that I have spent the day rejigging a journal article that I'm hoping to send off tomorrow.

Despite my best intentions, this has been a week of marking and meetings. Next week the research starts again properly, coupled with some of the second year Shakespeare productions in the LPAC. I am hoping to find some quiet corners to finish off some ongoing projects, fill in some more grant forms and get some conference proposals sorted. Am very excited about this!

My two other big bits of news this week: 1) I finally sent the very final copy of the book to Palgrave. It is due out early next year so get your copy ordered! and 2) I was awarded an HEA fellowship which means that I have a certificate to prove I can teach! For this I had to write a 5000 word project which I really enjoyed getting to grips with. It feels great to have this under my belt.

Other than that, D and I have been trying to master the old Sonic the Hedgehog games (we have a retro games compilation on the PS3). Unfortunately I am as rubbish as I was when I was 11 and borrowed a friend's Sega Mega Drive while she was on holiday. I have absolutely no idea at all! Oh, and D did another mega online shop, this time including ten more cans of sweetcorn, ten large cans of garden peas, eight large jars of pasta sauce and enough bottles of juice to form a small bridge leading from our lounge to our bathroom. Hmmm, the culinary opportunities are endless!

CSW

Is that term over?

Well, the answer is 'yes' insofar as teaching has come to an end. This term has been a little on the crazy side so, I must admit, I'm glad to get back to a little research. And, with my first years doing such an incredible job with R.U.R., I don't even have a performance to worry about! So looking forward to seeing the final production! I've continued my ponderings that began in Edinburgh, though I haven't come to any particular conclusions yet. That's tomorrow's job. I have four projects to finish before Christmas. It might be a little ambitious!

We've had a couple of happy days with our friends this week. Last night we enjoyed the Bellowhead gig at the Engine Shed with Darren, Ally and familia. Today the wonderful Luehrmanns travelled down from Leeds. It was so good to see them all and to meet baby Liam for the first time. We feel very fortunate to have such good mates. Tonight is peaceful - online food order, a bit of music, a bit of left-over work, and perhaps a film. It is much colder than it has been and I'm afraid I have succumbed to the central heating. Saying that, I really like the hot water bottle and rug approach.

And, apart from setting myself the challenge of re-learning a beautiful Gaelic Christmas song called Taladh Chriosa in time for the festive season avec guitar chords, that is about it. This week it is meetings, tech rehearsals (nothing more exciting than getting the studio lights on!) and research projects, including the very final read through of the Book. Oh and someone's birthday...though this has passed me by entirely up to this point.

Hope everyone is having a great Fall/Autumn
CSW

Getting better!

Dearest blog fans,
Sorry for  a lack of posts recently. This has been the past week...sore throat, first year assessments, grant application panic, coughing, trip to Oxford for the CLSG conference on heroes, very quiet illness-dominated Sunday, second year assessments, more grant panic, trip to Liverpool for the wrestling arriving back at 2.30am, teaching, more first year assessments, sore chest, delicious chicken dinner....erm, that's taken us up to about fifteen minutes ago.

Phew, what a week! I just can't believe how chaotic life has been over recent days. So, let me fill you in on a couple of those things. The British Academy grant application is now in and done. Huzzah! While I'm not really expecting anything to come from it I am very glad to have gone through the process and just about survived. Grant applications are very odd indeed. Anyways, D and I went on a jolly to Oxford on Saturday. I attended the Christian Literary Studies Group Conference. I really like this conference as, not only is it really interesting, it also suggests that you can be a person of faith and not a moron or intellectually deficient. I find that encouraging. And it all takes place in the beautiful surroundings of Corpus Christi college. Ah, academia!

And Monday night we finally made it to a live wrestling event at the Liverpool Echo Arena. It was WWE Raw to be precise and anyone who doesn't get my growing obsession with Pro-wrestling should feel free to switch off now. The atmosphere was great - a real mixture of people (hence the forthcoming academic paper on audience ) - and the crowd gave a real welcome to CM Punk and booed Cena mercilessly but with good humour. There were a lot of Zack Ryder fans but, for me, Dolph Ziggler and the fabulous Vickie Guerrero stole the show. There is no way he should have lost to Morrison (a wrestler I like very much) and he sold the moves brilliantly. Anyways, after trying to navigate the world's most ridiculous road system (have you tried to cross the country recently? Road works everywhere!) we finally arrived back at 2.30am. All in all a great night. OK, so it wasn't the best Raw show ever but the whole experience was terrific.

So, I have one more day of assessment and then I'd better get it all written up and sorted. That's next week's job. And then finally get this book finished. Being ill has put the whole thing back a few days. I'm hoping that recovery is just around the corner. My voice has sounded ridiculous all week.

We are enjoying our post-tea cup of tea (ain't the British weird with their tea thang?) with D's new Rush DVD. It is the show he saw some months back in Manchester. Those guys sure play an energetic and impressive set. I'm not a huge Rush fan but their music is constantly on D's ipod so I have developed a certain appreciation of their music over the past few months. That said, on Saturday we are seeing a band I am really looking forward to catching again...but more of that in the next post.

CSW

With a husky voice

So after a very jolly weekend in Cardiff with Smelly and the 'rents I woke up on Monday morning with a bit of a sniffle. Off to Boots I trotted and strong pills have kept the symptoms at bay. However, my voice sounds extremely interesting and I'm hoping it'll hold out for our rehearsal tomorrow. I have even succumbed to putting the heating on.

Life continues on apace. I'm hoping that things will calm down pretty soon but until the Book is finally completed, all my outstanding grant applications are in and teaching has finished I am not expecting it will. D and I try to take a little time out in the evenings where we can and are currently enjoying an early birthday present in the form of the Shawn Michaels v Bret Hart DVD. The Hitman looks nervous and tense, Shawn (on the whole) seems pretty relaxed. We'll see how they go when they start talking about Montreal! It seems the perfect warm up for next Monday's rather mad trip to Liverpool to watch Raw. In a joyous break last night I got to spend a happy evening watching the Disney film Enchanted and eating pizza with two of my favourite girlies. It was such a lovely treat after a long day of assessments.

So, here I sit tonight with the Manchester City game gently pulsing in the background, proofreading the Book one final time. Friday is this week's research day and I'm going to lock myself away with only the Book to keep me company...and perhaps Kermode and Mayo on Radio Five. Can't wait! Until then it's evenings only on the Book.

Hope everyone is doing well. Isn't it exciting that Autumn is coming? I love this time of year - it is beautiful and expectant.

CSW

Nothing to report

Life in the Warden household continues apace with a mixture of sports, films, home jobs, meeting with friends and work. D and I have both been putting in fairly long hours in our respective workplaces recently. I always find that life gets quite chaotic at this time of year. Suddenly your 'to-do' list has doubled in size! We are very glad that, on the whole, we both enjoy our work. Evenings (when they've finally arrived) have therefore been quite quiet. We are on the last episode of the first season of Treme. We have so enjoyed this magnificent series. It won't be for everyone but I love it. Last night's penultimate episode was a terrific case in point. There are so many characters, so many incredibly complicated situations but the narrative never feels rushed or over-populated. David Simon et al are geniuses. The only comparable writer I can think of is Charles Dickens. In amazing novels like Our Mutual Friend and even shorter ones like Great Expectations, he manages to keep all his characters and landscapes under control. Simon and friends do likewise.

But other than that there really is nothing to report. Over the next few weeks we have a number of exciting things going on but right now all is quiet. Today has been dominated by grant applications (officially rubbish at them!), my wonderful first years (I told them they were inspiring this morning...and I really meant it) and faffy admin all amidst the swirling rainclouds of the East Midlands.

While things seem to just continue on at the moment I do feel as if I am learning a lot about all sorts of things. It's funny how you can find yourself in those sorts of periods sometimes. As I was walking to work this morning in my trackies (wet trousers are horrid!) I suddenly felt like going on a long hike somewhere in the mountains. I ended up at the LPAC (which isn't really the same thing) but the desire to go a wanderin' did not abate. Perhaps I'll get to go on a little trip this weekend...

CSW

Third Shakespeare in a month

Last night Filer Theatre Company brought their rather crazy version of A Midsummer Night's Dream to the LPAC. It was such fun and even D, who likes his Shakespeare pretty traditional, enjoyed it. Bread fights, blue lycra and musical interludes!

Today has been pretty chilled out. We've been to the bank, done a little shopping and sorted the washing. I'm just about to do a little work while D watches Match of the Day. Currently the dulcet tones of Alex Salmond can be heard chez Warden. It is often pretty difficult to follow Scottish politics in England - the media is unbelievably biased. We enjoy it when Westminster journalists take on Wise Old Owl Salmond. He makes everyone look utterly ridiculous. Anyways...

So, we are halfway through the teaching term. It has gone unbelievably quickly! This week I have been mostly meeting with students, attending meetings, trying to fill in grant applications and finishing my HEA teaching project. On Wednesday night I judged a very high quality house drama competition at Queen Elizabeth High School in Gainsborough. We had a fun night of pirate-related theatricalities. I was amazed at the high quality of submissions.

Anyways, Salmond is getting increasingly passionate ("nae limits fer Scotland") and I am going to crash on with a little work. Looking forward to a restful Sunday tomorrow and then on with another week.

CSW

Hot water bottles and woolly hats

So, autumn has arrived. The wind is cold and I wore double jumper layers today. Always glad for hot tea and hot water bottles. Anyways, we had a rather excellent and chilled out weekend, drinking coffee and eating Chinese food with friends, coming third in a quiz, looking at houses (just being nosy) and listening to a couple of great preaches. All in all it was exactly what I needed. This is, rather unbelievably, week 4 which means that we are nearly halfway through teaching for this term. Madness! It is all going well and last night was topped off by our journal reading group where we discussed a guy that actually looks like a cat. Academia!

Tonight I'm finally getting to do a bit of work on a grant application I've been meaning to sort out for a while. And I think an early night might go down well, especially given that I am turning all Simon Cowell tomorrow night as I judge the drama competition at Queen Elizabeth High School, Gainsborough. Last year the standard was remarkably high so I'm looking forward to it. Another relatively quiet weekend in store. I am loving relaxing weekends at the moment. D and I are just spending a lot of time hanging out, watching films, doing household chores and reading stuff.

We are also really enjoying our new box set Treme.  It is set in New Orleans post-Hurricane Katrina and, as usual for a David Simon/HBO combo it is thought-provoking, challenging and uplifting in equal measure. These HBO series are often a bit bleak and sweary but they provide such a wonderful insight into communities and their issues. Not knowing a great deal about the Hurricane and the devastation it caused, I have really been struck by the unbelievable decisions, oversights and social problems. Unusually for TV, this series does not try to provide easy answers or to romanticise society. Like The Wire it challenges your expectation of television in profoundly disturbing ways.

Other than that it's been work all the way really. Not even watched University Challenge yet as I was at the gym last night while D and his buddy played squash. After a couple of wee frustrations during the day I ran on the treadmill until I could run no further. Exercise is just mega! In total agreement with good ol' Apostle Paul.

Anyways, onwards. Peter Gabriel's super-duper new album New Blood is in the background. I have tea and a hottie. Everything is ready for a couple of quiet hours of grant application. It's at times like this that I feel so unbelievably blessed to have a cosy peaceful house, to know that D is working his way through the Smiths' back catalogue in the other room, and to just feel that everything is working together for good. Ace, huh?

Hope everyone is doing really well.
CSW

Capek turning in his grave

So, after a few long days I've finally managed to chop Capek's play RUR down to 20 pages. This was extreme textual vandalism and we are left with a jolly ditty about robots taking over the world. I did a read through with the first years this morning and it all seemed to go rather well considering we were also trying to battle our way through Lyotard's The Postmodern Condition. Pretty hard core for first year!

Things are a little chaotic to be honest. I feel as if I'm running around like a crazy thing and it's only week 3. That said we seem to have happy students and contented faculty teaching teams so that's all that one can ask for really. Today I also found out about the true power of Twitter. Over the weekend I went on a search for a copy of the Times Higher Ed as last week saw the release of the university league tables. Could I find a copy? No I couldn't, and we tried everywhere. I tweeted my disappointment about the lack of magazines in the Lincolnshire area and the lovely folks from THE tweeted back saying that they would send me a copy. It duly arrived this morning. Seriously, Twitter is the best! Cheers to the fab folks at THE.

This week also saw the arrival of two new CDs. The first is a proggy little number from Steven Wilson called Grace for Drowning. It is beautiful, varied and challenging. The second is Peter Gabriel's latest offering New Blood. It is a collection of some of his best songs reimagined by an incredible orchestra. It is a genuinely moving album. I LOVE Pete and this album shows that an old rocker can still have ambition, can still be pushing the boundaries of genre and challenging himself. Terrific.

Anyways, D is going to try and download IOS5 on to my iPad. It took him three hours to update his iphone earlier on today. Here's hoping for a straight forward software update. Apple continue to do Steve Jobs proud even in his sad absence.

Hope everyone is doing really good. We've been watching a lot of Treme this week and I'll post about it properly at some stage soon.

Have a great weekend when it comes.
CSW