We woke up early on Saturday morning and prepared to show up for breakfast which was included in the booking, I got this very nice plate of bacon, eggs, tomato and hash brown and we could also choose from an assortment of cereals. I was truly impressed with their reception and how much they made us feel welcome almost into their own home. Abbeyview cottage gets ***** from me, cannot praise them enough. We finished getting dressed got our luggage together and paid for our room and off we went on to find where the conference was being held.
We made it into the town centre and made our way in the right direction from there. The problem with getting around St. Andrews is that it is soooo small everyone thinks you know where you are going! We were real tourists with maps pointing and hmmm-ing. We made it eventually to the place where the conference was but now the question was WHICH BUILDING, because there were a few around and non properly signposted. Well we found signposts in the end but they didn't indicate which direction you should go so that was a bright idea, but in the end we found it. It was held in the Purdie Building, North Haugh and when we came into the foyer most of the people were there already. We signed in and went browsing about the tables they had set up. They were offering books and booklets on sale, and I was incredibly lucky. I got my hands on ECMS (Early Christian Monuments of Scotland) for 20P, which is not bad considering this is very hard to get your hands on. It didn't take me a long time to decide to buy it. We also found Jo from the Music Department who was going to be so sweet to us and give us a lift back to Glasgow. Then Alex Wolf climbed up on a table to get our attention that the conference was starting and that we should start moving towards the lecture theatre.
The first lecture started at 10:45, speaker was Barbara Yorke from the University of Winchester ''Scottish Northumbria' as an Anglo-Saxon Province', which was about the Bernician dynasty around Bamburgh and Lindisfarne. Interesting but since I am not very up on history this late, I have no idea what she was talking about.
Then it was Dr. David N. Parsons from the Centre for Advanced Studies, University of Wales, 'Place-names of the Southwest revisited' which was very interesting and I enjoyed it very much listening to him. And then it was lunch. The buffet was very nice, although not very organised, so I had no idea what I was getting, also the problem was because you weren't really able to recognise what was on the sandwiches Catriona couldn't take a chance, so it appeared that the vegetarian choice was finished when we finally got there (if it ever was there). All she did get was a muffin and a bowl of fruit, I was lucky though, because I got a sandwich with ham and tomato (only one slice of tomato though), chicken, muffin and fruit.
After the break it was Alice Blackwell's turn from Museum of Scotland, she was talking about 'Reassessing the Anglo-Saxon material culture from Scotland', and I love hearing what she has to say. This is the second time I have attended a lecture with her and it's always fabulous. One of the highlights of the conference I must say. Following her talk was Dr. Nicky Toop, Field Archaeology Specialist from York, talking about 'Northumbrian Monuments in Southern Scotland: carving a Christian territory', and I must admit I was not impressed. She used so much out of date data for her talk and relied to much on what others had done it didn't give any clear focus on what she was really on about. It felt too much like she didn't know what she was doing there, not good at all. Then it was time for tea.
Tea was a lovely time, we got loads of cake and Catriona got tea so she was happy. I managed to wrangle a coke form a vending machine so I was happy too.
The conference was almost finished at this point but three speakers were still to left. So the opening act after coffee break was none other than Alex Wolf himself, speaking on 'The Sain'ts of Anlgo-Saxon Scotland'. It was a very brief talk, but fun. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing him recite a poem in Old English fluently, it was lovely, and his saints were fun too. Then we finally got an archeologists perspective on the Anglo-Saxon culture with Erlend Hindmarch from AOC (I have no idea what that is) who told us about 'New Discoveries from Auldhame', and I again enjoyed that talk immensely. He was telling us about an excavation of a graveyard dating from late 8th century until 15th century. It was amazing and great to hear of the work being carried out there. I don't know why but I always like listening to Archaeologists share their discoveries and listen to their lectures. Probably because they use a lot of photos!
Then it was time for our very own Professor Dauvit Brown to sum up the conference and give a closing speach. All in all the conference was a great success and I am so happy to have gone. I had also managed to get my hands on a couple of other booklets from previous conferences about Scandinavian studies in Scotland so I was mightly pleased.
After this there was nothing more to do than to take off home. Guto joined us as Jo had promised to give him a ride as well and when we were all there we headed for her car and she drove us all the way to Glasgow and home to our doorstep as well. She was so nice and it was a very nice journey to make all in all.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
St. Andrews Conference I
Catriona and I went to a conference in St. Andrews last weekend. It was hosted by St. Andrews University, Committe for Dark Age studies & EMERGE (I have no idea what that is). The title of the conference was 'Anglo-Saxon Scotland' and some questioned the validity or the apropriateness of this title.
The party started on Friday so Catriona and I made our way to Queen Street station early morning to catch the train to Edinburgh. I always like going on trains. We made it into Edinburgh shortly before 11, and I just managed to grab a sandwich, bottle of coke and a bag of crisps before we jumped aboard the train to Luchers. We had enormous amount of fun on the trainride to Luchers all thanks to Walkers Vote for Me crips. I had grabbed a bag of a new trial crips 'Builders Breakfast' and they truly were magical. I recommend them to anyone who want's a bit of Harry Potter feeling. It was like eating Berti Botts Every Flavour Beans, except crisps. 'Builder's Breakfast' was supposed to have, eggs, toast, beans and bacon, and the weird thing was, you picked up a crips and bit into it and maybe you got eggs, or eggs and bacon, bacon and beans, beans and toast! The point is you never knew and it could be any flavour, which made this incredibly fun. We are so easily entertained.
We made it into Luchers around noon and hurried to the bus station where a moment later a bus came to take us to St. Andrews. What a journey. We had no idea where we were or where we were going but alighted at the first viable spot, and landed basically in the heart of St. Andrews not bad. This was the start of a long day of walking ... and walking ... and walking. We went to the St. Andrews Cathedral, which is probably one of my favorite ruins of all time. Looking at it just makes you wonder what used to be there and makes you want to weep, it is beautiful. Next to the Cathedral is St. Rules tower and Catriona can tell you all about it. I only know a bit, that it is one of the oldest square tower in Scotland! We went up, but oh boy, it was difficult. The stairs were circular and tiny, these really were tiny monks, but I made it up and Catriona too. I took a few photos to prove it and then we descended the stairs again. I still don't know how I managed this and both my knees get nightmares thinking about this trip up and down. (My knees are magical and can think for themselves.)
Next on the list was finding the Bed and Brekfast, and after what felt like wandering around the desert for twenty minutes we found it. It was a lovely place in the middle of the suburb of St. Andrews (which is not big). The welcome was wonderful and the room was amazing, felt just like a hotel only smaller. After stopping for a short while where I was able to allow my feet to breath for a bit, we were at it again ... walking ... and walking. We went back to the city centre where we sat down at Costa Cafe to find out where we were going next, but in the end we mostly just wandered around town aimlessly looking for a place to eat. We basically ended up at the same place where we had lunch, at Victorias Bar. We knew we would get good food there so we weren't to disappointed of not getting to sample more of the local cusine. Also most of the places in St. Andrews are rather expensive.
We left the diner when it was still roughly more than half an hour before the seminar started. The seminar tonight was sort of the opening act to the weekends conference, The Anderson Memorial Lecture. It took us for ages to find the place, and its basically because I screwed up! I was so caught up with the street names there that I didn't really pay much attention to the map or address. So we turned down a road we shouldn't have, if we had basically moved half a meter more and into a courtyard we would have been there, but I wanted to go down Butts Wynd (which I renamed Farts Alley) and from there it went all down hill. We made it back but it was quite frustrating that we could have avoided all this walking, on the other hand there were people about now so we felt more assured that we were at the right place. And so we were, we found the lecture theatre and sat down, which was a relief for my feet.
The speaker of the evening was a Professor Nick Higham and his talk was titled 'Anglo-Saxon Scotland?' (very imaginative title as you can see). I had heard that not everyone was pleased with having him as opening speaker for the night, and I must say I can understand why (although I didn't until Catriona explained it to me). I didn't take the same history courses as Catriona did so she was much more up on things than I was, but basically this guy was spouting nonsence which no 'sane person thinks anymore', and that it had felt like stepping thirty years back into the past in scholarship. He was an entertaining speaker though, it must be said. There are probably not many that can actually get the sentence: 'Not that I am insinuating that Bede was a Dalek' into a lecture.
After the talk we were invited over to a reception given by the University and sponsored by Glenmorangie! They offered us whiskey, red wine, white wine and some other beverages that I wasn't exploring to much of. They even had snacks. I had a glass of whiskey but because I had been walking so much and had an early start to tomorrow I didn't imbibe too much, although Catriona got a bit mellow with a glass of red wine. We mingled, although just barely, we met a guy from Cambridge, named Paul (I thought his name was Bob, but found that odd for a Cambridge boy), all dressed up in tweed! He knew Geraldine our teacher so we had something in common to talk about. Then we spent a few minutes talking to Dauvit and Thomas before splitting. It's a good thing I am good at finding my way around places because I would not have trusted Catriona in her mellow state to get us where we were going, we walked back to the B&B and were very happy when we were finally in bed exhausted after an eventful day.
The party started on Friday so Catriona and I made our way to Queen Street station early morning to catch the train to Edinburgh. I always like going on trains. We made it into Edinburgh shortly before 11, and I just managed to grab a sandwich, bottle of coke and a bag of crisps before we jumped aboard the train to Luchers. We had enormous amount of fun on the trainride to Luchers all thanks to Walkers Vote for Me crips. I had grabbed a bag of a new trial crips 'Builders Breakfast' and they truly were magical. I recommend them to anyone who want's a bit of Harry Potter feeling. It was like eating Berti Botts Every Flavour Beans, except crisps. 'Builder's Breakfast' was supposed to have, eggs, toast, beans and bacon, and the weird thing was, you picked up a crips and bit into it and maybe you got eggs, or eggs and bacon, bacon and beans, beans and toast! The point is you never knew and it could be any flavour, which made this incredibly fun. We are so easily entertained.
We made it into Luchers around noon and hurried to the bus station where a moment later a bus came to take us to St. Andrews. What a journey. We had no idea where we were or where we were going but alighted at the first viable spot, and landed basically in the heart of St. Andrews not bad. This was the start of a long day of walking ... and walking ... and walking. We went to the St. Andrews Cathedral, which is probably one of my favorite ruins of all time. Looking at it just makes you wonder what used to be there and makes you want to weep, it is beautiful. Next to the Cathedral is St. Rules tower and Catriona can tell you all about it. I only know a bit, that it is one of the oldest square tower in Scotland! We went up, but oh boy, it was difficult. The stairs were circular and tiny, these really were tiny monks, but I made it up and Catriona too. I took a few photos to prove it and then we descended the stairs again. I still don't know how I managed this and both my knees get nightmares thinking about this trip up and down. (My knees are magical and can think for themselves.)
Next on the list was finding the Bed and Brekfast, and after what felt like wandering around the desert for twenty minutes we found it. It was a lovely place in the middle of the suburb of St. Andrews (which is not big). The welcome was wonderful and the room was amazing, felt just like a hotel only smaller. After stopping for a short while where I was able to allow my feet to breath for a bit, we were at it again ... walking ... and walking. We went back to the city centre where we sat down at Costa Cafe to find out where we were going next, but in the end we mostly just wandered around town aimlessly looking for a place to eat. We basically ended up at the same place where we had lunch, at Victorias Bar. We knew we would get good food there so we weren't to disappointed of not getting to sample more of the local cusine. Also most of the places in St. Andrews are rather expensive.
We left the diner when it was still roughly more than half an hour before the seminar started. The seminar tonight was sort of the opening act to the weekends conference, The Anderson Memorial Lecture. It took us for ages to find the place, and its basically because I screwed up! I was so caught up with the street names there that I didn't really pay much attention to the map or address. So we turned down a road we shouldn't have, if we had basically moved half a meter more and into a courtyard we would have been there, but I wanted to go down Butts Wynd (which I renamed Farts Alley) and from there it went all down hill. We made it back but it was quite frustrating that we could have avoided all this walking, on the other hand there were people about now so we felt more assured that we were at the right place. And so we were, we found the lecture theatre and sat down, which was a relief for my feet.
The speaker of the evening was a Professor Nick Higham and his talk was titled 'Anglo-Saxon Scotland?' (very imaginative title as you can see). I had heard that not everyone was pleased with having him as opening speaker for the night, and I must say I can understand why (although I didn't until Catriona explained it to me). I didn't take the same history courses as Catriona did so she was much more up on things than I was, but basically this guy was spouting nonsence which no 'sane person thinks anymore', and that it had felt like stepping thirty years back into the past in scholarship. He was an entertaining speaker though, it must be said. There are probably not many that can actually get the sentence: 'Not that I am insinuating that Bede was a Dalek' into a lecture.
After the talk we were invited over to a reception given by the University and sponsored by Glenmorangie! They offered us whiskey, red wine, white wine and some other beverages that I wasn't exploring to much of. They even had snacks. I had a glass of whiskey but because I had been walking so much and had an early start to tomorrow I didn't imbibe too much, although Catriona got a bit mellow with a glass of red wine. We mingled, although just barely, we met a guy from Cambridge, named Paul (I thought his name was Bob, but found that odd for a Cambridge boy), all dressed up in tweed! He knew Geraldine our teacher so we had something in common to talk about. Then we spent a few minutes talking to Dauvit and Thomas before splitting. It's a good thing I am good at finding my way around places because I would not have trusted Catriona in her mellow state to get us where we were going, we walked back to the B&B and were very happy when we were finally in bed exhausted after an eventful day.
To be continued ...
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Friday 13th
Feeling unlucky ... not really!
But it's one of those days that seems to creep up on you every once in a while, like so many others. It's also a day that seems to be dedicated to bad luck and horror films. What this has in common I have no idea, probably that if you walk under a ladder you aren't going to have a bucket of paint fall on you, not it's probably going to be a pshyco piano that is going to run after you down the entire lenght of the street before hurling you off a cliff into a piranah infested Amazon river, which there is no logical reason why it appeared there. Horror films just don't work for me.
I went to the cinema once with a friend of mine, a real horror film fan and did something you shouldn't when watching a horror film. I laughed!!! And not just that I laughed outloud, it was a real bellywrenching loud hysterical laughter. Because the scene was so prepostrous I couldn't help myself. Apparently I should have, considering the look I got from her. I had managed to laugh at the worst moment in the film, I swear I really couldn't have picked a worse time. Oh boy, I guess I ruined the experience for all who sat next to me. After the film she calmly said to me that she was never going to take me to a horror film ever again. It was at that moment and not a second sooner that I actually realised that it had been a horror film we went to see. Up until that exact moment I had had no idea that was the case.
I am bad that way, like some people can't watch an adventure film without commenting 'that's not possible', and 'that's so unrealistic', I am 'why did he do that' or 'how come he/she/they didn't do that instead'. So I tend to completely miss the point ... get scared! For me I just see stupid people end up dead and maybe in a very bad film ... [put some drama in your voice] with the last breatht they possess the 'goodies' of the film manage to kill the 'baddie'.
But it's one of those days that seems to creep up on you every once in a while, like so many others. It's also a day that seems to be dedicated to bad luck and horror films. What this has in common I have no idea, probably that if you walk under a ladder you aren't going to have a bucket of paint fall on you, not it's probably going to be a pshyco piano that is going to run after you down the entire lenght of the street before hurling you off a cliff into a piranah infested Amazon river, which there is no logical reason why it appeared there. Horror films just don't work for me.
I went to the cinema once with a friend of mine, a real horror film fan and did something you shouldn't when watching a horror film. I laughed!!! And not just that I laughed outloud, it was a real bellywrenching loud hysterical laughter. Because the scene was so prepostrous I couldn't help myself. Apparently I should have, considering the look I got from her. I had managed to laugh at the worst moment in the film, I swear I really couldn't have picked a worse time. Oh boy, I guess I ruined the experience for all who sat next to me. After the film she calmly said to me that she was never going to take me to a horror film ever again. It was at that moment and not a second sooner that I actually realised that it had been a horror film we went to see. Up until that exact moment I had had no idea that was the case.
I am bad that way, like some people can't watch an adventure film without commenting 'that's not possible', and 'that's so unrealistic', I am 'why did he do that' or 'how come he/she/they didn't do that instead'. So I tend to completely miss the point ... get scared! For me I just see stupid people end up dead and maybe in a very bad film ... [put some drama in your voice] with the last breatht they possess the 'goodies' of the film manage to kill the 'baddie'.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Seminars
I don't know why but seeing my professors falling asleep during a seminar is oddly comforting. Of course some of them do it more than others and sometimes I do it more than often, hehehe. I managed to stay awake for this seminar, and I have been pretty good at staying awake, except at Alex Wolf's seminar. That's when I was completely out of it, although I was still pretty ill so that does count towards something. The lectures that have been presented this year, have mostly been 'internal' as in those presenting them have come from Glasgow Uni, although there have been a few 'outsiders'. Although, even though Alex Wolf is technically an outsider, it's not possible to define him as such, seeing the close ties between him the the Celict medievalists gang at Glasgow Uni.
I am actually starting to look forward giving another lecture, I don't know what is wrong with me. Although I hope it proofs right that 'practice makes perfect'. Hopefully as year two approaches I will actually have a chapter in the making that will make for a good seminar paper. I think I might really be getting into all this academic stuff, although it might just be exhaustion and halusinations of grandeur getting in way of logical thinking. Yes I am such a Vulcan of all things!!! Halusinations are my forte rather than logic and rational thinking, god forbid I get boring!
Well I am off to bed soon, am watching Taken with Liam Neeson right now, it's been a while that I have seen a film where so many people get dead in so few seconds, it's like 24 on speed!
I am actually starting to look forward giving another lecture, I don't know what is wrong with me. Although I hope it proofs right that 'practice makes perfect'. Hopefully as year two approaches I will actually have a chapter in the making that will make for a good seminar paper. I think I might really be getting into all this academic stuff, although it might just be exhaustion and halusinations of grandeur getting in way of logical thinking. Yes I am such a Vulcan of all things!!! Halusinations are my forte rather than logic and rational thinking, god forbid I get boring!
Well I am off to bed soon, am watching Taken with Liam Neeson right now, it's been a while that I have seen a film where so many people get dead in so few seconds, it's like 24 on speed!
Saturday, February 07, 2009
A night at the opera
I went to the opera last night with Catriona. We went to see La Traviata by Verdi. It was amzing, so beautiful and fun and tragic! Two hankies worth!!! I cried in the middle and at the end. I also laughed but that was because of the impromptu ballet performance of the night! As anyone who knows me will realise that I can not by any means watch a ballet with a straight face, and this performance took the cake in badness. Because the backdrop of La Traviata is the sort of a night-club scene we are used to today, they went a bit far with the bawdiness and lewdness in some cases and especially the ballet. A man dressed as a matador twirling around the stage and then strangely enough way to often gripped in weird spasms and grinding of the hips in the most obscene and suggestive movements was ridiculous and hugely funny. Catriona was surprise by the restraint I showed of not howling with laughter, but that was because I nearly rammed my fist into my mouth to prevent any sounds escaping. I hardly noticed the guy dressed as 'the bull', yes of course, the matador had to have his fight with a bull, but it just turned out to be this strange on-and-off gayness of a dance, when they were embracing on the stage in between the matador peaking under the skirts of the ladies. The bull was mostly preoccupied with writhing on the floor more like a fish on dry land than a macho beef on two legs. It was hilarious, I wish they allowed camera, although you wouldn't have seen anything because I was laughing too much to have been able to hold it steady.
But the opera itself was quite nice and very emotive, the soprano was fabulous and very talented. The lead tenor was a cultured voice, reminded me of Domingo with his technicality and Careras with his voice. Not a bad combination but it also lacked the force the presence these two tenors exude.
I don't know if it was because we were sitting near the rafters and were looking down on the scene very literally but the ladies of the performance all seemed to be extremely well endowed and the low bodices of the gowns, revealed to us the answer to why there were so many men present in the audience ...seemingly willingly and often without a female partner.
Yes, the audience was just as much fun as the opera itself. Beside us sat two ladies, who shortly before opening act brandished out a pair of fans!!! Suddenly I felt like an extra in Gone with the Wind! It became apparent that they had some sort of 'heating' problems because they used these fans regularly as well as some cooling sticks but this was still hilarious. After the first act I switched places with Catriona and in the second interval I asked her how it was there in the hurrican section, she replied quite modestly 'its a north easterly direction'.
A fabulous night in all! I hope I will not have to wait another twenty years to go to the opera again.
But the opera itself was quite nice and very emotive, the soprano was fabulous and very talented. The lead tenor was a cultured voice, reminded me of Domingo with his technicality and Careras with his voice. Not a bad combination but it also lacked the force the presence these two tenors exude.
I don't know if it was because we were sitting near the rafters and were looking down on the scene very literally but the ladies of the performance all seemed to be extremely well endowed and the low bodices of the gowns, revealed to us the answer to why there were so many men present in the audience ...seemingly willingly and often without a female partner.
Yes, the audience was just as much fun as the opera itself. Beside us sat two ladies, who shortly before opening act brandished out a pair of fans!!! Suddenly I felt like an extra in Gone with the Wind! It became apparent that they had some sort of 'heating' problems because they used these fans regularly as well as some cooling sticks but this was still hilarious. After the first act I switched places with Catriona and in the second interval I asked her how it was there in the hurrican section, she replied quite modestly 'its a north easterly direction'.
A fabulous night in all! I hope I will not have to wait another twenty years to go to the opera again.
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Keeping it short today
I almost slept in today. I meant to wake up at 9 and study before meeting Catriona and Claire up at Uni today. For some odd reason I woke up around 7 and was not ready to go study then so I went back to sleep. When the alarm went off at nine, I was not ready to get up, due to the interruption I had had during the night. So I meant to just doze for a few more minutes, not falling asleep per se. So I reached for my phone and as far as I know, I added the few minutes more I wanted to the alarm, but apparently I didn't confirm or something because I can't remember. Apparently I fell asleep like a log again. When I came too I thought those few minutes are taking an awfully long time to pass, so I grabbed the phone to check what time it was. It was 10.20!!! I got a mild shock. I was meeting the girls at 11. So I jumped up and got dressed in record time and was out the door at 10.29. It had been snowing and I didn't wear my brace today, so I got a taxi to drive me up Great George street so that I could return a book to the library as well as wait for the girls inside in the warmth. They came and found me and in we went to the Hub or what is now called the Fraser building. I think it is always going to be the Hub for us geriatrics at the Uni. Claire was very impressed but this was her first look at the new look. We remember it fondly from our first year and have missed it through our subsequent years. Finally we get to use it again and for the thing we love most ... eating! They will also move the John MacIntyre Bookshop in there so it's going to be an added incentive to climbing up the hill.
We had cake and had a long and good chat before Claire had to abandon us. I went with Catriona to the library, anything to postpone going home to study. But eventually reality set in and I went home, but not before sending off a wee care packet home to mom and dad. I sat and read Kim McCone's book Pagan Past and Christian Present from half past two - six, and now I only have one chapter left to go. Oh boy, will I be gald when that happens. It feels like I have been trapped in the Never Ending Story, it was so meaty.
Well not much more has been going on, but tomorrow is another story. Aside from going to Uni tomorrow, I and Catriona of course, we will be going to the Theatre Royale. We are going to see La Traviata by G. Verdi. I am soooooo looking forward to it, becasue I have been wanting to go to an opera for ages. The last time I went I was 9 years old and saw Hoffman's adventure, (Kristinn Sigmundsson was amzing in the role of the devil!) And I still remember it vividly. I can't wait. So hopefully I will have something more to tell tomorrow. G'night.
We had cake and had a long and good chat before Claire had to abandon us. I went with Catriona to the library, anything to postpone going home to study. But eventually reality set in and I went home, but not before sending off a wee care packet home to mom and dad. I sat and read Kim McCone's book Pagan Past and Christian Present from half past two - six, and now I only have one chapter left to go. Oh boy, will I be gald when that happens. It feels like I have been trapped in the Never Ending Story, it was so meaty.
Well not much more has been going on, but tomorrow is another story. Aside from going to Uni tomorrow, I and Catriona of course, we will be going to the Theatre Royale. We are going to see La Traviata by G. Verdi. I am soooooo looking forward to it, becasue I have been wanting to go to an opera for ages. The last time I went I was 9 years old and saw Hoffman's adventure, (Kristinn Sigmundsson was amzing in the role of the devil!) And I still remember it vividly. I can't wait. So hopefully I will have something more to tell tomorrow. G'night.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Tuseday busy, Wednesday not so much
I was at uni just after nine o'clock in the morning. Going to meet Catriona before heading off to Old Irish class. We managed the impossible today and actually finished translating Compert Con Cúlainn and are next going to tack Esnada Tige Buchet, which I am actually looking forward to, Greens glossary is so much better than Van Hamels, his is crap. After class, Catriona ran home to take care of puppy, but she was going to come back just before one o'clock. We had reading group today! I, on the other hand went over to the Post-grad club where I had my usual (I am having a fave right now), a baked potatoe with chili. So when Catriona came we headed over to 10 Uni gardens up to the third floor were we were meeting the reading group. We are still a bit unsure about this venture of ours. The people are all from the medieval history department, but usually European side of things and much later than either Catriona or certainly me. Andrew, is the only one from the Scottish side so he is sort of a link between these two worlds. But it is obvious that us Celtisists have little to do there just yet. These people only like to talk about Eleanor of Aquitane and her ilk. Catriona and I are thinking of making up our own Celtic reading group next year, just to counter balance this, also because Celtisists are a much nicer bunch of people, all very happy and confused, not so imbued with german efficiency and criticism. I hope we get some of our old peeps back, I miss our little gang.
Well after the reading group, Catriona and I had a workshop to attend to, at the Libary. We were actually looking forward to this one, unlike all the others we need to this was voluntary. It was a manuscript workshop and the person hosting it had asked us to e-mail her our areas of interest so that she could have some maunscripts relevant to our studies at hand for us to look at. I wrote to her and got a very nicely worded reply that they would probably not be able to have manuscripts for me to look at, because they didn't have anything that old in their storage. Yeah, most of the good ones I would like to see are in Oxford or Cambridge or Tritinty College Dublin. We had already gone to a mss workshop last year, that was fabulous and we were really exciting of what was in store for us today. Oh, boy, we nearly fell asleep. She made us watch videos!!!! MADE IN THE 1980'S!!!!
- 'How to operate a book!' You flip the cover and pages are revealed!!!
- NO, shocking, I never knew that. About time I learned, I will turn 30 this year!!!
Bwahahaha or buhuuuu, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. The only interesting thing was when she actually did show us some mss, but she didn't reveal anything we didn't already know. The only interesting part was getting my hands on a charter from 1642 written on vellum skin!!! When there was about half an hour left we left, before coma set in, and we skedaddled down to 9 Uni gardens for the seminar in the Scottish Medieval History section, this time it was '15th century Scotland: a view from Burgundy', it was really interesting but I still wish there hadn't been such a lengthy question and answer session after because Catriona and I were totally exhausted after the entire day and having to sit for so long. We really just wanted to run out, also she needed to get home to take care of Jassy. But all in all a very nice day.
Wednesday was a much calmer day. I woke up at nine, did some work, then went into Uni to meet Catriona for lunch. She had a meeting with Thomas at 1 and needed some moral support. Thankfully her meeting was fine and after we had sat and talked a bit at the QM we headed home to do some more studying. Which I did, I just had to take frequent breaks because my leg has been bothering me awfully much since Monday, well, my leg, my hips and my back have all been bugging me. Catriona summed it up perfectly, I am falling apart!
Well after the reading group, Catriona and I had a workshop to attend to, at the Libary. We were actually looking forward to this one, unlike all the others we need to this was voluntary. It was a manuscript workshop and the person hosting it had asked us to e-mail her our areas of interest so that she could have some maunscripts relevant to our studies at hand for us to look at. I wrote to her and got a very nicely worded reply that they would probably not be able to have manuscripts for me to look at, because they didn't have anything that old in their storage. Yeah, most of the good ones I would like to see are in Oxford or Cambridge or Tritinty College Dublin. We had already gone to a mss workshop last year, that was fabulous and we were really exciting of what was in store for us today. Oh, boy, we nearly fell asleep. She made us watch videos!!!! MADE IN THE 1980'S!!!!
- 'How to operate a book!' You flip the cover and pages are revealed!!!
- NO, shocking, I never knew that. About time I learned, I will turn 30 this year!!!
Bwahahaha or buhuuuu, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. The only interesting thing was when she actually did show us some mss, but she didn't reveal anything we didn't already know. The only interesting part was getting my hands on a charter from 1642 written on vellum skin!!! When there was about half an hour left we left, before coma set in, and we skedaddled down to 9 Uni gardens for the seminar in the Scottish Medieval History section, this time it was '15th century Scotland: a view from Burgundy', it was really interesting but I still wish there hadn't been such a lengthy question and answer session after because Catriona and I were totally exhausted after the entire day and having to sit for so long. We really just wanted to run out, also she needed to get home to take care of Jassy. But all in all a very nice day.
Wednesday was a much calmer day. I woke up at nine, did some work, then went into Uni to meet Catriona for lunch. She had a meeting with Thomas at 1 and needed some moral support. Thankfully her meeting was fine and after we had sat and talked a bit at the QM we headed home to do some more studying. Which I did, I just had to take frequent breaks because my leg has been bothering me awfully much since Monday, well, my leg, my hips and my back have all been bugging me. Catriona summed it up perfectly, I am falling apart!
Monday, February 02, 2009
completely 'done in'
When I woke up this morning I looked out my window to see how the weather was and everything was WHITE. Not terribly so, just a slightly covered ground. But from my experience at graduation I was taking no chance so shortly before nine I left the house and walked to Uni. We had a very nice class in Medieval Literacy where we got to try our hand at vellum calligraphy, not on actual vellum but the idea behind it, how it would have worked and such. I think I could be a nice little scribe. After class Catriona and I went for lunch. I had a nice wee chicken salad and chocolate cake for desert. Then we had to skedaddle because Catriona has an over-excitable puppy at home she needs to take care off. So off we went and when we came outside it had started snowing again. Big flakes!!! We walked down to Byres road where our journeys split, she took the subway home while I walked. Because of the big flakes, I very soon took on the appearance of the white snow(wo)man because the snow stuck very well to my coat and hat. It was a relief to come home and get warm and ... dry again. I didn't think I would be going out there again, at least not today.
About an hour later when I had dried up well enough and was all geared up to start some serious studying I went to look for my phone. ... Nowhere to be found!!!! Panic slowly setting in. I saw that Catriona was online and asked her to phone me and see if I could hear it somewhere around me. No such luck! No in full panic mode I run out the door, and hurry back all the way to Byres road keeping my eyes glued to the ground searching on the way. Nothing. When I reach Byres road I keep on searching and when I reach the spot where I think I lost it I still can't see anything. I then go into the nearest stores in hopes that someone might have dropped it off there. Nope. So I climb Great George street to the top in record time and back into the Hub where we had lunch. Hoping fervently that someone handed it in at the shop. I first took a quick look at the spot where we had been sitting and nothing there, go into the shop and ask around. I asked the guy there whether someone handed in a phone that got lost and he was like 'yes, several. Do you mean today?' Yup, 'and was it in a foreign language?', YES!!! He went and got it and there it was. I never thought I would be so happy to see it again, but I was. Even though it is a big hulk of a thing it is my wee friend that gets me up in the morning and to the right places, so I was extatic. At this point my back and legs had seized up and I could barely walk any longer. I hadn't taken my medication yet, and having walked to and from Uni already had put a strain on me. I made it down to Byres road again, and jumped quickly into Marks and Spencer for some microwaveable food for tonight, no way I was cooking after this. I didn't find a taxi until I came to the top of Byres road but as soon as I did I jumped in and asked him to take me home the last few metres. Stumbled home and into my room and collapsed on my chair. As soon as possible I popped some pills and a short time later I started to get better. I even managed to study before my back gave out again.
I liked the microwave food though, it was stroganoff with rice. I am used to getting a few tiny pieces of meat in sauce so when I was fishing the last bit from the sauce I was expecting a wee thing. No, I caught a steak!!! It was huge, it was half of the tray, it was great and quite yummie as well. Well, I think this is my excitement of the day! I wonder what will happen tomorrow, it's still snowing.
About an hour later when I had dried up well enough and was all geared up to start some serious studying I went to look for my phone. ... Nowhere to be found!!!! Panic slowly setting in. I saw that Catriona was online and asked her to phone me and see if I could hear it somewhere around me. No such luck! No in full panic mode I run out the door, and hurry back all the way to Byres road keeping my eyes glued to the ground searching on the way. Nothing. When I reach Byres road I keep on searching and when I reach the spot where I think I lost it I still can't see anything. I then go into the nearest stores in hopes that someone might have dropped it off there. Nope. So I climb Great George street to the top in record time and back into the Hub where we had lunch. Hoping fervently that someone handed it in at the shop. I first took a quick look at the spot where we had been sitting and nothing there, go into the shop and ask around. I asked the guy there whether someone handed in a phone that got lost and he was like 'yes, several. Do you mean today?' Yup, 'and was it in a foreign language?', YES!!! He went and got it and there it was. I never thought I would be so happy to see it again, but I was. Even though it is a big hulk of a thing it is my wee friend that gets me up in the morning and to the right places, so I was extatic. At this point my back and legs had seized up and I could barely walk any longer. I hadn't taken my medication yet, and having walked to and from Uni already had put a strain on me. I made it down to Byres road again, and jumped quickly into Marks and Spencer for some microwaveable food for tonight, no way I was cooking after this. I didn't find a taxi until I came to the top of Byres road but as soon as I did I jumped in and asked him to take me home the last few metres. Stumbled home and into my room and collapsed on my chair. As soon as possible I popped some pills and a short time later I started to get better. I even managed to study before my back gave out again.
I liked the microwave food though, it was stroganoff with rice. I am used to getting a few tiny pieces of meat in sauce so when I was fishing the last bit from the sauce I was expecting a wee thing. No, I caught a steak!!! It was huge, it was half of the tray, it was great and quite yummie as well. Well, I think this is my excitement of the day! I wonder what will happen tomorrow, it's still snowing.
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