| Letters from 2001:
January 2001
Well, another Christmas has come and gone, and another new year is
upon us. Happy New Year to one and all! Indeed a happy new millennium,
too! Debbie and I had a few quiet weeks at home over Christmas and the
New Year, trying to recover from what became a pretty stressed-out end
of 2000. One lucky escape, or near miss, came right at the end of the year
when I crashed the car. I pulled out from a side road into traffic (literally)
and did 4000 pounds worth of damage to the car, plus something similar
to the other car I hit! What struck me hardest at the time, though, was
not how bad it was to have been in a crash, but how great it was that nobody
was hurt. Having said that, the driver of the other car is now suing
me for alleged whiplash trauma, which I think is a bit sad. I felt like
sending him a Christmas card telling him that I hoped his Christmas would
not be ruined by greed and avarice (but I didn’t).
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The cold snappy weather we’ve had has really suited me: clear skies
and temperatures below zero keeping the damp and mud at bay for a week
or two. Lots of crisp and frosty walks through the country with the dogs.
Debbie decided to give photography a go: here she is on the left wrapped
up for the cold and snapping away! And on the right here she is struggling
through the snowy stable yard with a load of straw! I took both these little
photos with a tiny digital camera that I got through the department for
use in fieldwork: I discovered testing the camera out this month
that it doesn't cope well with the cold, which doesn't bode well for Greenland!
May be I will have to start going somewhere warmer to look at my glaciers! |
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In fact I have been getting really excited about the research in the last
week or so, because I have come up with ideas for a new research project
that I can do a bit nearer to home, as well as continuing with the more
remote Greenland work. I've always had the long-term aim of relating my
observations in Greenland to landscapes in formerly glaciated areas
like the UK, and I am beginning to find that I am nearly in a position
to start doing that. During this next year I plan to scout out some sites
in the Lake District that will enable me to do fieldwork in all those months
and years inbetween trips to Greenland, as well as just during those
expeditions. It is years since I was out and about in the hills in this
country, and I am pretty excited about it.
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My sister, Teresa, was in the news this week, featuring in the Sunday
Times on-line. It was an article all about the Scottish Ancestral Research
company she runs. The photo they used in the article was pretty scary (on
the right, here). My nephew (her son) Matthew says it would have been ok
if she'd held the book a little higher. Follow this
link to see the complete article. Follow this
link to get to her company's page and track down your Scottish ancestors! |
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Things have eased up a little bit at work compared with the end of last
year. I have managed to shed some of the overload I had in administrative
duties in the department. There is no system for distributing admin loads
in the way that there is for teaching loads, and I reckoned I was getting
way more than a fair share. I don't think the system has improved, but
at least now I don't think I'm one of the ones getting the hardest time!
I've still been a bit stressed at work, though. It turned out this week
that one chap had actually put in for a big research grant right in my
own area of research, and nobody told me about it until someone from outside
Keele phoned me up to ask me about it! Debbie suggested we move to
another University: we both think New Zealand sounds nice, but I don't
think Mom would like it if we went quite that far! But if anyone
sees a nice job come up somewhere near
the sea-side in the south of the UK, let me know! (Only kidding,
we quite like it around Keele really!)
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Well, that's January pretty much done. February tomorrow, and a couple
of weeks to my 40th birthday! I'd better figure out the meaning of life,
quick. (Here are some notes). In fact
a more pressing question is whether to keep the silly little goatee beard
I've acquired. Debbie likes it, but I remain to be convinced. I don't think
it really matters, though, in the grand scheme of things. Anyway, here's
me right now, 31st Jan 2001. |
March 2001
I remember thinking a few months ago that although I am constantly
surrounded by all sorts of books, I hadn't actually got any new
books for me (except for work) for a while. Now, suddenly, I am swamped
with new books! Partly it's thanks to my birthday, partly to a payment
"in kind" by a publisher for a book-reviewing job I did, and partly to
a few new purchases. At the moment I am primarily engrossed in three biographies
of Mahler (the composer), and musical analyses of one of his symphonies
(the 6th). (In fact the living room is littered with about 10 Mahler books
and scores at the minute!) This is continuing a longstanding interest,
but this time around I am finding special interest in a few issues surrounding
Mahler that I didn't really appreciate when I first read about him when
I was a student. I have been interested for a long time in the idea
of some kind of historical convergence and the "unity of everything": a
bit like the search for a unified field theory but extending over cultural-historical
as well as physical phenomena. I am swilling around in my head an
idea for a book provisionally called "Life, Everything, and Mahler's 6th
Symphony." Catchy, don't you think? |
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learning to juggle
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Another book I read in February was a "biography" of the equation e=mc2,
taking in the background to each of its components as well as the stories
of Einstein, the Bomb, etc. I read the book in about 2 days (fast for me)
and then found that the very last page had not been printed properly and
was blank! So, I will have to traipse back to the shop and swap it for
a properly printed one to read the end! Other new books on my desk include
"One Hundred Years of Solitude" (by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - a book I read
a few years ago but never had my own copy of), "How to Juggle" (complete
with a set of juggling balls!), and "The Photograph: a Strange Confined
Space" (which the back cover describes as a "serious, densely textured
meditation on photography which is a study of meanings value and discourse
as well." Hmmm.) I also managed to fit all 9 Mahler symphonies (nearly
12-hours worth) as mp3 files onto one CD and had fun designing a CD-insert
using that
drawing of Mahler I did years ago.
Doesn't look so good here, but looks neat in the little plastic case! |
home-made
CD insert
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Lurch
the lurcher
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I don't know if it's the juggling or the hassle at work but my back
has been playing up again, and I've got a nasty little tummy problem too,
so I'm very much looking forward to Easter vacation and a bit of rest and
recuperation. (Lurch (the lurcher) has a bit of a tummy problem at the
minute, too, and gets me up at 3 o'clock every morning to let her out into
the garden. I planned to train Dodd (the other dog) to let her in and out
for me to save me having to get up, but he's wised up and isn't joining
in.) My plans for Lake District fieldwork are on hold during the foot and
mouth disease outbreak, as the countryside is pretty much "closed" at the
moment, and walking around in the hills is restricted. Plans for new fieldwork
in both Greenland and Iceland are in the pipeline, but neither of those
are in the immediate future. So it's sunny old Stoke for me, watching
the crocuses come up and giving lectures about glaciers. My friend and
old Greenland partner Robin keeps making me jealous by sending postcards
and photos from Los Alamos (New Mexico) where he is working for the year.
I bet you're going to bring my God-daughter back with an American accent,
aren't you, Robin!
Saw another old friend in the paper the other day: Andrew Dilnot was
awarded a CBE! Here's a photo of him from the Jan.2001 issue of "Social
Sciences", taking a masterclass at the ESRC's National Social Science Conference.
Congratulations, Andrew! |
Andrew (CBE!)
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I am giving an evening lecture-slideshow on my research (etc) to the Keele
GeoSociety this month, so if anyone is in the area on 22nd March and wants
to see me standing up and wittering, there's your chance! The title is
"Long
holidays, lovely countryside, and time to think: motivations for a career
in research." I've had some startling reminders lately of how
people are motivated my different things, and how people differ in the
extent to which they admit, or are aware of their motivations. Not just
in research, but in life generally. Part of my preoccupation with the "unifying
theory of life and everything" (see above) is focussing on how people prioritize
differently: fame, integrity, an easy life, doing what's right or doing
what keeps you out of trouble. And how can you tell them apart? A GeoSoc
lecture isn't necessarily the place to delve too deeply into serious topics,
but those are issues in my mind as I frame up what will eventually boil
down to a slide-show of pretty pictures and a review of what I'm up to
with the old glaciers!
Incidentally, the course web page for my final-year Glaciers class is
now viewable from outside Keele, so if anyone is interested to see what
I teach in that,
here
it is.
PS: still working on the meaning of life, but seem to have lost the
beard.
May 2001
| Well, one thing that stays the same is that I
never seem to have time to get down to all the different things I want
to do! So, sorry if you've been looking in vain for an update! (Hey Carrie!).
It's also been a busy time with loads of exam marking, and I'm in the middle
of a couple of heavy-work papers and a book proposal, too. Also had fun
(?) as part of the team doing the University's internal quality audit of
the German degree course. (And I have to keep up the juggling practice,
of course...!) In fact, it's a miracle I ever update these pages at all
inbetween work, the animals, writing stuff, messing in the garden, fiddling
with the model railway, and periodically getting engrossed in some game
or other (Settlers IV !). Here's a photo that Debbie took of me to prove
that I'm not getting any prettier. |
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One bit of news since I last wrote is that we
got a new van! The old one, Debbie's little red van, didn't make it through
the MOT, so we gave him to a good home and got Harry, the Suzuki Carry.
He's the up-to-date version of the same model we had before, but this one
actually stops when you hit the brakes, steers when you turn the wheel,
etc. Here's Harry just after we picked him up, with the dogs checking him
out! |
| Cars have been a bit of a theme this month: the
Corrado went in for his service and came back with a whole lot of work
needing done. Bits I didn't even know he had are all worn out. As will
my bank balance be. We debated changing him for something cheaper to run,
but for now we can't bring ourselves to do it. I quite fancied one of those
little "smart" cars. Well, may be not. Here's Debbie posing in the driving
seat of the Corrado ( and proving that we have had some nice spring weather). |
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Taking the car to Crewe to get serviced is always
a nice morning out for me: I now use it as an opportunity and excuse
to lurk around Crewe station with a thermos flask and a camera. No, I don't
take a log book and write down numbers! In fact I get funny looks from
the train spotters because while they are oohing and ahhing over the class
44s, I'm photographing rusty old dustbins and nice plays of light in the
girders!
Debbie has had a few days out too, going to the
races at Newmarket with her friend (also a Debbie - here she is on the
right with Lurch). They came back flushed with excitment and panting just
a little after they managed to get Kieron Fallon's autograph on their race-card.
And they think I'm sad with my train-set. Dodd says if Lurch gets her photo
in the letter he wants to be in too. Both these photos were in the latest
batch we just got done. |
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And here are couple to show that Meg's OK too... vicious brute that
she is! |
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| My friend Robin and his family are still all in the states, so greetings
to them and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Lucy! |
August 2001
Whoops... long time no letter! I've been so busy I haven't had time
to keep up with everything. Just time for a quick note to tide us over.
Very busy at work with various different projects, and busy with lots of
things at home too.
| Sold the Corrado, so we're back to being a one-vehicle family. First
time in about 10 years I haven't been a Corrado-owner! Still, now that
a couple of other folk around the department at work have old Corrados,
I guess it's time to move on! I quite fancy the Bentley Turbo. Tony came
to visit with his new Leon Cupra... not bad, but... not quite like the
old VR6! |
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Got 2 new contracts with Blackwells and Nelson Thornes to do new books,
so it looks like I'll have 3 book projects on the go by the end of the
year! Have seen (so far!) 3 different doctors plus assorted nurses and
fluid-collection technicians about the mystery ailment that started back
in March: I'm booked in for a scan next month so watch this space! No trips
to Greenland or Iceland for me this summer, but I did my first fieldwork
in the Lake District on the new project, and had a nice day wandering around
the hills and valleys around Coniston. I am delaying further visits until
they actually send through the promised grant cheque! Went to Leicester
races with Debbie, and did the looking-after-of-menagerie while Debbie
also went off on various other racing excursions with her friend.
Failed miserably to live up to my promise to fix a time for a "reunion"
with Lizzie and Mandy. Missed several people's birthdays and haven't managed
to write letters to anyone. Spent a small fortune (Corrado money!) on the
model railway, beginning a whole new level of modelling (for me) with electric
point control! Put a bulb in the landing light that has needed changing
since last christmas, and got some dinky little garden lights that look
pretty at night. Spent huge amounts of time working on Programme Specifications
and Learning and Teaching Strategy documents for Earth Sciences and Geography,
and seem mysteriously to have lost 2 Frank Sinatra CDs (did I lend them
to anybody out there?). Continued to be lucky to have Debbie as my wonderful
wife! Continued to be a bit stressed and disappointed not to be getting
round to writing or painting. More later, and hopefully some photos to
bring us up to date. Bye for now!
November 2001
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Hello again! Well the first news this time is
the new dot.com! Richard says it's just vanity (isn't everything?) but
really it's so that I can get rid of those pop-up adverts that geocities
started putting onto the old site. Anyway, it's an easier address to remember
and type in. I spent a bit of time transferring stuff onto the new server
and making some more additions here and there. |
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Check out the new pages of family
photos and old snapshots. If anyone out there from way back when looks
at the old photos and says "why aren't I on there?" the answer is
probably I don't have a photo of you! Let me know if you miss yourself!
On that note, JB, are you EVER going to come back and claim your Proust
and Kundera? |
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People sometimes wonder why I put all this stuff
on the web but I got a nice illustration of why recently: Some guy I had
never heared of e-mailed to thank me for putting the old school
song on the web. He and a pal (old Edwardians both) had been searcing
for it and a Google-search came up with my site (bizarre) as a source!
Also the person to whom I'd loaned Sinatra read my last message and reminded
me (thanks Elaine!).
Another big item this month has to be the runaway
success of Debbie's new Kieren
Fallon site.
Debbie only started it this summer and already
it has become the definitive internet resource for Kieren Fallon, with
hits from as far afield as the USA, Japan and Hong Kong and visitors including
Reuters News! If you type "Kieren Fallon" into the major search engines
Debbie's site is usually given as the top site! So if you can't get us
on the phone it is probably because Debbie is working on her site! |
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We've had a few trips out since I last wrote, including a trip to Barmouth
for a breath of sea air, and a trip to Doncaster Races for Debbie to see
her hero! Debbie, of course, has had LOTS of trips to the races. At least,
that's where she says she goes!
Current bed-time reading? I've just finished "Pictures from an Institution"
by Randall Jarrell.
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