Contacts
You never know who you’re going to bump into or hear from, but it pays to make conversation and keep in touch I guess. Like today after work, I met up with a friend of mine who was hosting a small rooftop party on, well, the roof of her block of flats right on the edge of the City. I couldn’t stay late but had some really fun conversations with a real variety of characters, from a discussion on Borges with a painter who lives below my friend’s flat to talking about school experiences with a young Finnish actor who just happened to be visiting. I mean, even I knew names of films he’d appeared in and I don’t know the first thing about Finnish cinema. Everyone was super nice and I even got talking future dissertation stuff with a girl who seemed equally glad to make my acquaintance. That always feels nice. The ease of getting into conversations with people in London can mask the superficiality of the relationships you make, but since you’re constantly meeting people (should you wish so) you can make really good friends here. It’s all about putting a little bit of effort and yourself into it.
I also got an email out of the blue from an old professor of mine who taught me for a year in Helsinki. He said he’d been keeping tabs on me through this blog on occasion, and congratulated me on my degree and results. That left me quite touched. This is a man who not only does top-class research and wonderful teaching, but also clearly cares about his students, both past and present. It really was good to hear from him and about some of the other people we both know.