Monday, April 9

 

 

I woke to a fine Spring morning, ate my meusli, said goodbye to Irma and Sunshine, and walked to the bus.

I began my working day at 9:00 with my annual progress meeting with Nathalie meeting: utvecklingssamtal, as we like to call it. We talked for an hour or so and she reaffirmed her desire for me to stay on after retirement, which left me feeling both philosophically and economically happy. We also discussed future possibilities for research.

After this I edited the second application to EdMedia that I had rewritten in Manchester, and submitted it. Christa, Hafdis and Vera all sent cheerful replies when I forwarded it to them. It certainly contains more buzzwords than the application that got rejected, so we shall see who it fares.

Jutta and I had a long chat, and I told her about Nathalie’s request that I stay on and she whooped for joy, which I took as a good sign. We discussed this while walking to the mall and back.

At the afternoon team meeting she reported back on her trip to Webbdagarna in Stockholm and I reported back on the symposium in Manchester. Our reports had (by coincidence) a number of factors in common. We both reported on increasing scepticism towards technological solutions for problems created by technology. We had both observed an increasing emphasis on morality in discussions about the public sphere. We both talked about examples of people beginning to want to do more with less, not in principle but in daily practice.

Jutta left and I stayed behind for a second meeting; something we had agreed on the trip to the mall. At this meeting we discussed some of the practical details concerning this year’s entrance examinations. We agreed to drop some tasks that had not proved useful in previous years, and to streamline the procedure.

I left and got the usual tram and metro. At Itäkeskus I found myself trying to get past two people who, for one reason or another, managed to wobble around and take up enough space for a hockey team. I finally got round them to see the 93 bus leaving. I had enough time to take out my camera and photogrph it while it waited to pull out.

I stand looking stupidly at where the 93 disappeared without me and photograph the empty space it left behind. The afternoon feels very warm and I regret wearing a cardigan. I turn and see a 95 coming into view and I decide to get that. It means a longer walk but this feels like the weather for a longer walk.

When I arrive home I will leave immediately to walk back to Alepa and get milk. I will get a long walk indeed.