Did anybody else miss March?

Which is to say - oops, it's been a while since I was here last!

I mean, I'm not the only person who seems to have just given March a miss - British springtime is still dragging its feet as far as I can see, despite increasingly desperate entreaties from, well, EVERYONE.

Snow and blue skies on 11th March, my birthday. Very bizarre.

The AWOL status of the Gulfstream apart, what did happen to my March? With the aid of my diary, I can surmise that it got a bit lost under a slew of teaching, teaching observations (on which more another, more coherent time), meetings for a variety of conferences, and a lot of transatlantic Skyping with κύριε καθηγητά. And the small matter of some uninvited SVT, but that's nothing to dwell on, fortunately.

And where did a lot of rushing about and generally being a bit hazy get me? Well, the two reasons for multiple Skype meetings with George have both pretty much borne fruit, or have at least budded: firstly, I gave a paper at the 8th Newcastle upon Tyne PG conference last Friday (5th April), which went down well, if not spectacularly. The work that I have done so far, however, provides a good basis on which to build at least part of my PhD, so that's exciting.

Caught in action by Theodora...who unfortunately papped the worst
slide of my entire presentation - waaaay too much text!

And secondly, a joint project that κύριε καθηγητά and I are working on has been accepted to be presented at the EdiSyn workshop in Konstanz this summer - my first conference outside the UK! So, even if it's feeling like a slog from time to time, results seem to be appearing.

I've learnt a few, arguably more important, lessons along the way, though. Such as the fact that 'no' is a valid word, and it's OK to use it. That even if you're no longer a slave to the term schedule, you still can't just push through for weeks and weeks on end without a break.

Nothing like catching the sunrise from your tent
in the Peak district to chill you out...

And a last thought - a happy body = a happy mind; a run of squash coaching sessions gave me a huge (and underappreciated) boost throughout February, which I think I've missed in March. Better get back onto the court (or into a pool, or similar) soon then!

Or if all else fails... lindy-hoppers + red noses = a wonderful weekend