Journal Entries
Just wondering ...
Posted May 15, 2005
I must say (probably repeating myself, sorry!) that I'm very much enjoying having this new place to play, but there are still things I haven't fully understood about the way it all functions.
One of these is this: I tend to start from My Space, because it is the page which opens when I sign in, rather than the Mustardland Mustering Station. I have added lots of people from ML to my Friends list, and when I look at My Space, I see a list of conversations in which these people are taking part.
Now what I'd like to know is whether all my Friends get to see the converations in other threads where I'm involved, e.g. the French Language-Speaking Thread, even when it's somebody else's posting and not mine?
If this seems impossibly convoluted, please just ignore it!
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Latest reply: May 15, 2005
Two days in London
Posted May 14, 2005
I had the day off yesterday (TOIL for having worked last Saturday) so have had a quick trip to London.
Did my weekend food shop before leaving yesterday morning and got to UCL in time to meet a former colleague for lunch and catch up on the gossip.
In the afternoon went to the National Portrait Gallery and saw an interesting little exhibition of photos of Frida Kahlo. Some of them were very old - 1920s and 30s - but lovely colours, so I suppose they must have been restored in some way. There was also a sweet exhibition of ceramics on the theme of family, done as a collaborative project between an artist and families in Haringey.
Then I trekked up through Soho to Oxford Street (having forgotten quite how far it was), by which time I was thoroughly fed up with the crowds, traffic and noise. Went into a couple of the big shops to look for jeans (need new ones for Canada next month), but was in too much of a bad mood to try them on. How I hate shopping!
Anyway, got on the bus to Islington, where I was staying with a very old friend. He cooked a fantastic dinner (there was another overnight guest, and a friend of hers) and we had a good evening.
Spent today with another friend who'd been a student at UCL when I worked there. She's now working in Winchester, so I met her at Waterloo and we had a coffee at the NFT and chatted for a while. Then we went to visit the Handel House Museum (just off Oxford Street, near Bond Street), which was fascinating - I didn't even know it was there. There's a video presentation and you can see Handel's bedroom, composing room, rehearsal room (where someone was playing the harpsichord) etc.
Ate a sandwich in Hanover Square gardens at lunchtime and then went and tried on hats in Dickins and Jones - reminded me of being a teenager, when this was our standard Saturday afternoon entertainment (C&A rather than D&J though)!
Got the 4.15 fast train home and it was blissfully empty - not even anyone in the carriage on a mobile phone! But my feet are so sore! Combination of unsuitable shoes and overdoing the walking somewhat. I can feel an early night coming on ...
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Latest reply: May 14, 2005
Visitors, visitors!
Posted May 10, 2005
My boss and I gave a sigh of relief as we waved goodbye to the last group of visitors leaving the College today - we've had a bit of an overdose in the last few days and she must be completely fed up with giving enthusiastic talks, even though she doesn't show it!
On Saturday we had a Year 10 Open Day - nearly 80 girls (aged 14-15) and 20+ teachers. All went very well and they seemed to like it.
Monday: group of about 25 girls from Year 12 (lower Sixth) in posh private school. Made a lot of noise in the corridors, even though they had been specifically asked not to, as undergrads are revising. When they left, we were collecting up abandoned prospectuses from under chairs etc and found that one of them had ripped out the central pages (course information) and left the College part. 
Today: two Year 12 groups from the same town, 30 or so from Girls' High School, 12 from Sixth Form College. It had been a nightmare to organise: trying to get them to coordinate times of their visits, so that the Admissions Tutor didn't have to give her talk twice; getting undergrads to give College tours, then having to change the times.
Timing was rearranged at the specific request of the GHS who 'had' to arrive at 12.15. They then arrived 15 minutes early and made a big fuss about having to wait until the SFC group arrived!
Anyway, the SFC visitors were delightful, polite and interested. The GHS teachers were unfriendly and looked bored, and although the girls had brought packed lunches (the school didn't want to pay for lunch in the student cafeteria), the two teachers then announced that they hadn't brought any lunch themselves and made it clear that they expected to be invited by the College!
And of course we have to be really nice to all these people, even when we know that the school has a policy of only allowing one student to apply to a College in any given year ... 
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Latest reply: May 10, 2005
Ducks, computers and wine
Posted May 6, 2005
C., 6 May 2005
Voted on the way to work yesterday morning - finally decided to go for loyalty to the local (Labour) MP over disgust with Blair, but then regretted it almost immediately and had to struggle not to rush back in to the polling station shrieking "I've changed my mind - give me my voting paper back!". However there was a 15% swing to the Lib Dems, so my vote won't have made much difference anyway. Swing was probably largely due to the student population, as Anne Campbell abstained on top-up fees, although she did resign her govt post over the war.
Anyway, thought about staying up to watch the results, but fell asleep on the sofa after about three constituencies had declared, so went to bed.
Today has been a better day. When I got to work, several of my colleagues were clustered round the window near my office watching a female mallard with 13 ducklings on one of our garden ponds. Unfortunately it has quite a high wall, and once on the water the little duckies couldn't get out again - cue for much consternation, rushing round looking for suitable planks to use as ramps etc. The Head Gardener said the foxes will probably get quite a few of them anyway ... cheerful guy!
At lunchtime I went to this term's first Pudding Seminar (see http://www.newn.cam.ac.uk/admissions/pudding.shtml) - one of the things I love about working where I do. A third-year undergrad computer scientist was talking about her final dissertation - I didn't really understand most of it, but I could get enough to realise that she is writing some sort of programme which hasn't been done before, and which could have very useful applications. For techies out there, she's written an automatic translator which will express chemical reactions in stochastic pi-calculus. We have some amazing students! As well as giving this seminar in the second week of her final exam term, she and a friend gave a music recital on Wednesday, singing soprano duets very beautifully.
Last good thing of the day: went to the supermarket round the corner from home for a few essentials, including a bottle of red (sorry Martine!). Saw that a good Australian Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon (sorry again Martine!) was apparently reduced from £5.68 to £3.28, so naturally bought it. When I got to the till, I was charged the original price. Went to the Customer Service desk and queried this. The nice lady there went off to investigate and came back to say that someone had put a load of bottles on the wrong shelf - it wasn't really reduced, but she gave me the reduction, plus a gift voucher for £2 "for the inconvenience". Cheers Walmart!
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Latest reply: May 6, 2005
C. 4 May 2005
Posted May 4, 2005
Have been really lazy about this journal for the last few days, but then again nothing much has happened.
We've got another Open Day on Saturday, this time for Year 10 students (age 14-15) to get them thinking at an early stage about applying to university, aiming high and all that. We're having trouble recruiting current undergraduates to help out though, because they're all in the midst of revision. Nightmare visions of having to take large groups of teenagers on tours of the College and try to keep them quiet outside the library and students' rooms! But usually our frantic last-minute pleas for help result in a few volunteers.
After a few warm and semi-sunny days, it's been back to winter today. Cycled to work this morning through fine, cold drizzle, and needed gloves on coming home from Spanish class tonight.
That's all really.
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Latest reply: May 4, 2005
annie_cambridge
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