We had a bit of snow last night and early this morning. The snow fell most of the day but it was very, very small. By the end of daylight there was about 2cm on the undisturbed bits of ground. It was also very cold. So cold that I wore many layers to walk the girls around the woods. So cold that I made the girls wear their coats.
The snow had another effect. It made Mirinda late for her train and extremely wary about driving in it.
We have yet to change to our winter tyres (legally this has to be done by December 1) and, in fact, we were booked to have it done tomorrow. Mirinda isn’t used to driving in the snow, ignoring the blizzard we drove through back in January. Mind you, she did have winter tyres for that experience.
Anyway, for the first time ever, Mirinda was glad to be stuck behind a red triangle driver although they did keep pulling to the side to let her pass. She happily sat behind them, driving at a comfortable 30kph. Though, of course, this meant she missed her train, meaning a bit of a wait for the next one.
She was on her way to uni and trying to remain calm. Things didn’t exactly improve once she was sat on the train as it very slowly left Vagnhärad station. It didn’t get very far when it stopped and sat for about 20 minutes. Naturally, there was an announcement but, of course, Mirinda didn’t understand much of it. Actually, the only bit she vaguely understood was that the guard had no idea how long the train would be stopped for.
It finally pulled into Stockholm Central very much behind schedule. So much behind that it almost became the next train due in. Which, of course, meant that she had to get the T-Bana rather than the bus. Mind you, this was probably better than walking on the Stockholm footpaths.
She finally made it to uni and walked into class very late. She sat down amid a few muttered greetings and took out her books and papers. Then it was time for an eight minute break. She’d only been there ten minutes. My question was: “What can you do in an eight minute break?” She didn’t know.
The class continued after the break as they discussed the Mesolithic period. I’m finding it weird that she’s now studying aspects of my archaeology degree. It’s almost like the Worlds Collide hypothesis from Seinfeld.
Last class, Mirinda was given homework. She had to read some articles then come up with three questions around each. One of the articles was written in, what we call Academic Wank. It’s when an author employs as much scholastic gobbledegook as possible, in order to make it unreadable by everyone but for fellow academics, very well versed in the subject.
There’s always too much jargon, foreign scientific terms and, generally made up words and, ALWAYS it’s incredibly boring because it’s so totally incomprehensible. We think it’s because they don’t want to share their research with anyone outside their magic circle.
Anyway, suffice it to say, she didn’t like it. Neither did others in the class. This prompted the lecturer to explain the article, almost word by word for quite a bit of the remaining time. Which was not the original plan.
Ten minutes before the end, the class was divided into groups for private discussions on all of the articles. They had ten minutes. A bit like the eight minute break, I asked what could be achieved in a ten minute discussion group. Mirinda said it was mostly concerned with not saying anything about boring articles in future otherwise they’d get a class full of dull explanation and pretentious language.
It was particularly annoying because she discovered that she could have ‘Zoomed in.’
Eventually, she was back on her way home, now concerned with how much snow had fallen and how she should drive home. She sent out frantic messages, asking advice from Nicoline and Jonas on how to drive in the prevailing conditions.
She made it home by driving slowly and carefully. I did suggest she carry a red triangle for days like today.
Having finished repeating her day for my benefit, she asked what I’d been up to. I had to confess that my day was not as exciting. I actually forgot to mention that I found a glove in a tree.
I should mention the fact that my post on the Armborst & Tulpaner concert last Saturday is slowly become one of my most read. It was up to 109 views tonight and still climbing. A big thank you to the band and, of course, to KSP who started the ball rolling.
