I couldn't get an internet connection on the way home from the archive trip so I typed my entry into Word with the intention of uploading it when I gor home. However, I was so releaved to get home that I for got to do it. Here it is now. Just in time for my next visit next week.
What can I say? There can only be so much that can go wrong in a week. Well, possibly. But I haven’t reached that limit yet. I double and triple checked I had everything packed on Thursday morning before setting out for the archive. Admittedly, I did try to use my library card to access the lift instead of my room card but that was just a momentary slip, surely?
On City Square just as I was leaving the hotel there were several people dressed in superhero costumes looking like they would rather be somewhere else. Maybe it was their turn to have a bad day. They were advertising Kleenex tissues for avoiding Swine flu!
It was dry today but all up the street were the slaughtered remains of umbrellas from yesterday’s wind! Poor twisted and tangled remains that were just waiting for the right moment to turn into Zombie Umbrellas. I wonder if anyone has written the script for that movie?
Things were going great. I was getting on with the photographing and was about to start on another file when I tried to insert one of the new memory sticks I bought on Wednesday. Nope. It wasn’t going to work. I tried the other one. Nope. Not that one either! I was going to have to go back to Boots and get them exchanged. Where was the receipt? Oh yes. I had decided to take it out of my handbag and it was back at the hotel!!!.
OK. Deep breaths. What if there was a photo shop nearer the University? I could buy new sticks and return the others to Boots tomorrow. That would be a good idea and would save me the walk down to the hotel again. Of course that would be too easy. Back to the hotel. Back to Boots – where I insisted the assistant tried out the replacement sticks in my camera before I bought them! He wasn’t happy about it but I think I looked like I was about to commit murder and he was the nearest target!
I must have really pissed of a petty bureaucratic demi-daemon from Hades this week. Seriously, he has it in for me!
Thank goodness I discovered the Thai Edge. In its advertising blurb it states it is ‘arguably one of the best Thai restaurants in Britain’ and has been voted in the top 10 Asian restaurants by the Times and the Independent. For the past 7 years it has held an AA rosette. The service and the food are fantastic and not expensive. It seems to be really popular with a wide range of people too. I will definitely be eating there regularly on my trips to Leeds.
Friday. Last day in the archives. I knew I was going to be short on time to finish the last of the files I wanted but would give it my best shot. I almost made it too. Unfortunately the battery let me down again and I didn’t have time to recharge it. The last 39 documents will have to wait until the next trip.
It has been a challenging week but hopefully the photos will be OK and I can work my way through them in the next few weeks. The Special Collections at Leeds Uni is a great place to work and the staff really helpful and friendly. Sure beats Russian archives and their obligatory ‘Dmitri’ who is permanently bad tempered!
Well, I have survived another trip away from the family hearth but it will be good to get home. The train is horrendously crowded but no delays (so far). I am looking forward to one of Sean’s special risottos tonight and a chilled glass of wine...and a warm, comfortable bed! It’s not much for a weary, technologically-outwitted traveller to hope for!
Until the next travel adventure....
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