Thursday, 28 October 2010

Ups and Downs

Ups

My iPod shuffle.
My iPod nano's battery is dead and and I lost my shuffle charger so haven't been listening to music on my commute for over a year. Sounds bizarre I know! But I didn't realise how much I missed it until I found my charger and rejigged my playlists. My commute is so much less stressful now. Today I've listened to Hindi pop, Gaslight Anthem, and Zoe and Idris Rahman's beautiful Bengali-jazz collaboration. Eclectic's the word for my little shuffle.

Polka dot woolly tights
Thank you, Primark and M&S, for finally making these available in adult sizes and colours! I've always coveted the kids' ones in Monsoon and I now have my very own pairs in grey and black. So much more fun than plain black!

Graduation
After finishing in March 2009, I finally graduate with my doctorate at the end of November! I'm so excited, it'll finally feel real that 5 years' work paid off. I only wish the Oxford D. Phil. gown wasn't a hideous combination of royal blue and scarlet - I mean, how are you supposed to accessorise that?

Down

Trains
I'm taking a lot of them at the moment, which is a bit exhausting. And my experience has been patchy at best. Perhaps a quarter of them have been on time? I feel so cross that prices are going to rise with the support of this government. I must also invest in some hand sanitiser as I keep getting colds from my travels.

End of BST
I hate it when the clocks go back. The days feel so much shorter. I definitely notice a drop in my energy levels and just want to hibernate.

Cuts
Amongst all the cuts that are going to make life so much harder for people thanks to this government are cuts to higher education funding that basically mean the privatisation of my field, humanities. I worked so hard to get my qualification from one of the best universities in the world, and I'm really not sure what the future holds. It's such a grim time for so many, and I keep feeling angry with every person who voted for these ideologues to take power. I'll be talking with my feet at the UCU protest on November 10th.


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3 comments:

  1. wow, doctorate from Oxford!!double wow!! Congrats, I am sure that took a lot of hard work and sleepless nights.
    I love polka dots:-)

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  2. Congratulations on the Doctorate! <3

    end of BST - i have to agree *snooze*

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  3. I looove Gaslight Anthem!! <3
    Also, yay for graduation - it's insane how booked up the ceremonies get! If you have any spare time while you're up give me a bell, celebratory cream tea would be most appropriate I feel ;)

    ReplyDelete

About Me

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Rabbit-like in a nose that twitches when I laugh and front teeth not 100% rectified by 7 years of braces, postcolonial in being of British-Bangladeshi heritage (and reading many many books thereon). Books, tea and dresses: these are some of my favourite things.