Gillian Polack's Blog, page 311

gillpolack @ 2010-05-21T08:28:00

I forgot to blog yesterday. This is a great pity, beacuse you missed out on amazingly interesting updates on fascinating events. The state of my headcold, for instance. How many misplaced items I found in an afternoon of proofreading. A progress report on my research proposal (the progress report would have read "Aaaaargh!" which is a very fair summary of the current state of play). A truckload of excitement over some phrases I found in a nineteenth century tourguide to France. A loss o...

gillpolack @ 2010-05-19T17:46:00

Why I love history, reason #48,572,,857.7

In the Middle Ages, it was perfectly logical to call a good Christian boychild 'Pontius.' In Latin, Pontius - in Old French, Ponce. If Raymond of St-Gilles travelled in time to the present and had to fill in a perfectly normal Australian form (one that demanded parental names) he would have to explain that his father really was a Ponce?

gillpolack @ 2010-05-19T15:55:00

This morning I introduced my class to daruma dolls. One student broke into song when my bright yellow daruma was tipped over and found its footing time after time after time. Another student asked me to explain 'oblanceolate.' In revenge, I gave everyone extra long homework, at another students' suggestion.

Since an excursion this term is looking increasingly unlikely, my students are inventing their own excursions (real or imaginary) and reporting back on them next week. One student inte...

gillpolack @ 2010-05-18T20:33:00

Today I'm very thankful for the quirk of mind that meant I stuck with languages when young and that I take research seriously. That combination has saved me vast amounts of time and vast sums of money this week. I have botany over time for the region I want to use as a setting, housing over time, picture postcards covering 100 years and a complete list of name variations used for the region over a period of a thousand years. That was today. Yesterday I managed to get hold of the overview o...

gillpolack @ 2010-05-17T23:26:00

Why do I find my dream documents as free pdfs for downloads on French government sites and then they never quite download? Ten years ago this was udnerstandable. Now it's just one of the great mysteries of French archives. I've bookmarked everything and will download dribble by dribble. If dribbling doesn't work, then I shall try foaming at the mouth.

Questions here

In my article for the new edition of Bibliobuffet, I got Medieval. I also talked about writing technique.

This makes a very good introduction to the open question time I promised. You can ask questions for the full length of Coyote Con (from now until the end of May) since it was Coyote Con that inspired this particular question time.

The usual rules apply. Any questions that take goodly amounts of my worktime will probably not be answered with more than a "Why don't you check this source?" ...

gillpolack @ 2010-05-16T17:28:00

Just to let you all know that I'm not answering any questions till Monday and I'll answer them on the proper post. This is because I'm frantically busy and if I don't do all the things I need to do then I shall drown under the weight of reading to do. I have one and a bit books to read before 10 pm and then I shall have read 3 book today and this will mean I get time for questions tomorrow. So save those questions, please, for one more day.

gillpolack @ 2010-05-15T12:18:00

I promised Coyote Con people that I would have question post on Monday. I know it's not so long since the last one, but maybe there are questions that have been squirrelled away that need answering. One question I shall refuse to answer (Jo and Sharyn, I'm looking in your directions) is how much of Life Through Cellophane is autobiographical. People asked me the same question for Illuminations and so that question has hit the question-fatigue wall. Find me some new ones! I have lots of n...

gillpolack @ 2010-05-14T22:13:00

Today was a big day. I've been on the go for nearly 16 hours, with the exception of an hour of gentle collapse mid-afternoon. I only have one more dental appointment (next week - brought forward because it really needed to be) and then all the current crop of dental emergencies are done and sorted. That was first thing this morning (well, first thing after an hour and a quarter of travel and nearly an hour of work). Last thing this evening (just a few minutes ago) a friend offered a very ...

gillpolack @ 2010-05-13T16:12:00

Dear Universe (yes, it's time for a letter to the universe)

I planned all my early morning starts a month before the hard frosts begin, to give myself time to get better. There was really no need for you to bring the frosts forward by so very much. Last night's -3.7 was just a fraction cool for autumn and if you do it again tomorrow (when I have to wake up at un unseemly hour to get to the dentist by 9.15) I shall be unimpressed.

Gillian



Dear everyone else

When I wake up and find it's unseasona...