Rae of Light

I’m big on routine.  As soon as the Christmas break was over and done with I was keen to resume my usual schedule of works. I’m always more productive when I’ve got a regular routine to follow. I’m also lucky that I’m naturally an early riser so getting the majority of my work done in the morning after a large coffee is no chore at all. I don’t even need to set my alarm. I’m sure for those who find early mornings a trial this must sound unbelievable. Perhaps what set the tone was all those 5am wake-up calls when I was a teenager training for ice skating championships. Whatever the reason, I find mornings easy. And I’ve found them increasingly easy the more I do the thing I love to do so much. So I expected this January to be no different. Of course I wasn’t counting on a bout of the flu to stop me in my tracks.  It caught me totally unawares. I felt a bit out of sorts but was eager to get on with the day to day stuff so contacted parents about resuming schedules. ...

While August saw me contemplating the benefits of coming to the UK, this month has me thinking about all the mistakes I made along the way. One which popped to mind immediately was the fact I felt it necessary to be chameleon-Rae when I was first assimilating. I can confirm it was exhausting. What this basically entailed was me being whoever I needed to be at any given moment to fit into whichever social group I was a part of at that point in time. During my A’ Levels I hung out with the sixth formers, dressed like them and tried to learn their slang. I didn’t succeed with the slang at all – my private school vocab kept invading my mouth when I least expected.  At university I tried to become a slob who stayed in bed till late in the afternoon, do as little work as possible and loiter in pubs till chuck out time so I could be invited to the lock-in.  The trouble with this scenario was I really liked doing the work except for the research part and all I ever want...