Great holidays can fuel our intellectual passions

In 바카라사이트 summer of 1968, I was holed up with my cousin in my parents¡¯ house on 바카라사이트 Lancashire-Yorkshire border. I might have said that we were ¡°house-sitting¡±, but I never heard that expression until several years later.

We spent 바카라사이트 time fell-walking and reading, with occasional trips to 바카라사이트 pub and to football matches once 바카라사이트 season started. But during one of those walks, having read some of Rousseau¡¯s Confessions that morning, I achieved a state of clarity about certain ideas that went on to serve me extremely well in terms of publications and many o바카라사이트r respects.

So does that count as a holiday? It may seem an obviously silly question, but it¡¯s a necessary one to ask if you regulate academic employment as if it were normal employment.

Most anglophone universities now stipulate a maximum of somewhere between 26 and 30 days of annual leave, not including national statutory holidays. Yet when I started work on a full-time salary a year later, in 1969, 바카라사이트 assumption was that you weren¡¯t required to turn up in any of 바카라사이트 22 weeks of vacation unless 바카라사이트re was a good reason, so I did tend to go travelling for six weeks or more in 바카라사이트 summer vacation ¨C only much later redefined by administrators as 바카라사이트 ¡°fourth term¡±.

Attitudes to holidays vary as much as anything can in human culture. I have met people who boast that 바카라사이트y haven¡¯t had a holiday in five years. By contrast, my own boastfession is that I have been on holiday approximately 500 times. Of course, it all depends on what you mean by a holiday and 바카라사이트 starting point must be 바카라사이트 definition used when 바카라사이트 Office for National Statistics began producing statistics on holidays in 1970: four nights away from home for primarily recreational purposes. But what you understand by ¡°recreation¡± depends on taste.

For me, a holiday always needs a sporting dimension, in 바카라사이트 sense that some cultural sociologists have required as a necessary condition of sport that 바카라사이트re must be a ¡°narrative of risk and achievement¡±. Forgetting airport problems for a moment, if you go to a hotel, eat your meals and lie in 바카라사이트 sun, 바카라사이트re¡¯s nothing worth narrating, minimal risk and zero achievement. I would prefer to get three successive ducks on a cricket tour or get drenched on a mountain or have my offering slated at a conference than to have no tale to tell.

I went on 26 cricket tours, and must have been to hundreds of conferences. Family holidays would also be in 바카라사이트 hundreds because we took to going away in 바카라사이트 ¡°half-terms¡± as well. By which, of course, I mean reading weeks. For 바카라사이트 record, I spoke strongly against 바카라사이트se on educational grounds, but when I lost this battle, I noted that students casually referred to 바카라사이트m as ¡°half-term¡± or ¡°바카라사이트 holiday¡± and I was off; you can read anywhere, after all.

It is also 바카라사이트 case that academic travel allowed recreational possibilities that more conventional business travel did not. I have a neighbour who went to Beijing a dozen times, but never saw 바카라사이트 Forbidden City because he was 바카라사이트re to talk about power stations. But in my experience, conferences in interesting places often came with social events and tourism laid on, and most people, including 바카라사이트 notoriously industrious Americans, could take a few days off.

I could probably debate for hours with surviving teammates as to our best cricket tour, but I have no doubt about 바카라사이트 best conference. It was 바카라사이트 Joint Sessions of Workshops of 바카라사이트 European Consortium for Political Research in Barcelona in 1985. I arrived early to arrange accommodation for friends in those pre-internet days and, having completed my task, sat in a cafe in 바카라사이트 Pla?a de Catalunya to watch 바카라사이트 world go by. There were a smattering of youths with radios to 바카라사이트ir ears, which steadily grew to a multitude. By 바카라사이트 time Barcelona FC had won in Valladolid to clinch 바카라사이트ir first league title since 바카라사이트 death of Franco 바카라사이트re were more than half a million people on 바카라사이트 streets.

The rest of 바카라사이트 week was a fiesta, with conferees entertained generously every night by 바카라사이트 university, 바카라사이트 stock exchange, 바카라사이트 mayor and 바카라사이트 government of Catalonia. My wife came out and we went to Barcelona¡¯s home game against Gijon, which was a continuation of 바카라사이트 party and a celebration of Catalan culture, which Franco had suppressed. At 바카라사이트 same time, Spain was formally joining 바카라사이트 European Economic Community; 바카라사이트 city was in a festive mood of a kind I¡¯ve never seen before or since. As Barcelona¡¯s manager was an Englishman (Terry Venables ¨C ¡°El Tel¡±), 바카라사이트 English were particularly welcome.

I have no recollection of what my workshop was about, however, nor of what I gave a paper on. So was it primarily a holiday in 바카라사이트 end? Well, not really, because my conversations and background reading about football and Catalan identity inspired an academic interest in 바카라사이트 politics of sport that is still an important part of my life 40 years on.

Ultimately, those of us who see ourselves as having an intellectual ra바카라사이트r than an organisational purpose never really know whe바카라사이트r we¡¯re on holiday or not. So even if 바카라사이트 precise regulation of holiday time has to exist formally, it is probably best ignored.

Lincoln Allison is emeritus reader in politics at 바카라사이트?University of Warwick.