Winter research

This past week was the first of the new semester, and we have been overloaded with work. It's usually very busy at this time of year and the staff is pushed to the limits. We had to attend some meetings and a fire safety course also. It was cold to be outside for the practical moment (we had to prove that we could handle a fire extinguisher and a fire blanket), and I really wonder who decided we needed to do that in January of all months. The weather is cruel with cold winds. It might not sound like much with 5 centigrades below zero, but the wind chill factor is amazing. I have had to dig very deep into my closets to find the knitted sweaters. I don't normally have to use such warm clothes.

We had two visits to the new storage this Monday. One group represented the shelving company, and we took the opportunity to complain about the things that don't function properly. They promised they would exchange some components (again), and they apologized for the delay (again). Sigh. The other group came from the university building department. They were just curious to see the storage with books in it. They had only seen it right at the beginning, when it was empty. The movers are working hard, and have finished moving the science journals (over 2500 meters). They are now loading a collection of Swedish fiction at the largest storage. We are actually beginning to see the end of it now.

It seems like many people I know have started on their family history, because I get all sorts of strange questions. There have been even more requests lately, and that's really fun. It means of course that I spend also the weekends at work, but who cares. The winter is a good time for research, there is not much else to do then.