Google search: “laundrette, Well Street, Exeter.”  nothing.  Google search: “laundrettes, exeter.”  Search “laundromats, exeter.”  Search “laundrette EX4 ___”.  Nothing. I’m trying to find the phone number of the management of the laundromat nearest my house.  I could tell that homeless people went there often because it’s unstaffed and warm, and there are signs hanging up saying … Continue reading →

Very little interesting happening over here as I’ve been housebound with my unfortunate chest cold for the past week.  But I’ve insisted that I’m going to get out of the house today, and I can at least walk as far as the Cathedral which always lifts my spirits.   Since I don’t have anything interesting … Continue reading →

Unfortunately I have very little of interest to report since my last entry on the Sunday Roast Adventure.  Mainly I’ve been working with great haste on a fieldwork summary of the work I did in the States, as well as quantifying the work I did overall.  (15 interviews with 16 participants over 20 hours, this … Continue reading →

Britain has a noble tradition known as Sunday Roast.  This is a large afternoon meal eaten after church, or in the case of me and my friends, after dragging oneself out of bed after a late Saturday night. There are two ways to have Sunday Roast: either your mum cooks it for you, or you … Continue reading →

This morning I awoke from a horrific dream.   It was my first day working in an office.  I shared a space with three other people, one of whom was overly friendly, the next had an inflated sense of seniority, and the third refused to smile at all.  All the computers had at least one … Continue reading →

This afternoon I found myself in one of my favorite cafes here in Exeter, Cafe Espresso.  It’s an especially good place to go on a Saturday afternoon for a coffee and a cake while perusing the free newspapers they provide to see which particular corner of the globe is sinking that week.  The cafe is … Continue reading →

In addition to helping out at the conference over the weekend, I also had a meeting with my supervisor.  Supervisory meetings are designed to accomplish one thing: to terrify you into actually doing some work so you won’t have to show up without something to hide behind. No, seriously, my supervisor is very supportive.   … Continue reading →

I live in a newly-built development.  Our front door is right across from a funeral home and a 7th-Day Adventist church.  I mostly use the back door, though, which opens out into a small fenced garden: gravel with a brick path, a picnic table, a potted palm tree, a pot of bamboo, a pot of … Continue reading →

Today was an absolutely beautiful day here in the West Country, as the region where I live is known.  I huffed my way up the hill to the final day of our conference, and only when I was most of the way there realized I was a half-hour early.  No matter: this gave me time … Continue reading →

Since I got back to Britain I’ve been back to my department a couple of times, but today was the first day that the building was actually full of people because of the conference we’re co-hosting, Britain and the Muslim World.  I’m involved in stewarding the conference, which basically involves sitting at the registration desk … Continue reading →