Waiting…

Theoretically, now I’m on maternity leave and pretty much at home all day, this would be a great time to get stuck into some serious studying. However, I’m finding much more important things to do, such as making Christmas cake and washing baby clothes. Hmm. Can the pram in the hall be the enemy of creativity even if it’s not unpacked yet?

Anyway, I managed to make it to the end of the semester through a fairly heroic effort. I have an essay on Cicero and humour, which I can either write now, or leave a year; given my need for deadlines to get anything done, I’m fairly confident it’ll be the latter. However, I’ve been enjoying a bit of research in preparation, including the serendipitous discovery that Mary Beard’s Sather lectures are a) highly relevant to this very subject, and b) available on the web (the first two, at any rate). They have already revealed the fascinating fact that Erich Segal wrote not only Roman Laughter, but also the screenplay for Yellow Submarine, which I find disproportionately pleasing. Sitting quietly and listening to an entertaining lecture is about the right pace for me, at the moment.