It's been a strange old day...

Nothing of any particular note, just one of those strangely shaped days which you don't quite know where to place.

I woke this morning with a sore throat, feeling generally shivery after entertaining for 12 last night (seven from Korean, one from China, whose birthday we were celebrating in my flat, one Austrian, a German/Macedonian a Gallego and myself). The wind and rain this morning where rattling my windows and the thought of going to work in such conditions rather filled me with dread...I pulled the covers up and hoped that either the Galician weather or my throbbing throat would disappear quickly...neither of which happened before 6. I spent the day watching some video lectures and catching up with admin, certainly nothing terribly noteworthy, on this, the most depressing day of the year.

Anyway, by 7 I was feeling sufficiently fed up of being unproductive that I headed into the department and printed off some papers before heading into the library around 10. I'd never been to the main campus library and it was a rather nice surprise. I met with a friend who is revising for some Spanish exams and finds, as I do, that her concentration is honed at night when there are few distractions. We headed down to the basement level, packed with students cramming for their exams and sat at one of the banks of well lit tables next to the Japanese-styled indoor garden with a small stream running through it and paving surrounded by lush vegetation. Reminiscing of my productive days in Kyoto I can think of nothing better than this setting, away from the distraction of the world above yet in an idyllic setting with the bonus of being surrounded by books!

Anyway, it was a very useful few hours and coming home at 2 this morning I've certainly got a lot more done tonight that in the same amount of time for quite a while. I fear that my hours may just have to shift to take advantage of this tranquility, but I'll definitely give it a go. A few hours in the office in the day, a break in the afternoon and a few hours at night with nothing but pencil and paper and the sounds of a gently flowing stream to accompany me sounds like something I could make a habit of.