Believe it or not, teaching academics how to plan their work is a big part of the training programmes I’ve been running over the past several months. There’s the importance of breaking a big project like writing a grant proposal into smaller steps and then using backwards planning to assign deadlines to each small task so that everything gets done…
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If I asked someone to describe the Cotswolds, they might talk about thatched cottages and buildings constructed from the eponymous honey-coloured stone. Adjectives like “charming” and “quaint” would likely be used to refer to the villages and hamlets that dot the region, which is itself an official Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. They would perhaps mention that the Cotswolds has…
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If you’re reading this in the UK or elsewhere on the planet, you’re probably considering your plans for the weekend or thinking something along the lines of “I can’t believe it’s only one month until Christmas!” For those in the US, however, it’s Thanksgiving, a day of family, food, and (American) football. In the MissElaineous household, today also marks a…
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I never gave much thought to winter before moving to the UK. After all, I grew up in Florida and if there’s one thing it’s known for besides Disney World, it’s sunshine, palm trees, and a tropical climate. Okay, that’s three things but you get the idea. Temperatures in Florida range from warm to scorching, with a side helping of…
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Forty years ago, my mother made the decision to get married on her birthday. Four years later, I decided that it would be a good date to make my own appearance into the world. When it came time for my fiancé and I to pick a day for our wedding, there was only one obvious choice. It means the chances of either of us…
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While the weather gods may have smiled on us at Shaftesbury and Longleat, we apparently neglected the appropriate offerings to the spirits of the railway. We arrived at Chippenham Station just in time to hear that our train was cancelled. A quick check of the First Great Western app showed that problems were to be expected for the next hour. That was okay, no…
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