Cute and Charismatic

[tamaranth]

Last night's interview at the BSFA went quite well, I think. fastfwd told me I was Cute, and waxed lyrical about my Exotic Genes. She, in turn, was Charismatic, and Conversational, and Cheerful: all good attributes in an interviewee. Less structured than some I've done, but it was fun and interesting, and nobody started snoring.

(I have remembered one of the points I wanted to expand upon: that sense of the past, and the shock of Roman ruins for someone new-come to Europe. I'm repeatedly surprised by the way that so many people in this country take ancient history for granted. My cleaner used to live in a house with a Roman road at the bottom of the garden: her son dug up Roman coins there. She couldn't care less.)

Also excellent news re the guests for the BSFA/SFF AGM on May 6th -- Bruce Sterling and Stephen Baxter.

The evening was proof, though, that after-work excursions aren't that practical any more. Between 5pm and 11pm I spent very nearly 4 hours travelling: and I'm not at my best this morning. It's easier when timing isn't crucial, or when the destination is close to a Thameslink station.

(Frustratingly, there are engineering works affecting trains from BH to London every weekend for ages.)

Memo to self: discover civilised local life.

Comments

[dalmeny]

Bruce must be doing a fair bit of travelling then: he'll be in Brisbane in April.

[tea-cantata.livejournal.com]

Hurrah for Exotic Genes. Could you remind me what yours are? ISTR there's a bit of Japanese, but I can't remember precisely anymore.

[ajshepherd.livejournal.com]

It's one thing that put me off moving further afield (where I could have perhaps got a house instead of just a mildly larger flat), a longer daily commute would kill me.

fastfwd is not wrong, as Any Fule Kno.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

there's no way I'd commute from here to London on a daily basis (though for various locations in London, it would be pretty close to the One Hour Commute that I regard as standard from many years of living and working in the capital!). My current commute is just under an hour: last night's journey, though, was complicated by (a) leaving werk early (b) needing to get to Victoria, rather than faster / more regular Thameslink (c) quite a walk from Victoria to pub.

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

I would miss the connection to threads of history that streatch back so far in Europe. Walking past the Mithraic temple in The City is a reminder that London has endured for a long long time, while Avebury, one of my favourite places, et al. prove that we go back even further.

Hmmm - maybe I need a megalithic userpic...

[del-c.livejournal.com]

Like this?

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

Cool!

Thanks!

[reddragdiva]

Yes. You people are history nuts in a way Australians can't be.

OTOH, the glut of history programmes in prime time TV here is matched by a glut of Australian landscape programmes on primetime TV there.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

we have landscape as well, y'know. Less sprawling and extravagant, I admit, but still landscape. It's just that we have so much else. <g>

[msilverstar]

All of it, casual Roman ruins, Saxon ditches, motte-and-baily mounds, medieval castles (ruined and relatively whole), Renaissance shops in the town centre, seventeenth century walls in people's houses... It's amazing to us who live in places where there's not much standing over 150 years old (e.g. California). It's one of the main reasons I love travelling in Europe. Tangible history.