I do not possess a torque-wrench. I have never possessed a torque-wrench. It is one of the many ways in which I have failed to express that particular masculine ideal which involves a tool for every job and an intimate knowledge of how it should be deployed. Now, clearly, being conversant with tools is but …
You know, people thank God for all kinds of things. For their health; for their cats; for the scraps of batter at the chip shop. I understand these. But I’ve always been a bit bemused that people want to thank God it’s Friday. That Friday Feeling is surely a myth because Friday always seems to …
It hasn’t been the greatest week at work. Not that the work itself has been bad; some of it has been a joy. But you know how it is from time to time; and I’ve been finding it hard to know exactly how to be. In private it’s easy: I can curse and let off …
I have not been sleeping well lately. This is not a problem with actually going to sleep. I am excellent at going to sleep. Along with ‘having warm hands’, going to sleep is one of my superpowers. I can go to sleep anywhere, any time; on a bus, on a train, sitting down, standing up. …
In all the strangeness of the last few weeks, it has taken me a surprisingly long time to realise that I have, in effect, been set free. I am furloughed from my job; I am not on the bus to Oxford; I am not obliged to be anywhere, to do anything or to talk to …
I woke up tired this morning. On Friday, I went to see my Dad in hospital, where he’s stuck with a bout of pneumonia, and then had supper with my Mum. On Saturday I saw some very old friends, sat around, sang, laughed a lot and went busking. My children showed up as if by …
January is awful. It’s cold. It’s miserable. And above all it’s dark. It’s a month when I don’t see daylight at home between Sunday afternoon and Saturday morning. It’s a month when my students get ill and don’t come to class. It’s a month when the next month is February, which, to be perfectly frank, …
So it's the weekend. What a relief. But here’s how the weekend is with me: it’s full of things that I have to do because I haven’t gotten them done when I should. The fact is I’m a little disorganised. I have a diary but not an up-to-date diary. I have good intentions but not …
One of the pleasures of returning to work at the museum last week (and there have to be pleasures in returning to work otherwise we’ll all go crazy) was to be surrounded again by its many treasures: pictures, sculptures, textiles shimmering with gold and silver thread, ceramics of miraculous delicacy. It is a daily treat …
The end of term comes in dribs and drabs in our house. Miriam and Esther finished ages ago because they’re at University. I’m still in Oxford, but all the students have gone. Sam has been taking exams so he finished before Silas and Linus, whose schools drag on till the end of this week. And …