Well, it's a start

Let's start a great British blog with a weather report:
Though visability from my mountain-top home has been zero for the last 4 days, I managed to spot the first daffodil in bloom this year in my garden - as I reversed out of my drive at typical break neck speed to start the first leg of my journey to Japan via St Martin's in Lancaster where I teach.

Here at college things are busy - I'm remembering why I don't generally do holidays. It's so much easier just to keep working than to explain to students over and over that no, they can't expect feedback on their dissertation draft 27 whilst you are on the shinkansen to Kyoto next week - 'Please see Oxford English Dictionary' for definition of 'holiday'.
On the plus side, I have set up some good meetings to drive forward lots of iniatives at the start of next term - Kate Brundrett, the coordinator or the Cumbria Artist's Network - is coming to talk about the Fred arts festival in October this year - and if / how we can get our spanking new gallery here on campus involved. Also keeping up with the 'Business and Community Enterprise Unit' here, which seems to be one of the few areas of College with funding which just might be useful in getting a gallery programme of the ground. Also have secured two young artists - Jonathan Griffin and Oliver Lamb - to come to talk to and (I hope) inspire our 3rd yr art students about life after art school. So few of the art students here have any aspirations to make a career out of what they're studying, it's tragic. Both Jonathan and Oliver are still making work despite being in unsteady economic circumstances - so I am hoping that they will be both realistic and motivational.

Jez (the other half of the embryonic -i.e still recruiting - BA New Media Arts programme here (see www.ucsm.ac.uk/cme/) and I are supposed to be generating stage 2 of the afore-mentioned website over the next month, but we keep getting swamped by more urgent-feeling stuff - ergo I feel very chuffed with getting this blog going - a small step in the right direction....