Five things that happened this week

[white_hart]

1. Apparently I have taken 71,285 steps this week, which translates to a grand total of 55.56km or 34.5 miles. I'm not entirely sure I believe this, it sounds like a ridiculous amount for just walking between the bus stop and work (admittedly the best part of a mile each way), the shops and work at lunch time (about half a mile each way, I think, or maybe three-quarters of a mile) and from the ring road to work three times (two and a half miles each time). I have also apparently climbed 79 flights of stairs. This is definitely not true. Mostly I have climbed two flights of stairs, one at home and one at work, quite a lot of times each (I have to climb one or other of them every time I want to go to the loo, unless I'm in bed, just for starters), although admittedly today we had a Faculty away day in a college building where you had to go down three flights of stairs from the conference room to get to the loo and climb back up them afterwards.

2. I have read half of The Ringed Castle, which is quite impressive given how thick it is and how much of the week has been spent at work (or walking and climbing stairs, apparently). I am still enjoying Lymond immensely.

3. I came back from my lunchtime walk on Monday depressed by the Stygian gloom of the day and emailed T to say "I want to go to the south of France". So we are going to be spending a week in Avignon in March. It's good to have something to look forward to at the end of term.

4. But since then the sun has come out, and it's been cold and bright with amazing sunrises and sunsets, the kind of weather that makes my heart sing.

5. Having been driven very close to the point of no return with Twitter by all the people who don't like Stephen Moffatt's work tweeting about they watched the Sherlock New Year's Day special despite not liking it and it had proved that they were right not to like it because they hadn't enjoyed it at all, I was driven right past it when I looked at the site on Monday evening to discover that some journalist had been telling people that they weren't allowed to be upset about David Bowie's death because it wasn't like they'd known him personally. I haven't really looked at it since, and haven't actually missed it at all. In fact, life feels rather peaceful. I think I might try spending my evenings transcribing early modern texts instead of hanging out on social media. When I'm not reading, anyway.

Comments

[nineveh_uk]

Despite being much colder at the end of the week, it is far nicer and feels warmer than it did on Monday/Tuesday, when I attempted to go to town and turned back at Oxfam because it was so bone-chillingingly dank. Whereas today I was working from home and dashed out for a delightfully sunny walk at lunchtime. Enjoy Avignon, it sounds a great idea.

I find myself being not that bothered about the new Sherlock, but this takes the form of not getting round to see it. Perhaps I should share this radical new approach with the internet.

[white_hart]

I have been out at lunchtime every day this week, because I think it's important to have a proper break from work, but it wasn't much fun on Monday or Tuesday (Tuesday was probably worse, on balance, because I got rained on and discovered that my black boots leak slightly).

I don't understand the impulse to watch something you don't like just so you can tell all the people who do like it that you hated it and they're obviously wrong to have enjoyed it at all. Not watching seems much more sensible. Which is probably why it'll never catch on.

[tree_and_leaf]

I don't mind it so much on LJ/DW if it's confined to personal journals. The people on Twitter who are on a mission to stop you enjoying anything Stephen Moffat (or whoever) have ever touched, however, are very annoying indeed.

[white_hart]

Yes, it's not that I expect everyone to like the same things I do, or indeed to refrain from making critical comment on things, but LJ/DW lend themselves much better to nuanced discussion and exchange of dissenting views. The Twitter ragewatch people do seem to be much more out to insist that no-one else is allowed to enjoy the things they dislike. (For what it's worth, I tend to think that Stephen Moffatt probably isn't quite as clever as he thinks he is and certainly don't imagine for one moment that his work doesn't have plenty of problematic moments, but on the whole I tend to enjoy what he does while recognising that it isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea.)

[aunty_marion]

I've got very good at suspending disbelief, and so can enjoy things with a clear heart. I only spot plotholes if they're gapingly egregious, and sometimes (though not always) have to go back and watch if people are carping online about more minor ones.

[tree_and_leaf]

The Twitter ragewatch people do seem to be much more out to insist that no-one else is allowed to enjoy the things they dislike

Which is where it differs from the older phenomenon of sporking (remember that?)

[white_hart]

Ah, sporking. I liked sporking, because it was *funny*. I'm honestly not precious about the stuff I watch, and if you're going to poke fun at it in an interesting and intelligent way I'll almost certainly enjoy reading it, but if you just want to tell me how stupid I am for not hating it as much as you, not so much.

[tree_and_leaf]

I enjoyed sporking, too. It's a pity thing have gone the way they have...

[mrs-redboots.livejournal.com]

Avignon is lovely, although we went one January to escape the winter weather (thinking, you see, of Katharine L Oldmeadow's "Princess Prunella"), only to find that it snowed! But in May it should be glorious. And you can get a bus or train (either, it's the same ticket) to Arles for one day of your holiday, too, and there's a lovely ex-Carthusian monastery to visit across the river....

[white_hart]

March, rather than May, but average temperatures are supposed to be low to mid teens then and there's a much better chance of sunshine than in England. (We considered Barcelona, but apparently that's often overcast then.)

A day-trip to Arles is definitely on the list of things we want to do, and possibly also one in the opposite direction to Orange.

[mrs-redboots.livejournal.com]

I think we had thought of going to Orange, but the weather was so vile.... I hope you have great weather - when it's lovely there, it really is lovely, but when it rains, it pours!

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

I walked 8 miles without really thinking about it yesterday (over about 12 hours) so I can believe your total since you walk to work quite often. :)

I ditched Twitter entirely in 2014 and haven't missed it.

[white_hart]

Twitter used to be fun, but I think the combination of the openness and the 140-character format makes it hard to have nuanced discussion and does seem to make it easier for people to be nasty. Though my academics seem to be taking to it in increasing numbers - I think maybe it works well if you're part of a defined interest group, because I certainly found that the point where I lost interest was when I stopped engaging with the online knitting community as closely as I had been.

[rhythmaning.livejournal.com]

Avignon is lovely, and so is Arles.

I stayed in Arles and went to Avignon for the day...!

Also, I really enjoyed the Sherlock special. And anyone on Twitter telling others how to behave or emote I'd just taking bollocks.