I haven't done much in the way of researching lately and cannot recall when I last darkened the halls of the library - it's been several days. I suppose it is partially due to the chilly response via email from the archivist -- but I must confess that I have been spending an inordinate amount of time sipping tea and munching scones in various corners of the city. Research of another type, mind you -- wholly legitimate, by the way...
Last night, I was guest of a dinner party hosted by Dr. John Stannard, law professor at QUB. Others in attendance included Brian Lambkin and his wife, Kay. We had a lovely dinner that began with prawns on the half-avocado (absolutely devine), followed by Old Mother Stannard's Pork Casserole and Rice (family recipe) accompanied by freshly baked rolls and butter. Mind you, it wasn't what one typically would consider to be a casserole; the consistency was more of a soup or stew. Dessert was pudding - but not any type of pudding I'll bet anyone reading this has ever had! It consisted of vanilla custard pudding on the bottom layer, followed by the most creamy whipped cream and generous portions of mini chocolate chips, and crowned with a hard by crumbly-like top that John called "meringue". And as if this all wasn't enough of a gastronomic delight, the "piece de resistance" was a platter of a variety of cheeses and crackers with a variety of wine choices.
Before I knew it, four hours had passed by -- a combination of stuffing myself with all of this wonderful food and conversing about all sorts of topics that ranged from my research interests, to the changes over the last 30 years in professorship in the UK (John's first interview was at Aberdeen and he was asked two questions: do you golf? and when can you start? - in that order and was promptly hired; Brian had a similar story where the principal was the sole person in attendance, she asked him several questions and he was hired on the spot), to old days at Oxford and Cambridge where students were given "scouts" (servants) to assist them in all sorts of things (from drawing the bath to making meals), to a shared affinity for Peter Rabbit and frogs. (not to mention politics -- the Tea Party, Nixon, Rumsfeld, W. Bush, and Obama etc.. and religion - trips to monasteries in the Republic of Ireland and being blessed by a monk with a St. Rita medal). It was, as John referred to it, a sort of "Liberty Hall" where all subjects were fair game. I must say, it was one of my most lively (from an intellectual perspective) evenings since arriving. And who could help but discuss the possibilities of just WHERE Prince Willam and his fiancee Kate would be wed - and the ramifications of that decision on the British population. Unfortunately, we never did get to the topic at hand (reason for our dinner get-together in the first place) with Brian discussing his Headmaster days at the Irish Medium school. I guess that calls for another dinner party, eh?
Today, I finished a book on 'Belfast and the Irish language' - much releveance to my research topic at hand was found beneath it's covers. I'm afraid my list of "must have" personal copies grows as each day passes! Afterwards, I attended a lecture on "Arrest and Summons" with approximately 200 undergraduate students who were most likely freshmen or not much older. Interestingly, they were very attentive, extremely well-behaved and interacted with abandon when asked to participate in class. Instead of the usual feverishly texting behavior on cell phones found in some classes, these students were instead feverishly taking notes and discussing between themselves assorted questions put to them. It was an extremely refreshing alternative to what one might expect to find in a large leture hall in the States. I hope to attend other lectures while I'm here to see whether this is an anomoly. I didn't think I would ever find myself thinking this - but the prospect of and actual performance of qualitative research is beginning to be quite a joy. Go figure!
Between catching up on emails and posting today's message, I'm attending the 'Campus Technology "Virtual" Conference'. So far, it has been a bit basic in its content but enjoyable to attend a "virtual" conference with exhibits and presentations. The piece on 'Creating Flexible, Technology-Enhanced Collaboration and Learning Spaces' was most interesting in content and examples provided. I can certainly see ample opportunities for application at NSU. Between sessions, I will begin my next book entitled 'The View of the Irish Language', (a seminal piece in the research literature on the topic)...followed by the 'New View of the Irish Language' after I've thoroughly finished (and undoubtedly added to my "personal must have" list) "The View" (not to be confused with the daytime t.v. show - as I'm certain you are all painfully aware that I am quite media starved here). Off to the library!
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