It's my first day back in the office since the Christmas / New Year break and I am a combination of raring to go and slightly filled with trepidation about just how busy the upcoming couple of months are going to be. For one thing, it is the time of the eyar when I have the most intensive teaching activity, giving two courses in semester 2 on quantum computing. It's fun, but busy, and it doesn't stop other activities, such as ongoing research projects and associated PhD and postdoc supervision. There are a couple of big grant submission deadlines coming up that I need to work hard to hit and though my external fellowship is taken into account when allocating University duties, the work needed for both fellowship and University obligations is more than one person's tasks, but I have to manage it as one person. It's fine, but I just need to be prepared for the time of year when the uneven workload bunches up!
Later this week I'm off to GANIL in France to give a talk and visit some people I work with there. I hope the winter ferry crossing is okay 😬
For a wintery picture to accompany my post, here is me and some friends on the ice rink at the Brighton Pavillion, where I went on Sunday
