In the lull before the final push to submission

I am getting this written before I put my head down next week for the final submission of my thesis. For the most part I have not been working on it although today I started to read through and I really should have done a full read through before my supervision on Wednesday so I need to get a move on. It has been odd not having it to work on whenever I had the energy but quite a bit of time has been filled with social commitment of one sort or another.

The Monday after my last blog my writers group got together for one of our socials. We have maybe three or four a year at odd spacings. Usually two of them are like this one, just a pub night together outside term time.  We have one after reading as part of Off the Shelf which is again at the Bank Street Arts  on Friday 25th October. I hope that thesis does not take over too much before I get there. The group is now up and functioning for this term. We are full with members who came last term and have not had the usual drop out. One of our members had found an anthology produced by the group before any of the current members joined. It showed us that the WEA used to sponsor books and secondly that a friend I thought had been in the group actually had.

The week after that I went over to join in a family celebration for Cathy and Adrian’s eighteenth wedding anniversary.  It was held at a Chinese Restaurant and we ordered a banquet for most of us but individual dishes for my nephew and niece. This was partly to make sure they ate something but it was also to supply them their favourites. Sam’s was a noodle dish while Hannah wanted the deep fried chicken dumplings. Try finding the second on a menu of a normal Chinese restaurant but Cathy had a brainwave and ordered her sweet and sour chicken with the sauce separate. I think I might try Sam and the local noodle bar when they are next over. My Uncle insisted on paying although I had arranged with Adrian that I and he would pay 50%. We thought this would balance things.

On the following Tuesday  I went back over to spend the day with my Aunt and Uncle and my parents. We went to Styal Mill which is what the picture is of. We got a ploughman’s meal from the restaurant and then went to book tickets for the Apprentice house as I felt that a trip around the mill would be too much for Mum and Dad. Dad still tires easily. He managed to walk down the hill to the mill but after lunch was quite prepared to sit while the rest of us walked around. Mum at one stage was asking where Dad was, I think actually meaning to ask where Uncle Charles was, but not quite getting there even after being told Dad was sitting next to her, when she started asking where Harry was.

This weekend I went to York for a meet with a number of posters on Ship of Fools. One of the long serving host was over from Canada. We went to the Ask restaurant for dinner including this little fellow who is sat by a glass on the table. In York, the Ask restaurant is in the Assembly rooms. This is a huge hall building with really impressive decoration. The sort of place where you get asked whether the marble is real or painted. Quite a few of us also made it to evensong at York Minster before the meal. It was a good evening although the echo-ey nature of the hall (possibly a good thing when they were Assembly room) meant that the conversation across the table was limited.  There was a minute of confusion when we realised that the person booking the table was not there and we did not know what name the table was booked under. Somehow “ship of fools” did not seem likely, none of us could remember the person who booked actual name (as opposed to their shipname). When we looked at the list it was obvious which, but we then turned to ask a couple behind us if they had that name! They answered “Yes” and looked relieved which must have confused the restaurant staff even more. It was saved in the name of the host who had come from Canada, and none of us had met him in real life previously.

Work is very busy at present with more than enough to keep me going. Indeed I may be taking a thesis day on Wednesday to see my supervisor but I will also be doing work for work on Friday which is normally my day off.

I seem to at present have a fascination with the way the Autumn is coming this year. This is a picture I took tonight on my way to Evensong. As far as I could tell all the trees in the right hand side of the picture were the same species and are planted along the road. The trees on the left are actual the end of a separate group that is planted along a path. Yet one of the trees has turned a brilliant orange while the rest seem to be staying green. I did not notice the dark leaves on the left which may be a similar phenomena.