Everyones a Meteorologist

The Great British public is used to the Met Office churning out mediocre predictions of warm fronts meeting cold fronts, Atlantic drifts and North winds, which is what makes our weather so predictably unpredictable while at the same time wholly unimpressive.
So when BBC's John Hammond (no relation) started announcing the arrival of a wind coming in from Russia, suddenly everyone was a self-professed meteorologist!
By the end of Saturday "a cold wind from Russia bringing patches of snow in some parts" had Chinese whispered itself into a "Siberian wind bringing twenty feet of snow ending life as we know it". I've not been able to go anywhere without hearing at least one bastardisation of this report, with each one getting further and further from the mark. Still, we British we can't be blamed for getting excited about actually knowing what our climate will do for once.

So it's snowing. Real, bountiful snow, with a sheet of brilliant white sky, winter dusted tee branches and children outside my window having snowball fights. And it's great. A fine way to see in the next month of what has started out as a really good year.
The book I'm working on has a publisher, the filming I've been doing has been great fun and I've embarked on a number of projects where my degree is finally coming in handy.
I'm teaching my friend Spanish as he has an apartment over there. It's going very well and I don't seem to totally suck as a teacher. I insisted we need to have a practical session, so we're flying out to his apartment next month- get in!
I've taken on two jobs as a translator this month. The first is translating a short film (Next Door) into Italian so it can be entered into European film festivals with subtitles. The second is as producer of another short, which will be written in Italian and casting an Italian male and female. I'm looking forward to this for two reasons. The first is it's going to be quite the challenge to develop and cast in Italian while based here in Middle England, so I'm looking forward to seeing how we manage it. The second is that I'll be working with filmmaker Joe Barcham for the first time... and, you know... he's good.
I'm preparing a proposal to do a PhD in Latin American political speech. I'm told I might well be the only person in my field- how cool is that? I've created my own academic field! I'll only be pursuing this if I can get funding and do it part time, because I don't want to sacrifice my media pursuits.

Back to the real world, I'll manage to pay January's rent with the filming I'm doing for the university this month, but how to pay February's is still a bit of a mystery. Maybe I'll write a script and send it into the BBC... just kidding!

This month will see me working on a new scene-zine, promoting and appraising all things music, art and generally cool around the area. Its first release is expected to be some time around the start of March, and will be available to pick up for free in all good bars, cafes and shops around Derby.
March will also see the return of the awesome Five Lamps Films (more here...), at a new venue and with brand new films to show. I'll be announcing more as things develop, but please watch out and spread the word.

Right! I'm off to conjugate the Italian for "chew!" into the imperative mood.