I’ve had the last couple of days free to do some actual work, as opposed to getting wrapped up in the first two Ashes test matches. Exciting stuff but the extended gap between the 2nd and 3rd tests means I have a window to get some work done!

So what shall I be doing…? Again, research design issues. I am currently working on a short paper on the Europeanisation of Whitehall. I’m trying to learn from that study and see what useful things I can take out of it for my case study. Hopefully it will help me resolve the issues of what Europeanisation is and how am I going to ‘measure’ it, what are the conditions and the signs to look for. Also I need to think about a couple of case studies for my thesis so will try and construct a timeline of the critical junctures of Portuguese foreign policy next week. That will be tricky, so I think I’ll go back to old-fashioned paper and pens and try and scribble something out.

I have been at home for the past couple of weeks but made a trip up to Newcastle to see my supervisor. However I wasn’t aware of the building work going on in the Politics building. Of course this is the time of year to do it, very sensible, but getting into and out of my office was a bit of a mission and me and my supervisor had to relocate to the cafe down the road for our meeting. Oh and the weather was awful, so much rain that Jesmond Metro station was flooding when I arrived!

I’ve also made some more contacts and am planning my fieldwork. I’m really looking forward to that and also looking forward to the new academic year. Will be nice to see some old faces again and I am looking forward to teaching. But, so I gather, I won’t be teaching royalty next year. It seems that Princess Eugenie, who is coming to Newcastle in September, will be doing English and History of Art. Shame, I would have enjoyed checking her essays for plagiarism and reporting her! Heheheh

So I better get on and get this work done. I have until Thursday next week before the Ashes distractions start again. Then, during the first week of August, I will be away on holiday (much deserved I think! OK, maybe not). My girlfriend’s family are taking us to Cornwall. So that should be really nice, I have never been to that part of the world before. Before I know it, I’ll be another year older and the 2nd year of my PhD will be upon me. But before all that the small matter of regaining the Ashes!!! Come on England!!!!!