May 26, 2005 by dafyd
Just a quicky tonight – I wanted to post this picture of tonight’s sunset. I’m afraid the picture doesn’t really do it justice, but suffice to say that it really was quite pretty…!
(Clicky here for bigger size and photo info)
As ever, you can find more pictures of Durham (and elsewhere) in the Gallery.
It’s such a nice evening – it’s 10 o’clock and it’s still fairly light, and, most importantly, particularly warm. The weather this week has been very weird…
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May 25, 2005 by dafyd
Well, that was fun.
Three commentaries on French texts (the commentaries were in English), in an hour-and-a-half.
This was the final exam for “Language, Power, and the Making of the French Nation”, my favourite module at the moment.
Basically, we could have been asked on any six of 84 French texts from the last 1200 years. Fortunately, the six that we did get, I knew, so it was just a question of picking the three I felt best about.
So, an extract from the founding statutes of the Académie Française, and an extract from the loi Deixonne of 1951, which finally allowed the French people to speak something other than French (Breton, Basque, Occitan).
And an extract from “Parlez-Vous Franglais?”. Unfortunately not the Miles Kington version, but rather a more academic version of said text. All the same, I never thought I would be answering a question in a French exam using words such as “la plus glamorous ballet-dancer in the world“, “pin-up boy“, and “il déteste le petting” (don’t ask about the storyline…).
Tomorrow, I have “Literature and Society in Twentieth-Century France”. Which, potentially, means a question in which I can use the French words “Hollywoodienne“, “un travelling“, and “Flash-back“.
What fun.
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May 21, 2005 by dafyd
If I didn’t know better, I’d say the catering staff at Castle had a sense of humour. Today, for dinner, we had Kievs – and, of course, Eurovision is on tonight in – you guessed it – Kiev.
Unfortunately, I do know better.
Castle “Ming”, is – as you might have worked out from the name – not very good. To put it mildly.
Just before Christmas, the University swapped some of the chefs round between colleges for occasional meals – and our food magically improved! Considering they had exactly the same resources and funds available as our normal chefs, it’s a mystery how they could make it so much better. Suffice to say that after those couple of days of good food, ming quickly returned to “normal”.
The Castle JCR website has a cunning Mingometer (you need to be a member of the JCR to see that – try my test version if you really want to!) – and it is very, very rare that a meal gets more “not ming” votes than “ming” votes.
That said, I wouldn’t say that our meals are actually much worse than what I was used to at school… And we were warned before we came not to expect too much from them. Apparently, they have improved a lot in the last couple of years – but the highlight of the week is still “golden balls of joy” – little round potato croquette thingys. Sigh.
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May 11, 2005 by dafyd
So… my exams proper start tomorrow.
Arabic Oral.
11.45.
Two Arabic people vs Me.
And, quite frankly, I’ve got no idea what to expect.
Wish me luck!
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March 9, 2005 by dafyd
That’s right, I’ve got a lot going on at the moment.
I’m doing the lighting and sound for the Castle Theatre Company’s production of Pinter’s The Birthday Party – which started with the tech rehearsal on Tuesday evening, the opening performance tonight just finished, and the run ends on Saturday evening. It is a fantastic production, in the Castle’s Norman Chapel – so you’re very much in the middle of the action with an audience of only 50-ish. If you’re in Durham, do try and get a ticket – there should still be some left, although I know that Saturday is sold out.
However, I’m not doing the performances on Friday or Saturday, because I’m going home (yay!). We’re going to a quiz at Nottingham High School on Friday evening and one in Cropwell Butler on Saturday evening.
All good practice for the Castle University Challenge team, of which I am a member (I got the second highest score in Castle on the selection quiz – mwah hah hah). We are going to compete against the other colleges, and the best players (not team) will go forward to represent Durham in front of Jeremy Paxman.
This afternoon, I had to prepare a presentation for tomorrow with a friend, and then at 4 o’clock I had a choice of three commitments. Wow. I usually don’t do anything on a Wednesday afternoon. So, JCR web committee, looking at houses, or University Challenge team meeting? I chose the latter, if only because I was warned about it first… Obviously, there were also a few technical problems with the play to sort out before dinner.
On Friday afternoon I have a summative French translation test, which I have to pass to pass the year (well, almost – but it’s too complicated to explain here). That’s from 1.45 to 3.15, and then I’m catching the train home at 4 o’clock.
Add to all that the two essays that I have to write before the end of term – next Friday – and you’ll see why I might not be on MSN or blogging as much as usual over the next ten days or so.
Wish me luck!
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February 6, 2005 by dafyd
Heh – I thought I would copy what the Senior Man said about the building work going on around Castle in the JCR meeting today:
Contrary to the rumour, our College isn’t being remodelled on the shanty towns of Sao Paolo (though the huge amounts of corrugated iron would suggest otherwise) in an effort to make us seem less “rah”. It seems as though some travelling gypsies asked the Vice Chancellor whether or not he wanted his drive done for £100 and he was so impressed he awarded them the contract to sort the Castle out. Nice one Ken.
The view from our window, usually over the courtyard in the middle of the Castle, is still of this:
We have to have the light on all the time in the room at the moment, as even in the middle of the day it seems like it’s the middle of the night.
Oh well – the Bursar and Housekeeper should be getting back to us soon with some ‘solutions’… at the very least, another light would be nice!
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February 2, 2005 by dafyd
Tis election time at Castle. We’re choosing next year’s Exec – all very exciting stuff.
Today was the turn of the Senior Man. He’s the chief bod in the JCR. The last week really has been gearing up to today – the candidates have been canvassing, last night there were the hustings in the Undie, and then the election proper was held today through the JCR website (I think the link only works inside the uni network at the moment).
I’d met all but one of the candidates over the last week when they came round canvassing – the one who didn’t bother coming to talk to me didn’t get my vote. I was really impressed with them all – so much, in fact, that I wasn’t really sure who to vote for. So I voted for all of them.
I did, honest. All student elections in the UK use the Single Transferable Vote system, where you simply rank the candidates in order of preference.
To cut a long story short, the chap who won, Felix, works on the web committee with me – we get on pretty well. He’s an Austrian, and speaks in the same sort of way as Dieter – although without the Dieter-isms, or so. I know he’ll be really good for the college – although I’m not too sure how he’ll do standing in front of 200 freshers to lead them through the Castle songs after Matriculation in October. We’ll see… Apparently it’s traditional for the outgoing Senior Man to buy the incoming one a Yard – as in, three feet of alcohol. Felix did admirably.
Anyway, this time next week it’s the turn of the JCR Secretary and Treasurer. The canvassing has started already…!
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January 26, 2005 by dafyd
Hmmph. This is what it should look like.
As for the roller coaster thingy I was talking about the other day… see what you think:
The exciting thing is that it stops literally outside my window. Saves 50-odd stairs… There’s usually a little man at the bottom with a remote control, sending the little trolley up and down. But it was raining when I took the picture, so they weren’t working (obviously). I’ll try and get some action shots tomorrow.
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January 20, 2005 by dafyd
…a conservatory outside our room. Look, it’s got a roof and everything:
Particularly impressive considering we’re up 75 stairs in a 1000 year old castle!
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November 23, 2004 by dafyd
So… tonight is the first Lumley Run of the year. What, you might ask, is the Lumley Run? Kick off your shoes, relax in an armchair, and let me explain:
The Lumley Run is most definitely a great Castle tradition. Seven miles from Durham Castle is Lumley Castle, where in past times, Castle livers-out were housed. A tradition arose of running the seven miles between the two castles, pausing for refreshment at each and every hostelry en route. Notwithstanding the fact that this comprises some 23 pubs, each year a number of castlemen run the seven miles and drink the 17 pints that constitute the course.
All the competitors who finish the course are admitted to the Lumley Run Club, and get a tie… woohoo!
You may be shocked and surprised to discover that I am not doing the run… but a couple of Freshers who are good friends are… I guess they might not be at our 9 o’clock tomorrow morning!
In case you are interested, the Lumley Run is the ‘race‘ referred to in the Castle Song:
Gentlemen of Castle
Come from near and far, (near and far!)
Now the race is over
We’re heading for the bar, (bom bom bom)
Nearer still and nearer,
On to victory, (victory!)
Floreat Castellum,
Pride of varsity, (bom bom bom)
Floreat Castellum,
Balls to S. R. C.!
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