Be brief, succinct and to the point

Write a quick entry, mainly because I haven't made one for so long.
A day off from lectures, writing yet another essay in what feels like an interminable list. I complete one and check the word count, hmmm..a bit long, just check what the upper limit was, was it - 3000 to 3500, or 3500, no more than 4000, max?
Shriek of despair: I have written '2000' at the top of the typed list of essay questions. How could this be? How could I be expected to cover Le Corbusier, his career highlights and development, the discrepancy between his ideas and buildings, referring to 4 buildings from different periods of his career, all in relation toVers une architecture, his mission statement---in 2000 words.
no, no, no....
The misunderstanding arose because in Archaeology, if 'modules' are taken at different levels, different assessments and therefore, different word limits for essays, apply and I had assumed the same applied to History of Art. Now I await the definitive word from the lecturer, but I suspect I shall have to eviscerate the poor essay and downsize it to the new acceptable short version. The sound-bite-sized essay which the new modular system requires: quick and easy to read for the lecturers, a nightmare for the writer to produce something comprehensible and reasonably comprehensive without descending to a purely schematic version.
We shall see; I do hope she hasn't gone away, this week is a reading week - no lectures in that subject....

A window of space

I am occupying the house by myself for the first time in over 20 years. It's wonderful - the offspring are both in San Francisco and I am here on my own. I hung the winter curtains up and am working my way through washing all the bedding. Already the house smells better; I am enjoying the tobacco-free air.
I put all the guitars, amps and piles of cds in his room and brought some of my books downstairs and spread them all over the kitchen table, with my files and paper.
I cleared the table where the computer sits and set it up the way I want it. I rearranged the kitchen; for one month I need not cook unless I wish to do so. I plan to eat my way through the cupboards of tinned and packet food, supplemented with fresh, very fresh, food, bought on the way home from college, but I will NOT shop like a robot every Friday afternoon, dragging home the purchases by taxi.
I have a lot of work to do, even allowing that we are not being forced to deliver essays in every module, I still have to write c.2000 words every weekend for the next month.
I'm in Heaven.