9 days to go...

Well, the title says it really. I have 9 days until PhD submission day. It's weird, in the earlier stages of PhD writing, you never imagine you'll actually be counting down in days to submission. I wasn't even counting in weeks and then all of a sudden, I'm at days. DAYS.

Wish me luck!

OH, and BIG congratulations to ThePhDLitChick on securing funding for this year. You absolutely deserve it.

In which I could not get my glasses mended...

I went into town this morning. My most comfortable pair of glasses broke on Wednesday and I was taking them to the opticians. I have a second pair, but they aren't so comfortable, and having spent most of yesterday seeing how much of my work I could do without wearing my glasses and finding that the answer was 'not much at all', I decided to go to get the broken ones fixed.

I haven't been into town for a while. Maybe if I went more often it wouldn't distract me so much. I went to Boots the chemist and bought some of my favourite moisturiser (my supply is low, it's Boots own brand and I was in town anyway...), a birthday card for a friend, a protective pouch for my telephone (that they were selling at the card shop and I couldn't help it) and a new pair of flat black comfortable practical shoes.

I hate shoe shopping (it's hard to find shoes that fit my extremely narrow feet and aren't ridiculously highly priced) so when I see a pair that look like they might fit and are within my price-range I have to try them on. And my old pair of practical flat black shoes died some time ago. Anyway, I tried on a few pairs and found a pair that fit. Not elegant, as such, but comfortable and practical and that was the point. And under £20! Bargain.

As for the glasses: nothing they can do - the spring is broken. Need new pair. I did ask them to look at the pair I'm wearing to see if they could make them slightly more comfortable and it seems to have worked - at least for the moment. Fingers crossed.

Absolute monarchy...

I finally got rid of the chapter I've been working on last night - well, I finished rewriting it (although getting rid of it has been tempting for most of the week!). It's taken far too long, but I'm hoping it was worth the time. To give myself a little break today, but still do something useful, I've been collating my bibliographies of primary texts (at the moment I have separate bibliographies for each chapter but not one for the whole thesis) and making sure it has all of the necessary information for each entry. I was struck by the all-encompassing implications of the title of this text:

Mocket, Richard 1615 God and the King: or a dialogue shewing that our soveraigne Lord King James, being immediate under God within his dominions, doth rightfully claim whatsoever is required by the Oath of Allegeance.

Ah, absolute monarchy. You'd never get away with that these days!

Stage directions

I'm falling way behind with revising the drafts of my thesis chapters - hence I am still awake and at my laptop at 3am.

The stage direction on the page of the play I have open next to me reads 'Exeunt omnes Rustici'.

Perhaps it's because it's late/early that this appeals to me. But anything that can make you smile while you're still working at this time in the morning has to be worth sharing!

One veggie burger and a steak sandwich

After another productive morning at the NLS yesterday, I met The Accountant for lunch. he's not my Accountant (financially or romantically) but he is my 'plus one' for parties, weddings, etc, when I don't have a boyfriend. The Accountant and I go back about nine years now - he was in the same Halls of Residence as me in the first year of our undergrad studies.

There was, briefly, the possibility of romance the first time he was my 'plus one' to a school reunion Ball. We - well, OK, he - decided it wouldn't work out between us. He said he's a bad boyfriend and liked me too much to screw up our friendship by a bad break up. I have my suspicions that he isn't as bad a boyfriend as he claims, and he just uses that as an excuse to maintain his very quiet, 'don't rock the boat' life [of the Will Young song 'If I lose the highs at least I'm spared the lows' sort of life]. But still, as reasons for not dating someone go, that's one of the nicer ones. (But no, to any men reading this, it is not a get out of gaol free card.)

Now The Accountant and I have an imaginary 'line' drawn between us. There's laughing, flirting, mickey-taking (chemistry, in short), but 'the line' is never crossed. Flirting is safe, because nothing will come of it - and we all know that it's important to keep the flirt muscles exercised! And we don't look like we brought a friend to a function because we couldn't get a date; slow dancing isn't awkward (OK, maybe in that respect sometimes we kick sand over 'the line'...).

As a friendship, it's great. As each other's 'plus one' it works. But when I think about it, I guess he's right - we wouldn't work as a couple. We are very different people. Perhaps too different for a long term relationship: I like pets; The Accountant doesn't want the responsibility. I like to be around people; The Accountant doesn't.

Lunch restaurant waitress: Are you ready to order?

Me: Yes, I'd like the veggie burger, please.

The Accountant: And I'll have the steak sandwich.

You'll thank me later...

Yesterday, I had a very productive day in the National Library of Scotland. It's a wonderful place to work (particularly when it isn't too busy) and it has an amazing atmosphere of scholarship and interest. You can feel the academic vibes...

Sadly the enthusiasm I had for work yesterday when I was finding interesting things to think about is somewhat lost today now I have to get back to my chapter re-writing. I can see it's worth it - what I've done so far is much better than the other draft - but utter panic is now setting in. And we all know, panic is not productive, so I'm trying to keep it at bay with camomile tea.

The most worrying thing I've found about my previous work, though, is how bad my quotations are. I thought I was being careful at the time, but looking at them now, it seems not. Early PhD me did not quote accurately. And now she's wasting a lot of my time because I have to double check everything - I no longer trust her to have done anything right (thus contributing to my panic).

Most final stage PhDs would like to go back and tell our younger PhD selves where we're going with this, to find the focus earlier (although I have enjoyed the journey of finding out exactly what I'm doing, so maybe I wouldn't spoil that for her). I'd like to go back and tell mine, "Do this properly. You may think I'm nagging now, but you will thank me later". So, any early stage researchers reading this - quote carefully and accurately in your drafts. Double check them at the time (I thought I had, so maybe triple check). You may think that I'm nagging now, but you will thank me later...

Well, it's about time.

Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy have engineered an agreement at the UN to intervene in Darfur (read the Channel 4 news report here). Surprised that international action has not been taken so far on this, I've sent emails, through Oxfam's campaigns , to the Prime Minister reminding him that something needs to be done about the dreadful conditions for ordinary civilians in that region. It has been too dangerous for aid workers to do anything there, and this new action should make that necessary help available. I'm very glad that Gordon Brown seems to have made this a priority early in his role as PM, and that Oxfam's (and other charities') campaigning seems to be paying off.

There's a very long way to go, but at least it's a step in the right direction.