Le Corbusier's Gaze

To my left I have a photograph of Le Corbusier staring at me. Its quite ironic having him here, as the figures I write about have strived to combat the very architecture he designed.

I am sat at a long desk that spans the width of the room, under a low beam. It is over 30 degrees celcius outside and not a cloud in the sky. Yes I'm not in England. I am in a small village not far from Bezier in the south of France where for the last 7 days I've been holidaying, for want of a better word. To be honest, it has felt like a holiday. I've spent time with my family, eaten good food, drunk wine and actually read something that was nothing to do with drama.

Highlights include a trip to the medieval town of Carcassone, where apparently Robin Hood Prince of Thieves was filmed. However, that wasn't the reason we visited it. Its a truly wonderful little gem, full of narrow winding medieval paths and roads brimming with shops and restaurants. No sweeping Haussmann boulevards here, no Corbusian secularised buildings. You could get lost here and not feel worried. It was worth the trip to France alone, and made me want to see Kevin Costner attempt an english accent again.

However, a slave to academia I remain, getting up early to work on the dissertation, sporadically editing throughout the day before making necessary corrections the following morning. Its going ok. The third draft reads better than the second (sorry Ila), as I've had time to reflect, to take my head from within the clouds and acess the situation from afar. Both my parents have read my second draft and my sister, the first chapter. My brother was only interested in the pages with pictures alas, but an outside eye is an outside eye. It was quite surreal handing it over to my parents, as I've never let them read my essays since high school. My mum was interested in it and raised some interesting points. My father didn't wholly understand it, but gave me some useful tips on presentation and such (as he reads a lot of reports in his job). I am now basicaly in the polishing stages, making the essay read well, connecting all the points and remaining consistent with my grammar aswell as binding the bloody thing. I haven't been able to fit all I wanted into it, as it is only a dissertation, but hopefully it'll be enough.