Welcome to justthoughtsnstuff

I started posting to jtns on 20 February 2010 with just one word, 'Mosaic'. This seemed an appropriate introduction to a blog that would juxtapose fragments of memoir and life-writing. Since 1996, I'd been coming to terms with the consequences of emotional and economic abuse that had begun in childhood, and which, amongst other things, had sought to stifle self-expression. While I'd explored some aspects of my life through fiction and, to a lesser extent, journalism, it was only in 2010 that I felt confident enough to write openly about myself. I believed this was an important part of the healing process. Yet within weeks, the final scenes of my family's fifty-year nightmare started to play themselves out and the purpose of the blog became one of survival through writing. Although some posts are about my family's suffering - most explicitly, Life-Writing Talk, with Reference to Trust: A family story - the majority are about happier subjects (including, Bampton in rural west Oxfordshire, where I live, Oxford, where I work, the seasons and the countryside, walking and cycling) and I hope that these, together with their accompanying photos, are enjoyable and positive. Note: In February 2020, on jtns' tenth birthday, I stopped posting to this blog. It is now a contained work of life-writing about ten years of my life. Frank, 21 February 2020.

New blog: morethoughtsnstuff.com.

Saturday 29 September 2012

michaelmas, anticipation, things to be done, a conscious englishman, a pint or two

















Oxford Michaelmas Term starts on Monday. Lots of preparations have been going on in all departments recently and everyone is frantically busy. There's a great sense of anticipation and excitement.

Teaching tomorrow from 8 am and today there are lots of things to be done for the libraries and the creative writing courses. Will also be doing some more work on StreetBooks' 2013 lead title, A Conscious Englishman by Margaret Keeping. A terrific book! More on this over the coming months.

Fantastic cycle earlier, which got the day off to a good start.

A beautiful autumn morning with not a cloud in the sky, as the above photo shows.

Will there be time for a pint or two later? I dare say there will be.
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