Monday, September 03, 2007

The start of semester and A Stranger’s Table

Rather enjoyed “Lost in Translation” last night – very subtle, I thought, and very Japanese. I liked the ending – wonderfully poignant and very well-judged. Think Lord H could have done with more action though, and even I thought the karaoke scene went on way too long. Still, nothing’s perfect.

And goodness me but you can tell when vacation is over. The campus is filled with students shrieking with joy at meeting each other again after the aeons when they haven’t seen a soul. And all very jolly it is too. In a way, it’s nice for the buzz to be back.

Oh and the lovely Mary McMyne has enjoyed A Stranger’s Table and says the following about it:

"I just wanted to let you know I read your chapbook today, from cover to cover. Thank you so much for sending it! I thought many of the poems were amazing … I thought "Judas" was amazing. The imagery of the hanging tree was so vivid I knew how he must have died, without consciously remembering it, or perhaps the poem MADE me remember it, and then when I got to the last stanza, which is so complicated and ripe with all kinds of implication and subtext ("I never told him / I loved him, words spoken blue, / though I like to think he knew"), but yet so simple on the surface and pure and human... I also very much enjoyed "Making Butter" … and "Wasps" … Of course there is more going on in "Wasps" than the literal story of the homeowners and the insects, but I've been mulling over the conflict between man and nature in the context of the home … so I really enjoyed the observations you made about that, especially the lines, "For when the irregular crackle and hiss / ... slips into our senses / it could so easily be... the steady shifting of a house dying as it stands / which numbs our every thought / until we come to accept the thing we fear most." Very, very nice."

Thanks, Mary – I really appreciate your comments!

This morning, I’ve caught up with last week’s emails and fiddled around with the SCS website again. I think it’s looking slightly more consistent. Possibly. Managed a lunchtime walk, during which I booked myself into the new set of back strengthening courses at the Sports Centre starting in October – I will have to try to get round the fact that I haven’t done anything over the summer, so I will be completely weak and floppy when we start and I’m sure our Back Guru will notice … Ah well, I should be used to being the Class Dunce by now.

And the office is full of biscuits left over from last week’s series of training meetings. Bliss. Carol and I are ensuring that none of these go to waste. Add to that the fact that Student Advice brought in a bean goulash and a lemon cake, made from our brand new Student Recipe book and you will understand that we haven’t exactly gone hungry today. It’s all been delicious too, mmm …

Tonight, I am fighting my way through the usual shopping trauma and collapsing in a heap once I get home. Doubt much writing will get done. But I’m hoping there might be a Pimm's on the horizon. Somewhere. After all, you have to celebrate the end of summer, you know. Later, I’ll watch “Outnumbered” on TV, and so to bed. As they say.

Today’s nice things:

1. Eating – it makes Mondays so much better, you know!
2. Mary’s review of A Stranger’s Table
3. Pimm's.

Anne Brooke
Anne's website

No comments: