Fantastic time playing in the snow on the foot of Moel Famau. Can't believe how different the weather is. Not evena frost here, but at Moel Famau we were in foot deep snow (probably the deepest I've ever seen personally) and having difficulty driving on the access road. Even needed a push once!

Daily dose of Byzantium:

From "Change in Byzantine Culture in the 11th and 12th Centuries" p56.

While there was economic growth in provincial towns during the 11th and 12th centuries, this was not accompanied by political liberation. Subjugated to the state, to the episcopate, and to the landed magnates,the urban populations did not become an independent, antifeudal political and cultural force.

I think I rather agree with this comment piece by Simon Jenkins:

http://m.guardian.co.uk/ms/p/gmg/op/sLY4AYdzQNHKuj41C1_S3Xg/view.m?id=276024&tid=120787&cat=Comment

(sorry for the mobile version, I'm on my phone):

Walking on Wirral today - the 'Dungeon' just off the Wirral Way.

Donating platelets at the moment. It's a little uncomfortable, but is something I'm very committed to. Means I'll be late home again though.

Currently on the train coming back from an EFQM workshop in Birmingham. This is something I've been interested in for some time, and have finally managed to get the funding to do. I've little interest in the assessment process. But EFQM feels like being given the instruction booklet for leadership, really insightful stuff. Of course, it help that I once worked for someone I respected who was evangelical about it.

Just finished reading Alan Harvey's thesis "Economix Expansion in the Byzantine Empire 900 to 1200". Good stuff but a little heavy. I like the genesis of a Marxist interpretation. The Byzantine state doesn't fail in the 11th century because the economy is in decline, but because the mode of production has shifted. Large landowners are more prevalent, and have less and less interest in the maintenance of a centralised state. Concessions to Venice are not weakness, but a rational facilitation of the expansion of the economy and trade. In the end, the state collapses because of these contradictions which *do* end up fatally weakening it long before the turks or crusaders arrive to finish it off.

Like I said, fascinating stuff.

Enjoyed reading the synopsis of Edward Luttwak's new book on Byzantine Grand Strategy: http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/017/131xyleq.asp?pg=1

I have read Luttwak's book on the grand strategy of the Roman empire, and I'm intrigued by the idea of the same style of analysis being made of the Byzantines. In some ways, it cuts to the core of my interest in Byzantium, which is to do with the continuity of policy making as a result of the mechanisms of the imperial administration.

So once this is released in the UK, I think you might just find this on my bookshelf.

Posting again from my Perl script. I need to post the source to this at some point - although I'm sure that it won't be useful to anyone else, it's certainly useful for me. I couldn't find anything that allowed me to do quite what this does...so that's good enough for now.

Where to start with what's happened over the last few days?

Well, first off I'm now more connected on my 'phone after signing up to an all-you-can-eat internet deal. This means I can pick up my email properly - something I've been after doing on my mobile for ages (although I don't have push email, I can still set it to collect by POP3 every 15 minutes). This means I can now ditch my Palm TX completely (a sad moment). The last thing I was using it for was to pick up the Guardian every morning using Plucker. Now I just read it on the web.

The other news is that I have been offered a job on promotion. Woo hoo! Very nervous because it will involve lots of travelling, but I'm not about to turn a promotion down. It's also shaken me up because I'll then be very close to my 'target' grade. I just never thought I'd make it this far. So very happy.

I'm on the bus again at the moment. Need to stop before I start to feel nauseous from looking at my 'phone screen too much!

This update is me testing whether the Perl script I've written to run updates to blogger is working. It's the first draft, so it will be lucky if it is!