Shark Tale

Joe's Shark

Joe recently painted this picture of a shark.

It was part of a project at his school on aboriginal art.

The children loved it - and so do I!

Too Busy to Blog

Punters on the River Cam

Ubiquitous bicycles

Brain Ache
Where did the time go?

To quote Bridget Jones, I've been 'blurry busy', mainly with studying which I have to say right now is an almighty pain in the posterior.

It's always the same when the deadline for assignments gets nearer. The fact that I know I'll get it done doesn't help when I'm sitting here with a pile of books and an even bigger pile of files, wondering how I'm going to make sense of it all.

Still, it was my choice to do this MA so I think I'd better shut up and get on with it. Systemic Functional Linguistics anyone?

More Brain Ache
Last weekend I went to the ALTE conference in Cambridge, that's the Association of Language Testers in Europe. It was full of very clever people saying very clever things, most of which I understood! Applied Linguistics may not be everyone's cup of tea but I find it endlessly fascinating (except when I'm under a deadline for an assignment!) as it's basically about communication.

Although it meant having to get up at 5.30am on a Saturday, it was definitely worth it. I met interesting people, had interesting conversations and learned some interesting things.

And it's always good to be in Cambridge. The sun came out and the city looked beautiful. I stopped to take photos of people punting, along with all the tourists.

It still feels like a special place even though I work there.

Brainy Visitor
This week at work we had the Vice Chancellor come to visit. She is an extremely clever woman - you don't get to be Vice Chancellor of the University if you're not.

She was also witty and engaging and seemed genuinely interested in the work she was shown and the people she met.

Best of all - she arrived on a bicycle - now that's very Cambridge.

It's Snowing!

A snowy tree in Islington
At the entrance to Highbury Fields
Highbury Fields
Highbury Fields

That's what Joe said when he rang me from London this morning.

He looked out of the window of his Mum's flat in Islington and could hardly believe his eyes. Everywhere was covered with a blanket of snow.

We'd already had snow in March, but April?

Still, it did look lovely so he went out for a walk around Highbury Fields, snapping as he went along.

There were children out building snowmen and even people out jogging! You've got to be dedicated to do that - or just plain bonkers!

He knew the snow wouldn't be there for long and it wasn't.

But it was very pretty while it lasted