I always feel a little bad complaining when it's warm because a) we don't get a lot of it sometimes and b) other places do get hotter, but yeesh... we've had getting on for a week or so now of high twenties or even thirty plus degrees C weather. For the UK that is hot; in fact, according to a news report I've just read, we're having what is ( Read more... )

It was a quiet Christmas in our household. After opening our presents on Christmas morning, we put the turkey in the oven. Dinner was lovely, if I do say so myself. The recipe for the potato gratin and the stuffing worked great, and the turkey was lovely and moist. I was also really pleased with how the sachertorte turned out ( Read more... )

It's all been a bit mad lately, although I guess it's the time of year for that ( Read more... )

Yesterday Mum and I went to see the RSC's production of 'Morte d'Arthur' at Stratford. Because it was going to be such a long show (its running time was just under four hours long), we decided to stay overnight. We struck lucky because one of the hotels in the town centre, the Legacy Falcon, were doing a deal. It was a lovely hotel, part of it was ( Read more... )

So... the water thing. It turned out that there had been a small, unnoticed but clearly persistent leak for some time. The water had built up and built up beneath the bath until whoosh! Down came the ceiling. We're all cleared up now, but we still have a hole in the kitchen ceiling. We're currently trying to sort out things like insurance companies ( Read more... )

The weekend went great. Mum and I set off on Saturday nice and early, in part because we had been told once of the roads we normally go down to get to Stratford was closed and we were expecting diversions - but it wasn't closed and there were no diversions, which was nice. It was too early to book in to our hotel when we arrived, so we parked up ( Read more... )

I'm away this weekend. I'm off to Stratford with Mum on Saturday. We're going to see David Tennant in the RSC production of 'Hamlet'. It looks like it could be good. Patrick Stewart, he of Star Trek fame, is playing his uncle Claudius. Both have done several plays before, but neither Mum or I have had the opportunity to see them live before ( Read more... )

Although it felt terribly busy at times and there were occasions when I wondered if I had lost my brain somewhere en route. However, the tree is now up and everywhere is decorated. In addition, this weekend's rummage in the loft combined with last weekend's same has seen half-a-dozen or more boxes go to the tip or the recycling centre (depending on ( Read more... )

And today's most exciting news (well, if you're me anyway) is that the second post-doc application has now been posted ( Read more... )

The play was wonderful! Sir Ian McKellen was amazing, but so were a number of cast members, particularly Frances Barber who played Goneril. She had the ball-breaker routine down to a fine art *lol ( Read more... )