Well, the world continues to turn.
I've been thinking about how mild it is in the mornings still. Getting darker each day but still mild enough for me to feel comfortable in a teeshirt without the use of the central heating.
And I've been reflecting on how the advent of central heating in the autumn changes year by year. One of the uses of this Journal is just that sort of record. So, over the past few years, the first mention of the central heating being switched on occurs as follows:-
I'd like to say that there is a discernable pattern there but I can't find one. Whatever effects global warming is having, the change is not constantly in the one direction.
I've been down to Oxford to deliver another of my Professional Skills courses. Over the years, this course has taken me to Epping Forest, Durham, Edge Hill, Keeble College Oxford and Westwood Training and Conference Centre near Coventry firstly in December 2003 and then again in July 2004.
Preceding all that I used to be involved in Communicating with Users and I can see that I took part in that course at St Anne's Oxford in July 97, January 98 and again in July 98. I also gave a variation of several courses in Wolverhampton at the beginning of 1997.
That's an awful lot of time and effort I've given to the HE sector over the past decade. I get paid for it to be sure but still...
Back at home, the second series of Lost has come to an end. Oh, dear, can I cope
with the constant teases week after week. I don't think so. Everyone has stopped asking
about the significance of the polar bears from episode 2 or 3. Much sillier, much more
basic but actually more enjoyable has been Jail Break. We like Wentworth Miller
and his tatoos. We remember lusting over him four years ago in
Dinotopia. He done grown up. A quick
three stars. ![[Three Stars - Good]](3.gif){kind=small}
Sunday night took us out into the Pennines into Derbyshire over to Buxton for the first time this year. A consequence of the cruise was that we did not get to the Buxton Festival this year. Linked to this is the fact that the purpose of our visit (a performance of The Bartered Bride by Bedrich Smetana given by Mid Wales Opera) was only our fourth opera show of the year. Maybe things really are slowing down at last.
Anyhow it was a good show. The move of location away from Bohemia to the Welsh Valleys
in the 1950s did no harm to the overall ethos of the piece. It helped strengthen the
position of some of the older female characters. The orchestra was a little thin (too
few strings for that particular overture) but Keith Darlington kept everything together
and at a good pace. Two performers stood out. Christopher Steele was a very likeable
second tenor; I shall look out for him again. Camilla Roberts is a name which keeps
cropping up (viz Carmen,
Iphigénie en Tauride and
Nabucco). I really do suspect that she is
going to make a breakthrough at some point. Easily a three star evening's entertainment.