Got this week's target editing done in the manuscript. Now to try and get some semblance of Christmas spirit over the weekend with a Christmas read, and related activities.

Today is Christmas Jumper day at one of the places I work. Do you think this counts?

Well this book is an absolute blooming delight, just what's needed in December. "The Dead of Winter: The Demons, Witches and Ghosts of Christmas" - Sarah Clegg. Going to try and source Clegg's previous work "Women's Lore" too. #WhatAreYouReading

Watched the Sycamore Gap Doc on Channel 4 last night on live TV like the old days. Fictional detectives are all about profiling, lab analysis, and interrogation. Real-life detectives: tip-offs, checking CCTV, and looking at a suspect's phone.

Currently feeding my longest held interests by reading Adam Allsuch Boardman's An Illustrated History of Urban Legends. It seems to be the best distraction from the world right now.

Fungi in the frost for today's walk. Panaeolus foenisecii for the fungi fiends. #Fungi 🍄❄️

Stottie fungi (barm, bap, bun, bread) growing alongside a regular route.

Was in an online meeting with terrible sound and no video, thought someone said "I've got two cats today" but they said caps, as in jobs. I would've preferred to be meeting with the cats.

Here are some recent photos of moss and fungi which I particularly like, enjoy. #Fungi

A conversation with teenagers about social media, the fundamental difference is that they see it as entertainment, not as a means to make connections. That's what it's become, a media source, whereas us oldies are still chasing the social bit. This was a revelation to me, and feel slightly unburned.

Day 3 of sitting in very uncomfortable chairs listening to people talk about interesting things. Hoping that today is a revelation...

This week I've mostly been collecting material for my game "Corporate or Cult?" and let me tell you it's a difficulty hard rating.

Calling English a 'rip-off degree' is one of the most blatant exhibitions of personal barbarism I've ever seen. You've demonstrated nothing but the poverty of your own mind.

But, libraries aren't very well protected either...

It was a two walks kind of day yesterday. Today is a yoga kind of day. Distraction is the name of the game right now. It'll all be okay🤞

Been for a walk, now making a proper meal from scratch, these are things I heartily recommend doing right now because while the world is going into darkness and there's not a thing you can do about it, you can distract yourself and take moments of joy from the small things.

Well this book hits hard. Tired of reading the same spooky tropes and guessing what was going to happen, I picked up Lafcadio Hearn's Some Japanese Ghosts from the Amnesty Book shop in Newcastle. Needless to say, it's anything but predictable 👻 #ReadingGhostStories 📚

This reminds me of when someone painted a large phallus on the school field in white paint, and the caretaker just cut out the paint from the grass, so you could still see the shape for ages. Not sure whether both examples are covert support.

Mini week motivation fellow PhDers

Brightened up my day this

My nearest conker tree has had its lowest branches all lopped off before the conkers had a chance to drop. The kids won't be able to reach them easily now. *Shakes head in a melancholic fashion*

Went to a public lecture recently in an old theatre that is now a nightclub. Used to go to the nightclub years ago. It still has the same smell, the same inexplicable heat in the upper floors, the same warren-like structure which meant you lost people regularly. Still the same random eccentricness:

What research! What a story! It seems the statue of the winged lion in Venice may have been a tomb guardian brought from China by Niccolò & Maffeo Polo - &, once in Venice, it was modified to resemble the Republic’s emblem – the winged lion of St Mark ... www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Well this brightened up my day!

Watched Versailles, The Musketeers, and Marie Antoinette in a row. They are now the definitive versions in my mind, down to the actors who appear in various roles meaning that those characters are canonically related, and there were several men in iron masks. Historical accuracy.

Hedgehog in the garden last night, an absolute whopper I'm happy to report 🦔

Making me think of Cris whose mother read The Communist Manifesto as a bedtime story. He always delivered lectures looking at points well above our heads. Cycled everywhere. Once gave us all a copy of Thomas Hardy's The Oxen at Christmas and read it to us with such reverence.

Lone Canada Goose wandering round a priory garden.

A middle-aged person asked why farmers put so much time and field space into just growing hay and straw. It's harvest time near us right now, and they've lived here most of their life. The same person talks non-stop about investing in alternative currencies. I think I'd like to be alone for a while.

What's the most niche Angel of the North merch or ephemera money can buy? This is a window crystal. #AngelOfTheNorth

Submitted the PhD thesis, went for a walk in the sea, saw a lovely poppy patch (pictured). Little breather before we start preparing for the Viva (start the PGR Summer School tomorrow). #PhDLife #PhDMilestone

Investigative podcasts peaked with "Death In Ice Valley" re: Isdal woman. I've listened to two podcasts back to back which have used the most spurious information prevented as factual evidence, totally obscuring the very important messages about social injustices which were part of it. Infuriating.

Visit to the library yesterday - free book: one of the Reading Agency Quick Read titles, "The Suprise Visitor" by Cathy Bramley. These are great original stories. I know I'm not the target market, but these make great back pack books (emergency reads) 🎒📖 #LoveLibraries

Finished reading The Night Counsellor by L K Pang - a really engaging read. I have been to the library, book group, and book shop today. My book loving rediscovery continues... 📚

It's the return of outdoor reading weather! First couple of chapters of Sara Nisha Adams' The Reading List (2022) - which promises to be a goodie.

The crocs on statues was a marketing ploy. *Screams into the abyss*

A while back I found this amazing business card in Who-Ray in Silver Street in Stockton-on-Tees (anyone not familiar, it's got a bookshop, record shop, gifts, cafe, like a street from a cosy work of fiction). It's embossed, it's amazing, thought I'd stumbled onto a real life detective agency,🧵

Every job targeted to me on LinkedIn is either voluntary or things like "Remote AI Content Checker"... Could cry, will cry.

Weekend #ReadingForFun: Joanne Harris - The Moonlight Market. Waited for this one to come out in paperback as I'm getting older, and hardbacks make my hands and wrists hurt. Anything read for fun should be away from the desk, cosy and snug. Reading in bed also has the added face clunk factor.

Date for submission of thesis agreed - it's time to start dotting the eyes and crossing the Tees 🤞#PhDMilestone

Got a personal response to an application that I had less than a ghost of a chance at getting, acknowledging the application, which has caught me off guard. There will be a shortlist in due course, but for now the dream lives on.

Today, an uplifting talk from @dottyb.bsky.social on imposter syndrome - which really buoyed me up to write part of those applications I felt I wasn't good enough for. It's a refreshing chance when people are open, honest, and encouraging!

Yesterday an Early Career Researcher event was full of stories of competitive and toxic over-working environments, isolation, negativity and doom.

You can always tell something about the photographer from a portrait, it's always a double mirror as much as anything. I recognise that look.

It's amazing how utterly motivated you can become to do a grueling and arduous task, once an even grimmer task looms over you like a spectre of doom.

First bat of the season spotted 🦇

No pressure quite like being part of an interview panel for your institution to possibly receive an important watermark. You feel the imposter syndrome for not being worthy to be there, the gratitude to your institution and not wanting to let them down, but also wanting to be honest.

Really enjoying this book, particularly the sentient fig tree.The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak. #CurrentlyReading

Disassociating from news and current events and following the Elsie Inglis statue story. Now Val McDermid and The Proclaimers are getting involved.

There's notably a lot of mole hills around everywhere we go this year. Anyone else noticed the rising number of #moles?