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 22 June 2013

cycling, hay fever, aclaiir, e-books, lac garden party, preparing for guided retreat, supermoon



















Had intended to go to the allotment early this morning but as it rained during the night I ended up cycling--for the first time in ages.

It was lovely to be out in the countryside. Even though I have been suffering from hay fever since last Sunday. I haven't had hay fever like this since I was in my teens. But then this year, lots of people who've never suffered before are snuffling and sneezing away. It's all because everything has flowered at once, apparently, as a result of the late spring--that seems to be the accepted explanation. Achoo!

Headed to London on Tuesday for the ACLAIIR AGM and seminar. The theme this year was e-books from Spain and Latin America, which fitted in well with the e-book skills training I attended in Oxford the following day. Academic e-books are beginning to take off now, it seems, both in terms of the numbers being published and collected and in terms of the enhanced ways of viewing them. Downloading them for a time-limited period and viewing them with Adobe Digital Editions or, even better, on an e-reader device such as a Kindle or a Nook, makes for a much more satisfactory reading experience than before.

Went to the Latin American Centre summer garden party yesterday. A lovely occasion.

Meanwhile, have been preparing for the MSt guided retreat and for a couple of busy weeks of assignment marking.

Huge moon yesterday evening, by the way. Supposed to be even bigger tonight! A 'supermoon' indeed!

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