It’s taken me longer than I expected to finish writing this post, even though I wrote most of it on the train 11 days ago. I knew that a round trip of over 700 miles on multiple forms of public transport, right at the start of the Easter holidays, would be gruelling; and I knew … More Awards and Celebrations

It’s been a long time since I wrote a Friday post. Not by choice… pressure of work has just made it impossible to pull something together most weeks. I’ve been neglecting my emails too, so if you’ve contacted me via the website lately I do apologise – I’ll get there eventually. But right now I’m … More Weekend Reading: Out and About

This year, for #ILCD22, I’ve been to Benwell on the outskirts of Newcastle, to find out more about the mysterious Geordie god Antenociticus. You can watch the video I made, in which I say ‘Antenociticus’ many times just to prove that I can… …or you can read the transcript below. It’s followed by some useful … More International Lego Classicism Day 2022: Antenociticus the Geordie God

This week I’m preparing my efforts for International Lego Classicism Day 2022, which as usual will be on 20th February. I’ve been standing on Lego pieces a lot (I can confirm that it still hurts), and going into neighbours’ houses to rummage through their Lego boxes (do you have any idea how hard it is … More Weekend Reading: There May Be Lego Ahead

I was reminded this week that it’s two years since I was in London for the British Museum’s Troy exhibition. That was the first time I’d ever been to a British Museum exhibition. Living in the North East, the British Museum was a place I might visit if I was in London for another reason, … More Weekend Reading: Past and Future Fun

I’ve been thinking lately about why people go into academia. In part, that’s because I see a lot of people at this time of year who are at a turning point. Some have completed a Master’s Degree with me and are asking my advice about PhDs – which I find both exciting and dispiriting at … More Weekend Reading: Academic Motivations

I hope you’ve all had a lovely Christmas break! I’d love to say that I have, but unfortunately it didn’t quite work out like that! There have been various illnesses going around the family, and what with one thing and another, the Christmas holiday was a bit of a blur. I’m still trying to get … More Happy New Year!

This week – just squeezing in before the new restrictions! – I found myself back in the classroom. It’s been a while. The Open University took an institution-wide decision to move everything online right at the start of the pandemic, and our work as tutors has stayed online ever since. That wasn’t particularly troublesome, since … More Weekend Reading: Fun with Basil

This week there’s a Digital Picket going on in the UK: in solidarity with the strike action, a lot of people have been pledging not to blog, tweet or promote education-related things. So this won’t be a Classics post! Normal service will be resumed next week, I promise – but this week I thought I’d … More Weekend Reading: A Precarious Hope

This week I’ve been tinkering with my Redbubble shop, adding new work and customising some things in response to requests. So I thought I’d use this week’s post as a shameless plug for my products! For those who don’t know, I set up a Redbubble shop in order to cover the running costs of this … More Weekend Reading: Shameless Self-Promotion