Friday Afternoon, and I’m Feeling Mischievous

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay
image by Nitish Gupta from Pixabay - woman holding LinkedIn sign

Headhunted!

I’ve had a series of phone-calls from the in-house talent team at IQVIA today. This is apparently because I am looking for clinical manager roles. I can see one tiny problem. No, more than one!

AM I?

I’m semi-retired, and geographically tied to where I am. I can’t relocate.  And whether or not I would take on more work is hardly the question, because I haven’t activated LinkedIn’s looking-for-work function. Quite apart from the elephant in the room – that job title.

They were Persistent!

I ignored the first call. Told the second and third that I hadn’t asked them to contact me. Finally, I asked the fourth caller – Amelia – why she thought I was suited for a role as clinical manager, and she said it was because of my LinkedIn profile.

Have I ever intimated that I have medical qualifications? I have not. I told Amelia very firmly to remove me from their database because I am utterly unqualified for a clinical manager role. (I’m not even entirely sure what a clinical manager does!)

However, if I get any more calls, I can’t promise that I won’t enjoy myself stringing them along and wasting a bit of their time. I’ll share my age and qualifications. I’ll tell them about my specialisms, and bring them up to date with my latest research. It’ll be most amusing – well, to me, at any rate.

After all, my insights into the history of Scottish music publishing might be exactly what is needed to cure someone’s duodenal ulcer …

On This Day in Past Summers

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

WordPress has a habit of reminding me what I posted ‘on this day’ in previous years. Today’s reminder has been quite interesting!

2019

… seems a long time ago! I was in Killin, speaking at the Clan Gregor Weekend. Sir John Macgregor Murray was an interesting historical figure whom I’d encountered in passing during my doctoral research. A decade later, I’d been invited to give a research paper about him at the Sorbonne, and it turned out that Clan Gregor was also interested in my research, so I gave an after-dinner talk there, too.

The paper eventually became a peer-reviewed article in vol.13 no.1 (2026),  pp.50-63 of the Folk Music Journal, ‘Sir John Macgregor Murray: Preserver of Highland Culture, Music and Song’.

2022

I gave a lightening paper at a HoPIN webinar. HoPIN is the History of the Printed Image Network, so my paper was probably rather unfamiliar territory for researchers more familiar with images than old sheet music.

2023

A Social History of Amateur Music-Making and Scottish National Identity: Scotland’s Printed Music, 1880-1951

I was revising my second monograph prior to submitting it to the publisher. And looking forward to taking up my Ketelbey Fellowship in the History Department at the University of St Andrews. (By the end of the fellowship, I’d be working on revisions to the book!)

2024

I had not long retired from librarianship, but now I identified as semi-retired. So for the research fellow part of me, it was full-steam-ahead on indexing the second monograph, and my ‘vacation’ was somewhat busy. I was also contemplating an emergency visit down to Norfolk – I can’t remember if I actually went that time, because there were several such crises, some resolving sooner than others.

2025

Again, my vacation was far from relaxing. I was back from a trip to Norfolk, and in Glasgow we were having a new bathroom fitted. Meanwhile, we knew that a family bereavement was very imminent. I got the sad news on the final day of the bathroom re-fit, with a houseful of plumbers and electricians around. The news and our domestic circumstances will always be combined in my memory!

2026

Down-time

It’s more like a vacation this year, I guess. It’s warm and sunny. The garden’s looking moderately tidy, and I’m not rushing to meet a deadline.  If I feel unsettled and vaguely guilty for my laziness … well, maybe I’m just out of practice!

Anyway, I know I’ll be busy enough when my holidays come to an end.

Hammer and Pliers (not habitual Research Tools)

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay
Song Gems (Scots) embossed song book cover, gold on olive green

The morning started well. I was so early arriving at the dentist that the receptionist made me a coffee, and I was back off the bus in Govan, five minutes after my Partick appointment should have started. (Don’t worry – no hammer or pliers were needed there. I just had a filling replaced. The nougat my son bought me had a lot to answer for!)

With more morning left than I anticipated, I turned to look at the proofs of my article about the Song Gems (Scots). Tweaking the abstract (still no hammer or pliers in sight), I decided I ought to look at the cover again, before using the word ‘beneath’. But there was a problem …

No Song Gems (Scots), my much-loved pride and joy.

I blamed my boxing-up and un-boxings occasioned by the rewire and redecorating projects, but only I could be blamed – no-one else was permitted near my precious research materials. Whilst I was still in a state of panic, I moved the duet piano stool to get better access to the bookshelf.

The bottom fell out of my world. Or, more correctly, out of the duet piano stool. Did I say I had time in hand? The hammer and pliers are easily accessible, but the tool-box containing nails is far less so.

The regular piano music is now back IN the piano stool; the tool-box is back under the stairs; and the prodigal Song Gems (Scots) has been found hiding in a pile of equally big, heavy books that are too tall for the allocated bookshelf. Proofs have been read, a bio written and the abstract perfected.

I could not use the word, ‘beneath’. Good thing I checked!

Shipment for a Semi-Retired Researcher

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

There’s no such thing as a typical semi-retired researcher! But my mail this week pretty much sums up my current preoccupations:  a tripod for the Zoom 5 Handy Recorder (research) and assorted double-ended knitting needles (semi-retirement sock project)! I now have all the tech I need, both for my oral history interviews, and for learning how to knit socks.

Researchwise, I’ve designated this week, The Last Week of Procrastination. I need to  get started on my interviews – no more ‘I must just …’ prevarication. Florence Nightingale’s ‘invalid’ of last week is not technically an invalid this week; I do know how my various technical options work – why, I even have a wee tripod to help me look the part! – all that remains is to start scheduling. (This is proving easier said than done, but I’m working on it …)

Who’d have thought a tripod was such dangerous tech?!

Retirement-wise, though,  I’m not quite sure where the sock-knitting fixation came from. My feet feel the cold, true. And I need something else to do other than embroidery, at times when I find myself ‘relaxing’ in front of the TV. (Let’s just park those inverted commas for now.)

Sheer Bloody-Minded Determination

But I’ve been driving myself crazy with this knitting malarky! If only I had an amenable granny sitting beside me telling me what to do next. As it is, I’ve downloaded instructions off the internet, bought a couple of books, and sworn quite a bit  … I absolutely hate being beaten by a circular needle and a variable quantity of double-ended needles.  (Manipulating these is worse than trying to hold bagpipes.*)  I can’t admit defeat to a 4-ply woollen sock, for heaven’s sake.  I’m meant to be intelligent. As my late mother said about cookery, surely anyone who can read instructions can do this thing? 

If nothing else, it’s proof that I don’t give up easily.  In the grand scheme of things,  I made a second attempt at a PhD. On this micro level, I will work out how to knit socks.

I finally (at the fourth attempt) turned a heel, and arrived at something resembling a sock. If it’s on my foot, it’s a sock, right? Even if Kitchener Stitch is a form of torture, and the sock foot is really only just long enough.

The other one of the pair will be better. And quicker.  I’m getting there.  The BBC recently showcased research proving knitting to be good for one’s mental health.  Relaxing.  Well …

Okay, it’s a ‘neat’ fit!

*Postscript. I did give up on the bagpipes. Learning whilst completing the second PhD was really not a good idea!

Spanners in the Works

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

Last year, there were spanners a-plenty. Family and domestic life presented sadness and major challenges respectively. Nonetheless, last year was amazing. My IASH Fellowship was more than a highlight  – it was a great big blazing beacon, giving me focus and purpose.

This year, we’ve had the rogue trader, in the guise of the unreliable painter and decorator. Then a succession of good guys (plasterers, windowsill-fixers, tilers …).  The round of home improvements is nearly finished now. (Let’s just get the kitchen lino replaced, then we can settle down to await the stone-masons.)

However, more challenges still remain in other quarters. There are so many spanners in the works, that it’s a blessing my work’s only a small part of my week.

I didn’t even want to knit or sew, this morning.  Until I finally decided that even if sewing didn’t raise my spirits, I would at least have a new jacket, if I just got on with it.  And in between the 8000 steps occasioned by unexpectedly role-playing Florence Nightingale, I did achieve my mission. Well, very nearly.

Here’s hoping I’ll be wearing it when I go into work on Thursday!  However, I’m still hoping I get to go to town at all. I’ve  never been what you’d call a Florence Nightingale. And I know I’m a disappointment (this comes across loud and clear!) when it comes to stroking brows and smoothing sheets.  I can handle disinfectant and laundry, but I’d never have made a nurse! Thursday is still something of an unknown quantity. Whether I’ll be Florence Nightingale or a research fellow is equally unknown.

Anyway, let’s see what the rest of the week brings.  I’m itching to get on with the research project, circumstances permitting.

Postscript

More gains than losses:- trip to town not achieved; however, recording device mastered; jacket completed Thursday evening; and invalid improving.

Reader, I Killed It

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

I thought I’d make bread for lunch. (It’s a semi-retirement day.)  The idea occurred to me too late, so I decided to try the bread-machine’s fast-bake setting.  I measured my ingredients carefully, but evidently not carefully enough.  It came out underdone: solid, squishy, and pale. Pasty – as in complexion, not the Cornish kind.

I could fix this. Into the oven it went, and then I sat down to reply to Checkatrade.  My dealings with them have been wholly positive. (More than can be said about one of their traders, but let’s not go there.) I composed one of my best replies, because I do appreciate the care they’ve taken with my complaint.

My nose alerted me to a problem. I had forgotten about the underdone loaf.  ‘Well-fired’ is a thing in Scottish bread products, admittedly.  But I’m no’ Scottish, and I can tell a burnt loaf when I smell it.

Ah, well. I sent my email, and the dead bread proved surprisingly edible. I won’t be using ‘fast-bake’ again.  (Neither will I  bake it myself from scratch – I’ll just use the regular setting!)

How to Make Life Difficult for Yourself

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

I’m not writing about scholarship today. Indeed, this is more a case of, ‘Don’t do as I do …’

  • Buy old house
  • After 30 years, learn that rewiring is needed
  • Box most household goods (this is mainly my remit) to facilitate rewiring
  • Pull a muscle in your back (ouch!)
  • Vacate premises
  • Return to scenes like this:-

Upheaval is Anathema

Now, having very elderly and neuro-divergent family members will make any upheaval twice as traumatic. It was. Keep this in mind.

  • Despite the need for redecorating next, I was told that We could not live like that, so the majority of the boxes had to be unboxed (again, my remit)  before Christmas. A painter was engaged to start after Christmas.
  • But first, I had to coordinate Christmas and pack it away again,  singlehandedly.  The pulled muscle complained.
  • And boxing up began again. (Again mainly, painfully, my remit). 
  • But this time, more of my books had to be boxed. Even for a former librarian, heaving big boxes of books about is strenuous work.
  • There were delays. And timekeeping issues. The estimated 4-5 days (this is disputed; apparently they estimated 5-6) extended to 18 immensely stressful days. Testosterone Towers took it out on me.  I’m mentally exhausted, and now the house has to be unboxed and tidied again.
  • OK, so now is a good time to go for a shingles vaccination. Only a mild reaction, but temporarily adding physical aches and tiredness to the mental draining. 

Between 4 and 10 pm yesterday, I emptied 12 boxes and cooked dinner.  Testosterone Towers can’t wait for order to be restored out of chaos.  It will happen.

In Fairness

  • Three rooms completely redecorated
  • Two rooms, hall and landings repaired

Although we had expected a couple of ceilings to be fully repainted, which weren’t, I have to say that the painter’s partial solution was masterful. The highlight of my morning today? Waking to this:-

Never was I happier to look up at a white ceiling. (Even if other parts of it are less pristine!)

I cannot think about research just yet.  I don’t need to, today or most of tomorrow. My mind is still frazzled, and there’s major tidying to do.  But hopefully a nicer environment will make for a calmer mind.

(Now, where’s the hot water bottle for my back?)

Writing a Review

We academics are good at writing reviews. I wrote a fair, but honest review of the work done. The ongoing outcome was a bit of a nightmare. Shall we just say, it was not well-received. (Some things are best left off social media.)

Suffice to say that I can recognise extortion. I spoke to Trading Standards and Checkatrade. I noticed last night that the trader is no longer affiliated to Checkatrade.

Parkinson’s Law in Reverse

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay
Many clock-faces

‘Work Expands to Fit the Time Available’?

Mr Parkinson, you’re so wrong!

Parkinson’s Law was apparently a saying coined by Cyril Parkinson in 1955. But today, I’m watching time expand to fit the work available, rather than the other way round. In our case, the work we expected to take four or five days, began at the end of one week, ran through last week and is still ongoing halfway through this present week. And I’m the site manager – but only insofar as I’m chasing up workmen and trying to keep the residents of Testosterone Towers happy.

You mean we have to keep looking at THIS?

Aged people and neuro-divergent people really do struggle with chaos and uncertainty, and there are bucketloads of chaos and uncertainty round here. It makes them uncomfortable and on edge.

Fortunately, I work part-time. The rest of my time is being spent making futile attempts to keep everything else under control. Testosterone Towers’ residents have clean, dry, ironed clothes. They can see as much carpet in our lounge as the slow progress of the work elsewhere will permit. (I can’t put things back in their rightful places whilst there are still dustsheets, plentiful dust, and ongoing work all over the place.)

The residents are fed on time (because one of the residents is comforted by timetables); and the supermarket shopping is still happening to the usual plan.  I’ve been using oven-ready meals.

What is harder for me is endeavouring not to annoy the most easily annoyed resident. As for keeping tabs on the project, my struggle is to keep a balance: enough for my efforts to be perceived as diligent, without actually annoying the working people I’d rather not offend!

I’ve booked a cleaning team for next Tuesday. But will they be able to come then? Watch this space.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Rewire, Redecorate … Research?

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay
White paint-pot and brushes on a sheet of newspaper

Rewired

Followers of this blog will recall that our Edwardian home was rewired at the end of November. ‘We’ don’t take kindly to upheaval, of which there was plenty, so I had to unpack and put back a lot of goods (including hundreds of books) afterwards  – notwithstanding the need for remedial decorating  – in order to make the place bearable for Christmas.  Note the ‘We’ and the ‘I’.

Redecorate: Magnolia and White

Today, the remedial redecorating commences (not a DIY effort), so I’ve been repacking goods all over again. I’m the youngish, averagely fit one – and I’m already knackered!  Even my FitBit agrees.  My back has only just recovered from November/December; my fingers are sore; I’ve run out of empty boxes (how, I can’t imagine); and am almost out of floor on which to stack stuff. We have too much stuff. 

I have done my employed research for the week.  Does anyone else working from home recognise this kind of thing?

‘I thought you might have started cooking dinner by now?’

‘But I work until 5 …’

And I did work. Then I cooked. Then I packed and stacked, and continued stacking and packing this morning.  The lounge looks like a library on the move –  and is now so much smaller, in terms of cubic air volume, that it’s actually perceptibly warmer with the same heater settings.

But even women who feel as though they’ve been dragged kicking and screaming back to the 1970s, against their will, have their limits. The kitchen is being decorated first, so it’s fish and chips for tea. There will be no cooking here.

Research?

I’m only contemplating research to the extent of acquiring a decent recording device this weekend! I’m starting an exciting new research project soon, and as soon as the ethical approval process is complete, I’ll be raring to go. Monday will see the Magnolia and White project going on elsewhere in the house – hopefully my own working environment will by then be spick-and-span – with me sitting enjoying remote training to ensure that the new research project goes well.

Now, what colour shall I inject into my magnolia and white dining room to make it a joyful zone in which to work …?

Image by tookapic from Pixabay

Progress! Post-Rewiring, my Desk is cleared for Research again ..

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

I’ve proof-read an article for The Magic Lantern; navigated Cambridge University Press’s article dashboard for my impending RMA Research Chronicle article; signed an ‘Ironclad’ contract; updated my Pure (institutional repository) account; signed up to a short online course in connection with next year’s research project; and attended a meeting.

It feels as though it’s been a busy morning. One could argue that it has been more administrative than actual research work, but research doesn’t get done without a secure administrative foundation, so that’s good enough for me.

Post-Rewiring?

I’d best describe my mental state as ‘fragile, but functional’! But I’m getting there.