Muammar Gaddafi

It's not very PC, and of course there's Lockerbie, but even so, I've always had a bit of a soft spot for Colonel Gaddaffi (Libya). He's madder than a box of frogs... Yesterday, he arrived in Ethiopia for the African Union summit with two suitcases full of gold bars - "gifts for the leaders of African nations" explained his aides to airport officials. How thoughful of him. Exactly what I would have wanted too. :)

Forks!!

Snow this morning. Caught me by surprise a little. My flatmate left the house before me (about 8.45am) and sicne we both cycle in, he got smothered by a sudden snowstorm. It lasted about 30mins, so since I decided to wait and see if it subsided, I missed it completely - and was still in before 9.30am, btw. And now, it's turned into a lovely day. Clear blue sky and all that. Nice one.

Anyhow, on with today's fascinating fact/urban myth: Eating with a fork was once considered scandalous.

Forks were first used in the Middle Ages, but eating with one was considered scandalous. In the 11th Century, when a Greek princess died shortly after introducing forks at her wedding with a Venetian Doge (chief magistrate) Domenico Selvo, it was perceived as divine punishment. While forks were a regular feature on the tables of nobles in Italy since the 11th Century, and used in France in the 14th Century, it was introduced in England only in 1611 by Thomas Coryat through his book "Coryat's Curdities Hastily gobbled up in Five Months Travels in France." Even then, he was mocked about promoting the use of forks and called "Furcifer," meaning fork-bearer. The upper classes of Spain were using forks in the 16th Century, as could be told from a large assortment of forks that were recovered from the wreck of La Girona, which sank off the coast of Ireland in 1588. In 1630, Governor Winthrop of Massachusetts had the first and only fork in colonial America. So what did people eat with before using forks? They used wooden spoons, knifes and, of course, their hands. Forks, mostly being two-tined, were known as "split spoons". Although there are examples of four- and five-tined forks from the before the 1600s, the four-tined fork became popular only in the late 1800s.

In Thailand, It is still considered scandalous to bring the food to your mouth with a fork; you only use the fork to bring the food in your spoon to eat it.

Masking Tape

Yes, everything can be fixed by masking tape!!

I have two windows in my office. One doesn't quite shut properly. The weather is being weird today too. So while it switches between blue sky and sunshine (though cold) and the odd hailshower, I have to contend with: (a) draughts and (b) hailstones coming through the gap between window and sill. All hail masking tape!

A Game of Thrones

Talking about books, I love this series of novels (A Song of Fire & Ice). They're big, complicated, and some of the characters are downright horrible. Plus, I admire an author willing to kill off main characters (often) for the sake of the story. Credit goes to Jason here for first mentioning the books to me, however many years ago it was before I picked them up. My one regret is that I found a picture of the author, but even that failed to dampen my enthusiasm(!) The man even likes Battlestar Galactica - but that could be explained away by the photo... ;-)

Anyhow - with thanks to Mik - news for the fan boys.

The Burning Crusade/Flashman

Some of you will know - and many will hang their heads and "tut" - but I am relatively keen on this World of Warcraft game... The new expansion pack is out and into The Outlands I went. Or rather, into The Outlands we *all* went. Almost everyone on the server poured into the new zones at the same time, causing the tiniest bit of lag. So I'll get back to that in a couple of days! Until then, I've actually been doing a bit of work.

Lately, I've been diverted by a borrowed copy of "Flashman" (thanks Mik). Pretty cynical story-telling... But if you don't take offence easily, great fun to read. Mik got his copy for something like 20p when a local school sold off some of its books. I have to agree with him, it's a little "adult" for the kiddies in places. Even so, I'll have to track down the rest in the series. Though as Sally would say: "Not your role model".

New Year Round-up 2

After all that too-ing and fro-ing, I think we were both really starting to run out of steam. Me for certain, as I *still* had that huge pile of marking to do. 45 projects and 65 essays later (at an average of slightly under 15mins each), and I'd turned the corner. I still wasn't blogging though!!

Right now, I'm onto my own homework. When you start as a lecturer these days, you have to complete a higher education teaching certificate, of which I'm into the Second Module (each takes a year). So - the indignity... ;-) - I have homework to hand in for Wednesday. A summative refelective account of the course so far. *Urgh*

But I'm fresh from Huddersfield, it didn't rain on me this morning, and if this is the worst of my problems, then I'm doing ok!

New Year Round-up

Right then. *rolls up sleeves* It's time to start things anew. My host of marking is done - well, until the exams next week - so it's time to get bang up to date. Firstly, no New Year resolutions. Not one. Can't think of anything I really, really need to do to improve(!) Not even my hefty sense of self-delusion. I'm drinking less anyway - at least, during the week (discounting Wednesdays...), I don't smoke, and I don't have the drive and inclination to do more exercise. So, steady as she goes, Captain. ;-)

New Year was fun though, if hectic. I certainly needed time to recover. Christmas with the parents (York), New Year was spent down in London (with Sally, Alex, and Julian; and some time at Jason and Serena's, managing to meet Lauren and bump into Pradeep too). And the inbetween/slightly afterwards was with Sally in festive Huddersfield. Phew! Sally and I flew down to Heathrow from Manchester - as you can see from her Blog. It was something like 30mins to Heathrow (a bit bumpy but the wind was with us) and 35mins back. Decadent, yes. Especially with Julian meeting us at the airport and driving us back. :-) What I liked best was that we took off, reached 18,000ft, got served a cup of tea and biscuit, then we descended/landed. Sorted. Actually, we struggled a bit... Sally didn't like her biscuit so I had to eat two, and since the cup of tea was too hot, it was a struggle to drink/eat them before landing. Sheesh(!) More later.

Heh

Looks like I wasn't updating over Christmas. lol. But rest assured, the marking is almost done - and in the nick of time. :)