Various bits of good news

Well, the £10,000 that I won with the National Teaching Fellowship has finally been transferred to Keele, so I can start on the various activities that have been waiting for that money. I've also just been awarded £1,200 by Keele for a Teaching Innovation Project. That money will fund a collaboration with an artist to help students to engage with arts as well as science approaches to landscape. Debbie and I have now set up our deal with Routledge to get started on our new book project, and I've also just met with the commissioning editor from Blackwell-Wiley to set up the paperback reprinting of my "Glacier Science" book and a new deal to edit a new series of glaciology texts. So lots of good and exciting things going on. Then, out of the blue, I got a letter from the personnel department at Keele saying that in recognition of my "outstanding achievement" in winning the National Teaching Fellowship they are going to give me a £1,500 bonus payment! I didn't know they could do that sort of thing, but I'm not going to complain. Of course it goes down to £900 after tax, but it's still a very nice big surprice. I should try to to accomplish some more outstanding achievements. Then perhaps a nice cup of tea and a piece of cake before I watch Dr Who.