In an employment climate where it’s hard to get any suitable job, I consider myself fortunate to be a music librarian 9-5, even though it makes my extra-mural research efforts rather exhausting at times.
If I haven’t posted here much of late, it’s because my spare time has been spent working on my book manuscript, and at the same time writing a short series of lectures, a book review and a couple of conference papers. (Like buses, nothing comes along for ages and then suddenly the opportunities come in a flurry.)
I did an evening talk to a local association a week past Monday; and this weekend I’m off to the IAML(UK & Irl) Annual Study Weekend in Cardiff – with a new paper to deliver. My research was on historic Scottish song collecting, but last year I gave a paper in Dublin embracing Thomas Moore’s Irish Melodies, too. So it follows that in Cardiff I need to talk about Welsh bards. (Strange to say, I now know a huge amount more about them than I ever did while I was doing my PhD!) Still, it’s all grist to the mill – it expands my repertoire of things I feel able to speak on, and everything goes on the CV.
Looking ahead at my diary, I see I need to write another lecture next week, and the following week the final lecture, besides revising a paper for a local conference.
May is looking strangely empty. I wonder what will turn up to occupy my evenings and weekends?!
