Friday, January 08, 2010
VERY excited...
... my Open University Maths course has just arrived in a parcel.
Bracing
Yes, yes, it’s still snowy, it’s getting colder and the UK has ground to a halt. Here in London I’m feeling a little cheated, as we have only enough weather to make the pavements slippery and keep out-of-towners from fulfilling social engagements (though I’ve spent worse hours than the one by an open fire, dining alone on duck breast and a glass of red, watching snowflakes fat as goose feathers floating down on Soho).
But really, did we always give up and stay under the duvet every time the weather was abnormally bad? Motorcycles clearly should stay indoors when the roads are icy – unless you’re in the Swedish army – but if our dustbin lorry can reach us, where are the Royal Mail? Why do schools have to close? So three cheers for the Royal Society of Chemistry and their Cherry Prize. To commemorate Apsley Cherry-Garrard, who survived Scott’s doomed expedition to the South Pole by being left behind for the last leg, they are offering £300 to the most “dauntless traveller” nominated by January 21st. They’re looking for “outstanding fortitude and resolution or selflessness in the face of snow and ice conditions the like of which has not been seen for decades”. Though thinking of Scott, Oates and the others struggling towards the South Pole in their Victorian thermals does put the current cold snap into perspective.
But really, did we always give up and stay under the duvet every time the weather was abnormally bad? Motorcycles clearly should stay indoors when the roads are icy – unless you’re in the Swedish army – but if our dustbin lorry can reach us, where are the Royal Mail? Why do schools have to close? So three cheers for the Royal Society of Chemistry and their Cherry Prize. To commemorate Apsley Cherry-Garrard, who survived Scott’s doomed expedition to the South Pole by being left behind for the last leg, they are offering £300 to the most “dauntless traveller” nominated by January 21st. They’re looking for “outstanding fortitude and resolution or selflessness in the face of snow and ice conditions the like of which has not been seen for decades”. Though thinking of Scott, Oates and the others struggling towards the South Pole in their Victorian thermals does put the current cold snap into perspective.
