Today is a day for a)going down to the post office and b)translating Latin. Both of these are likely to contain some difficulties.

The Swedish government, in their relentless unwisdom, closed down the post offices and turned them into a franchise. This means that the post is nowadays picked up, in my case, at the gas station - and we should note ( Read more... )

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I read a most interesting suggestion from two politicians in Stockholm - the article is at http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=572&a=741192 for those who read Swedish. It can be summarised as follows:

* one in six ninth-graders play truant from school
* if this happens repeatedly, the parents should be called to a meeting at the school
* the ( Read more... )

I was unfortunate enough to read about Phelps's church and their plans to picket Heath Ledger's funeral. And no, I will not link to their appalling web page ( Read more... )

I had so looked forward to seeing Heath Ledger in new movies, and working with various actors. That is not to be.

His death is, of course, saddest for his family, but I do feel the tragic waste of so young and so talented an actor taken from us all.

... insert here mental image of wolf running, tongue out, fur fluffing, to keep up with schedule. So far schedule: 1, wolf: 0.

I have cancelled my doctor's appointment for stress symptoms, as I can't make time for it. The irony of this is not lost, but sitting on my desk staring at me, like a particularly tasteless garden gnome.

I seem to have survived both end-of-term desperate work and Christmas. Yesterday, I finally finished the history and culture exams, with a sigh of relief, and the constant amazement at how people can mix up time periods, historical figures, and even geography. Tonight,
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Christmas, which happens not to be a favourite season of mine, is sneaking up on us again. I will not say this is a joyless season - I get to stay home from work, and that seriously rocks, but overall I find this a frustrating season. There are presents to be bought and family get-togethers to be negotiated, and I notice that once I declared my ( Read more... )

It has occurred to me, repeatedly, that growing older does not make it easier to find a partner who has managed to grow up. When I was 16, the men around me had some excuse for their childishness, but immaturity is hardly less common and even more annoying among men who should have reached an age of discretion. I consider the maturity exhibited by

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I have spent much of the last two weeks travelling, with mostly Neil McKenna's The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde (London:Arrow, 2004) for companionship. Being fond of anything written by or about Oscar Wilde, I naturally picked up this brick of a book when I saw it at Dublin airport, and gradually worked my way through it. As for whether it was worth ( Read more... )