And so it Begins (again)

I have no voice (speaking not writing) because viruses are no respecters of folks’ first weeks on their part-time PhDs. Got back from Poland the week before last, where I had to make a quick unexpected dash due to my eldest son’s nan passing away and him having to leg it back to the UK. My wee grandpeep Leyla was off nursery with a cold which I of course caught during the few sleeps I was there. Now 10 days later, I still have only a squeaky whisper where my voice usually is and a throat that feels as raw as a very,very raw thing indeed. Still, I feel loads better than I did last Tuesday – my online induction day – which I’d been looking forward to for weeks, no months, no all my whole postgraduate life, in those daydream moments when I envisaged in a far off future having the time/qualifications/talent/cash to do a PhD by Creative practice – so it was a proper bugger when the day finally FINALLY arrived and I felt like death not all that warmed up and couldn’t wait for it to bloody end.

But that was last week and now in week two despite this throat from hell I have:

my first supervisory meeting set up for next Monday

a working postal York St John library account, with two books from my huge reading list ordered and one ebook downloaded. Said books are: Barthes, R. (2002 [1977]) A Lover’s Discourse: Fragments; Alison, J. (2019) Meander, Spiral, Explode: Design and Pattern in Narrative and Barthes, R. (1989) The Rustle of Language. These are from the indicative reading list I put together when writing my proposal

a student ID card with which I can access loads of other libraries

Sconul access which means I can borrow books/have access to e-books from all UK unis

a York St John email address

access to Microsoft 365

a first rubbish draft of the first flash fiction for the novella-in-flash I will be writing as the creative aspect of my PhD by creative practice (working title) Artifact. I say first flash because it will be the first one I write, but it wont be the first in the novella

this quick rubbish blog entry to chart my progress thus far.

Will write again next week after my first supervision when hopefully I will once again be able to speak in words. In the meantime I’m not going to bang on about ICE or Trump or genocide or the climate crisis because being ill and busy makes you seriously short-sighted. Instead here’s a photo of the Polish snow (I love snow) and grumpy husband and Nolly-the- dog walking in Wells-Next-the-Sea the week before I got this lurgy, the week before my PhD first chapter wrote itself.