Poor little blog

Paul Cox's illustration, evoking the Summer Exhibition of 1888.
Homage to W.P. Frith's A Private View at the Royal Academy (1881)

This poor little blog started with lots of energy but has been losing steam along the way. It's been a really hectic academic year, complicated by some disagreeable departmental problems and bureaucratic delays in virtually everything. It has left me exhausted but, paradoxically, stronger. It has taught me a lot about human nature (aren't we always learning about that?) and, although I have always believed that there's something good in virtually everyone, some really strong disappointments have taught me that, with some people, it's best to keep an educated distance. You don't want to be contaminated, you know?
So, my holidays start tomorrow. I am leaving for a couple of weeks and I am taking Dickens with me. I now know I have not achieved what I intended to do when I started this blog: reading Dickens for half an hour every day until I read the complete works. However, knowing that it would be an impossible task to do that in one single year, I also wrote that I would continue with this blog until I completed the whole bunch. So, that's what I will do. During the holidays I won't have internet access, so I will write about my reading when I'm back.
Happy holidays!