Employment.

The title does not refer to last year's album by tune-dodging jackanapes The Kaiser Chiefs, but to the fact that I now have a job lined up for next year (well, academic year). I will be a postdoc at Sheffield University, where topology is king, for three years. It starts in October, and I finish here at the end of August, so I even get a month off for good behaviour. There will be a conference in the middle of it, but that's hardly boohoo material.

Lots of people seem to think that Sheffield is dismal and northern, and that's certainly been my own idea at various times, but it's such a good university to be at right now, and everyone I know who's ever lived there seems to love it. So I'm looking forward to it.

Add to this the fact that teaching's just stopped and winter's finally finished, and right now I'm feeling really rather optimistic about stuff. Hum.

The Proposition 2

After Andrew's recommendation of it I decided to go and see The Proposition. This is the Australian `western' written by Nick Cave (of good miserable music fame). It's like a blood-soaked revengey crime and punishment deal, with a Kurtzish enigmatic/intelligent/psychotic murderer hiding in the hills. It was very good, but also really horrible, perhaps the nastiest thing I've seen in a while (well, since Hidden).

Apart from that it's been work work work and preparation for a brief visit to the south (well, to the south of here). The MCC (that's maths and computing stuff) projects I set for the third year were finished yesterday, so for most of the week I've been inundated with queries. Not that this is a bad thing: all the people I saw wer very pleasant and had thought about stuff before visiting. Still, it's good to have a bit more time. Only two more weeks of lectures. Hoo!

A Giant Snowball

This lot brought the enormous snowball to my office as retribution for my not taking part in the pure vs applied snowball fight they had on friday afternoon. It's quite an achievement I suppose, but they seem just a little too show-and-tell with their schoolchild handiwork for my liking. Anyhow, a failed attempt to take it to the office of a wine-loving senior academic failed, and on the way back to the common room, giant snowball in hands, I was approached by one of my third year students who wanted some help with a project. I was a little pleased with my response ("I have my hands full") but still I don't think it's a great outcome. Thankfully the student didn't seem totally freaked out.

Mad Weather

The weather here in Edinburgh is mad at the moment. It just snowed very much indeed and stopped just as quickly. Someone suggested a Pure vs Applied snowball match, but childhood scarring and a lack of gloves leaves me feeling like this would be a bad idea. Plus the snow just started again.

Meanwhile, a friend and I have discovered that a heady mixture of fatalism, nonchalance, and running for it at just the right moment will help you to catch any bus you want. Fact.