I gol' darn gone and done it

FORGIVE my recent lack of posts - I have been striving to write a report for my PhD, which I have found surprisingly difficult. I enjoy writing, and have, to some extent, enjoyed writing reports before. But this report was to be presented as if it were a paper, which meant doing just as much work as if I could waffle on forever, then stripping it to the barest nub of the project without losing the narrative. Furthermore I decided not to devote all of my time to it, as I have with previous reports, but to fit it in around my true work, which meant the affair became drawn out; this affected my focus and I don't really have a grasp of how well it reads. I do, however, have a grasp of what is missing from my project, and how much I really need to do between now and The End.

Never mind, it is printed and sat beside me as I write, and tomorrow morning shall be handed in with not so much of a fanfare but a sigh of relief.

This means that I can now get on with all of the other things I had planned to do - I've some things I'd like to write (I haven't forgotten my New Year's Resolution), a venture I'd like to develop, a spare bedroom buried in unsorted paperwork that needs tidying and a car that still has bits of Christmas tree in it that needs a bit of a clean. The spare bedroom in particular needs some attention. It was going to be a study for use during my report write-up, but I couldn't find a spare inch of desk to put my laptop, with the surface covered in bank statements, card-making stationery, shaving foam and 17 loose nails from our latest IKEA purchase. Many exciting things should be making their way to a screen near you... eventually.


But before that, here's my last two months in brief:

- As you know I went to the AEGON Classic with Rachel, my parents and my mother- and sister-in-law. It was ace, we all consequently supported Sabine Lisicki through Wimbledon, were amazed that she reached the semi-finals. Very impressive.
- I saw Patrick Stewart in the Merchant of Venice at the refurbished RSC Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. It was a modern retelling, set in the casinos of Las Vegas with Lancelot an Elvis impersonator and the competition of suitors to be Portia's husband set within a Blind Date-style TV gameshow. It was certainly not what I was expecting and I enjoyed it a lot, though the ending baffled me. From reading reviews, it seems the end has polarized critics but was designed to deliberately question the morality of the final few scenes, which normally is ignored. So I suppose it was a good ending, in hindsight, though it troubled me all the rest of that day as I could not quite work out if I had understood it. I shall never again be able to hear the songs of Elvis in the same light.
- We had a film binge over the bank holiday weekend and saw Thor and X-Men: First Class. They both felt like action films that don't really get made anymore, and for this I really enjoyed them. More modern action films (like I imagine Transformers would) make me strangely uncomfortable. More recently we went to see Bridesmaids, and you know what? It's actually pretty good...
- I seem to have spent quite a lot of time in cafes. I can heartily recommend the Kitchen Garden Cafe in Kings Heath, the 90 Day Cafe in the Great Western Arcade in central Birmingham and the Real Tea Cafe in Stratford (four pages of teas, only one of coffee - this place has its priorities spot on!)
- I have been attacked by geese only once.
- I cycled into a Nissan Figaro. Neither car nor human were harmed.
- Probably more, but it has been a long day and I must go home to pack for a round trip to Buckinghamshire tomorrow night. And rescue our cyclamen.

Pip pip.