PhDiaries, #7
In which I enjoy the sunshine
This week’s email is too long for some email clients - if you get cut off you can finish reading on the Substack website or app.
Monday:
Inspired by Matt Rens on Instagram, I have a “treadmill blackout” grid drawn on a sticky note on my desk: the idea is that I’m trying to complete 1 mile at each speed and incline setting. For my ability, I’ve drawn the grid with whole-number inclines from 0% to 4% and in .5 mph increments from 2.5 mph to 5 mph. I start the week with a nice chilled-out walk at 2.5 miles per hour at a 2% incline, and watch some YouTube videos while I do it.
In the evening, I head out to watch Project Hail Mary with some mates from the grad students’ board games club. My friends had enthusiastically recommended it, and I’m excited to see it but have managed to remain relatively spoiler-free - all I know going in is that it’s set in space and there’s a character that’s made out of rocks?
At times it feels like an ‘on the nose’ climate allegory, and I worry that I won’t enjoy it (I still haven’t been able to watch Don’t Look Up) but I sink into the world of the film and leave the cinema absolutely obsessed. It was life-affirming, joyful, and generally incredible. I have to mention the score too - Daniel Pemberton (also of Enola Holmes film score fame - another great one) has created a wonderful musical background to the events of the film. I immediately put the Lego version of the Project Hail Mary ship on my wish list.
Tuesday:
After an easy, boring, run on the treadmill, I head down to the basement of my apartment building, where my bike is locked up in the secure bike store. Over the winter I’ve completely neglected the fact that I have a bike for various reasons, so I give it a check over and take the battery up to my flat to put on charge for a few hours.
By the time I need to leave to head up to uni, the battery’s charged up, and I just have to put some air in the tyres (always takes more work and makes me sweatier than I think it will) before I get the free feeling of flying up the hill to the library. One of my favourite bits of kit for ‘utility cycling’ is these pannier baskets from Dutch brand Basil. They just slot onto the side of the rear rack and are super easy to load up with carrier bags, my backpack, and whatever it is I need for the day.
Our regular quiz practice lead can’t be there today, so I run ‘social quizzing’; this is something we do at Quiz Society which is essentially like a pub quiz, but not at a pub… It’s great fun reading out the questions without any idea what’s coming, and the Missing Vowels rounds he’s written (based on the show Only Connect) are Sex, Drugs, Rock, and Roles. Incredible content.
Wednesday:
It’s Earth Day! I’m a big fan of Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and I love this post she puts up. Right from the title, I’m with her. The climate crisis isn’t a technological challenge, not really - it’s a political one.
It’s also my friend’s birthday - we used to sit opposite each other at work, and honestly, we had so much fun in the office that year, I’m unsure how we got anything done. So I’m extra-entertained to open my Spotify Daylist, which puts her favourite song of all time - Toploader’s Dancing in the Moonlight - front and centre. One year for her birthday, I made a playlist that was entirely different cover versions of that song. I highly recommend doing something silly like that to make your friends smile.
Thursday:
I go looking for Animal Crossing hints (how on earth am I supposed to get thirty iron nuggets?!) and find this very funny piece on Wired: “I Am Not At All Relaxed by ‘Animal Crossing: New Horizons” - writer Cecila D’Anastasio writes that “Tom Nook is selling the means of production as a pastoral fantasy and profiting off it, too. The phrasing of the title reminds me of the classic Charlie and Lola book by Lauren Child: I Will Not Ever Never Eat A Tomato (ad - affiliate link). But in Animal Crossing land, I do eat pears, and it turns out they’ve been hindering my attempts to get iron nuggets out of rocks?!
At this rate, I will not ever never be able to give Timmy the materials he need to build a shop.
The sun is out and I break out my new Uniqlo skort for the first time, with a big denim shirt and white t-shirt. I feel cool and comfortable - except that the summer shoes I throw on chew up my heels and I have to make a detour to Boots to buy plasters. I always used to feel self-conscious the first time I wore shorts or a short skirt each spring, but wearing running shorts all year round has really helped me feel comfortable with my legs out. It is quite funny that it’s only April and I already have tan lines on my legs (note to self: must get better with SPF for running!).
Friday:
It’s got hot and sunny almost without my noticing, and I make the mistake of heading out for a run at midday. I’ve set up my Garmin to try and get a bit faster over the 5k distance over the next couple of months, before I have to start my next half-marathon training block, and today is the first proper speed workout. It’s tough and I have to take a few walk breaks, but even with those breaks I maintain a faster average pace than normal, so I’m happy with myself!
My parents are coming into town for the weekend, and we had thought about going to Pie Minister, but the weather’s so gorgeous we replace that with a walk around the harbour, followed by fish and chips. I repeat the same outfit from Thursday, with more comfortable shoes, and feel great.
Saturday:
We head out to Frome, where I find this completely insane-looking book in a charity shop. The author seems to be a legit academic and criminologist, so I imagine it will be a more convincing read than the cover makes it look - can’t wait to dig in.
I’ve never been to Frome before, and it’s gorgeous! It reminds me a bit of Lewes, in East Sussex. There’s a fantastic toy shop in what apparently used to be the library (moved to a new location, not closed, thankfully), and I have a great time looking for a present for my friend’s son’s first birthday, which is coming up soon.
I also have a fantastic browse in Hunting Raven Books, coming out with a card and coaster to send a friend, a copy of a 20th-Century classic I’ve never heard of but which comes highly recommended by Lucy Mangan (ad - affiliate link), and a phone full of pictures of books to add to my future shopping list.
We go into Bath for the afternoon, and I get very excited when I realise the Google Maps route we’re driving takes us part the Bath Uni campus. I did my undergrad degree at Bath and while I’ve been back quite a lot since, my parents haven’t! After some time in Toppings Books (well and truly breaking my no-book-buying streak…) I spend a couple of hours reading and watching the world go by in the sunshine of Parade Gardens. It’s a special treat, because until last year there was an entry fee to get into this park, unless you had a locals’ ‘Discovery Card’ - and, when I was an undergrad, I only had about a 50/50 success rate of persuading the entry booth staff member that my Bath Uni library card counted as proof of local resident status. But now it’s free for everyone to get in, and the tea and coffee kiosk was doing a roaring trade.
As the afternoon draws to a close, we head over to the Oven - for my money, the best pizzeria in the city - where we can sit outside and enjoy the start of the evening.
Sunday:
Before my parents get back on the road, we head over to Radek’s Chocolate, a family friend’s chocolate shop in Redfield/ St George’s. I have a delicious hot chocolate made with oat milk (all their chocolate is vegan, though you can get your drinks made with dairy, if you want).
I say goodbye to my parents and catch a bus back into town, where I spend the afternoon lying under cool air from a table fan and just relaxing after the busy week.
Always AI-free.