Today was a great day. On my way to catch my bus back to Cambridge from Aldgate [I got the bus today, just for a change. It was wonderful - I saw so many interesting things! - apart from the very last leg of the return journey through the Shelfords and Sawston, when I was hit with such a ferocious wave of motion sickness that I had to practically crawl off the bus when we finally came to a halt at Parker's Piece in Cambridge. I have always been a terrible traveller and buses are especially evil] I noticed that The Gherkin was looking closer than usual - normally, I pass by it on my way to Liverpool St. train station and it looks very nice and impressive but also, quite distant and somewhat aloof. I wandered across the road to investigate and wound up Right In Front Of It. Literally. It was so close I could touch it. So I did. And then I decided to walk all around it. This was so exciting I could barely contain myself - imagine! I was beside The Gherkin! I was touching The Gherkin! There were lots of jaded financial people looking moody and smoking cigarettes outside the building so I had to rein my enthusiasm in somewhat, in case they realized I wasn't One Of Them (I hate to stand out), but it was still very thrilling and I may even have squealed a little under my breath.
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I adore Oscar Wilde (or Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde, to give him his full title. Excellent). I love his humour, his cleverness, his sense of justice, and his incredible insight into different walks of society and the characters who reside there. Also, when I read his work, I sometimes come across a sentence that is so lovely, I just can't begin to process it: his use of language is so natural and poetic and SHARP - even though he was one of the original aesthetes, he shows remarkable precision in his writing, and there are no wasted words in his poetry or prose.
An essay on the incentive-sensitization theory of drug addiction, or the importance of cues...17/8/2012 I've already outlined this theory of drug addiction but I'd like to elaborate on it a little bit more, and give a greater insight into the body of research that it has stimulated. This is based on a Journal Club presentation I gave last year that I spent HOURS preparing for – it was fantastic though, because I learned so much about a topic that I was somewhat unfamiliar with and we had plenty of arguments afterwards, which is always good!
I have to admit that prior to the opening ceremony on the 27th of July, I had approximately zero interest in the Olympic Games, and may even have felt a little bit irritated by the relentless media coverage. [Although! It was nice when the Olympic torch made its way through Cambridge - I even got up in the middle of the night - ok, 7:30am... but it was a Sunday - to look at it running past our house. This was actually quite lovely; there were so many people cheering it on, and all the little kids with their face paints and fake torches were so excited, even though it was all wet and miserable outside. English people are hardcore - you wouldn't see Irish people outside in the rain on a Sunday morning unless there was some kind of monetary incentive or they were on their way back from a good night out. But I digress.] Then, the opening ceremony happened: look at these pictures (all are taken from the Daily Mail website)! The Cambridge University Press (CUP) museum has been open since November of last year and I've wanted to visit for quite a while, in order to get some insight into CUP and its history. I was fortunate enough to get a tour this week, and I have to say, it completely exceeded my expectations. The history of the Press is fascinating; beginning in 1534 when Henry VIII bestowed a Letters Patent upon it, allowing it to print and publish written material. However, it was a further 50 years before its first publication, due to various wranglings with the Stationers' Company of London. At this time, and for a considerable period afterwards, the primary output of the Press was religious in nature, including Christian bibles and prayer books, with the first Press bible published in 1591. In 1696 Richard Bentley, the then Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, acquired the Press for Cambridge University, so that it could publish work to the greater credit of the University (to paraphrase), thus reinforcing the academic and educational underpinnings of CUP.
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About my blog
Really, it contains a little bit of everything, from a celebration of science and the English language to the joys of travel and the Shipping Forecast. The title ('Meanderings') is a fairly accurate description of its content: I write about different things as the mood takes me, but hopefully there's something in here for everyone... Categories
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March 2021
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And on another note... |
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