Exercise log: achievement unlocked: very mini triathlon

5K bike, 11:00. 2K rowing, 9:36. 3K treadmill, too damn long, at 24:41.

It was a gym-sponsored challenge, so there was encouragement. But when I get home I'll be nicking my mum's difene spray for my poor abused muscles, because ow.

Mass: 100.9-101.0kg, gym scales.

Shortly I am to Plato class. And then afterwards I think I will nap in the shiny shiny hub before eating my packed dinner (my mother packed me a dinner, because triathlon: I have the best parent) and going to the fancy evening lecture.

And so, onwards.

Fun? Fun.

So, today's evening lecture (by Dr. Peter Liddel of Manchester) was the opener of the WB Stanford Memorial Lecture series. Excellent lecture. But you know what I like best about the Stanford lectures?

After the first one, the Dept. always has a really nice reception. With really good food.

This year's offerings included tiny tarts with feta and relish and onion; little wrapped circles of feta and ham and tomato, the same of salmon and feta and pesto - little bites of food! - Italian salami and relish on toasted crackers; feta and pesto on crackers; really nice bite-sized brownie pieces; and tiny chocolate cups filled with cream topped with a strawberry quarter.

SO MUCH FOOD. There were plates left. But it was the BEST FOOD EVER. (Even though I wasn't actually all that hungry... So now I am so full I could explode. The Oíche Samhain feast, actually feasting.)

(Also, I met the Cypriot ambassador. HE Dr Michalis Stavrinos is a gentleman of the first water. And according to his embassy's bio for him, he writes historical novels, too.)

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The moon is gibbous and waning, and the night is chill and clear. As I walked up from the train station, mist had just begun to fall.

Farewell, autumn. I greet you, winter. Be kind to us, in the dark ends of the year.