Monday, May 11

 
 
YEAR:  2015 | Tags:  | | |
 
 
 
 
 

Garden, 16:30

 
 

I began the morning with a mass of administration. I had made a clear task list and I spent two and a half hours racing through them and ticking them off.

At 10:30 Steve Thompson arrived. We talked and he began preparing the slides and videos for his talk this afternoon. He has been using the desk next to me, where Johnny Biström used to sit. It is conveniently empty.

At 11:00 I had a forty minutes interview with a student, who wanted to talk to me about social media for a project he is working on. As is often the case sitting and answering questions proved an excellent way of finding out what I think about a number of issues. In particular I found that I apparently believe there is a link worth pursuing between the growth in the use of social media and the growth in the acceptance of tattoos as unremarkable body-jewelry.

Irma had given me some lunch to warm up but since Steve was also hungry I decided we should go to the Chinese restaurant in Arabianranta instead. This proved to be fortunate because we met Pluti who joined us for lunch. He wanted to meet Steve, and had wanted to hear the lecture, but his allergies still prevent him from entering Arcada’s building.

Among Steve’s many achievements, he is the prime inventor of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal: the eighties phenomenon that gave us The Tygers of Pan Tang, Venom, and so many more. Last week some students expressed interest in hearing about this, and I told Steve. Unfortunately they did not turn up to the lecture and the thirty or so who did probably wondered why he spent the first half of his talk explaining such things as how he created an iconic drum sound for Venom by having them stamp on three thousand plastic coffee cups.

The lecture was both entertaining and informative, and afterwards we talked about how our online media students might work with a network of primary schools in Oldham, as the start of a longer-term collaboration.

Now I am home. The flowers are starting to merge rapidly. The weather is warm, dry and sunny, which makes it an ideal time to finish painting the new terrace.

I will paint for three hours, until the white is completely finished, and then go for a long walk. Sunshine will still be out when I get back. I will go to bed early, aching all over from the painting, and wake up at 0:45 when I think I hear the cat.

Whether I heard it or not, it will be outside the door when I get up and open it. After a few minutes of loud noise it will go into Irma’s room and fall asleep on the bed.