Long-delayed...

The problem with this blogging thing is that you start off doing it (semi-)regularly and then something or other happens that gets in the way of your routine and then you fall a little behind, and then you think you need more time than usual to do the blog post, and then you never find the time, and then you fall more behind, and then it all just spirals into a big swirl of guilt and delay and procrastination and gets abandoned entirely as it's easier. A bit like replying (or not) to a friend's email, except with more internal turmoil and berating. (or maybe that's just me)

Anyway, I seem to find myself more or less in that situation - I see that the last time I wrote something was the beginning of May, i.e. almost two months ago, and a lot has been going on in May and June all of which probably deserved some kind of nice prose treatment, but now...well, I think I will just sort of start writing, and see how it goes, and hope that I strike the right balance between endless rambling and pointless superficial observations.

...and then, of course, I had three very prettily crafted paragraphs, and something went wrong with Blogger's autosave, and it all disappeared...I am very disgruntled. So now all you get is a very cursory summary of my observations.

- Boston/Cambridge: had lots of fun, and loved Little Italy, and felt a strange pang when I overheard two people at the market speaking in Neapolitan.

- Devon: so so beautiful. Felt quite exhilarated by it all. I can't believe it's taken me so long to discover it (though I guess having a car helps). While Lyme Regis was maybe not the prettiest of the beaches, it had lots of excitement: echoes of Austen, as thrilling as being in Bath; perfect cream tea; and finding and keeping fossils, something I'd always heard about but never thought I'd do myself! I can't wait to go back, especially now that I have a friend conveniently located in Exeter.

- Oxford & friends & Pimm's for two days: no further comment required, surely.

- Edinburgh: seen it for the first time sans Fringe, and found it even more beautiful and fantastic. Perfect weather helped, of course - and I'm sure that if I visited in the middle of winter, some of my love would be lost. But, apart from an inspiring confernece, I spent many happy hours just wandering around and having my breath taken away at each turn - and I sort of feel the urge to go back straight away.

- Summer: here in full force, with temperatures regularly hitting above 30 (celsius). You'd think I wouldn't mind, but it is proving too much even for me at this point. Especially since I am either at work or at home, rather than, say, the shore, which would suit it much better. However, this has allowed for things such as BBQs, strawberry picking, and incredible amounts of produce from the farms, so I suppose I shouldn't complain too much.

- Facebook: among the things that got deleted was a musing on Facebook's usefulness in redeveloping, or strengthening, (real-world) friendships with people that we might have felt we just sort of knew before. I mused that this could be because the minutiae of daily life that get posted, or the other links/videos/photos, sometimes reveal shared interests or other points of convergence that might not have been as obvious when you were mainly in contact through sharing a college or a master's program. It is very pleasing to rediscover people this way, and makes it a real pleasure to then meet up in person and build on that.

- The Future: is ever nearer. No, seriously, all of a sudden this American adventure has entered its final phase and I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about it. Obviously I am thrilled to be going back to Europe, where I don't need a visa or health insurance, and where my nearest and dearest are. And where I have a job. But I am also trying to prevent the anticipation of it all from spoiling these last months here, since the summer is what Jersey does best, especially now that I feel I have a better hang of it all, and people to spend time with...to say nothing of all the work that still needs doing before I leave. I can't quite believe it's been two years since I had my viva, packed up and came here. But maybe I should leave the introspection stuff to later on, when I will be packing up again.