I love going to the cinema. It’s something of a spiritual experience for me (and I don’t say that lightly, as a churchgoer!). There is a certain ceremony and mindfulness in waiting in line for popcorn, finding your seat in the dark room, following the set pattern of adverts and trailers, and finally settling in … More A Cinematic Return
Recently I won a National Book Tokens competition and received an advance proof copy of a book. The book was No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy by Mark Hodkinson. I had no idea what to expect. This was exacerbated by the fact that I literally hadn’t been expecting the book in the post – I … More Book review: No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy
For his 30th birthday, family and friends clubbed together to get Nicholas a new piano. This went some way to counteract the existential crisis brought on by the inexorable passage of time! Laden with responsibility and the appropriate funds, Nicholas and a musical friend went on a quest to the Bath Piano Shop to make … More Music of the Knight
I have taken a brief hiatus from this blog to reconsider how I use it. I wasn’t enjoying trying to find a strict schedule: my thoughts refused to be marshalled that way, and I was left feeling uninspired. Then this particular passage came to me as a distraction: you’ll soon see why. Since then I … More A Rude Awakening
I don’t feel qualified to speak about anything. This is a problem in writing blog posts, in doing a degree, in having human interactions! I have no confidence in my thoughts or in my voice. I remember even at school, when the teacher asked a question, I would always wait and look around the classroom … More Putting the I in Imposter
Here is a common tale. Once upon a time, there lived a voracious little reader. Every week she and her sister would get new books out of the library. She used to read past her bedtime by the glow of the landing light – how she strained her eyes! She went through phases: an Enid … More Reviving a Bookworm
What has happened in the sixteen months between posts on this blog? Well, globally (it refuses to be ignored): a pandemic. As I write, it is exactly a year since I watched Boris Johnson’s 8 o’clock announcement of the first UK lockdown on my phone in the bath. My husband and I have been working … More Between Then and Now
I’m back! This website has been dormant for a while, but I have resurrected it with the resolve to write posts again. Why? I am going to make some commitments, based on lessons learned from previous blogging attempts: This is partially a selfish endeavour, but I hope only partially. I intend that by learning, writing … More Hello Again World
I began this blog by introducing myself and my newfound love of data science. What I didn’t do was explain the title: ‘Cryptic Meg’. ‘Meg’ is simple of course – it is a shortening of Megan, and what some people call me. ‘Cryptic’ is more complicated. The word occurred to me originally because I enjoy … More Being Cryptic
Hello world! You may recognise this greeting as the traditional first output of a new computer programme. It also serves nicely as the opening line of a new blog, especially one which will be concerned with coding, computing… and the world. To be clear – I am not a computer programme. My name is Megan … More Hello World
Cryptic Meg 