The Lib Dems elected Nick Clegg, Belgium got a new government, and I borrowed my brother-in-law's suit. No travel for me, but meanwhile little U got birthday cake at school, F got what he wanted for Christmas, and B settled into the snoezelruimte in her new home.

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I started the month in London, and then went to Cyprus for a work trip via Istanbul on the way out and (very briefly) Malta on the way back. Later in the month there was a science fiction convention in Leuven, where I renewed acquaintance with Ken MacLeod and Al Reynolds, and got to know Christopher Priest. I finished the month with trip to Skopje ( Read more... )

This was the month that B finally moved out, initially to a centre up near the Dutch border for a few months. It was of course for the best that she should be with people professionally trained to look after people with her needs. But we found it a pretty difficult transition. She was generally pretty doped up for her last few weeks with us, but I ( Read more... )

We spent September 2007 pretty much in limbo waiting for word on B's future accommodation once she returned home after a couple of weeks' respite. At work my Italian intern V left (she went off to run refugee camps and is now raising her family) and was replaced by a Dane, also V (who charmed me on her arrival by revealing that as an exchange ( Read more... )

The first part of August 2007 was spent on holiday in Northern Ireland as usual, with MeCon a particular high point. My account of it here and here, but my favuourite picture, for sentimental reasons, is this one:

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July 2007 was a fairly dramatic month. My mother-in-law came to stay with us to help with B, whose behaviour was becoming more and more challenging. She stayed in Belgium while the rest of us went on our usual holiday, taking in the two Roald Dahl museums in Buckinghamshire and Paul Cornell's birthday party. See also speculation on the future of ( Read more... )

This is the latest post in a series I started last November, anticipating the twentieth anniversary of my bookblogging which will fall in 2023. Every six-ish days I've been revisiting a month from my recent past, noting work and family developments as well as the books I read in that month. I've found it a pleasantly cathartic process, especially ( Read more... )

In May 2007, I had an extended work trip to Cyprus via Istanbul, then Kosovo and then (North) Macedonia. I had the incredible experience of tracking down the very same Macedonian hill from which my grandfather had led an Allied retreat in December 1915., having also taken in Skopje, Stobi and Štip. I then had anothe extended work trip to Berne, ( Read more... )

I totally failed to note in the previous month the hiring of my first intern in the new job. J was an intelligent young woman who had tried various career options which didn't work out, and was prepared to give working in international politics a fling. I'm glad to say that she caught the bug and is now a British diplomat. It also turned out that ( Read more... )

The Northern Ireland Assembly had an election in March 2007, the last one for which I did not do TV commentary, though I went over a few days later in the wake of P-Con and delivered a lecture about voting (powerpoint preserved here):

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Apart from that, I had a day-trip to the Hague, and a longer trip to Vienna and Prishtina, all for work ( Read more... )