Do-nothing day

The sniffles and coughs are still with me, but I'm so much better than I was.  I slept in (again) and read for two hours under the duvet, which felt very luxurious. 

I moved forward in Anna Karenina and felt glad I had read as much in to the book as I had prior to seeing the film.  I've decided that the film had some serious flaws--to wit, if one doesn't know the book, the focus on certain characters in the film will seem quite mysterious.  I stand by my admiration for the film's design and beautiful cinematography.  It is a gorgeous film.

I had some flower-bearing visitors and then headed over for a cup of coffee and a scone at the Cafe Afloat with a friend.  I managed to book dinner at Cafe Afloat for my two Minnesota visitors and myself next Friday--the menu has yet to be determined.  At least I've got the hang of the rules.

Walking back, I passed by the locks as others seemed to be lingering there and caught sight of the sidewalk by the river.

As I gingerly walked toward the mudflow, I lost purchase on the sidewalk...excuse me, pavement.  This stuff is slick.


I visited with my fellow faculty, took out the rubbish, set up the air mattress for my guests and did wash.  THAT'S IT! 

I did have a chat with a friend and my husband, but otherwise, I've done nothing of note.  Two students visit with me to watch Downton Abbey, which is lovely.  I guess the truth is we all need days like this.

Coming back to life

NightNurse is my friend!  Yesterday was a real low, but there's nothing like 12 good hours of sleep to set one to rights.

I had posted my intention to see "Anna Karenina" this afternoon, so I headed to the city centre.  I left my flat around 3, but the movie didn't start until 4:30.  I decided to wander around the city.  The city centre is such an interesting place.  It practically vibrates between 9-4:30 and then it slides into a strange kind of quiet.  I guess I haven't been there on a Saturday during the day, so I was surprised by the level of activity.    There were a number of street performers and people walking around with advertising placards.

This guy was singing a capella.

Unfortunately, I didn't capture this image of the flamethrower/juggler until after he'd doused his flames.

I had so much time to kill I decided to double back a bit and check out some museums I've been meaning to visit.  I went to the Greyfriars, but there was an entrance fee and I didn't have the time to make it worthwhile.  The docent did invite me to go through the garden, so I took a few shots to orient me the next time I get a chance to visit.

While I was snapping photos, I noticed a table tent advertising a performance of "The Canterbury Tales" to take place at the Greyfriars' House this evening.  I went back to the docent to ask about tickets and she said I could pay for it with her and she would just write down my first name.  There was no "ticket" per se, just that list.  I fumbled a bit, but then decided to just go with it.    This place is open Tuesdays through Saturdays, so I have to return another time to get a better appreciation for what the house has to offer.

I still had more than an hour before I had to be at the movie theater, so I stopped in at the Tudor house.  This is another site I need to revisit, but I took a quick run-through just to get a feel for the place.

This place is open only on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 11-4.   There's a theme to many of the "old house" museums I've been to here in Worcester and in Wales.  These houses have been home to people throughout the centuries, serving many, many different purposes.

This place was an amalgam of different bits and pieces from around England, not just Worcester.

This placard notice said that the water pump handle had been removed in 1854 because a London doctor had surmised that cholera was a water-borne disease, due to the fact that a number of his patients who had died from the disease had taken drinks from a pump near his practice.

This museum celebrated Worcester-based products the world has come to know and love.

This house was a Cadbury's Coffee House and there might have been a confectioner's and bakery in the same place.

The house also featured a number of "Tudor" fun-facts:

• "The original freelancers were mercenary soldiers who fought with a lance and would fight for anyone that would pay them.  Today it can mean anyone who works for different people or companies."

• "Houses had thatched roofs with thick straw piled high, with no wood underneath.  It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice and bugs) lived in the roof.  When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip off the roof...hence the saying it's raining cats and dogs."

• "Most children were given a silver spoon by their godparents when they were christened.  If you came from a rich family it was assumed you already had one.  It was a sign of wealth that therefore that you had been born with a silver spoon in your mouth."

There's a lot more to the house, but I'll leave it with these two charming exhibits:

The sign reads "I'm just naughty."

The docents were in a hurry to close up the house, so I rushed through the rest of the house.  As I was walking down the stairs, I startled one of the men who was doing a final check.  I assumed him I wasn't a ghost, in spite of some of the placards in the house.

This notice identifies ghosts from the Civil War, as well as monks and nuns who continue to "haunt" the area.  There's a "ghost walk" here in town that I want to take around Halloween.  By the time they were closing up, it was time to head up to the Odeon to see the movie.  I had to leave by way of the tea house, but will try to get there on an upcoming Wednesday or Saturday to taste their wares.

Six students from the programme indicated an interest in seeing "Anna Karenina", so I waited for them after picking up my ticket.  The cashier asked if I wanted a "Premiere" or "Standard" seat.  When I asked what the difference was, he said "more leg room and more comfortable seating"--I chose standard.  We sat through a full half-hour of flat out ads--not just trailers.

I really liked the film--I thought it was beautifully designed and shot.  My daughter wants to see it, so I won't give away any spoilers.  The film was just a little more than two hours, which means I didn't have much time before "The Canterbury Tales", so I bought a foot-long hotdog at the theater.  It proved to be just right for the walk back to Greyfriar's House.

It was a quirky set-up.  There were about 40 seats set up for the audience in the Great Hall of the House.

The performance started a little after 7:30--the different clocks in the house seemed to be at different times
 because the chimes went off at different times.  The actor also adapted three tales ("The Miller's Tale"; "The Franklin's Tale; and "The Pardoner's Tale") for the script.  The performance was a little more than an hour-long and was quite charming.  The actor wore an authentic looking costume which the program noted indicated had been designed and sewn by the actor's wife.  The performance seemed to be a quasi-reader's theatre, as the actor did seem to use the text.  It was also a modernized version of the Tales, which made it very accessible.

Apparently, this is part of a series by this performer called "Tales Out of Time".  It wasn't clear whether or not these performances will all take place at Greyfriar's, but his current repertory includes "Beowulf" and "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight."  Future projects include  Arthurian Tales from "Morte d'Arthur", "The Escape of Charles II," and "The Odyssey."

It was fun to "happen" upon this bit of community theater, but I find myself wondering how people learn about these things.  This is not the first time I've come upon the principle that I should "book" before I partake...of dinner and now, of a performance.  I wish someone would give me a copy of the rules.

Blechhhhhh

I'm sick--really, really sick--not horribly sick,  not life-threateningly sick, just miserably sick.  NightNurse gave me a full eight hours, but I probably needed 12.

Once again I was drawn from bed by a ringing doorbell.  This time the caller wanted to know if I had returned my polling record--or something like that.  I told my caller I was an American citizen and he said, "Hmmm.  Are you living here permanently?"  I said, 'no,' to which he replied, "So, should I just mark the flat as empty then?"  Well...I don't know.  Do what you must!  Seriously--why do I bother?  I can't function unless I have gotten out of bed naturally, and jeez, after 58 years, that case has been made repeatedly.

The fog in my head is almost impenetrable on days like this.  My ears are plugged up, my sinuses are clogged, there's a heaviness at the top of my chest--in short, I'm a mess. 

I needed to take care of one piece of business, and I had to do it at work.  Walking in to work was almost surreal.  I didn't feel connected to my body.   Walking on the bridge felt like I was walking on a trampoline--it didn't feel firm.

On the way back to my flat, I took a shot of the still flooded race track

and then noticed a classic symbol of frustration.

 It's rather evocative, doncha think?

The miracle of adrenaline

The motto of the University of Worcester is "Ad Inspirandum Aspiramus"--Aspire to Inspire.  I rather like that as it certainly fits with my personal philosophy.  Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling terribly "inspirational" today.  My cold has progressed to my sinuses, so I felt compelled to medicate.  I stopped off at Boots to purchase meds, cough drops and tissues to take me through the day.  I found a med called  "DayNurse/NightNurse" which I assume is the UK version of Dayquil/Nyquil. 

Before going in to the classroom.  I made sure to bring my tissues and cough drops, but...true to previous experience...the classroom adrenaline kicked in--perhaps DayNurse helped--and dried up my runny nose for the duration of the class.
 
After working steadily on internationalizing my Deciding What's News class, we finally had our first class meeting.  Nine of the students are from the UK, seven from the U.S.  While most of the UK students are studying Journalism, we have one student studying history and politics.  The US students represent majors in Finance, History, Communication, Art History, Psychology and one student who hasn't yet settled on a major.  The students actively engaged with each other and the class as a whole.  It was great to have different perspectives.  All-in-all, I'd say it was a successful day. 

I'm really looking forward to their responses to the material posted in the class management system.  Next week, we'll be looking at Edward R. Murrow versus Joseph McCarthy and focusing on the watchdog role of journalists with respect to the government.  We'll be contextualizing that discussion within the framework of journalism as a profession, and the International Federation of Journalists Declaration of Principles. I really love the material in this class, so I am hopeful that the students will connect with it.

Thursday is Volcano Choir day, so after grabbing a bite to eat at the Slug and Lettuce, in spite of the vile name,

(as it happens, the meal was pretty tasty), it was off to the Worcester Baptist Church Hall for choir practice.  Unfortunately, our director Hilary was also sick.  (For that matter, most of the UMD Study in England students have fallen sick too.  When I purchased my meds and supplies, the pharmacist said he's noticed a large number of people had been in to get cold remedies.)  Hilary was still going strong, but the break provided a good opportunity to exit stage right. 

The goal for the weekend--shake this cold and come up with some great exercises for the next few weeks' classes.

Before signing off, here's the sign of the day:

Moving in to Autumn

The autumnal equinox took place while we were in Wales.  I could be wrong, but I believe when I was a kid the vernal equinox took place on the 21st of March, and the autumnal equinox took place on the 21st of September.  I think that's shifted now to the 20th--or maybe it always was and I just made up that stuff about the 21st.  Regardless, summer's over.  We've seen a few colored leaves--which pretty much seals the deal.

Classes started at the university this Monday and the beginning of fall term was accompanied by a rain storm.  While not horrible, the river has overflowed its banks.

It's a little hard to discern how high the river got by looking at this photo, but take my word for it--it's up there.

I managed to walk in to campus with an umbrella, but the bottom of my slacks got pretty wet.  It seemed to clear up by the afternoon, but the river continued to rise.  The brown color of the water reminded me of what happens to Lake Superior after a storm. 

 Unfortunately, the storm also carried a LOT of trash.

This image is actually pretty tame, but the river was running pretty fast and I couldn't capture the bottles and other plastic floating along by the swans and ducks.  Regardless, I had to find another way to meet my Monday evening appointments.

I think I've established a Monday evening routine: Cream Tea at the Cathedral Cafe, Evensong at the Cathedral and then bell ringing.  I met friends for all three, and hope to attract a few more friends in to bell ring next week.  I do so love the cream tea, and feel less guilty about it if I walk those countless stairs up the tower.

Prior to the bell ringing practice, we were allowed up on the roof at sunset and it was quite a sight to see after the storm but before we lost the light.

The master bell ringer, Mark, told us that there have been floods in the not so distant past that covered the cricket fields as pictured in these images.

The days are getting shorter, but I was still able to get this nice shot of the flag atop the tower.

The flag boasts the school crest in the upper right quadrant of the St. George's cross/flag of England.  It was quite gusty Monday evening.

After getting quite wet over Sunday and Monday, I felt a cold coming on, so I called it a night before the actual bell ringing (by those who have trained sufficiently to be trusted with real ringing) began.  I had hoped to get a good night's sleep, but no dice.  My throat was so sore I had trouble swallowing.  I tossed and turned the entire night.  I must have slept, but not for very long.

I find illness does something to my brain.  I  find myself going back and forth over decisions, second guessing myself, pacing back and forth.

I managed to get up in good time, but had a quandry about what to wear.  I had anticipated wearing a dress, but as I was ironing it, I just didn't think it was the right thing to wear--too frou-frou/summery.  I ended up wearing my seersucker slacks and pink blouse, which meant I had to wear my sandals--not such a great idea after heavy rain.  I started walking along the river I observed that the path was submerged no more than 10 yards ahead.

The river path was basically NOT an option.

It wasn't a big deal.  I always welcome adding steps.

I had plenty of time to collect my thoughts and materials before I met my class. Cath walked me over to my classroom which turned out to be a very good thing.  When we arrived at the classroom, some UMD Study in England students said they had tried to enter the classroom, only to be told it was occupied.  It turns out the University of Worcester has some space issues--sounds familiar.  The person in the room before me has the room for an hour before my class and then he has to switch to the room next door.  I get the room for the duration of the three hour module, so I'm lucky.

I have 13 students--six from UMD/SIE, three Polish students who are currently living in the UK (apparently, Worcester has a significant Polish population), and four UK born students (although one of the students seems to be part of a family who may have recently emigrated).  One student came to class 45 minutes after the start time, and indicated she'd had difficulty finding a parking space--another familiar issue.

I had the students engage in an icebreaker activity which served as the framework for the rest of the period.  I was able to get the students to work on learning each other's names (not so hard with so few), and to move about the room at least twice.  We covered the entire first chapter of the text and did four separate activities, so I felt it was a successful session.  Interpersonal Communication really lends itself to this kind of interactive mode.

Having left the house without my glasses, I had to squint my way through the rest of the day.  This was unfortunate as I had hoped to do some solid studying for Thursday's class.  I was able to do some mild preparation for our cultural seminar (first session) yesterday evening.  Helen had asked me to talk about Yom Kippur, so I chose a few YouTube clips (Kol Nidre and Shofar blowing) as illustrations.  The students were very respectful and gave me an opportunity to do the kind of reflection demanded by Yom Kippur.  It was just what I needed.

The walk home was longer than usual -- the flood was still in evidence --but I rather enjoyed it.

A day at Big Pit

We needed to clean up and clear out before 10:15 on Sunday morning.  That included making breakfast and packing lunches.  Our clean up was not difficult, since our standard was to leave the site cleaner than we found it.  The facility served our needs, but they're due for a major renovation/remodel in the coming year.  We probably will not recognize it if we had an opportunity to return in the coming years.

After a beautiful Saturday, the skies opened up Sunday morning.  We weren't too worried about it as we loaded up and boarded the bus, but by the time we got to the Big Pit mine, it had become truly miserable, cold and damp.  Our driver left us off in the lot behind the entrance, which meant we had to run from the eaves on one building to the eaves at the next building as we went about finding the entrance/welcome site.  By the time we got to the waiting room in anticipation of our tour of the mine, we were drenched.

We had to wait in a good size waiting room before beginning our tour.  We had to relinquish our "contraband" before going down the shaft.  "Contraband" included anything with a battery--phones, cameras, watches.  

This letter  was written by an errant miner in 1901.  He brought a "pipe" of all things down the mine.

We had to suit up with helmets, head lamps and wet batteries which weighed about five kilos and sat on our hips.

Our hosts were former Welsh miners with terrific senses of humor and great singing voices.  Their personal experiences gave them an eerie kind of authority.  One miner sang us a beautiful song I'd never heard--"It's a Working Man I Am."    Click on the highlighted title to hear the song. I guess it's more well known than I realized, but it was incredibly moving to hear this man sing it a capella while we were in the lift.  One of the sites I reviewed in preparation mentioned that the Welsh miners sang as a matter of course as they went down and came up out of the mines.

I know it's a cliche, but I kept remembering the old Roddy MacDowall/Maureen O'Brien/Walter Pidgeon film, "How Green Was my Valley"--one of my mom's favorites, set in  the coal mining region of 1930s Wales.  I remember the film featured Welsh choral singers.

Our guide was a man named David Williams--a name I daresay is fairly common in that part of the world.  It was the name of one of my professors when I was an undergraduate.  Mr. Williams was softspoken, but had a razor sharp wit.  He would make a joke and then slyly check our responses.  At one point, he took out a little plastic container on which he'd written "Viagra" and offered one of our female members a "pill" (it was a Tic Tac).  After our visit, I told one of my friends I had gained a newfound appreciation for Tom Jones's appeal.

David took us 300 feet underground--not very deep, but it was still impressive.  He mentioned that whole families worked in the mine.  Children (boys and girls) as young as five years old worked as "trappers" keeping doors closed between different sections of the mine so as to control ventilation and to prevent a build-up of gasses.   Parents would occasionally tie their children to the door to make sure they would stay put and could be found by parents.  While they might have had a candle or oil lamp, if these went out, it was pitch black.  These poor little ones often had to sit in absolute dark for hours at a time, waiting until they saw the lantern on the coal dram pushed by one of their parents.  David had us all turn out our headlamps so that we could gain an appreciation for the depth of the dark these kids experienced.  As children aged, they would take on new jobs, such as pushing the drams or leading the ponies in the mines.

Our host, David, told us that when he started in the mines, he worked with the ponies.  His job was to muck out the stables once a day and feed the ponies.  They had to send up the waste daily because of the gasses emitted by their waste.  David told us the mine owners insisted the ponies be fed three times a day, whereas the miners themselves ate only once a day.

We saw the stables where the ponies were kept.  The stables each had a plaque with the ponies' names on it:  Skipper, Maxwell, etc.  David told us that eventually, the mine owners realized, after the unions came in, that it would be cheaper once a year for two weeks to bring the horses up to the surface while the miners took their holiday.   They would blindfold the ponies and have to give them a number of hours to settle down before they could enjoy their own holiday. Imagine being in the dark for so long and then being exposed to the light.  Those poor horses were so restricted.  In the old days the horses were destroyed when they were no longer fit for mine work.  In more recent years the horses retired.

We also learned dogs worked in the mines alongside the horses and miners.

The Big Pit mine is still considered active due to the regular tours.  While we were on our tour, one of the other guides, Des, was charged with using the flame safety lamp to check for levels of methane and
black damp.

Our guide, David, stressed a number of times how dangerous the mine continues to be.

David also gave a brief history of the power of the owners, describing the coercion involved in forcing coal miners to be paid in tokens which could only be used at company stores.  The owners would charge increasing amounts which forced miners deeper in debt and more beholden to the owners.  Ultimately, miners formed unions and used the power of the strike to fight against the owners.  

It was rather fun to see the canaries still in residence at the mines.  Apparently, only males were taken in to the mines as the males sang.

We learned another risk was associated with a signal system using wires which, when struck, sent an audible signal, but also created a spark.  David told us that the spark cost a number of miners their lives.

It was surprising to learn that a safety mask, or rebreather, was introduced only in 1970.  David emphasized that the Germans had them since 1953.

Another feature of the mine which made it such an important living site, was the water which continues to run through the mine.  The major difference is that today it runs through pipes. When the mine was operational,

it ran over the miners' shoes.

It was a fascinating and surprising visit.  I was under the impression that visitors from the U.S. don't often make their way to this site, but we learned that Ann Romney had visited some time earlier this year.  Apparently, she has Welsh heritage.  The guides didn't seem terribly impressed by her.

We were treated so very well, as was true everywhere we went in Wales.  I've become a major fan of the Welsh.