My Work Spaces

At university

This is my desk on a good day. When I'm in the middle of writing an essay, there's usually no desk space to be seen.

Behind the anglepoise are some Christmas flowers in a wine bottle, along with a flag (an indication of where I study). Various Bibles, thesauruses and dictionaries, along with endless bottles of water/half-empty cups that litter the edge of the desk.

I'm a bit of a hoarder, as you can see from the things on my window sill. A vibrating smurf, a toy duck from my academic dad, Zippy, a teapot, R2D2 and juggling balls all encourage procrastination.

On most occasions, Maximus (my MacBook) occupies half of the desk whilst papers and books occupy the other half (I prefer to use good ol' pen and paper when I can). There's also a stone sculpture I carved, and Newton's Cradle (which I never get to play with because my flatmate says it disturbs her whilst she works).

At home

This desk - which I've just reclaimed from all the clutter that was on it - is not too dissimilar from my one at uni.

The watercolour painting you see is of Pluscarden Abbey, and next to it is a photo of a friend and I at Brighton that's been mounted on to a plank of wood. Nelly the elephant helps keep Maximus clean. There's also various notepads/diaries, my fountain pen and pots in the corner with paintbrushes, rulers, memory sticks - everything you can think of except for a rubber.

There never seems to be a rubber available when you need one.