A day of two halves

First there was the unpleasant prospect of combining two phobias - travelling alone on public transport & going to the dentist. The famous English Summer gave me a 'get out of jail free' card on the first, as a thunderstorm hit just as I was due to leave...the 10 minute walk to the bus stop just wasn't feasible with all that crash-bashing & the sky emptying itself, so I chickened out & phoned for a taxi. Some of the recently flooded roads were almost impassible, so I didn't feel too guilty. The dentist appointment resolved itself into come-back-next-month for tooth-saving under sedation. So that's OK then. (I know, what a wimp!)

In part 2 I got back to normal: eating, working, communicating in joined up sentences, that sort of thing. Continued my dashing ahead with Latin while there are no TMAs to mark - laughed at the ablative of instrument & spat in the face of comparative & superlative adverbs. Don't reckon much to how Mercury is duping Sosia (not to mention what Jupiter's getting up to with Amphitruo's wife) but I'm sure it will all work out in the end.

Oh, the ants are back...

Another reason

for the paucity of Latin-related posts...

I've been spending lots of time on Facebook. There's a whole Facebook culture that I really hesitate to address at 5am, but what I particularly enjoy about it, beyond the basics of making new connections with people you already know, is the richness & flexibility... so many levels on which you can interact!

Why there's not much Latin here

Despite early enthusiasm for pots of gold, my current OU course isn't really lending itself to blogging. I'm trundling along nicely with it, pleasantly surprised by how much of my schooldays Latin is still lurking in the depths of memory (unlike 2005's Greek, which has reverted to 'all Greek to me' status with alarming speed). But I'm somehow disinclined to make excited posts about rediscovering the perfect indicative deponent or forming irregular adverbs. Next up is Unpredictable Principal Parts. I think that's another one for quiet private enjoyment :-)

One for the smokers

You may already have seen this audio slideshow - it's over a fortnight old now. Yes, it's politically incorrect, easy to dismiss as a flawed argument & potentially distressing to anyone whose personal experiences don't tally with Sillitoe's, but I still think it's worth watching. Hit the Play button, & see what you think.