A happy post instead of an angry one
I was going to make my next post about Brexit. I spent a LONG time thinking about it after the awful election result. I spent a lot of time being angry. I spent a lot of time feeling utter contempt for most of the UK. I had to forcibly re-humanise the population of Britain as my initial thought was, "Let them rot in their own filth, the selfish, self-injurious animals."
Eventually I reconciled to the situation (to some extent). I am still struggling with the idea that if we believe in Good, Right and Fair society, we should stay and try to fix the UK, rather than following my initial urge which was to excise Britain from Europe like a gangrenous limb, leaving it to fester, and move somewhere healthier like Germany, Sweden or Finland (which I agree are certainly not without problems but seem to have a level of decency and selflessness that Britain has lost). I eventually realised that I could cope with this apparent hypocrisy - that I was willing to remain in a flawed EU because it was better to work with it, but reluctant to remain in a flawed Brexit Britain when surely the same should apply - because I felt that the EU could be fixed, but after the election, I felt that Britain perhaps couldn't be.
In any case, I'm now placing vague hopes that the new UK Global Challenges Research Fund proves productive for my department, since EU money might be out of our reach soon. I'm hoping I'll be useful enough to teaching that they'll keep me regardless. And I'm dealing. So that's good.
But then today I realised there was something I felt as passionately about, but the other way. I finally go around to finding the guts to call my landlord and ask permission to keep a hamster. He said yes. Very easily.
This was good, as I'd bought the cage already.
I'm aware that's sort of the wrong order, but I accepted the risk that if he said no, I'd be lumbered with a 100cm long cage and no use for it. I just...couldn't help but get excited.
So anyhoo, the Era of Eni Owning Hamsters will begin anew. CRI is not quite as enthusiastic about this plan as I am, but has generally agreed to go along with it, and if he gets sick of hamster care when I am on my frequent overseas travels, there are some pet boarding places where I can arrange care instead, so all sorted.
The cage just about fits across the back seats of my car. This is going to be the most spoiled hamster ever, is the plan. (RSPCA released new guidelines a few years ago, that minimum cage size for Syrian hamsters should be 75 x 40 x 40 cm. Now, 10 years ago you couldn't even find hamster-suitable cages in those dimensions without looking very hard. My old 50 x 40 x 30 cm cages were considered enormous. New cage is three times that size.)
Regular readers from 10 years ago may recall my penchant for giving hamsters stupid names. I now will be getting another hamster which I can give a stupid name to. Because hamsters are essentially daft miniature psychopaths who don't speak English, so really don't care if their names are stupid. So, options under consideration at present include:
I now need to contact the nice people at the hamster rescue place in southeast London and organise a visit and collection. But first I need to finish accessorising the cage...
I'm 31 years old. I have a PhD, a dozen or so publications and several years' experience running research projects in developing countries. And right now I keep on physically bouncing up and down, dancing like an 8 year old, and singing loudly.
Eventually I reconciled to the situation (to some extent). I am still struggling with the idea that if we believe in Good, Right and Fair society, we should stay and try to fix the UK, rather than following my initial urge which was to excise Britain from Europe like a gangrenous limb, leaving it to fester, and move somewhere healthier like Germany, Sweden or Finland (which I agree are certainly not without problems but seem to have a level of decency and selflessness that Britain has lost). I eventually realised that I could cope with this apparent hypocrisy - that I was willing to remain in a flawed EU because it was better to work with it, but reluctant to remain in a flawed Brexit Britain when surely the same should apply - because I felt that the EU could be fixed, but after the election, I felt that Britain perhaps couldn't be.
In any case, I'm now placing vague hopes that the new UK Global Challenges Research Fund proves productive for my department, since EU money might be out of our reach soon. I'm hoping I'll be useful enough to teaching that they'll keep me regardless. And I'm dealing. So that's good.
But then today I realised there was something I felt as passionately about, but the other way. I finally go around to finding the guts to call my landlord and ask permission to keep a hamster. He said yes. Very easily.
This was good, as I'd bought the cage already.
I'm aware that's sort of the wrong order, but I accepted the risk that if he said no, I'd be lumbered with a 100cm long cage and no use for it. I just...couldn't help but get excited.
So anyhoo, the Era of Eni Owning Hamsters will begin anew. CRI is not quite as enthusiastic about this plan as I am, but has generally agreed to go along with it, and if he gets sick of hamster care when I am on my frequent overseas travels, there are some pet boarding places where I can arrange care instead, so all sorted.
The cage just about fits across the back seats of my car. This is going to be the most spoiled hamster ever, is the plan. (RSPCA released new guidelines a few years ago, that minimum cage size for Syrian hamsters should be 75 x 40 x 40 cm. Now, 10 years ago you couldn't even find hamster-suitable cages in those dimensions without looking very hard. My old 50 x 40 x 30 cm cages were considered enormous. New cage is three times that size.)
Regular readers from 10 years ago may recall my penchant for giving hamsters stupid names. I now will be getting another hamster which I can give a stupid name to. Because hamsters are essentially daft miniature psychopaths who don't speak English, so really don't care if their names are stupid. So, options under consideration at present include:
- Deltamethrin
- Imidacloprid
- Lupanine
- Nyuki
- Quercetin
I now need to contact the nice people at the hamster rescue place in southeast London and organise a visit and collection. But first I need to finish accessorising the cage...
I'm 31 years old. I have a PhD, a dozen or so publications and several years' experience running research projects in developing countries. And right now I keep on physically bouncing up and down, dancing like an 8 year old, and singing loudly.