Guinea Graves

Taken during a wander around Leeds Burial Ground, opposite Jimmy's (the vast St.James's University Hospital) on Beckett Street. I read that 'Guinea' graves were introduced in the 1850s to allow those who could afford the guinea to be buried in a shared marked grave, thus avoiding the shame of lying uncommemorated in a pauper's unmarked grave. Since then, 180,000 people have been interred at the cemetery in some 28,000 graves. The bodies were stacked on top of each other. They dug deep.

This on a momentous day when it was announced that a woman has a share in the Nobel Prize for physics - for the first time in over 50 years. By a truly remarkable coincidence, I thought this morning of a story I've written about a frail old woman who had a long career in physics. She's in her final days and waiting on an announcement that a theory she formed fifty years before has been proved correct, with radical implications. The story has been untouched in over a year because it needs some work on its structure, as well as some serious editing. I sent it to a friend to read for some feedback. It was shortly after that the announcement was made. It was called "The Woman Who Broke The Universe" and this is a bit of dialogue extracted from the story ...

   'Mixing philosophy with physics isn’t a recommended career path. Add in that I’m a woman and you have a toxic combination. It hasn’t been easy making my way in this chosen world of mine, one dominated by men playing with the ultimate of boy toys, incredibly powerful accelerators to smash the tiniest particles to pieces, vast radio telescopes to peer deep into the very beginning of the universe. Let me ask you a question. How many Nobel Prizes for Physics do you think have been won by women?’
   ‘My history isn’t so good. When did the Nobel Prize start?’ he asks.
   ‘The first was in 1901. Since then there have been well over a hundred awarded, with over two hundred laureates. The prize is often shared.’
   ‘Okay then. I’m guessing not that many at all. Five?’
   ‘The answer is not even one. There have been just two women acknowledged in all that time, and their share doesn’t even amount to a full prize between them.’
   ‘I’m sorry,’ he says, rather lost for words.
   ‘Don’t worry. I could be having the last laugh yet.’

I guess I will have to rewrite that now. Not that I mind. The news today is a much bigger story. And I'm taking from this that I need to get on and work on my own story.