Back to the Salt Mines!

Monday, March 9, 2009
London

Spring seemed decidedly in the air today and in keeping with the bright sunshine that flooded my bedroom, I chose a lighter outfit--a cotton shirt and unlined jacket. So, soon it will be goodbye cashmere, hullo cotton! Can't imagine being so light hearted about the arrival of spring in the beginning of March. Connecticut is still snow-ridden and spring is still a long way off.

I walked to class today on discovering that road works on High Holborn have caused traffic delays. I also started my first class an hour later to allow my students a chance to get their work organized and the first drafts of their essay printed out for me--most of them were on the trip to Cornwall with me, so they needed a little elbow room this morning. Class went off well and most of my lunch break was spent in Yvonne's office sorting out some payment issues.

I also discovered that I had left my sandwich lunch at home on my kitchen counter, so I ate a few flapjack cookies for lunch and the two pieces of baklava that Sarah Walsh brought in as part of her presentation on Greek London. I hoped that would sustain me through my next class at 2 pm at Birkbeck.

I let those students leave a half hour earlier (meaning that I did not give them their half hour break) as I had a 5 pm physiotherapy appointment at UCL. I have not yet managed to make telephonic contact with the Podiatry clinic despite about 80 tries! Either their phone is engaged or I get a recorded message informing me that they are out to lunch! It's become something of a joke trying to fix up an appointment for Orthotics!

Claire Curtin at UCL is of the opinion that I do not need to see her any longer. She thinks that there is no more that physiotherapy can do for me and that I have improved considerably since she first saw me. I have been told to continue the strengthening and stretching exercises, do the alternate soaking if it gives me relief and 'manage' the condition as best I can. She did make a tentative appointment to see me a month from now, but if I think I do not need it, I can call to cancel. When she discovered that I have been unable to make the Orthotics appointment, she told me to keep trying but not to worry too much about it as it is not imperative at all and is not likely to make much of a difference.

I stopped by at the Senate House Library at the University of London to pick up some books in preparation for the lecture I will be giving in Padua later this month--but neither of the books I wanted was available. I will need to try to get them from some other source. Meanwhile, I did some food shopping (yogurt, coffee, bread, Stilton) at Sainsburys and walked home on a lovely crisp evening.

Perhaps it was my late night last night, but I felt quite worn out and decided to vegetate on the couch with a movie. I chose Cassandra's Dream, a Woody Allen film, with Colin Farrel, Ewan McGregor, Tom Wilkinson and Haley Atwell in one of her earlier roles. The very interesting drama about greed and guilt actually made me stay awake right through it!

I had intended to do some grading of my students' first drafts before going to bed, but I think I will leave it for tomorrow as I am well and truly fatigued. Instead, I put a load of laundry into the machine and went to bed.