Sunshine! (any minute now I'll be moaning about how hot it is)
Busy day again today. A tutorial with the Other Alex, who takes us for conservation practice, yielded little of use. I'm doing all right, apparently, and have nothing to worry about. Oh goody. I can't seem to be able to convey just how insecure I am about this course - I suppose I appear confident in most ways, so the idea that all I really want from a tutorial is to be told that I'm doing wonderfully well probably doesn't occur to him. We ended up talking about potential major projects for my third year - I described my little Japanese marquetry cabinet and its major drawback (I'd have to identify all the bits of wood in the thing by name) and he suggested that I do something in metal mentioning that there was a Sikh chain-mail tunic in the Royal Artillery Museum that needs some attention. I have a horrible feeling that this may involve many, many tiny rivets.
Later in the day, a second meeting with the anti-Snape, who is supposed to be arranging my placement, yielded the annoying news that my placement in the British Museum organics department (lacquer boxes, mummies) is off, since the woman who would have been mentoring me is off on adoption leave. This the a-S (a family man) described as "like maternity leave without the agony". Damn. Now I have to figure out somewhere else I want to go, bearing in mind that the V+A probably won't take me for more than two weeks, and my suspicion that the entire course is cursed is only strengthened. Bugger. I wonder if I might be able to go to Dublin?
Today has been the first really hot day of the summer (definitely summer rather than spring), reaching at least 75 F (about 30 C), and luring mobs of pasty white English people out into summer dresses. The parks and pavements outside pubs were all packed with cheerful pallid mobs. I did make an effort this morning, but of the several pairs I remember having last summer I could find only one left sandal, and all my summer frocks need ironing or have inexplicably shrunk over the winter. On my way home, I stopped off at Pall Mall, where a large wooden spaceship has landed just outside the Institute of Directors. There was a small crowd watching the smoke escape from the tarmac around it, but nothing happened while I was there. I do hope this is part of the weekend's giant magic time-travelling elephant spectacle and there are are no giant war machines devastating the West End by now.
Anyway, here is a lovely picture of the thing.
Later in the day, a second meeting with the anti-Snape, who is supposed to be arranging my placement, yielded the annoying news that my placement in the British Museum organics department (lacquer boxes, mummies) is off, since the woman who would have been mentoring me is off on adoption leave. This the a-S (a family man) described as "like maternity leave without the agony". Damn. Now I have to figure out somewhere else I want to go, bearing in mind that the V+A probably won't take me for more than two weeks, and my suspicion that the entire course is cursed is only strengthened. Bugger. I wonder if I might be able to go to Dublin?
Today has been the first really hot day of the summer (definitely summer rather than spring), reaching at least 75 F (about 30 C), and luring mobs of pasty white English people out into summer dresses. The parks and pavements outside pubs were all packed with cheerful pallid mobs. I did make an effort this morning, but of the several pairs I remember having last summer I could find only one left sandal, and all my summer frocks need ironing or have inexplicably shrunk over the winter. On my way home, I stopped off at Pall Mall, where a large wooden spaceship has landed just outside the Institute of Directors. There was a small crowd watching the smoke escape from the tarmac around it, but nothing happened while I was there. I do hope this is part of the weekend's giant magic time-travelling elephant spectacle and there are are no giant war machines devastating the West End by now.
Anyway, here is a lovely picture of the thing.