Ghosts, Murders and Unemployment

Man with the spirit of his deceased second wife
Originally uploaded by National Media Museum

I went into Waterstones during my lunch break yesterday, just to kill some time, and came out carrying three books: Sarah Waters' The Little Stranger (ghost story), C. J. Sansom's Dissolution (crime novel set in Thomas Cromwell's time) and Peter Ackroyd's The English Ghost. I wanted to buy this last one after reading a review last week that the English are the people on the planet to have reported the most ghost sightings. Ackroyd has put together a collection of newspaper stories, diary entries, etc, on reported ghost sightings. His introduction is worth the price alone. To me, Christmas holidays are all about ghosts and murder, so I'm pretty happy about these books.

In the evening, I went to the Royal Opera House with a colleague for their annual Firsts season. These are collections of performances - of all kinds - from young artists and companies. It's a way for the ROH to support recent graduates and for people like us to discover new talent we can commission. The one performance that really stood out for me was Ten, by Hetain Patel, which was a mixture of stand up comedy, choreography, music and a study of heritage and language... and more! It was really cool.

I chatted to my colleague about my impending contract termination (ends in the middle of January) and she confessed that it would be great for me to stay on. It's similar to what my boss has said but unfortunately I'm not allowed to apply for the new position being created until everyone in the council at risk of termination has a go. If none of them get it, I'm allowed to apply.

Onwards and upwards. Have started glancing at job listings again.