Sunday 29 March 2009

'culture'

After doing the obligatory weekend tidy up, I walked into my dining room to be met by a scene that was, well, surreal to say the least. For some reason something that Lin had said to us on Friday popped into my mind - how would a snapshot of our home depict our culture (as in family culture), well, I'll describe;

The dog, dressed in a green stripy tee-shirt was barking frantically at the cat, who not to be outdone was sporting a rather striking pink scrunchy on his tail. The reason for the barking was that the cat was perched upon the guinea pig cage, who was in turn squeaking heartily as his food bowl was empty. The guinea pig, who's haircut is far overdue, was attempting to retreat into his house but was being stopped by doing so by a huge raffia carrot. Meanwhile, my son and husband, oblivious to all the commotion were deep in discussion about whether a salivating , sonar detecting alien dog would be better at trapping a ten foot mutated frog than a bright red, four armed, four eyed strong man.
Slowly I placed my cuppa down and began to retreat from this parallel universe I had unwittingly stumbled into only to be halted by my son who looked at me quizzically and said "Are you alright mummy, you look a bit weird"!

Wednesday 18 March 2009

it'll all come out in the wash

Was going to start with 'this is just a quickie', but all my blogs tend to run along that vein. There is a truth in the statement though, as time is a valuable commodity at the moment. What with several pieces of work on the go..............
Anyhow, I'm not talking about that tonight, just thought I'd reflect a little on the two speakers we've had in from Warwick this week. It was good to hear the perspective of a student from the 2+2 degree (I'm sure i did the access course with her), but I did feel some of the comments were a little 'flippant' and could have been a more objective - but it was her opinion after all. (I hope that doesn't sound mean - it's not meant too). The visit from Dr Sarah Dahl today I found very interesting. I felt it was a very 'true to life' insight into how things 'work' at Warwick, and I liked her honesty regarding what will be expected of us. I'm very much the type of person that as long as I know what lies ahead for me - no matter how daunting - I feel more comfortable than everything being 'sugar coated'.
It is going to be difficult at times, what with juggling childcare, work, study schedules, lecture times etc.... but the end result will be worth it. Although I am saying this, I am also very glad that I have another year before I have to contemplate making further changes to home life and increasing my workload two-fold, but hey, as my Nan keeps telling me "It'll all come out in the wash"!