Yes I Have Been Away Again

I've been to Edinburgh for a research week. I was going to say that like the Curates egg, it was excellent in parts, although little of it was excellent in the event.

I spent three days in the National Library of Scotland and I have to say that when my Ph D is safely over a stonking letter of complaint will be headed their way addressed to the person in charge of the staff at the Special Collections Reading Room. I spent one day at the Special Collections Reading room at Edinburgh University Library, which could not have been more of a contrast and a very nice e-mail of commendation will be heading their way tomorrow.

I met a couple of people with connections to the subject of my Ph D, which was OK and then I caught up with two friends and that was the best bit of the whole week. V and I visited The Celts Exhibition at the National Museum which was interesting and had some lovely exhibits, although possibly too many of them were torcs. Also the current archaeological thinking about Celts appears to be that they didn't actually exist, a line which the Museum staff and the exhibition were apparently keen to foster. To do this and then call your exhibition The Celts smacks to me of a cynicism I am sorry to see in one of our national institutions.... G and I met one evening for a drink and then went on somewhere for a very nice Italian meal, swapping family and holiday news then settling down for a good old moan about our respective Ph D studies. She is slightly further along the conveyor belt than I am so should be concentrating on writing up just now, although a combination of domestic disasters and other commitments are putting several small spannerettes in the works.

 

I 'had issues' as they say in America with my hotel. It is one I have used for years for trips to Edinburgh and I have always loved staying there. Sadly it has now been acquired by a chain which is refurbishing it and generally trying to turn it into a boutique hotel, and the rather shabby comfort and relaxing atmosphere of the bar, where they used to serve a variety of good straightforward bar meals at a reasonable price have both disappeared. So next time I will have to find somewhere else to stay.

 

No next times for a while though. I am actually fixed here in Orkney right up until the end of June, when we head to England for a week in York. Time for some serious reading.