Month: January 2020

January 31, 2020

7.30 am: Morning-tide: 8.15 am: A communion. (God’s mercy is not disposed grudgingly.) 8.45 am: Following on from yesterday evening’s work, I continued to bed-down the assessment administration, complete registers, plan dates for meetings, and clear a space over the next few days to deal with research commitments. As much time is spent on the aftermath of teaching as upon…

January 30, 2020

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8.00 am: A communion. 8.30 am: To the School for a full day of third-year Exhibition tutorials. The initial discussion aims to establish the nature, tenor, and objectives for those that will follow. Mr Baldwin was carrying, precariously, several towers of shoe boxes up and down the staircase. Either a major Amazon purchase had been delivered or he was setting…

January 29, 2020

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7.00 am: A far better night’s sleep. 7.45 am: A communion. 8.15 am: Onto the streets. When I arrived at the School, the back of the building was in darkness. Power cut. The projection system in the main lecture was inoperable as a result. My only course of action available was to deliver the introductory talk on the undergraduate Exhibition…

January 28, 2020

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Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, grant us peace.(‘Agnus Dei’, Book of Common Prayer) 5.30 am: I’d been awake since 3.15 am. My body was at one…

January 27, 2020

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The future is not some place we’re going to, but an idea in our mind now. It is something we’re creating, that in turn creates us. The future is a fantasy that shapes our present (Stephen Grosz, The Examined Life (2013).) 8.00 am: A communion. These days it’s with apprehension rather than anticipation that I embark upon each new semester.…

January 25, 2020

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Today, I’m the only member of the family with their feet on UK soil. Happy Chinese New Year!: 7.30 am: Woke (later than anticipated; later than necessary). 9.00 am: I strolled into town to take-up my deferred haircut appointment, shop, and pick-up my medication. This was the third attempt in as many days to secure my EXPRESS prescription at the…

January 24, 2020

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Show me the path of life (Psalm 16.12). 8.00 am: A communion. I’m working my way through the order of ‘Morning Prayer’, from the Book of Common Prayer, as a means of structuring my devotions. Following yesterday evening’s self-examination, several questions have presented themselves. Most immediately: If I were at the close of my life (and who can say, one…

January 23, 2020

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How now! who knocks? More earthquakes? (John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi). 7.15 am: Mist. Moist. Tightly enclosed. Darkness, still bearing down. Life lived as though in a picture book: This week has had little to commend itself, thus far. 8.00 am: A responsive email was the first priority of the day. I was resigned to dealing with the earthquakes…

January 22, 2020

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‘It’s damp, cold, and misty here! How’re things with you?’ 8.00 am: A communion. Last night, before bed, I’d begun re-reading Stephen Grosz’s The Examined Life (2014). The book comprises accounts of the author’s psychoanalytical sessions with his patients. In essence (and unsurprisingly): past traumas condition our present responses. We are what we were. If you can understand why things…

January 21, 2020

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Rarely do we want what we’ve never asked for. And rarely do we ask for what we’ve never wanted. 9.30 pm: A long journey began for someone. ‘Bon voyage, and love to all!’ Solo, for me, for now: 10.00 am: Back before my desk at homebase: ‘Don’t fritter away the day on minors, John!’, the voice said. But so much…

Month: January 2020

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