I started to read over last night’s blog and realized how pathetically boring it is. Unfortunately, though, I have nothing more exciting to say today. It’s been a day full of work again. I got through 85 pages of Little Dorrit today (I’m on 578! Only 200 to go… *sigh* Dickens was paid by the word…), and we both read our regular shorter quota of McEwan’s The Innocent. The reading was in addition to the regular Victorian seminar this morning (which ran over) and two hours in the library watching a film noir movie, The Naked City. That’s the second film noir this week (for the Transatlantic module), and let’s just say I’m not so much a fan….

I suppose it’s hard to write much that doesn’t have to do with work at the moment, since all I’m thinking about is reading and essays… pathetic.

But life is good, really. I like feeling like I’m getting a lot accomplished in a day. We’re planning a movie night for some time this week (perhaps Friday) to give ourselves some time off from all this working. We might even go out for dinner too, since I’m feeling all virtuous about driving to Tescos instead of shopping at the much closer (and much more civilized) Sainsburys because of the £10 off coupons we got in the mail.

So now I really sound pathetic.

It’s cold here. Really cold. I laugh at Lori when she complains, but I know it must be quite a shock for her – she’s been here before in the winter but only for a few days, and now she’s complaining of the cold “getting to her bones." To be honest, I'm really I’m feeling the shock of it too. I miss the sunshine. Although, saying that, it was one of those blue-sky days today where you peek through the blinds in the morning only to be completely deceived by the sunshine and have to run back inside to grab a scarf and thicker coat when you leave the house. I wonder how much the sunshine and clear skies contribute to the mood of a given population. It always struck me that people in Mississippi were so much more “sunny” and friendly, and now that I’m back here that has only been reinforced. I wonder to what extent the weather contributes to our stereotypical Britishness. I also tend to wonder to what extent I display this Britishness that I find myself criticizing so often lately. Perhaps I’m seeing it through an American’s eyes. Or is it that my own viewpoint has changed so much that I’m really seeing it from my own changed perspective? Perhaps America has spoiled me…

I know American television certainly has.

Lost was great tonight. Rob said he wished he was able to catch the live West Wing episode they’re doing this week and that he “missed those guys,” to which I pathetically replied, “me too!” We’ve been watching Mad About You reruns on DVD during dinnertimes.