I am writing this blog, just as we are coming towards the festive break and I really am looking forward to a few days of quiet time with my family; December has been another busy month. At the very beginning of the month, the 1st, I participated, with colleagues from the REACH network in a one-day colloquim at Northumbria University. This was an event organised by ‘Escalate’ the Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Education and its focus was on credit-bearing CPD in academia. It was a very interesting event with lots of opportunities for networking. Then later in the month I travelled to Liverpool to participate in the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE) annual conference. This was a very large event with a wide range of papers and workshops presented. There were some good social events too, including a reception with the ‘Cheatles’ , a Beatles tribute band – well, what else would you see in Liverpool? 
As well as being at conferences, I have been doing alot of preparation for teaching in January and February, when I will be working with employment-based part-time students on a number of undergraduate modules. Consequently, my thesis has not progress greatly during the past couple of weeks, although I have been doing some more reading and planning in preparation for a good ‘onslaught’ in the New Year – ever optimistic! I am also aware, as noted in last month’s blog, I still haven’t done more work on this website….the ‘to do’ list continues to be a ‘live document’, as they say!
At home, any spare time has been geared towards planning for the festive break. We had a lovely weekend in Manchester, looking around the German Christmas market and enjoying a Tapas meal out. So the focus has been on shopping for presents, planning meals, thinking about decorations – and wondering how we will manage the challenge of putting up a Christmas Tree with baubles and decorations, with two lively 6-month old kittens charging about….
