24 december

It is an odd time of the year to be in england
The country is split in a combination of shopping frenzy (aided by the shops tantilising 11th hour sales) and shut down. As of this afternoon, everything, absolutely everything (even sainsbury’s!) will shut down for 24 hours. Then on boxing day, which is supposed to be a high holy day for these people, everyone will go shopping. All the shops are announcing their incentives to do so (“50% off from Boxing Day”) so it is an odd combination of frenzy and calm.
I am meanwhile too broke to participate in the shopping frenzy. So i will make a stock of necessary food items this afternoon in sainsburys and retreat into my house for 2 days (the first day because there will be nothing to do, the second because it will be impossible to move on the streets due to the anticipated hords). This is just as well. I have a massive paper to write, and i have not even managed to start it. There is so much background reading i must do first that it is a major task just deciding where to begin. I attacked JSTOR while in budapest, so i can skim the key reviews in order to get an idea of where i should be headed, but that only helps part way.
Such is life