Back to Durham

Scientific projects are like any other type of projects. They take longer than scheduled! In theory we should be finished with the North Atlantic project, but we’re not. So when Roland had to go to Durham anyway to give a seminar, we decided to meet up with all the project partners (for the last time?) to try and wrap things up. What isn’t finished yet? Why? When will it be finished? Who will write the article when all is finished? Such things. So Roland and I once again embarked on the train to Durham.

Decorative Durham

Roland’s seminar already helped getting us focussed. Giving a sea level presentation in Durham is only for the sharp: I would day the centre of UK sea level research is there, not in Plymouth. They have two high-flying sea level professors there, and we only have one. Who spent a part of his career in Durham himself! So he was met by a barrage of very intelligent questions. So much so he expressed the desire to get some simpler ones…

The first day was spent on travel and seminar; the second day was for talking business. I had spent the days before departure plotting up the latest results. And it’s starting to look good! Things are coming together. And we’re still waiting for some 14C and other dates, and we (me at least) will need some technical support on the age modelling, but then we can write up, really… quite good!

When I was in Durham anyway I popped by the grave of the Venerable Bede. I was surprised to see a bowl saying "DOG" standing right next to the sarcophagus...

And we don’t just work on the old project; the new one keeps us busy too. So the Friday was for a meeting with a specialist on amino acid dating. She can most likely date our shells and forams! Now that’s good news…

And beside all the talking shop we of course just got together for a pint and some banter. It’s always good to see our colleagues again. And they tend to introduce us to all sorts of interesting people. And this time we even took a trip down memory lane; back in my early Plymouth days we had a PhD student whose supervisor relocated to New Zealand. She went with him, and did a postdoctoral position in these regions too. But the very day we arrived in Durham so had she; in the preceding weeks she had secured herself a 2-year position in this historic town. And she came along for dinner.

The next time we’ll all meet might be in San Francisco at the end of the year…