Several days of digital silence here — we went to Wolverhampton for Eleanor Feeney’s wedding to Adam Mihalik, then I rushed home to interview for a post Wednesday morning, then I got word that the committee had chosen another candidate, which put a damper on my interest in writin … | Continue reading
In the process of unpacking, we left an open bow on the floor, containing one of the dogs’ (many) bed/carpets in it. A couple of days ago, Minke noticed it and jumped in, and since then she and Flora have been devoted to occupying it. I took my morning run (the distance of which … | Continue reading
With one morning run, one trip to church (almost the same route), and one dog-walk, I’m up to four miles already today. Likely I’ll spend the rest of the day sitting down, working on a sermon (or James). | Continue reading
Another one-and-a-half today, at a slightly peppier (still nothing exciting) pace. Home with the ladies, now, while Margaret works on her presentation on ‘Should Commodities Flourish?’, working on my own sermon for an upcoming Special Event and thinking about finishing my James e … | Continue reading
I woke this morning to the first day on which neither Margaret nor I will be shuttling to or from James Street. Granted that we didn’t exactly choose to relocaate, this feels very very good. My morning route is still a bit short, but I got my run in and it felt okay, at a… | Continue reading
In a few minutes I’ll swing down to James Street, call for a ride, load up our boxes destined for storage, take them to our units, squeeze them in, lock the doors, and that will be that. (Margaret will take some books to Mary Mags tomorrow or Sunday, but we’re not really counting … | Continue reading
We’re back in Headington this afternoon, after spending the morning organising our retreat from East Oxford. We wrought four categories: going to the flat, going to storage, going to Mary Mags’s book sale, bin, and recycle. Once assured that we didn’t have to choreograph our rubb … | Continue reading
So, I tried out a new route this morning — running and walking, trying to find my way — and the planned route came in at 1.6 miles. Our part of Headington is tricky, because (unlike East Oxford) the roads are less tight a network of blocks, and they tend to meander outward with o … | Continue reading
No running, though I’m thinking about my (necessarily) new route. More dog-care (we want to keep them quiet; they’ve never lived in a flat before, and we want to help them learn to be good neighbours). Margaret and I have each made a trip to James Street and back. There’s less an … | Continue reading
This’ll be the first weekday in our new digs. Margaret plans to go to a local cafe to work this morning; I’ll stay here with the dogs, who are still very anxious about having moved. I’ll try to make some headway on sermon and essay while at home. Then, later in the day, one or… | Continue reading
It’s a long story, but the short version is that our move out of college housing was accelerated (to our surprise) and we had to do our relocation act sooner and more intensely than we had expected. Last Wednesday, the BRitish Heart Foundation took away some of our furniture, and … | Continue reading
No run, cos my socks and trainers are packed somewhere, and we need the time to finish up packing all the goods that are going into storage. Right now, it all looks distinctly bleak, but once everything’s gone we’ll be in a position to begin a new (and, we may hope, a short) phas … | Continue reading
Vanilla morning run, two miles 11°, not much more to say. This morning, the British Heart Foundation swings past to pick up several large items of furniture. This afternoon the sofa goes. The dogs are very anxious. | Continue reading
This morning was a bit brisk (11°), and I felt a little rusty after skipping yesterday’s run, but otherwise no real noteworthy aspects. Two miles. | Continue reading
Heavy rain this morning, so I haven’t run. It’s not unthinkable that I run later in the day, but it’s unlikely. | Continue reading
One of the dogs has a moderately dramatic digestive disruption, so Margaret got less sleep last night than would be ideal. We woke up together, I to run and she to clean up a puddle of puke and some gelatinous other dog by-product; she went back to sleep, and I run under light cl … | Continue reading
Did I mention that Käthe came to stay with us a couple of weeks ago? Last night she blogged about the multi-staged holiday she took that included her stay in Oxford (Margaret and I make a cameo appearance — don’t blink or you’ll miss us!). But making links is one of the vital vir … | Continue reading
Two miles, uninteresting conditions, although just as my warm-up was transitioning into full-on running, I think I may have experienced a few moments of the breezing I observed in another runner earlier this week. I do not infer from that that I’m about to experience a breakthrou … | Continue reading
I noted a while ago that Jenee Woodard sends traffic this direction to my New Edition post. It occurred to me that I hadn’t taken a look recently to see what has generated most traffic to this blog over the past decade or so. The old favourites are Plural of Impetus (for obvious … | Continue reading
I got distracted yesterday, apparently, but I did run, and then trundled down to Fairacres, and then came back and eked out a bit of writing for the essay that I must, must, must complete this month. 14°, humid, cloudy, but a decent pace, two miles. This morning’s run was a bit o … | Continue reading
I post most of my photos to Flickr, with a Creative Commons licence. Most of them are of only personal interest, but some have been selected for book covers, so that’s an agreeable outcome. A long-ish while ago, I got a comment on one of my photos on Flickr noting that another Fl … | Continue reading
Sunny, brisk (10°), nothing special physically, but I just set pout at a decent pace and kept it up till I got home. Good run, good pace, two more miles. | Continue reading
The story this morning is not the conditions (11°, grey, humid, stiff limbs, relaxed pace) but the way that, on the home stretch, a much younger runner came up behind and passed me with no apparent effort at all. He just breezed by — smooth, steady, not pressing, not bounding or … | Continue reading
This morning I got up and put my trainers on and set out for my morning run, forgetting that I’d checked the morning weather and that it was 9°. I usually don a hoodie at 10° or below, so I was distinctly chilly for the run, and it took a good while for my back… | Continue reading
Running, anyway. A chilly 10°, eyes and nose streaming copiously, nothing special in my limbs (apart from residual fasciitis and overall stiffness), and although I didn’t feel as though I was pushing against my limitations, I seem to have held to a good steady pace, so that the r … | Continue reading
A chilly 11° and intermittent light rain, so I opted not to run this morning. No miles. | Continue reading
Grey skies, 13°, no particular vigour or sluggishness, humid and pollen, of course, but at the end it turned out I’d kept to a good pace, and there’s two miles in the books at an entirely satisfactory pace. Now I’ll walk down to Fairacres and back (not quite another two miles), a … | Continue reading
The Brooklyn Institute for Social Research appears to be an interesting model for higher/further/continuing adutl education. I’ll keep my ears open to hear more about this, especially if it spreads (rhizomatically?) to the UK. Commander Dave continues to take blogging (particular … | Continue reading
Grey morning, 13°, humid, pollen, average pace, ordinary joints and muscles (though my left calf gave me a mild complaint as I was finnishing). Two miles — exactly average. | Continue reading
This morning felt dull and dispirited (that is, I felt dull and dispirited this morning) — under grey skies, 15°, pollen, with intermittent drizzle — though my legs limbered up quickly and my pace (to my surprise) came up relatively respectable. | Continue reading
I can’t explain why, but when I read the Mary Poppins books as a child, the ending of the chapter “High Tide” in Mary Poppins Opens the Door stuck in my mind — so first when I encountered Quadrophenia, then more recently when I emigrated to the UK, Mary’s tart response to Michael … | Continue reading
Morning run at break of day: clearing skies, 13°, pollen, sluggish limbs (and spirit), and a laggardly pace. Even at that, two miles came and went. One more rejection, along with increasingly likelihood that neither of the current outstanding applications will bear fruit. | Continue reading
Only ran a mile this morning, the warm-up loop of my usual, because of a heavy mist that developed into a light rain during my run (14°, adequate pace). It wasn’t so much the drizzle itself as it was the risk that the rain would get heavier as I headed further from home. Breakfas … | Continue reading
The month, that is, not the morning runs, which have been squarely average in their rapidity. This morning, for instance: grey skies but clearing, 13°, humid, pollen, legs gradullay limbering up, but a humble pace, so that there was nothing notable about the run. I got back, clea … | Continue reading
From 8:30 yesterday morning to 18:45 yesterday evening, I was en route to or coming back from another interview. The talking went about as well as usual, so I expect that the effort will prove fruitless, but there we are. Whatever else may be the case, I won’t win any championshi … | Continue reading
Another warm, overcast day (14°), humid (that degree of humidity when you can feel pinpricks of condensation, but no real mist or precipitation), feeling rusty (plantar fascia, wonky knee, even back stiffness), a slow run but keeping at it — two more miles. Off to another intervi … | Continue reading
Between last night’s rains and incoming showers, I had a good run this morning. Heavy overcast, of course, but a warm 15° (100% humidity), limber early in the run, though more laboured toward the end, and a good enough pace. Two miles. No word from the interview; will turn toward … | Continue reading
I’m giving myself a day off running. My interview yesterday involved a lot of walking in dress shoes, and my feet will welcome a respite. The interview itself went well, I think, not an absolute knockout but a pretty good, solid opportunity to size things up and to express how I … | Continue reading
‘Whence comes this rush of wings?’ asks the Christmas hymn, and of laate I’ve seen an uptick of traffic that might be difficult to account for, were it not for site traffic software. It runs out that many browsers have been coming here in search of the digital edition of my colle … | Continue reading
Temperatures back down to 10°, skies clearing, limbs mildly stiff, pace amore modest than the last week or so , and hey, presto! There’s two more miles. I’m a bit jumpy today, as I have a job interview this afternoon. It would be a pleasant feeling, you may allow, were I to know … | Continue reading
Another grey morning, though this morning it was just on the dry side of of MISTY when I started out and at the very furthest point of my circuit, that turned to definite mist, and thence to outright rain. My legs were tired from extra walking yesterday, but otherwise comfortable … | Continue reading
Harking back to discussions we had online when The Happy Tutor blogged among us, I have thought time after time about the relative sizes of the endowments of US higher education institutions compared with British universities. The Principal at my former employer once expostulated … | Continue reading
Not literally swimming, I mean, but running in 15° with 95% humidity. Continued heavy grey skies, mildly breezy, limber enough, especially toward the last half mile, and a decent pace. Chalk up another two miles. Off after breakfast to St Mary Magdalen for their patronal and to c … | Continue reading
This morning’s run took place under heavy grey skies (it’s already staying darker noticeably later, along with the heavy overcast), 12° and 90% humidity, limbered up slowly but steadily, a good and increasing pace, and another two miles done. It’s Saturday morning, Staurday Live … | Continue reading
A brisk 9°, but pleasantly limber all the way, light clouds, steady pace, two miles. Yesterday was stressful. Margaret and I had to make a decision between the conflicting interviews, so we did; but since there’s a strong chance (in any given search process) I won’t be called to … | Continue reading
A very good run this morning, if 10° isn’t a bit too chilly, limber legs all the way and a good steady pace. I don’t enjoy running, Dave, but I do rather like being alive, and it seems clear that I’m more likely to live longer if I keep my circulation, oxygenation, and metabolism … | Continue reading
Each of the last mornings has been grey, about 13°, ominous with rain but without actual precipitation, my legs moderately limber, and proceeding at a satisfactory pace. Two more two miles-es. Great to see Dave running — pardon me, ‘Exercising’ — along with me. I’ve never run mor … | Continue reading
A slightly cool 10° under clearing skies, legs didn’t feel bad, good pace, good run — another two miles. It was a bit surprising because I felt neither sluggish nor energetic, but made a good run in a good time. | Continue reading