Thursday 16th November 2017, 5.10pm (day 2,275)
It gets darker and darker in the evenings so going home at this time feels later and later — even if it is the time most of us drones go home from work, of course.
Being 42
Life, one day at a time
Tag Archives: 48
Cober Hill
Wednesday 15th November 2017, 8.35am (day 2,274)
Venue for our conference, which ended today, Cober Hill was built as a private house by some rich Victorian nob, but in 1920 was bought by the Rowntree Foundation and has been a venue for educational, residential courses and conferences ever since. And a fine venue it was, too. Why can’t more conferences be held in some nice house out in the country somewhere? Far more inspirational than some pokey rooms up on the third floor of some anonymous campus building somewhere. Good move on behalf of the organisers if you ask me.
Lego library
Tuesday 14th November 2017, 11.45am (day 2,273)
After the cider tasting, the Lego therapy. i2c2 is a conference devoted to (as its name suggests), “Innovation, Inspiration and Creativity”… and Lego seems as good a way to get this kind of outcome as anything else (as the wife would doubtless agree). Asked then to create the ‘ideal librarian’ in Lego, I (as a non-librarian) decided the epitome for me was someone who could help me navigate the maze of info: hence this model. At least my Lego avatar looks happy at the prospect, anyway.
Cider tasting
Monday 13th November 2017, 7.40pm (day 2,272)
First day of the academic conference that has brought me to the east coast. I could picture the intellectual efforts, but let’s go with the evening’s alcohol consumption instead. These guys (from the Hedge Hoggers company) not only served us samples of their product but engaged us in its manufacture as well, hence the barrel of apples captured in the background. I don’t even like cider particularly, and I’m not saying I was converted, but it was a damn good effort.
The Scarborough lifeboats set sail
Sunday 12th November 2017, 11.25am (day 2,271)
If one will decide to spend the weekend on England’s North Sea coast in November, one should expect some heavy weather; but today really took the biscuit. Storms washed over Scarborough in waves, every half an hour or so. Just as the foulness seemed to be gone, along came another bank of cloud and we were all drenched once more, with a foul wind to back it up. While on the castle headland this morning — one of the windiest places I’ve ever been, ranking up there with the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland — these lifeboats deployed; let us hope that whatever the reason, nobody had to be out there in the storms any longer than was necessary to get them back home.
Substitution
Saturday 11th November 2017, 4.10pm (day 2,270)
Down at the ninth tier of English football, there are many leagues, this particular one the Northern Counties East League which encompasses teams from a slew of small towns across north and east Yorkshire. I have been actively watching football for more than 40 years now (blimey) but since school, not played it competitively, so I can’t quite get into the mindset of those who do, and wonder what it must feel like to put oneself through the physical paces week in week out for the satisfaction of a couple of hundred spectators at places like Pickering Town, which is where we were today (my 10th competition of the season). Visitors Barton Town are the ones making the substitution here, 1o minutes into the second half. The score was 1-1 at the time, but Pickering eventually won the game 2-1. Next weekend… somewhere else for these guys.
Nice weather for ’em
Friday 10th November 2017, 3.30pm (day 2,269)
This picture kind of misrepresents the day, it wasn’t this bad. But there was something end-of-the-week, Novembery, about the downpour that greeted us all mid-afternoon.
Dying off
Thursday 9th November 2017, 3.30pm (day 2,268)
Today’s picture might have been of the Christmas markets being built in Manchester — but November’s not yet ten days old, for pity’s sake. A remnant of summer is preferable, even if it is mostly deceased. What it was doing out on this table in the afternoon, only the Contact Theatre Café knows.
Birchcliffe, Hebden Bridge
Wednesday 8th November 2017, 10.30am (day 2,267)
A cold and frosty morning but it turned into the latest in a run of very beautiful days. A train strike kept me working at home today and I cared not at all.
IT helpdesk
Tuesday 7th November 2017, 1.55pm (day 2,266)
How many IT helpdesks round the world look like this, I wonder? Still, they did help. On an iatrogenic problem, though.
Being 42 