idle chit-chat
I am busy making vitamin D. The weather is just stunning. I hope it lasts for a long time, a proper summer. I can't remember the last time we had a continued stretch of hot weather.
I had to find a new hairdresser. Mine has moved on to a new posh salon, with a price tag I am not prepared to pay. It is like losing a friend, she has cut my hair for many years. I have asked my friend Jo for her hairdresser's name because I love her super trendy purple bob. I am going for a cut the day before Sam's graduation and I hope I am not going to regret the timing.
The students on my largest course sat their all day exam this week, four papers. From a technical point of view, all went well for most (it is all online, invigilated by an AI). One of my students sent a photo of a visitor in her garden during a break between papers. A goldfinch you wonder? No, an actual real elephant. Fancy that! I haven't come across one of those yet here in Glasgow.
I have been invited to give a talk at a symposium in Portugal. I am not sure yet if I will accept because the thought of being the invited speaker quite frankly terrifies me.
I am getting used to my new varifocals with the stronger prescription. I still feel a bit nauseous when walking about but I'll get there. I also have new prescription sun glasses and (wait for it) make-up glasses. These have a single lens that can be flipped from one to the other side. I like them all. At home meanwhile, nobody noticed that I am wearing different specs. I am blending into the background, noticed only during periods of extreme nagging.
Living out my midlife crisis, I had my nails painted a bright green. Excel spread sheet green with a shine. Nobody at home has noticed that either.
In other news, Alistair has fully recovered from what turned out to be a Campylobacter infection, which is a notifiable disease in Scotland.
And finally, Annie and I booked flights to Norway in August. She will stay until December for a semester of study abroad. I'll just help her settle for a couple of days, then head back to Glasgow.
Sunday chores are waiting, the usual pile of laundry and half a dog worth of hair to suck up with the vacuum cleaner.
Things are different in Europe where you can go from Portugal to Norway in one post. Enjoy your good weather. It hasn’t been that way here very much yet, but the forecast is looking more promising
ReplyDeleteSo happy you are having a nice, proper summer. Ours has been anything but with lots of rain, cool temperatures, and gray days - I'm missing the sun so much. That's too bad your hairdresser has moved on. I hope you like your new one. I seem to have a difficult time finding someone to cut my hair the way I want it. I want almost shoulder length, but with with some nice layers and no one seems to understand that. Oh well! I've always wanted to visit Norway. I know you will enjoy your time there. Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteI do hope you reconsider the symposium. You're such an engaging writer and clearly a successful lecturer, you'll be great as a speaker. Daniel Kahneman's "Thinking Fast and Slow" made me realize the first response isn't often the one I really want to enact. Any chance you could use AI to help with the grading? That would truly be a productive use of it!
ReplyDeleteNorway! That sounds so exciting! I am going there in 2014, and am really looking forward to the beauty. Congratulations on the invitation to Portugal.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to not being noticed except during periods of extreme nagging. Which to be fair are frequent. Norway sounds like a wonderful adventure. I'm glad Alistair is better, that sounds nasty. Beautiful photos of Lupin, she is such a pretty little cat, I hope she is as well as she can be. CJ xx
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the idle chit chat as you described this post, Christina, as it's like catching up with a friend (notice I purposely did not add "old"). Agreed, it is hard when one needs to find a new hairdresser(or anyone else "new"). The same happened to me during Covid when my "regular" place was shut down for so long, only accepted cash payments and a few other differences. I switched to a SuperCuts, a chain-type operating, then the person I was seeing there moved to a farther away location, so I tried someone new nd so far, all is good.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the symposium invite and do let us know if you decide to go as this country is on our future visit list. Hope you and Annie have a safe trip to Norway, another one we'd like to see. That said, we will be in Edinburgh in mid-Oct if you happen to get to that city.