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Medieval Ludlow (Weds 22nd December 2021)
Whilst only an hour down the road it was my first visit. Definitely worth it.
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Christmas in London, 2021
I’ve never done London in Christmas week and perversely it felt like the perfect time. I expected the city to be empty of international tourists and office workers and I was right. It was so quiet, central London was like a peaceful festive village (well, by London standards). Absolutely amazing time! Monday 20th December: Chelsea,…
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Finally visited the Black Country Living Museum (Sunday 19th December 2021)
It was so good: men dressed up as rats intent on ruining Christmas for passers by. What more could you want!? Felt so Christmassy in a Dickens-esque way. The smell of burning coal and Peaky Blinders vibe (note: it’s a location for a lot of the filming) made for an extraordinary experience. There was also…
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Visiting my new campus
I feel humble and privileged to be joining the University of Birmingham as a lecturer in January 2022. Of all the UK’s universities it is the one I want to work with most. It’s practical – literally two stops by train (with its own station no less!) – but also prestigious and historic with a…
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Last day in Swansea (Friday 10th December 2021)
I’ve been crazy busy of late so it’s taken me a while to update the site. Actually, I add this post on 19th December (9 days after the fact) but it feels like a month ago, such is the amount happening at the moment. On my final trip to Swansea for in-person teaching I made…
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The great wine re-stock
Having been home working and not entirely happy in my job over the last 12 months, I cannot deny that a glass or two at the end of the day has served as a crutch. I’ve been reluctant to replenish as I go, ill-at-ease at the prospect of spending on this category when I could…
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A little treat – well, two little treats
A few years ago footwear emerged as a hobby. I keep telling myself I only need X or Y to complete my collection, but then I stumbled across some new must haves and my definition of completeness is tweaked somewhat. The latest “musts” was a couple of pairs of limited edition Air Force 1s. AF1s…
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A bit late in popping these up – it’s been a crazy, scary 👻 week
This week I’ve had a great job offer, the death of a car battery, a puncture (once I got the car going), and my most stressful work day in recent times (15 hours long door to door to boot). The sick joke in all of this was that I had roadside assistance as part of…
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Amazing t-shirt, decent office too
“Monster Thursday” is a 13-hour round trip to campus, with meetings and classes sandwiched between long drives. It’s exhausting, having to snap out of bed at 5am is certainly no help either. I’m getting used to it though, I felt vaguely human for portions of the Halloween week visit. 🎃 Style is wasted on business…
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Something to look forward to
I’m not a gig type, I’d rather read Hayek than go to some local battle of the bands. I did go to a few when I was school aged. No band names mentioned but I was so bored that 10 minutes felt like 2 days. So I’ve not seen lots of acts but I’ve seen…
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Dr Martin James 