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| Chris is bee keeping garb |
The shadowy figure on this blog that is Chris has been working his butt off recently.
Pure academics are not employed for the obligatory 37.5 hours a week. They are employed to deliver results, and the results are research bids, academic papers and brief cases crammed to the gunnells with incomprehensible (to me) ideas and theories.
Academics cannot switch off like the rest of us do after work, they work in creative spurts, they get up in the wee small hours to thrash out a problem and they remain focused and disciplined when deep down all they want to do is to is to lie in front of the fire watching trash tv.
I sometimes wish I could do a little more to make things easier for the man I live with who has a brain the size of a planet, but I know that I can get wrapped up in the "smaller" world of pigs trotters, hen's teeth and the presence of red mite in the turkey house rather than to appreciate the rather cut throat world of University life.
So at these times when stress inducing deadlines have been lined up in his diary and nose to nipple video conferences are the format of the day..all I can do is to have a hot meal waiting for him when he eventually gets home to a warm cottage and make sure all that day to day "flotsam" is sorted out without bothering him
But I wont wear an apron
and I'll never say "Good day at the office dear?"
I'm not THAT nice(believe me!)
he should wear that round the village when the snow arrives ! he will either scare the shit out of people or be a really useful template for a snowman !
ReplyDeleteJohn, you're more thoughtful than I am, and I should take lessons from you--Last night I told Carl there was a can of soup in the cupboard for his dinner, and don't ask me he had the night before. But after nearly 30 years together, I guess if I changed he'd think something was wrong! :-)
ReplyDeleteI too live with someone who has a brain the size of a planet + severly blessed/cursed with ADD (aren't all creative types?), so I know of what you speak John!
ReplyDeleteSometimes the hardest part is living in their shadow.
I'm sure I could find you the perfect apron!
I live in his shadow academically... he lives in my shadow...chickenwise!
ReplyDeletexx
I can't believe after all that brain power he gets his relaxation by tinkering with beehives!!! That sounds to me like going from the sublime to the ridiculous (or the other way round.)
ReplyDeleteBee keeping seems to have gone very hi tech compared to the time of my youth, when a net curtain over an old boater was the in garb.
ReplyDeleteAs Chris is a Doctor of Philosophy, I wonder which particular philosophy he subscribes to - nihilism perhaps? Whereas I suspect that you probably subscribe to primitive starlingism - the ancient worship of wild starlings!
ReplyDeleteno weaver...
ReplyDeletehe does very little animal wise...that's my baby.
the pic was when we were on a "bee course" together
He looks a 'bobby dazzler' in that suit, John.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you do more than enough to allow his enormous brain to work its magic, free from the pressures of meal making and housework...
What's he working on? (or is that an official secret, Ooooo)
you know what Chris..I have very little idea what he is working on at any given moment as usually he has a load of projects being juggled at once!
ReplyDeleteI would like to think the word "polymath" applies here. I just like this word and wonder if there is such thing as a chicken polymath mmm........best refer to Stephen Fry.
ReplyDeleteI always wanted to be a polymath....
ReplyDeleteI just bullshit instead!
thanks cuby
What a dapper fellow!
ReplyDeletewell now aren't you a sweetheart John...but no apron...really now!
ReplyDeleteHehe.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you balance each other very well. :)
He looks 100% bee proof; I'd need that same suit if I kept bees.
ReplyDeleteOk...sorry in advance..but I couldn't resist it...Chris looks a honey in his bee suit.
ReplyDeleteJane x
I am sure he appreciates every thing that you do for him regardless and having a warm house and a hot meal on the table is more than enough for a lot of working folk.....
ReplyDeleteGill in Canada
Wow, you are amazing. I can only dream of the kind of support you offer your partner. Good for you!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you are the earth to his sky. Good match.
ReplyDeleteAre you sure he's bee keeping in that...they were wearing the same things when they were trying to shut down the nuclear reactor in Fukushima...anyway, I think looking for hen's teeth is quite a challenge
ReplyDeletegail.
ReplyDeletedont push it lol
I usually drive him absolutely crazy!
Sounds like a perfick combo to me. You've got the ying in your yang. Summat like that...
ReplyDeleteYour dogs in the post below look astoundingly engaging. I would be happy to take them for a wet Welsh walk this afternoon.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy your detailing of things domestic --for what, really, (thank God) is most of life made up of?
Today tagine making and soup making
and the knitting of a hat will take place chez nous.
This is the second photo I've seen here of Chris and he again has that same brilliantly shining toothy smile for the camera. Such a trooper.
ReplyDeleteA warm house, a good meal and someone who cares to come home to. What better way to recharge the batteries.
ReplyDeleteYin and Yang. You are both very lucky to have each other.
ReplyDeleteGin and Tonic waiting might be nice. xxx
ReplyDeleteAcademics have to work so darn hard these days. When I wrote a biography of Lewis Carroll I researched his life as an Oxford don quite thoroughly, and they had the cushiest time you can imagine - like those people who live in hotels. LC himself didn't much approve of cushiness so used to go on 28 mile walks and attend chapel about 10 times a week and eat almost nothing, but one needed to work quite hard in order to be uncomfortable or busy, it seems. :)
ReplyDeletejenny
ReplyDeletedidnt Lewis Carroll live in north wales for a while?
I don't believe you John...I think you are that nice but with a little hot sauce in your blood ;) I feel bad for Chris never being able to leave his work at the 'office'...I couldn't stand that. Say what we will about factory work...at least those workers get to leave their work behind when it's time to go home. I hope things settle down for him soon.
ReplyDeleteMaura X
Good on you John.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a husband and therefore red spots appear all over my forehead whenever research papers and thesis chapters are due in.
The gearbox in my car has shat itself, the dog has mysterious itchies, the kitty litter needs changing and my son has detention for not handing in his English assignment.
I wouldn't cope at all but for the fact that I get to rip around in a boat five or six times a week.
Living with a university lecturer myself, I applaud your awareness of the hectic daily reality of the job, rather than the so-called cushy number most people assume it to be ("Lucky you, three months off in the summer!" Three minutes, more like) As you say, it's not a 37½ hour job, it's results, results, results and keep'em coming! The only upside is the relatively generous salary.
ReplyDeleteBeekeeping! Relief. At first I thought it was a Hazmat suit and wondered (in spite of the post's title) what, exactly, he was a Doctor of. Do you keep bees as well?
ReplyDeleteAcademics IS a cut throat world! I'm endlessly impressed by those who navigate it for a living...
What a man.
hehe. No "good day at the office dear?" from you huh? Why am I not surprised?! I had to laugh...I tell Patrick he has a head the size of a planet, but make no mention of his brain!!
ReplyDeleteSo, will you continue with beekeeping or were you just trying out a course?
ReplyDeleteAnd I know how you feel, living with Mr. Giganto-brain, all wrapped up in deep thought instead of "it's time to muck out the chicken coop" and so on! I swear he'd hem his pants with Scotch tape were it not for me...