Monday 16 June 2008

27.Lucky Friday the 13th, and an enjoyable weekend

Friday the 13th was certainly not unlucky. I had forgotten all about it and did not stay in bed. Then we had some good news, and like the old Jew in the Catholic church, "I am telling everybody". (if you do not know this joke, and you are over 18, ask me).

First thing, Ruth had received the exam marks for the spring semester. Professor Langley-Evans congratulated her. He told her that, 'once again, it was an amazing performance'. Ruth was top of the Biosciences students for year one (by a country mile), as she had been in the autumn semester.
She emailed us saying that she was so pleased, that she might not be able to squeeze her oversized head out of the building. I consoled her by pointing out that as a result, her hat would now be big enough to contain the entire week's shopping.

Then we heard from Heather, who is losing her job due to 'downsizing' at Camden. Gordon Brown needs all their money, to repair his idiocy with the 10p tax rate. So he has to squeeze the local authorities. Her employers and colleagues at Camden had been extremely generous as a token of their appreciation of her work there. Very heartening. My own pride is tinged with sorrow concerning the loss of the occasional lunches at her nearby Caf, where they serve excellent falafel...

It was David's birthday. Rather than possibly wake him up, we had phoned him the previous evening. Later Heather told us, that she had in fact woken him up - so we need not have worried.

Then we drove to Harlow for the Wansfell-2 weekend course on Symbolism in Art. It was an excellent series of slide talks and I learned much more than I had expected. Clare Ford-Willie knows her subject very well and spoke clearly and fluently, aided by abundant good slides. The fellow students were a nice bunch of people, including some former students from my own Wansfell courses. The good food included the customary treat of bacon at breakfast - not obtainable at home.

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