2022 has been an ‘interesting’ year in all senses of the word. Although we were out of lockdown, my University still insisted on social distancing being observed in teaching rooms, at least for the first half of the year, and examinations continued to be open book assessments online.
I started the year having had a lovely Christmas break at Keele, in what I thought would be our last Christmas there (but see later for more on this). The January exams were all online, and as discussed before, marking took longer, but I managed to finish it on time. My teaching in the Spring Semester was by combination of video presentations (for my large Digital Forensics class, for which a room wasn’t available that would permit sufficient social distancing), and some face to face teaching for my Chemistry module on Quantum Chemistry and Statistical Thermodynamics. This mix of approaches had a disorientating affect which didn’t suit me, so I was glad when we reverted to all face to face teaching in the Autumn Semester.
A highlight of the year for me was being able to help organise and attend my first international conference since 2016. Eurodim2022 was held in Ghent, Belgium, and I had a great week there, presenting three talks, two posters and listening to other talks. I was also able to catch up with old friends and colleagues, including Mario and Giordano from UFS, Brazil. Ghent is a beautiful city, and of course, for me, being able to sample Belgian beer was a bonus. I have written a separate post on that.
A second highlight was the Great British Beer Festival, held for the first time since 2019, which was excellent. I’ve also written a separate post on that. We also managed to get to the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, which was as interesting and enjoyable as ever.
In 2021 we bought a house. I didn’t mention it in my review of the 2021 because there was much work needed on it before we could move in. In the course of 2022, slowly work got done (getting anything done involving the building trade is still challenging, with great demand following lockdown), but in November, we partly moved in, because having someone there is essential to getting further work done, and leaving the house empty isn’t a good idea. We moved enough to make it possible to live there; most of our things are still at Keele, and will be moved at some point in 2023. But it’s a lovely house, with individuality and quirks that suit us, and Angela put photos on Facebook which show its many features.
The Autumn Semester went, but it was truly exhausting. I was teaching right up to 16 December, and I still haven’t fully recovered at the time of writing this review. I had to cancel my registration for the Christmas Solid State Group meeting (the first to be held in person since 2019) partly because of the rail strikes (see below), but also because, after the Autumn Semester, I was simply too exhausted. This was a big deal, as I love these meetings, but all I can do is hope for better things in 2023.
A challenging feature of 2022, sadly continuing into 2023, has been rail strikes (and also strikes in other sectors, but which haven’t affected me so much). This has made travelling difficult, and as a result we had to travel by bus to and from London to be able to attend the Abba Voyage event in November (but it was worthwhile). We also had a trip to London to see Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol in December, where we dodged the rail strikes (again, see a separate post on that). One consequence of that trip was that we spent Christmas at Keele, because of better bus connections to the station on 27 December. It was nice to be here, but rather unexpected, having written (but thankfully not posted), a post on ‘Our last Christmas at Keele’, last year!
I should add, in closing, that a more positive aspect of the year has been my involvement in the local CAMRA branch, which has included Pub of the Month (and the Year) presentations, and generally being more involved in the local pub scene, as well as looking after the web site and social media.
Also in closing, having not played my trombones since early 2020, I was asked if I could play bass trombone for the Keele Philharmonic/Concert Band concert in December, and I jumped at the opportunity. It went quite well, and means I am back playing again, something I wanted to do, but the right opportunity hadn’t come along.
I am writing this post on 3rd January 2023. It’s my first day back in work, but I have been working from home, preparing for an MPhil viva tomorrow. It’s being done via Teams, again because the rail strikes, which are scheduled for almost all this week, make travelling anywhere difficult. That this is necessary illustrates the difficulties we face just now, and as I said earlier, let’s hope for better things this new year.
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