I've had a busy couple of weeks with non-work work and writing my short assignment ahead of the next week at uni, which was due last Sunday. It was only a thousand words but by the time I had finished it, I largely disagreed with over half of what I'd said and had lost most of my confidence in it as a decent response to the question. Feedback came very swiftly and I feel like all my concerns were well-placed. There was one point where I just stopped in the middle of a sentence - poor show. Some positive comments here and there, but I have finally made a start on the reading list and can already see that, if I'd done some of the reading before I wrote the essay, it would have been miles better. A helpful learning point for next time.
The scale of the reading list is currently overwhelming but I have all of this week to do it and I can only do what I can do. I managed to mark half of the Y11 mocks before I even finished term and have almost finished the other half, which is good going. I think Tuesday will be a schoolwork day and the rest of the time, I can just hit the books. I'm going up to Oxford next Saturday so I also have the option of Sunday in the library, though I do really fancy going to the natural history museum there for a look round. More incentive to read this week!
I have been done a few culture things since my last wittering. This past week I went to see Merlin Sheldrake talk about fungi and learned some very interesting facts, especially this about a species of fungi that infects cicadas, rots part of their body off and then makes them fly in a jerky way to spread the spores. The lecture came with a film of beautiful time lapses of various fungi growing. A lot more interesting than I had hoped, even.
Then today, Mr Z and I went to see the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at Bristol Museum and then out for lunch. Between this and the semi-regular Saturday brunches, we are in danger of becoming almost a normal couple.
Not much has happened at home in terms of culture though. I finally finished reading What You Are Looking For Is In The Library this week, during my ritual end-of-term early morning coffee and pastry in Friday. We've been finishing up our annual play-through of Super Luigi, so there hasn't been much TV watching, but we did watch Conclave at some point. I love Robert Harris but it was somewhat missing the tension I was expecting. It just won the Bafta though, so maybe it's just me missing something.
I set aside the cardigan knitting and made a mini hot water bottle cover for my colleague at work, who is just about to start chemo. My gauge was a bit off because the yellow is DK and not 4-ply (leftovers from Volt), but the grey is a gorgeous Rowan angora that has been in my stash for ages and it makes the whole thing so soft and fluffy.
I continue to frequent the gym though no more weight has been lost, which I've found a bit depressing, to be honest. I keep reminding myself that I went back to a weight I was 15 years ago in the space of four months and that is fine for now, if it takes another six months for my body to recalibrate so I can lose a bit more. But all this sensible rationalising means nothing when I spend the week carefully counting my calories and the number on the scale remains resolutely at its post-Christmas inflation. I went to the extreme length of weighing myself after I'd been to the gym this morning, though, and the scale reckoned I'd lost nine pounds in a week. I know I have not but it did make me feel like there might be more weight loss to come.
Better head back to the marking and assignments. I indulged in a very good nap today so I have got my second wind now. Naps are a holiday pleasure. I have been a bit sad at all the ski pictures in my Timehop over the past few days, wishing we were still going, but it's not long now until the school trip.
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