Once you've started, you're halfway there

Recently there have been a lot of small breakthroughs in my life. Do not think about big changes; I still have not found a job, just little things as is usual in life. I must learn my proverb for life from the Morse book I am reading at the moment: Initium est dimidium fasti /Once you've started, you're halfway there. Common sense tells us this everyday, but I am a very good procastrinator, so I will 'tattoo this on my mind' anytime I have a desire to push my responsibilities into the far future.

So some good news: I got a portrait of Johann David Ruland from SOTE Archives in Budapest (Thank you again!); Ruland's pharmacy is my little obsession. Since I have not got a job yet, Nora gave me some good advice to start at a charity. So if everything goes well (that is, my referees don't send me up the river without a paddle), I start on Monday in an Oxfam bookshop1 I have already got the Health and Safety Training and Risk Assessment, which were familiar to me owing to my business studies. Today I also received my National Insurance Number which will help my work eligibility. Full steam ahead!

Since I owe to a lot to Morse, I should write a bit about him. I never heard much about him before coming to Oxford, I only saw a few minutes from the TV series which I could not really put into the usual crime stories. As far as I know there was no Hungarian translation of the Morse novels (of which there are 12 or so), but I did a bit of research and found this website, which gives hope that the works of Colin Dexter will be available in Hungarian soon. Colin Dexter is a local celebrity, he often gives speeches in pubs or community houses around Oxford. His hero, E. Morse - whose Christian name has been never revealed during the series - is a middle aged Chief Inspector in Kidlington. It is obvious from the beginning that Morse is not an everyday policeman with his vast knowledge in the humanities. Now I think that the consumption of beer at lunchtime is not so rare...

I have to make little description about the beer he drinks. It is ale always and never lager. Ale is a kind of patriotic beer more common in England, Ireland, Belgium than in any other part of Europe. Ale is sweeter and fermented faster than the lager - which we can buy in Hungary. The other beer type which I had to learn here - and of course tried as well - is cider. It is a fermented apple juice and not as sweet as I thought.

So it turns out that Morse studied at Oxford, but because of a love story he dropped out. This connection explains his knowledge, intelligence, and comfort around the colleges. And his pickiness concerning punctuation. (He is the one who used the so called 'Oxford comma' after intelligence.) All of Morse's cases take place in and around Oxford, so I can imagine all the historical buildings as possible crime scenes.

Finally, I made a 'spy photo' about the caretaker's dog, who was waiting for him in his car. (There is a leak in the washing machine so they came to fix it.) A faithful friend, isn't she?