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.