We had our first Themes and Sources class today, mine on Utopian Writing. And do you know, it’s weird to be back sitting in chairs around a room with around 30 people discussing things. I’m suspicious of the way it’s presented as a novelty from lectures: no no, we’ve done this for years in school and to be honest I for one was getting quite fond of the ‘sit silently for an hour’ format of lectures. Nevertheless, it was an interesting class and obviously the balance of power is rather different from the old days of A-Level English classes. (The balance of power now being that everyone pretty much contributes equally, and no-one puts their bare feet on the desks. Holly, I’m talking to you here.)

I had a really odd bout of nostalgia this morning: for TV gameshows. And specifically, the very late 90s \ early 00s combination of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and The Weakest Link. The thing about these shows was the way literally everyone absorbed the catchphrases and so on: I’m hardly an avid fan of the gameshow genre and someone like my dad even less so, and yet still we watched. (Sure, we watched WWTBAM when someone was close to a million, and The Weakest Link because it was just before The Simpsons, but why quibble?) I’m actually slightly looking forward to being older, when everyone of my generation will get the reference to ‘phone a friend’ or whatever and the young people will look puzzled, before shaking their heads and going back to watch Big Brother: Death Row Extravaganza.

(It’s Saoirse’s fault that this happened – though Make It Up was a work of some genius and I hope one day she brings it to a wider audience.)

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