Article for 2013 Jan 19

Greetings from Chester, where the temperature is in a state of reflux about the melting-point of H₂O, as a result of which expanded ice crystals (known as snow) and granules of ice crystal (known as hail) are precipitating onto. No, not the solute-to-solid sort of precipitation.

The angle between my legs was also in a state of flux, because I’ve been walking. With my camera. Around Chester. Yes, again, but, this time, it had snowed, and, it was snowing, and, it’s still snowing, and that is just so cool!

So I have two hundred and fifty-two photos of chilly Chester: wintry walls, glacial gates, an arctic amphitheatre, chilly churches, a freezing Phoenix Tower, a cold canal, a frosty flyover, snowed-on schools, bitter bridges, parky parks, hail-hit homes.

I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but school’s closed today. This has given me lots of time to think about things.

Everything is icy. Is this Jack Frost’s idea of a future? Everything is white. Is this the BNP’s idea of a future? Everything is covered in water. Is this Hurricane Sandy’s idea of a future? What’s my idea of a future? Oh yes, chemistry. A certain amount of job satisfaction, a certain amount of job security, for certain a state of stasis for my brain.

But I have to stir it up again. How does this work? I enjoyed the sense of flux that the weird weather brought. Stasis? Staying in bed is a sort of stasis. So stasis should stay in bed. Let’s embrace flux instead. Let’s enjoy the luxury of fluxery! Let’s do Latin. As I like to say, I’m a Latinist at least. Latin has been in my heart since 2007. I love Latin. I should do something classy and classical with my life.

But hang on. Latin has endured for years in me and millennia in mundo. Does that not indicate stasis? Meanwhile scientific ideas are coming and going. That’s flux. I’ve been thinking about this wrongly.

I am thinking about this wrongly. It’s not just about flux and stasis. It’s actually a really simple decision. I enjoy Chemistry. I do. I enjoy Latin, but until I can want to be a teacher or museum curator, I must rule Latin out. Chemistry has jobs that interest me. There’s nothing more to say.