Protected: Week two!

Hurricane Faye has hit the town

One thing I’ve learned quickly: British weather sucks.

This week was a good one—I did a lot of walking, which I enjoyed immensely. I enjoy walking more than I enjoy taking the tube, probably because the Circle line is the single most infuriating public transport line I’ve ever been on. Every day, there are delays, just floating in the station for a few minutes every couple of stops.

As for the museum, things are changing around a bit. The general structure of the exhibit will stay mostly the same (hopefully! They need to talk to the director and his assistant to make sure it’s greenlighted, but I hope it does go through because the exhibit can’t work any other way) but we’re re-thinking the leaving-out-engineering bit. Apparently, the British government has initiatives to bolster the profile and social value of engineers, and it would be a shame to waste this opportunity since Watt is known to many as the first mechanical engineer. Despite the exhibit focusing on Watt and creative spaces, we’re just going to try to subtly mention engineering a bit more in the Watt bits. At least, mechanical, since, as aforementioned, engineering as a discipline is way too broad for an exhibit like this to handle. My work this week mostly consisted of reading books and compiling a list of modern objects (mentioned in my previous post)—if any of you are interested I will be glad to list my choices.

I did not get as much stuff done as I would have liked to this week, given an unhappy surprise the V&A museum gave me for not being open late on Wednesdays like many guidebooks say they are. But today we are walking through Hyde Park to get to our special mentor / Columbia London Alumni Club dinner. I’m wearing a really pretty dress with poppies, with a cute blazer. I’ve also taken to bringing my trenchcoat around everywhere, which doubles as a raincoat and a windbreaker—it’s really been a lifesaver. British weather is SO temperamental.

This weekend I’m off to Edinburgh to meet my old friend, Alison! Who’s engaged! We’re most definitely going up to Edinburgh Castle and going to see the Cannon. I’ve also been told that if I go to the zoo, they let the penguins out at noon and they waddle around with the public. I may just die of cuteness.

Alison also says she may take me to the coffee shop J. K. Rowling sat in to write Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Given all the talk this week I’ve sat through about ‘creative spaces’, this will be an interesting assessment!