Stands Scotland where it did?

So Paris went well. Delivered my paper, answered questions, went to my supervisor's paper, went to look at art. Saw some marvellous Cézannes and Redons in the Musée d'Orsay and something in the region of 100 Kandinsky paintings in the Pompidou Centre. I saw a two-volume Cézanne catalogue raisonné in a Cambridge bookshop today for £80 and am presently trying to justify buying it. It is, unbelievably, a bargain.

Went to Edinburgh, where I stayed with a friend, and thence across to a rather grim part of Glasgow for a workshop on museums. Although I got to see the store 'pods' for all the Glasgow museums, the talks were very pedestrian, despite their titles. But, back in Edinburgh, my friend introduced me to some interesting philosophers and I got to see the library of T. L. S. Sprigge. A real treat! It turns out that he had a shelf-ful of books by Santayana, on whom I may have to read Sprigge himself together with his magnum opus, The Vindication of Absolute Idealism. A far cry from his short Theories of Existence which I remember reading as an undergraduate.

I now ought to be writing my popular essay on Christmas but can't be arsed. That's why I'm writing this instead and listening to Life is Killing Me by Type O Negative to cheer myself up... And I've just bought some monsoon malabar online.

(Navet by Redon.)

Trip

The thesis has, I hope temporarily, ground to a halt.

Off to Edinburgh on Tuesday followed by Durham. I shall be on the look-out for gentlemans' outfitters. I've decided too to have my 'Nietzsche phase' whilst away. I plan to start with an article by my former supervisor followed by The Birth of Tragedy, followed by Thus Spoke Zarathustra. I shall stop short of the advice of this man to read them in the bath.

Lakes

Yes, yes, yes: here we are in Wordsworth Country! It makes me want to read The Prelude: I hope some kind soul will buy me a copy for Christmas. The wedding was delightful, and the 7hr drive tolerable, though we stayed in a pub called the Swinside Inn which I cannot recommend for two reasons:
a) it was shit
b) they turn the central heating off at 10pm.

I wanted ear muffs and some kind of nose-warming device! I had to buy a cumbrian jumper to keep me warm during the night.

Here is me enjoying the Wordsworthian atmosphere:



















And here is my favourite kind of cityscape- humanity vs Nature all the way!:















And here's a picture of the Happy Couple:

The Lake District

More reading: voracious reading! Human potential is more than we give it credit for.

On a different note: Choral Evensong tonight, followed by drinks. Then, I'm off to Keswick tomorrow for a wedding. I shall return with a detailed account and, no doubt, some pictures.

[Edit: I'm hoping for some visitors from California. I suspect that the mere presence of the word 'California' in this post may attract some.]