This Feels Like A Very Long Vacation

      I have been walking several miles a day and climbing an awful lot of stairs, but have been seriously missing my gym workouts. So this morning I improvised a work out in my flat using The Complete Works of William Shakespeare as a weight. How's that for a British fine arts experience?
In other news:
      On Wednesday we staged a British House of Commons style debate: Pro-monarchists vs. Abolitionists. Our professor split us up arbitrarily and served as the Speaker of the House, Sue sat in as Her Majesty. Check out this video for a sample of the style we were instructed to emulate, and you can imagine that it was a pretty rowdy two hours: House of Commons Prime Minister's Questions
      And last night I saw a performance by the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Chamber Orchestra. They played a Handel Concerto Grosso, Bach's Brandenberg Concerto No. 3, Britten's Simple Symphony, Elgar's Serenade for Strings, and Haydn's 'Trauer' Symphony. The performance was magical, with the distinct exception of the Brandenberg which the violins and violas took at a breakneck speed, leaving the continuo trailing along behind. But the Haydn was breathtaking. :)

With roomie Irene, all bundled up to go out in the snow