Yesterday (Tues 22nd): Took the exam for my degree course, marking the end of my first academic year. Although I’ve no previous exams to compare it with, I feel like I did okay, at least to get a basic pass. I get the results sometime in late July.
Answered questions on Jekyll and Hyde and the Alan Moore and Iain Sinclair graphic short stories in It’s Dark In London, with references to From Hell. Particularly pleased that I had memorized the Bible verse which mentions the founding of the first City of Man (Genesis 4:17). My only worry now is whether I properly justified the use of such tidbits. It’s so tempting to crowbar any memorized quotes  into one’s answer regardless. Ah well, it’s done now.
I’m now experiencing the strange aftermath of blankness that comes with finishing exams, not felt since I did my GCSEs in the 80s. It’s a dazed sense of ‘now what?’, made more dazed by the sunny weather. In fact, the moment I came out of college the weather suddenly changed from cold and damp to too hot and sunny, with no time spent in-between. Very apt for Jekyll and Hyde.
Celebrated in the evening with drinks at the Boogaloo, in the company of Ms Ella L. We talked about another common post-exam emotion: knowing you can get back to reading books for pleasure again. I have a reading list for the second year, but as that’s not until October, the pressure is somewhat off. First up on the pleasure pile is Clayton Littlewood’s new book, Goodbye To Soho.
Coming up for me: DJ-ing at the Last Tuesday Society on Saturday, then a trip to the Bafta Awards on Sunday, then a day out to visit my parents in Suffolk. However, as tempting as it is in London to spend one’s time idling, socialising and consuming the work of others, I do want to work on something of my own.
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In Marks and Spencer today. The forthcoming Queen’s Jubilee has meant there’s union jack branding everywhere: sandwiches, cakes, drinks. M&S are even selling a ‘Rule Britannia’Â door stop.
Tags: birkbeck
