A busy summer!

You know when you look at your diary and get a bit overwhelmed by it? Erm...yes... My summer is pretty crazy this year. Fortunately it is all wonderfully happy from a week with a kid's camp in Germany (a good test for my Deutsch) to multiple conferences to a wee run up to Edinburgh, to a trip to Sri Lanka to longs days of writing in my lovely Lincolnshire pad. It all feels so good and really, really full! Looking forward to the mixture of work and play - lots of adventures, scholarly, linguistically and culturally. With Bruce singing in the background it's time to fill you in on the week.

Well this week I received good news about a funding bid, became a mentor for the Higher Education Academy at Lincoln, read some mad plays by Alexandr Blok (in English), watched some new Bruce DVDs (present from D even though it has clearly just been his birthday!), watched a rather terrific play about The Ashes (that's the cricket tournament for any American readers), rewatched Reel Steel while doing a heap of ironing, chatted with the ducklings (who are basically ducks now) and done lots and lots of writing. And (probably biggest news of all) I've finished my Insanity fitness programme. Pretty proud of myself actually. It was really tough but great fun. Definitely feel fitter and stronger. Today I went for a run and smashed through my 5K record. Go me! For the next few weeks I'm just going to enjoy wee fitness challenges (like some new weights work, new yoga moves and some great runs) and then I'm on to Rushfit, Georges St Pierre's fitness programme. Can't wait. Reckon I'll do some Insanity workouts too as I'm going to miss ol' Shaun T in my world. Feeling fit and healthy is a super blessing. Probably just eaten a spoon too much frozen yogurt but we'll let that go.

We have a relatively quiet weekend in store. I'm riding tomorrow before going to a joint 40th birthday party. All their buddies have cooked a chilli and are taking it along so my kitchen currently smells of beef...lots of beef. Sunday is super quiet. LEC in the morning before sitting out in the sun and probably watching a certain tennis final. D has done his Nottingham commute 11 days out of 12 so he is looking forward to not getting the train! Next week is the British Comparative Literature Conference in Colchester and the Scottish side of the fam are coming to stay. Big Dave, if you are reading this, you have to leave all the washing up for when I get back. We made a deal!

So, summing up, life rocks pretty good right now. I love the summer months when I can make my own schedule and get loads done. And if the sun continues to shine you'll find me with a smile on my face in my hammock with a book, the tennis and a glass of Diet Coke. Rock n' roll!

CSW

Bruuuuuuuce take 2

So, what do you do with a spare Thursday evening? You go to Coventry on a whim of course. D rang in the morning and asked if I fancied going. It all seemed a little mad! But off we went to the Ricoh Arena to see Springsteen for the second time in a week. With any other band it would all be a little boring but, of course, Bruce played a totally different gig. He was amazing and the sound was definitely better than Wembley.

Friday, someone (who will remain nameless) did very well in his exams so I celebrated by taking a day of annual leave and taking him to see 'Man of Steel' at the cinema. Verdict? Very enjoyable if a little perplexing. I couldn't work out who was dead (if anyone) nor really what they were fighting for. But Henry Cavill is great (and physically impressive) as Superman. Well worth it just for him. We also enjoyed dinner at our new Lincoln hang out Ribs and Bibs which is a very welcome America-influenced addition to our rather lean local scene. I had the smoked chicken salad (they smoke their own meat) and it was super delicious.

Since then it has been exam boards and writing. The book is coming on well, although progress has stalled slightly because of all the other wee projects I have on the go right now. Today I've been trying to throw a conference paper together. On Tuesday I travelled down to London for a jolly day out at the National Theatre, meeting new folks and seeing some suffragette plays. Life is certainly varied and interesting. Having spent this morning on the conference paper, this afternoon I am going to do a little reading and spend a bit of time on the book. Fridays always seem like chill out days, right? I think another cuppa will help me to get to grips with Alexander Blok's 'Puppet Show', my play of the day. Have been thinking quite a bit recently about reading schedules. I'm pretty good with writing schedules and even with research schedules but my reading schedule is very up and down. To be honest I read when my brain can't write anymore! Certainly worth considering a proper summer reading schedule.

And with that, I'll depart. Summer is full of trips, holidays, conferences and writing. All we need is sunshine and it'll be perfect.

CSW

Bruuuuuuuce

So, what a weekend we had. After an odd, up and down sort of week (which culminated in some very exciting publication news that I can't share with you yet), we picked up our camper van Olive and drove down to Buckinghamshire with our buddies. We arrived at 4 in the morning just as the sun was coming up. Seriously long drive in the rain but the boys drove amazingly and we only stalled once on a wet track. D saved the day by bump starting dear old Olive. We stayed at a campsite in Seer Green and, after hanging about in our van eating brioche for the morning, got the train to Wembley Arena to see Bruce Springsteen. I had been excited about this trip for weeks and weeks. We did our usual queuing. At one stage the rain was as bad as it had been when we saw Bruce in Manchester last year! Was once again grateful for my plastic poncho. Eventually we got in and found ourselves a great spot just near the mixing desk which means that you don't get bumped about too much.

Well, what can be said? Bruce was awesome. He played almost every song I wanted and did some super obscure ones as well. We jumped about, sang along and had a great time. One of the things I love best about Bruce is that he is a total perfectionist and yet doesn't mind getting folks up on stage or letting the audience play his guitar. For me this suggests the perfect balance of total dedication to his music and chilled out love for his fans. His music seems to connect with people in really interesting and unique ways.

We drove back yesterday and I was super sad to hand dear Olive back. We had an amazing weekend and I just feel incredibly fortunate to be able to enjoy such brilliant days. The whole three days made me feel super thankful (for our friends, for new experiences, for music, for too much Haribo) and inspired to achieve excellence in the things I do too. As Bruce so eloquently puts it 'it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive'. True that!

CSW

Gigs galore!

As usual at this time of the year, I flit between end of term admin (never-ending!), lovely days of writing and fun little excursions. So over the past two weeks I have finished all the material for our external examiners, completed a book chapter and added 5000 words to dear ol' MAG (my EUP book who I haven't really said 'hello' to all term) and have been to two gigs with a third on the way.

The gigs in question were Mark Knopfler at the Royal Albert Hall (for me) and Rush in Sheffield (for D). Both were spectacularly wonderful in their own ways. We have seen Knopfler before but I thought he played better than ever this time and the whole experience was made all the more joyous by being right at the front! He played a lot of lovely folkie stuff just for me and at the end we all rushed the stage and danced along with 'Local Hero'. The Rush gig was definitely more for D who simply loves this band. There was a particularly humorous moment when D and the three random guys next to him played a remarkably accurate drum quartet. Getting your paradiddles right is super important at a Rush gig! However, even though I always think Rush doesn't play my type of music, there were loads of things I really enjoyed about the evening: a) Having read Neil Peart's (drummer) wonderful books over the past year, I feel I have a new appreciation of him, the band and his lyrics. He is a remarkably learned, intelligent and literary guy b) they are just three nice blokes. It helps a lot when you enjoy music from guys who aren't jerks c) there is a lovely geeky element to them. I really love the way that geek culture in all its forms is quite cool right now. Given that I have always been a bit of a geek (in a loveable, non-weird way), it is great to watch a band that embrace that side of themselves and aren't afraid to be perennially uncool! d) I have written about this before on this blog, but they are a band who take risks. Their music is constantly risky and difficult. I just love meeting/watching/being around folks who are awesomely talented and brilliant at what they do. Somehow it makes me want to be better at what I do too e) actually I secretly like their music but don't tell D.

I won't tell you how excited I am about this weekend's gig extravaganza!

The writing is going well, as is my Insanity fitness programme. I have just two weeks left of the latter and have definitely noticed a difference. It has been hard...very hard...but I certainly feel stronger and absolutely love the challenge of pushing my body. I haven't yet made it all the way through the power jump section, but I live in hope! In our spare time (between D's mammoth revising sessions) we are enjoying Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States which we recorded on our Skybox. I'm finding out about a heap of folks I've never heard of and learning more and more about a country we really love.

Anyways, a BBQ beckons tonight. This will be our third in four days! Steak all the way tonight. D's steak is seriously the best in town.

CSW

Alternative modernisms and quiet days

Morning all,
After 2 days of glorious sunshine, Lincolnshire weather has reverted to type and we have rain. The ducklings are quite jolly about it. This past week and a bit has been a combination of super busyness and peaceful home days. Straight after our departmental postgrad progress board, I ran off to Cardiff for the Alternative Modernisms conference. There were three great things about this trip: 1) I got to stay with Smelly sister and Stu (husband) which was so lovely. Generally at conferences you stay in uni accommodation or a hotel. How nice it was to have a little home from home where I could relax. 2) The scholarship was immense. I'm not sure what I was expecting from this conference but I certainly wasn't expecting to come away quite so inspired. Because of the word 'alternative' many modernists with more niche subject areas came out of the woodwork. This meant a refreshing lack of Joyce and Woolf and far more about obscure scout groups, the design of cruise liners and pottery. I loved it! My own panel went very well. To have 40 people at a modernism and theatre panel is, quiet frankly, unheard of! There was a brilliant spirit of joyful friendship which I appreciated very much indeed 3) I got to visit my bff in Ammanford (which is further from Cardiff than you'd think!) and meet her two sweet children for the first time. We lived together when we both worked for St Mikes in Aberystwyth but haven't actually seen each other since my wedding nearly 6 years ago although we've spoken on the phone a lot. It was simply brilliant to see her.

The only downside to all the revelry is that I got a horrid cold that I had to fight off for the entire week. Bravely battled through though in the power of Vicks First Defence.

Since then it has been marking all the way. Finished all first marking yesterday so now just need to do the final bits of moderation and we can put this term to bed. For a variety of reasons, this hasn't been the easiest term for me so I'm quite glad to venture on into a summer of research. That said, last week we said goodbye to our third years and I was very sad about it. They are the first group of students I have ever seen all the way through their course so I feel particularly attached to them. They are a really strong year group and, best of all, genuinely nice folks.

I have enjoyed a number of peaceful days at home which have reminded me how much I love sitting at my wee desk and just cracking on alone. I am really quite antisocial! As well as that over the past week and a half I have: carried on with Insanity (the second month is way tougher than the first - my muscles ache...a lot!), watched Shawshank Redemption for the first time (I know, I know...), watched a brilliant documentary called Searching for Sugarman, read Paul Coelho's The Alchemist (really excellent and thoughtful), worked on a chapter for a collection entitled Modernist World, done my first batch of healthy baking (verdict: carrot cake 'best I have ever eaten' (quote from D), but still need to find a way of getting my banana muffins to rise properly) and enjoyed two bbqs.

Summer research is approaching and I am so looking forward to the next 12 weeks. I have a whole book to write along with other projects but am excited about the challenge and about the long days at my laptop. All great fun. We also have a number of gigs and wee trips coming up to give us some time together away from D's revision books.

Hope life is treating you well wherever you are
CSW

Sorry, assessment took over life back there!

So much for blogging every week! Quite frankly any post I might have written last week would have been total nonsense! It was the second week of performance fortnight, LSPA's bi-annual theatre fest. Everything went off very well, although if I smell ketchup or strawberry sauce ever again it will be too soon. There were some interesting performances from the first years who responded to the brief in really imaginative ways. Come Thursday night I was utterly exhausted and spent the next three days resting and filling in assessment front sheets. D is super busy right now so we've tried to take a bit of time out together just to watch some football or eat food.

Talking of football, hats off to Sir Alex Ferguson who retired this week. Actually I felt rather nostalgic about it all, remembering back to those joyous Saturdays at Old Trafford watching Eric Cantona run rings around the Liverpool defence. Happy days! Fergie was also present out our wedding (coincidence, you understand, he wasn't invited as such) and signed our wedding book. I think even staunch ManU-hater D was relatively impressed by that. Anyways, onwards and upwards with David Moyes. Hopefully Rooney will be out the door so I can start supporting the Reds in good conscience again.

We continue on with our Insanity fitness programme. I am enjoying it very much indeed. This week is our rest week. I did the 'rest week workout' last night and it was considerably less restful than I was hoping! It feels pretty good to be a bit fitter. It also means that I can finally do the yoga crow pose, something I have wanted to do since taking a hard core yoga class in Canada. It requires strong triceps!

The ducklings are doing very well. We have two families: one of eight who are all huge and one of five who are a little smaller. They come for breakfast and tea. D is a big softie and left the house this morning reminding me to 'take care of the ducklings'. They are increasingly demanding and knock on the conservatory door when they are hungry. Cheeky things!

This week is my transition week back into research and I'm looking forward to it. Apart from the marking, my focus from now until September is on writing and only writing. By the by, my royalties came through from the first book. Put it this way, I won't be retiring any time soon! But it has sold rather well for a fairly off-the-wall academic book. I'm really looking forward to this summer. We have a couple of holidays, a few gigs, some conferences and long days of writing and research. Just perfect!

And talking of research....I had better crack on.
CSW

Day out at the Beeb

I write this from my conservatory with the sun occasionally popping out from behind the clouds and silly ducklings chasing bugs outside. Having spent the last couple of hours trying to start a new book chapter, I thought I'd take a quick break and write a blog post. So, the most exciting thing that's happened relates to the blog title...

Last post I mentioned that something exciting had happened that I wasn't allowed to tell anyone. Well, I was invited down to BBC Broadcasting House to be part of an AHRC (Arts/Humanities Research Council) collaborative project on Scottish identity (I know, I know!). It was a great day full of incredible research, amazingly inspirational academics and producers, and the chance to walk through BBC Persia to get to the loo! I had a great time - hopefully it will lead on to other stuff in the future.

I spent the weekend recovering from my London trip, riding Tommy and watching films. Lovely! We are now nearly halfway through our Insanity programme. It has been really tough but I love a good fitness challenge. It's just good fun and I enjoy challenging myself. In fact this term has been all about testing myself, failing, succeeding, testing myself again. This is the nature of academic life but I guess it should also be the nature of life generally. I need to keep feeling I am moving forward: learning new things, being challenged by new things, being tested in new ways. Moving forwards is a great thing!

For those who are interested, the ducklings are doing very well. We have a family of eight who are huge and a family of seven who are smaller. They have started scrapping over the past few days and D has had to stand between them! Harry the hedgehog has also been out more than usual, wandering along in the sunshine. Our garden is full of happy animals! We've also finished Homeland series 1 (pretty good, annoyingly unresolved ending) and watched Moonlight Kingdom (a really beautiful and funny film recommended by D's aunt).

Anyways, the chapter beckons again. I have about another hour to go on it. It's going surprisingly OK so far. We are just about to enter assessments so I wanted to get things done before they arrive. Next week is a monster!

CSW