Trip to London - Saturday at LSE

A day down in London for the three of us. Linda and Emma spent the day at the "Vitality Show" at Earl's Court, while I had a day at LSE working.

The difference between working at home and at LSE is something that I have been pondering on - the answer is relevant to my revision programme. Over the past term, I have often found that I have had some very good brainstorming sessions while working in the LSE library - days when I have written down several sides of ideas for development. I don't seem to be able to produce the same flood of ideas at home.

And I can still have music on at LSE (what an innovation since I was last here in the 1980s). Indeed just about everyone seems to have headphones on, either listening to music or watching things on their laptops - indeed just about everyone seems to have a laptop.

On the other hand, I can't have a drink or snacks out on my desk. Again most people seem to have drink and food hidden in their bags.

Once again I was surprised by how full the library was, given that it was a Saturday during the holidays. Most of the students were oriental, which is possibly the answer, conforming to the stereotype of the hard working Chinese. Indeed the percentage of students that are Chinese seems to be much higher than when I was here before. There were sufficient numbers of Chinese students to vote down a recent student union motion condemning China's activities in Tibet -that certainly wouldn't have happened in my day either

I mainly worked on dissertation related stuff - though I am close to deciding to not submit this in the current academic year. In fact the more I think about what to do going forward, the harder the decision becomes on a number of things. I may even defer year 2 altogether, though this depends on other work related matters.

By mid afternoon I have had enough. Time for a wander round the book shops of Charing Cross road - what few are left, Murder One having recently shut. Then caught a bus back to Earl's Court to meet Linda and Emma, who seem to have had a good time

A slightly odd day overall for me - lots to think about. Not got done perhaps as much as I might have