May 17, In Retrospect

May 17 is a bit of a strange day, In Retrospect. The top row of pictures, there, are all from the Cranston Street flat. You can clearly see the “elevator scaffolding” in the picture out the window, which was why we ended up giving up the place: neither of us could concentrate well enough to really work, with all of the construction and things, and as the weather was getting better, we wanted to open the windows but could not, due to the blowing dust and the noise. It’s a shame, really, because it was a nice enough flat. Sure, it had its drawbacks, but not as many as those of the Angel Building flat!

Fortunately, we love our new flat, despite the boiler issues, the windows rattling, and the students singing (or shouting) their way home from the pub at 3 a.m. With the sun coming in our massive windows, sometimes we Hobbits are almost ludicrously happy in this our little corner of the globe. This flat is where we’ll stay, for the next year or so. And then? Nobody knows. Where In The World, indeed.

The 2010 School Year is ov-ah! D. has invigilated his last exam, and his End of Year Review is tomorrow. It was supposed to have been an hour meeting with each Ph.D candidate, a serious, grueling, going-over of his dissertation progress thus far. In a turn of amusing irony, it has been shortened to …thirty minutes, with half of the time being given to D. to verbally outline his plans for next year! Fifteen minutes seems endurable, and D. considers it a good sign that his time has been cut… for the most part. We’ll have to let you know if he’s correct.

Iceland’s volcano is at it again. Most of the time Glasgow has received little or no effect except in the upper atmosphere where planes fly, which means that occasionally planes are grounded and the airport is closed, and in the presence of heavier dust (which, in Glasgow, might not be anything but normal, since this city has at least five hundred building projects going on at all times, and there’s construction pollution everywhere). Unfortunately, Monday it was quite windy, and we noticed what we thought was snow flying past. Since it was stormy and we’ve already marveled at the had hail we had earlier this month, we didn’t think anything of it… D. actually wondered if it was snow. Only later did we find out that Eyjafjallajökull had rumbled again. We are now getting pieces of ash that the size of confetti, and the airport will revisit the idea of reopening on Friday.

We may be spending June at home instead of going to Washington D.C. for T. to receive her book award! (She seems oddly unbothered by this.)