Venice

Rather belated, but we had a long weekend in Venice. Its an excellent city, and our visit coincided with the Bienniale exhibition of contemporary art. Our hotel turned out to be about three minutes walk from both sites, so we spent one of the days looking round that and it was well worth it.

Food was very good - Corta Sconta and Il Nuevo Galeon proved to be excellent fish restaurants, and Vittorio's Trattoria was an experience! Rather disappointed with Alle Testiere, though.

The city has some amazing buildings, even the most humble parish church seems to be decorated with Grand masters, and because there are no cars its a quiet and civilised pace of life. Though the insect bites were not fun - comes of having a room so close to a canal that I could probably have reached out and touched the water!

Life continues to be busy and eventful...

First, we think we have found another church to attend, St.Columba's in Anfield. A bit further from home, but the atmosphere and worship are both good and I like the feel of the church. I'm a bit reluctant to plunge in at the deep end after recent experiences, but its good to go somewhere where people don't sidle up to you to enquire which 'side' you are on, or constantly whinge about the Vicar.

I have been asked to attend a meeting to start preliminary discussions about publishing my PhD. I already have a contract offered, but its not ideal ( though I will opt for it if theres nothing else in the pipeline) and this option would be better.

I went for an interview for a training contract at the end of last week - again, no counting chickens but it did seem to go well and it would be very much what I am looking for to add to the lecturing commitments. I like the flexibility of the part time contracts, and the interest and variety of the work.

Politics. I wonder if the Tories are about to enter the real world and select David Cameron? I think he has behaved with dignity and consistency over the drugs issue- I couldn't care less what his personal habits are, only interested in his policies. And , it has to be said, he's still a Tory, and I can't really see me ever voting for the Tories.

But, I wouldn't fear a Cameron government, and his clarity that he intends to govern according to the place we are now, not the place we were 50 years ago is encouraging, along with his good voting record on gay rights issues.

This is the Tories we are talking about, though, and I wouldn;t put it past them to elect Fox!

Looking forward to HOMOTOPIA - the LGB arts festivel in Liverpool. I haven't had a lot of input into it this year but intend to be an enthusiastic punter.
Details on http://www.homotopia.net

Everton FC....

I have not mentioned the pight of my beloved team this year - simply too depressing. But, it has to be done....

If I knew the answer, then i'd be the manager, not David Moyes. But it seems that there are three main problems

• lack of striker - or at least, effective striker who can play 4.5.1. James Beattie doesn't play in that style, and has suffered a series of niggling injuries. Marcus Bent is fast but lacks accuracy. Duncan ferguson can be brilliant, but he can just as equally be dreadful. James McFadden doesn't appear to be particularly effective as a striker for Everton, although he scores regularly for Scotland. We are not scoring goals, and that is simply why we are losing.
• small squad - with the recovery of Kroldrup and van der Meyde this may improve but we are still scratching around for player - related to this, a couple of the players look out of form (Kilbane) or simply exhausted (Cahill).
  
• we haven't ever really got over the loss of Tommy Gravesen

Its not that they have been diabolically bad, just uninspiring and overly cautious, and thats not the way to win games.

Publication

What should I do?

Still pursuing two possibilities for publishing, but I'm not overly hopeful. Attemting to get a monograph published these days which isn't about something global, meaning the possibility of US sales, appears a virtual impossibility.

I have been offered a contract from a small, specialist publisher, but I will have to make a contribution.

I think I can do some specified publicity so am tempted to take the chance, as a publication is something which I feel to be important.

At last....

More blogging - and its always like this at the beginning of the new term. Teaching is settling down quite nicely, with a fair bit of extra hours at the main place I work, a further two hours elsewhere, and the possibility of further training and research work. All takes time to come together, but things appear to be falling into place for the time being.

So...some views.

The Tory leadership. If they choose Davis, I think they really must have a death wish. Duncan Smith mk 2, and the newly found inclusivity claims do not convince. Cameron appears to be a chance worth taking, and Blair himself had little real experience other than being an opposition spokesperson when he became Labour leader.
I don't think that any leader would really convince me to vote Tory, but Cameron would at least mean I would sleep soundly if we did end up with the Tories back in power. And other than Fox, who would be a surefire disaster, even more than Davis, electorally speaking, the homophobia of previous years appears to be absent.

We have started going to another church. Still not absolutely sure its the place for us, but at least it feels as if it could be....