Got another paper through - revise and resubmit! Life, eh? This is the paper I was working on so earnestly this time last year - just to have something to do with my brain/somewhere to go (and it's the reason I got a Bodeleian membership). All those afternoons sitting in the Radcliffe Camera or Duke Humphrey's -because if you have to do work somewhere it may as well be gorgeous - revising this paper. At the time it was hugely important to salvage something from that postdoc. Then I moved on and didn't care as much, and NOW it's been accepted (the reviews were unusually positive, and although there is a metric crap-ton of revisions, upon reflection 99% of them are one person re-wording things. Silly but totally doable!)

This is the paper on attention/motivation and parenting. It's about the neurological and hormonal changes that happen to your brain when you have a kid. Of particular relevance to me at the moment since basically my entire Bangor crew is sprogging this year. Busy frantically crocheting tiny adorable cardigans for Jo's little guy/girl at the moment. After that it's Roxy and then Aonghus and Olga (sent Thandiwe's little girl a blanket a few months ago). Whew. (Jo isn't finding out the sex in advance. I said that to Olga and she said, "But you can always tell from the scan!" No, Olga, only those of you with a Ph.D. in embroyology can tell from the scan! We mere mortals are able to be in total ignorance.)

Anyway, hanging out with Jo as much as possible at the moment, since as much as I know she wants to keep going out after the baby is born, there are those neurobiological brain changes to contend with... so we'll see.


Bank holiday this week - we have a wedding, a trip to London and with any luck a visit to an allotment (Jo has inherited a plot, but she is in a delicate condition and I have squash seeds to plant, so am going to hopefully borrow it for  the next year or so). Still incredibly happy with the flat (even though the hot water has gone again) and working on a million projects. All good...

May Morning

Happy May Morning! Dragged myself out of bed at the crack of dawn and met Delphine down on Cowley for 5.45 to see the singing on Magdalen Bridge at 6am. It was lovely, we got a not-too-shove-y spot, and the light on the tower was just gorgeous. Then we pushed our way across the bridge into town (what is WITH people who try to get bikes across in that kind of crowd?!) and watched some bands and some Morris dancers and some people dressed as trees. Good fun. I made a nerdy May-morning green-and-flowery crocheted scarf and fit right in!  

By 7am we were freezing, so back up Cowley for a nice breakfast and in to work by 8am. Am feeling very virtuous somehow. 

I really like May morning, even though it’s not really that exciting necessarily. I like that it’s been going on for hundreds of years, I like the ancient songs, and the people-watching is beyond compare (combination of hippies and people wearing bits of tree, ordinary Oxfordians who brought their kids and students who stayed out all night drinking). 

The downside is, I think I might be stuck in work late today working on a guide we are doing for Public Health England (due yesterday) so could be a loooooong day…

On the plus side, it’s a Bank Holiday weekend and I get to see Mom & Dad on Sunday! They are stopping by briefly to collect some luggage on their way back through. Wish we had longer, but I imagine they are about ready to go home.