**INTERMISSION**

It's in a week today, and quantity-wise I'm pretty much on target. I have no idea about the quality of those 30 000 words though, and I've still got the small matter of sourcing a load of images to place, adapt, reference and caption yet. I've been officially deserted by my housemate who's run off to Newquay with her boyfriend for a long weekend of beer, surfing, pasties, cream teas and general merriment in the three dimensional world (but at least it's raining - ha!) and so am holed up in our tiny house with a weeks worth of ready meals which I'm supplementing with vitamin pills (and feeling more than a little like Major Tom). If I was a guy I'd have grown a beard by now. In fact, I'm taking so little care in my appearance (since I have absolutely no time or reason to venture outside) that I may actaully have grown one and not noticed.

There's a book on my shelf that I put there at the start of this thesis that was intended to be used as a key text for the evolution of the argument. I bought it in Barcelona shortly after the end of my Diploma, when Mum and I went for breakfast at the Miro museum up one of the city's ridiculously steep hills, and lugged it's excessive weight around the city for the rest of the day in the sweltering heat. Suffice to say that it's never been read and probably never will now. It's quite sad really. Actually, maybe I should just have a quick flick through...