Update: Christmas and New Year

If anyone happened on my last but one post, they might be wondering whether we did go off to New Zealand or not. The idea certainly cheered me up and aided my recovery from the nasty illness I had in early December, but we decided not to have a last minute trip to New Zealand. Instead, we went south to family in Kent, and home for the New Year, and friends over for a meal and to see 2012 in. So, choosing to stay in England gave us different, but enjoyable experiences, though no warm summer sun. Summer sun is something I miss and long for. Spring and summer cannot come soon enough for me.

Networks and networking

Have just done a little bit of work on a bibliography and glossary on networks, which was very interesting, though rather open-ended.

It seems to me that networks,like discussion forums, are frequently desired and rarely enduring. Entities that are made up of a disparate body of people turn out to be messy, haphazard things, despite good intentions. You can plan to minimise failure, but you can't eliminate it as a possibility. When a network succeeds, it's exciting. When it fails, we have to get over natural disappointment and learn. That's not easy.

Why does writing Christmas cards seem so hard this year?

I'm trying to get started on the annual Christmas card list, and struggling. Why? I am a bit unwell currently, but even if I were fully fit, I suspect I would find it a bit of a chore. I choose to write bits of news for each person, rather than write a standard newsletter to insert, so immediately it becomes harder, or at least more time-consuming. Outside, the sky is grey, and wintry showers threaten, and here I am, writing to family and friends in sunny climes such as New Zealand, Australia, and California. I find myself feeling wistful for the antipodean summer, or autumn, even. We had such a lovely trip to New Zealand in April, it's inevitable I am wishing I was somewhere else just now. Yorkshire Dales or New Zealand in December? If we had a free choice...

Winter is here...

Winter is here, and today there was a ground frost. It is the first time this winter that I have had to unfreeze the bird bath with hot water. I would rather be somewhere warm, I think, and I don't just mean inside with the central heating on...

My cousin Kezia[Barker]'s Wedding

In mid-September my partner and I attended my cousin Kezia's wedding in London. She and her partner Leo made it legal at Marylebone Register Office, and it was such a success that Paul Macartney booked his latest wedding there, too.

We were deputed to wait at Marylebone Station to pick up three dozen helium filled red balloons, then wait outside the Register Office for everyone to come out, and give them to people to hold for the next stage of celebrations.

Next stage was a walk across Regent's Park to the Grand Union Canal (where Kezia lives in a narrowboat) for champagne and canapés. From there, we boarded a narrow boat (not K's) for a 25 min journey to the Grand Union Pub, which K & L had hired for the afternoon and evening.

There, we gathered in the pub garden by the canal, from which vantage point we could watch Kezia's boat (with the happy couple standing on it) arrive alongside. More drinks and delicious snacks followed, before we tramped upstairs into the pub for a fine meal and good speeches.

Around midnight (maybe earlier?) we left the pub, and looked down onto the canal where people continued to celebrate. I looked wonderful. We took the tube back to Kilburn Park, where we were staying at nephew Alex's flat. It was a highly original event, and a great way to celebrate their "Grand Union".

(My photos of the wedding are on my Facebook account, and my PhotoBox one, too, but both only for friends.)

Social occasions

Social occasions are such great times to share knowledge in enjoyable ways and congenial surroundings. Heather and I went to Farnham in Surrey at the weekend, for my nephew Tom's wedding, and we met and talked with family and friends, and others. On the Sunday we drove and saw Jane Austin's House, about half an hour from our hotel in Farnborough. We went to a post wedding buffet in Camberley before driving back home. Today I put up my photos onto Facebook. They are good in parts...

Could the end of the week be the start?

It is Friday afternoon, on a damp Yorkshire summer day. I have had a flare-up of my chronic back problem, so have struggled to work for any length of time. Some of the day I have spent reading a little of Alan Hollinghurst's new novel "The Stranger's Child", and it is capturing my attention slowly.

At other times I have been searching for resources on evidence-based nursing practice for a small piece of work I am doing for a friend. While doing this, I have come across other interesting items, and enjoyed reading them. Just now I am not sure where these pieces are leading me, but I am struck by a question:

"could the end of the week be the start?"

My iPad and me...

Passing through the Duty Free Stores at Auckland Airport in late April, I bought an iPad2. In some ways it's just an expensive toy. But in other ways it's transformative. I access and use information and resources in a totally different way since getting it. I send and receive much of my email on it now, and download documents to store and read on screen. Sometimes I play with new apps for the fun of it, just to try out and see if they are useful or interesting. The good ones, I keep; others, I delete and look for alternatives. Lack of Flash is a drawback, as is the ability to use browsers besides Safari, but these are small points. The major part of my interface with the world wide web now is mediated by the iPad. Something significant is going on here.

Whatever happened to May?

After my last post, I realised I didn't post at all during May. Whatever happened to May? After we got home from New Zealand, life just seemed to go back to the pre-trip ways. Time now to reassess. Sad to learn tonight of the death of Miriam Karlin.

Summertime ... Living not easy...

Summertime started a few weeks ago, but real summer weather only appeared yesterday and today, up here in Yorkshire, at any rate. I'm doing some literature searches for a colleague, and it's not so easy from outside the world of academia - much less access to academic research databases. However, I completed the first part today, and will do the second part next week. Meanwhile, I shall enjoy the weekend sun, and read Marilyn French's "The Women's Room" for next week's book group.