Veni, Vidi, Scripsi!

 In light of yesterday’s Grand National, I thought I’d turn to a Latin poet whom I have recently come to appreciate.   I first encountered Ovid at around the age of fourteen, when I was handed his guide to picking up women at the racecourse, taken from his work Amores, as a translation exercise.   I was slightly alarmed to be presented with a text which advocated spying on women as they watched the horses go round the track, and sneakily groping people amongst the crowded stands, and so pigeonholed Ovid as a rather immature, trivial and tedious poet.   It’s safe to say, we got off on the wrong foot. Photo by Greg Roberts. Grand National day 2014.  I wonder how many race goers took Ovid's advice to heart... I ran into Ovid again at AS level, with Book VIII of his epic poem, The Metamorphoses being assigned as a set text.   Once again, I was far from overwhelmed.   Reading his portrayal of the various exploits of Scylla and Daedalus, I felt...

Ever since I was a secondary school student revising for my GCSE exams, I have been reminded time and again by well-meaning people of the importance of taking regular breaks when working.  Carefully scheduled 5/10 minutes here and there to break up the monotony of sitting at a desk, staring at books/screens and scribbling notes.  As a PhD student, I thought I was doing pretty well with this.  I often get up to make warm drinks in the kitchen next door or walk a few meters down the hallway to collect documents from the printer.   And yet, I kept finding myself angsty and frustrated, at times even a little claustrophobic, as I sat at my desk, working away on a project I continue to find exciting and stimulating.  Right now, I'm not at my most stressed. I'm not chasing nine different people trying to tie ends up for a conference, I'm not simultaneously working on four completely different assessments, and though my mental health has been iffy as of late (chee...

To be honest, I’ve always been a little wary of working from home.   I like the routine of heading up to the office, with ‘home’ reserved for relaxation (or the inevitable late-night panic writing session) at the end of a long day.   I often worry that working from home, without the social pressure of being surrounded by others who can see if you are choosing to waste your time away, could lead to a dangerous loss of productivity and motivation as I retreat under my duvet to binge-watch shows on Netflix (#phdprocrastination). Today, however, I found that working from home can have its perks.   We had an appointment for an estate agent to pop around in the morning, so I set myself up at the dining table with my laptop, library books, coffee pot, and a scented candle (something I’m not allowed in the office!). And until the brief interruption from the estate agent, work went pretty well and I decided that I would stay home for the rest of the day.   I say work...