the day started well with a trip to the archives to look at wanted posters from the 1800s - such as stolen sheep, slashed horse and the case of the missing spotted pig. then the pages of the Hue & Cry revealed deserters from His Majesty's armed forces in the napoleonic wars, including wonderfully descriptive phrases like 'marked by the smallpox' and 'wearing a velverteen waistcoat' (with leather breeches in case anyone was worried..) but after that it went rather down hill.
bumped into one of my favourite students who baldy lied to me about her attendence (not a good start)
got very little help (as usual) from the IT helpdesk - more interested in having a natter about last night's tv and how overworked they are....
then we had a long meeting in which we discussed the academic misconduct procedure with the man from the university academic misconduct procedure committee who basically said that even if we catch the little blighters red handed copying huge tracts of text from the net or each other (or even my own lectures notes) he won't really do that much about it for fear of students taking legal action..
oh well, presumably we can keep failing them if they persist in cheating. then i had to rush in my travel form.. having sent a form to get outside funding i also need a form to give me permission to go abroad from the research committee... then i need a form from the VC giving approval... then i need to request funding... then another to claim reimbursment once ive actually been... five forms soem of which are pages long just so i can attend a conference abroad and speak for 20 minutes or so.
ho hum... now im back home getting ready to go and talk to a local history group about policing before policemen.. no form no expenses just me a laptop and an hour's worth of history. hope i can get back in time to see part 2 of heroes.