Was raining cats and dogs today.  Interesting what falls from the sky in different languages: old women with knopkerries (clubs), boats and barrels, dog poo, wheelbarrows, shoemakers’ apprentices, pipe stems, stair rods, pitchforks, elephants & giraffes, frogs, ropes, long strings of rope, halberds, nails, cobblers’ knives, youngs dogs chair legs, fire and brimstone, earth and sand, female trolls, penknives, toads’ beards, tractors, pikes, husbands, ladles, knives and forks.  In many languages it rains from buckets or bathtubs, in a couple it pisses.

In addition to the rain, and earlier today some hail, the wind is also trying to pull the roof off.  Usually I like storms, but today I was feeling “under” the weather.  I accomplished one or two small tasks, but most of it was a waste.  Oh well, you win some, you lose some.  More importantly, the good days are (almost) always great, but the bad days are sometimes terrible and sometimes not.  One just accepts that not every day is going to be a winner.

Technically, I have important work to do, but — no matter how hard I try — there is constantly a pile of to-do items on my desk.  It never goes away.  Students waiting for answers to queries, important new papers that I desperately want to read but that inevitably just be filed away never to be seen again, various pieces of admin (forms, phone calls, critical announcements of critical meetings at some critical future date), looming tasks that I need to prepare for…

Tomorrow I will try to eradicate as much of this pile as possible.  If I get anywhere near success, I’ll try to switch off my internet and focus on the important work.