No more proposals for dissertation topics

The deadline has been, the students can't neighbour anymore! What a relief. I do like the concept of the students doing that, but it is so much work. It is so much that I will have to change the procedure next year. This just consumed all my time.

There are some students who have a clear idea, and then it's not much of a burden. Occasionally, a student gets their proposal approved in one go. Sometimes you have to ask a few clarifications and then they're good to go. But there are also students who just haven't quite grasped what is needed. And some of them then start using the scattergun approach. And if they don't quite know what they want to do, they often use an awful amount of text to communicate it. Not because they have a concerted attempt at shrouding their lack of data with which to answer a clear research question in a fog of prose, but that sort of is the effect of it. 

Some students in fact just want to do a literature study, and then they might just dig out some data and say they will do statistical analysis on it in order to make it look more thorough. But if the data and the analysis are not connected to the research question, I won't give it my OK. Sometimes you can also tell that they're bluffing; sometimes the statistical analysis they claim they want to do is fundamentally impossible to perform on the data they offer.

In the end there were 35 students who sent me at least one attempt. 15 of these got their proposal approved. I'm still not entirely sure how many students I have in the cohort; the last count was 191. So 18% had a go, and 8% pulled it off. And the topics were very varied.

Next year I will put some limitations in place. I might set a maximum number of iterations students can submit. That will get rid of the scattergun approach. And I want to make sure that you can get a standard response. So far I always reply with a personalised message, but I think I will have to tell the students they might just get a standard response that says things such as "exact nature of data insufficiently specified" or "data provided insufficient to answer research question". It will be so much quicker! And I can provide an explanation on the module website of what the various responses can mean in detail.

For this year, the burden has now gone from dealing with the proposals of the own topics, to allocating everybody else at topic from the list. That is a big job as well! I hope it will be OK this year…

A sea urchin, the main character in one of the proposals. Pic by Frédéric Ducarme

Back on the hills, but was that a good idea?

I was getting withdrawal symptoms when I decided to not run for a bit to spare my sore ankle. If I don't run, I am very dependent on my commute. I have been taking roads with unnecessary verticality to get at least some kicks. I find it really hard at the moment to motivate myself to go biking in the weekend. I should just do it anyway! I have a standard route. I don't have to think too hard about it.

But why not run? The physio had said I could run with this ankle! But I was a little bit hesitant to do that. I take tendons seriously. And the first Thursday after seeing the physio I couldn't run anyway, as I needed to bake a cake. But then there was the second Thursday after seeing the physio. I was itching to run again, especially with the Hill crew!

When we set off I felt it didn't feel very good on my ankle. I was wondering if it would get better along the way; maybe I would just warm up a bit and things would get better? But that didn't really happen. Should I have bailed out? Maybe yes. But I didn't. I knew my ankle was protesting a bit, but I didn't really know how serious that was. Maybe the next morning it would be okay again.

Evening views

After the run I went home. I was tired. And the next morning I woke up and I knew that this was the crucial moment. Would my ankle be okay? And the answer was: no. It was worse than it had been after the 10k! Which I didn't expect, given that I was going full pelt during the 10k. And one does not go full pelt on Thursday. If it's steep up you can't go fast, and if it is steep down you can't go fast. And we especially seek out the steep bits. Of course you can go full speed on the short flat bits, but that would totally not be comparable with going flat out for almost 45 minutes.

I felt very old coming down stairs that Friday. The worst thing for my ankle is bending my foot up, and that is what you do if you walk down the stairs. Walking up you don't have to. 

Next Thursday I can't run, as I am otherwise engaged. I really hope that another two-week break will do my ankle some good! It's very frustrating being so old and so injury-prone. First the knees, and then the ankle. I want to get rid of this issue and just run! But I have to be sensible and play the long game. Wish me luck…

Foram practical with new team

This year the annual foraminifera practical, associated with the fieldtrip, would be quite big. We had 33 students! That is quite a lot. And there are not many people in the School who can recognise the critters. In the olden days, it had been Katrien who would help me in that session. She had covered James’s teaching in the past, which included this practical. But she had only learned to recognise the forams for that purpose, and didn't really use that knowledge for anything else.

This year, two things happened; firstly, Katrien was unavailable, and secondly, there was increased teaching contribution from a guy who was normally only involved in research: Mike. And his PhD work had involved foraminifera. Since then I had the impression he had strayed quite far away from them, but it was a lot more exposure to the critters than Katrien ever had. So I asked him if he was willing to step in.

To my surprise, he was quite keen! Normally if you ask someone to take on an additional task they are quite grumpy about it. But he was glad; he said because of his contract and its circumstances, he had felt a bit apart from everything else. Being involved in teaching was actually something he was embracing. So that's great! I have a foram buddy, and he feels part of the team. Everybody wins!

I didn't want this to get exhausting. So although we had the lab until 3 PM, I told the students to stop picking forams at 11 AM. The picking is not the hard work. The identifying is! And I always insist on every single foram identification to be checked. And that was all just Mike and me.

Quite a lot of students didn't have an awful lot of forams. But that is life! Some of the samples are even barren. And with the picking over, the identification help, plus ID checks, followed. That is hard work; as soon as you are finished with one student, you see three arms in the air from students who also want their identifications checked, but I think we did it. And we were done by approximately 1 PM. Good for me! Then I could walk out to have lunch. And then I went back to retrieve the stuff that had to go back to my office rather than to lab storage.

I think it went okay! I have not yet compiled the database. The actual practical went okay, with students not being too impatient about the suboptimal staff/student ratio. And Mike was on good form. Let's do this again next year!

A foram

Phone charging faff

The comedian Ashley Blaker suggest that parenting basically is just frantic management of phone chargers. I could imagine that there is a kernel of truth in that. We are so dependent on our mobile phones these days! And without charge, they are useless.

I wanted to charge my phone, which has a rather notoriously short battery life, and it just wouldn't play ball. The cable just didn't make contact with the phone. I tried some other cables, but that didn't work either. Now what? Would this be a cable problem or a phone problem? If it would be a cable problem it would be easily solved. If it would be the phone problem, I would need a new phone. I'm sure a charging port can be repaired, but this phone showed signs of coming towards the end of its life anyway. I've only had it for less than a year! Maybe next time I should buy a more recent model in the hope it lasts longer. But anyway. There I was.

I decided to dig out two auxiliary items: my old phone, and my powerbank. And the good news was that the old phone did let itself be charged with one of my cables. The slightly less good news was that its use was limited. I couldn’t blog or email, as I hadn’t logged in on that phone for months, and it wanted two step verification. It also wouldn’t load my WhatsApp chats. It did have a functioning Welsh dictionary and a working weather app. That was something. 

I also realised I could use the old phone for navigation. No SIM card needed for that! Except that it then needs a mobile hotspot. And that would be the old phone. Which still drains its battery. And I had to get to Minera first, and Nick later. I can’t yet drive to either on memory; let alone to the one via the other. I just about managed without having to resort to my old-fashioned road atlas! 

I then realised I could charge my phone from my powerbank. Normally, I charge the phone by plugging a classic USB into the powerbank, and I charge the powerbank by sticking a USB C cable in and plugging the other side via USB into the mains. But it turns out you can use the USB C port for both energy going in and out. I suppose everybody else already knew this. And I had a new USB C cable that did manage to make the connection to my phone charging port. So I was sort of sorted! 

It wasn’t a long-term solution, but it did the job. Until I lost track of where my powerbank was. That complicated things again.

Luckily, the corner shop just sells charging cables. Of course I had forgot to buy one the first time I went in anyway, after the old cable gave up. But then I just went in on my way to work. And the even found the powerbank again. So I was sorted again. But what a faff! Although learned a few useful things about powerbanks and mobile hotspots in the process…

All the paraphernalia! On the left the new charging cable; in the middle the old phone with an old cable that managed to charge it, and on the right the powerbank with the USB C cable…

Finally: maps

Soon I will go hiking with my Dutch friends. We had decided that this time, we would try the Peak District. None of us had been before. And it was nicely situated between Hull and Bethesda.

I figured I'd go and buy the map of the area. And I had to look on the OS website; it turned out that you need two maps for that area. So I bought them both. And also bought the map of Shrewsbury, and that is the area where Nick lives.

The maps were dispatched soon. So far so good. But then it was Evri delivering them. They have a bit of a terrible reputation. And they added to that! I got proof of delivery; a picture of someone holding the envelope with the maps in front of a door I didn't recognise at all. It certainly is not a door on my street. This happens so often! The local Facebook page is absolutely full to the brim with people saying "does anybody recognise this door? My package was delivered there but I don't recognise it". 

Not my door

I told both Evri and OS it had been misdelivered. And it basically is the responsibility of OS that they send out actually reaches its destination. So when I sent them the proof of delivery and a picture of my actual front door, they agreed that these were two entirely different doors, and just sent me a new set of maps. If they would just have sent it with Royal Mail that probably wouldn't have been necessary. The postie knows where I live! Is the other option the cheap one by any chance? Although I doubt it remains cheap if the significant percentage of whatever they sent out delivered to a completely arbitrary address, and they have to resend the order.

Either way; I have my maps now. We have a plan for the hiking trip! And I have already had a quick glance at the Shrewsbury map to see where I could go running next…

Better late than never

New mentee

Every year we academic staff are mentors to students, but there is also a mentoring system for staff. Katrien is my mentor, and a few years ago I had a lady who worked in the unit that teaches English to foreign students as a mentee. That was good! But when the year was over I went into survival mode, as then I was threatened with redundancy, and also struggled with RSI.

A while ago I was approached by the person organising these relationships. There was a lady in the new Medical School who wanted a mentor. Was I willing to take on that role? And I was.

It took a few attempts to meet up. There were some issues with misremembering the date or being called away to deal with an issue with a student. But then, after lecture I had given, we did meet. It was nice to make this lady’s acquaintance.

The Medical School is brand new. This is the first academic year that they actually have students. So this lady was quite new herself, and everything that went on in the school was happening for the first time. So everything had to be built from the ground up. That is a monumental task!

It was interesting to hear about that. The School of Ocean Sciences was founded well before I was even born. It's quite a different situation.

I didn't have the feeling I could help her with dealing with the sheet workload of having to do everything from scratch. But I did have the feeling I could give her a few pointers that would allow her to avoid making mistakes that I had made. That was quite satisfying. And she said it had been very useful to her.

It wasn't a long meeting; she had to get back to her work. I think we'll meet again in the not too distant future. It's nice to be able to make a difference to someone!

Still smelling of paint: the Medical School

Quick post-training visit to Shropshire

Minera lead mine is a 1 hr 22 min drive from my place. From Minera to where Nick lives is only 50 minutes. So I decided that if I was that far east anyway, I might as well pop by. So I did. With some navigational issues (which will be part of a different blog post), but I got there. And it was only an evening, but it was nice. And the next morning I just got up early, had a coffee and something to eat, and then I was gone again! And I was in my home office by 9 AM. Back to normal!

Near where Nick lives (taken on a different day)

Rescue training as casualty

I had missed a few trainings; the last one I had attended had been in July. There had been one during our field trip. That would have been a bit much. But now there was an all-day training on a Sunday coming, and I had indicated I would attend. It would be in the East, so quite far away, but so be it.

A few days before the training I got an email from our training officer. Was I willing to be the casualty? And I said okay. It did mean I would be quite passive, but someone has to do it. And additionally; I would have to arrive early, as I was supposed to already be in position when everybody else would arrive. Jonty, the training officer, asked me to be there at 8:45. It is an almost 1.5 hr drive to Minera Lead mine, the venue. Oh dear. But on the day I made sure my car was already loaded up with my kit. So I got up, fed myself and the cat, and set off.

Once there I was briefed on the scenario. I had been digging with one of the other team members called Tony, and a big rock had come down onto my leg. The rock would be too big to remove in one piece, so Tony had come to the surface to alert the emergency services. I had a broken tibia and fibula. And the team would have to break the rock into smaller bits to remove it from me.

Tony led Jonty and me down to the site. There we found the rock the team would have to split, a few metres from an actual dig. The 'rock' on my leg was a big red tackle bag. I been ready to wait hours for the team; I had supplies and a newspaper. But Jonty stayed with me. And the team showed up in about an hour! That was quick.

 

Me in position with the fake rock on my leg

When they were there the circus kicked into action. The first thing that happened was a casualty carer assessing me. And as we did not have communications established yet, a runner was sent out with information. And I understood that between me and the entrance, there were teams rigging all the pitches that would have to be negotiated. 

After a while, people showed up to break the rock. That did mean that the drill was not available to the people rigging. It seemed that the people rigging a bit hesitant to release it, as I would really have to be hold up in a stretcher, but that broke was not actually on my leg! But the idea of the training was that we would get practice breaking rocks, as carefully as possible. So the plug and feathers came out. I still really didn't want to think about really having a broken leg with a rock on it, and people drilling into it, and then hammering it. But there is no way of breaking a rock without some vibrations. In reality, I would just have to be drugged up to the brim. 

Plug and feathers in position 

The rock fortunately broke quite easily! And they could lift off the individual bits. So I thought they would then pack me up into a stretcher. But no! The person in charge decided that the first pitch was a bit iffy, and he didn't want the team to really have to hold a stretcher that. I was asked to climb up myself, and be put into the stretcher after that. So I did.

Things then went quite quickly. I was packed up soon, and not much later the stretcher carrying started. It is not a comfortable venue for that! But we need to be able to pull it off. We had had a call-out here only weeks ago. I hadn’t been available. 

After a while I was told to get out of the stretcher. Nice! I could move again. We then just all went to the entrance chamber. I lugged the stretcher, with help from Sharon. And I thought that was it, but then they asked me to get back in in the entrance chamber. Oh well. I first drank something, as I had been hesitant to drink much before getting into the stretcher. You don’t want to have to go to the bathroom when you’re in it! But now it wouldn’t be long. And I was thirsty. 

After my drink I went back in, and soon afterwards I was hoisted up the entrance pitch. That went well! And then we could de-rig, pack up, change and debrief.

 

 

Out the stretcher comes. Pic by NWCRO

 

And touchdown. Pic by NWCRO

When I got back to he parking lot a lady appeared who had lost her spaniel. That was sad! I hadn't seen any. And then things went slow. It seemed to take forever to get everyone back to the parking lot. I don't know why. One lady took the opportunity to unload a crate of apples she was trying to get rid off. I tried to keep an eye on all the kit as, of course, I had taken off my helmet and SRT kit when I got loaded into the stretcher, but I did want them back.

Finally we could debrief. Things had generally gone quite well! And it had been a training where we dealt with casualty care, comms, and rock breaking. Quite a lot on. And something unexpected went well during the debrief as well: suddenly a damp and scared-looking spaniel appeared out of nowhere. We figured that might be the missing one. One of the ladies in the team, who has a dog herself, produced a lead so we could keep it with us, and I suspect the lady had left her details, as two team members shuffled out of the way, and soon afterwards the lady who had enquired after her missing dog appeared. Success! And not long after that we finally could leave! It had been a long day...

Some Nantlle Ridge with Claire and Katie

Several months ago, Claire had suggested going for a walk. And we had done so, in spite of me feeling the effects of the half marathon I had run the day before. And soon after that she would move house. I said I would love to come and admire that. But then life happened, and not much happened in that direction. Until it did. She suggested another walk, and I was well up for that. It got even better than she said she would invite our new colleague Katie as well. And her dog!

We would walk in her (and Katie’s) new area: the Nantlle Valley. Or rather; starting in the valley, and making our way up. She suggested a route that did a little bit of the Nantlle Ridge. Sounded good!

We met up at Poblado Coffi. The idea was to have a coffee first, and then set off. Unfortunately, they weren't open yet! But just we decided have a coffee at Katie's then instead, the Poblado Plodders, which seriously is a running group associated with the coffee roastery, appeared, and that made the place magically open. We had a coffee and a lovely piece of cake, and a nice chat with the Plodders which show a certain overlap with the Thursday Night Hill runners, and then we were ready to set off.

Katie drove us to the starting point which was a minuscule parking space in a field. It was a beautiful day! And the area is gorgeous. The ground was wet as the previous day had been very rainy, but we didn’t mind too much. 

We first followed the bottom of the steep slope, and then diagonally ascended it. At the top of the ridge we stopped for lunch. Skipper, the dog, was not keen on stopping, but she was keen on food! And after the break we continued. 

At the summit we met a group of men who were very taken with Skipper’s charms, and happy to take a summit picture of us. In the background was an ominous cloud. And that emptied itself while we were making our way down. Oh dear! But that situation came with an amazing rainbow, as also was short-lived. We did the final miles in the sun again. 

Afterwards we went for a cup of tea at Claire’s. Her house is beautiful! But so was the weather, so we had our tea outside. The views from the garden are amazing. But then it was time to go home. I had a really early start the next day, and I wanted to be prepared for it!

I would love to also see Katie's house. And I hope both Claire and Katie will one day come and admire mine. I don't quite have the rural bliss on offer they do, but well, the river in the garden must count for something I would say!

The start of the walk

Dramatic views from the ridge

 

Summit pic

Lovely rainbow

Back to the microscope

The thing with term is that once it starts, it moves fast. Events always approach quicker than you want them too. And one of the events that was approaching me was the micropalaeontological practical associated with our fieldwork module. The students then analyse their (modern) samples for foraminifera assemblages, so they can compare them with the fossil samples. But someone has to do these fossil samples. And that someone is me. 

I also felt the need to split the samples, in order to not spend ludicrous amounts of time on them. Some samples were so big there really was no choice. And the School has such a cute sample splitter. I think it hasn’t made the blog yet, but it’s time to change that! 

The cute sample splitter

Some forams

I quite like doing some forams! It’s just that there is so much else to do. But it’s done now. Roll on the practical! With a new charming assistant. Stay tuned! 

Out in the first cake round

Last year I had made it to the semifinals! So I was all hyped up for the cake competition in the new academic year. And in the second week, it was already my turn. I had given it a lot of thought! I had already used all my favourite recipes for the competition. What should I do now? And then I remembered I had come across a cake recipe that that peanut butter crumble or something like that on top. That sounded good! I didn't remember where I had seen it, so I just googled something along the lines of ‘cake recipe peanut butter’. And came across a recipe for protein raspberry cake with peanut butter frosting. That sounded interesting!

A week before I had actually tried it out, and I quite liked it. I had left the protein out because I don't normally have that. And I also thought I wasn't going to do anything about that; who would actually want extra protein? And would it not make my cake so weird it wouldn't stand a chance? And the experiment showed that you could do it without the protein as well.

I had actually only that week realised that there is such thing as protein cake. One day the traffic lights for the bridge were not in my favour, and I decided to walk over the pavement instead. And I bumped into one of our researchers, who happened to be walking there too, and he was on his way to the gym. And he was having a snack. And when he saw me, he offered me some as well. It was some sort of cake, but I could tell it had extra protein! I thought that was quite amusing. And now I had come across a recipe myself. And I was sticking with it.

The baking did influence my ankle too: on Wednesday I had got the okay from my physiotherapist to run in spite of the issue with my peroneal tendon, even the Thursday runs, but I was a bit hesitant to work it so hard so soon. I didn't have to make the decision, as the Thursday night was now dedicated to cake baking.

When I wanted to start I realised I didn't have enough (vegan) butter so I had to pop to the shop. I felt stupid! But then I was ready. I also tried and failed to make some equivalent of pearl sugar, to give the cake a bit more texture. But otherwise all went well. I made a cake, and made the frosting. 

The next morning I put the frosting on the cake and decorated it with raspberries I had held back. And Susan came to pick it up. Of course she first came in to snuggle the cat. She wouldn't miss an opportunity like that! But then she was on her way.

The components 

Finished product

Normally, the organiser sends out an email in the morning, telling people that there will be cake, and what sort of cake it will be. But nothing came. And nothing came. And nothing came. I didn't think his heart was in the organisation; he had also not emailed me to ask me what I was baking that week! I had volunteered to the information.

When it was time I just went anyway. Susan was there, cutting the cakes. And when she was done with that she figured she needed to step in. She just sent an email out, even though it only said that there was cake, now. 

I was also thinking about a guest researcher we had visiting. I had also met him while walking across the bridge. He was going to give the seminar that day, and I knew it was his last day before he would go back to Potsdam. I figured he really deserved some cake! But I also knew he wouldn't get the email. So I decided to put a piece of each cake on a saucer and go find him. He was pleased with that. And he gave a very interesting seminar later, by the way.

A bit later the message came. The other cake had won! And deservedly so; it had been very good. And the baker was actually a friend. When I saw her over lunch she was very apologetic. But no need to be! 

I did that day have a meeting with some of the teaching staff, which includes our only vegan. I hadn't seen her that day, but she did walk into the meeting room. I told her she should immediately leg it upstairs and get some vegan cake. She doesn't get that opportunity very often! And because there had been no official email, she didn't know that one of the cakes was actually accessible to her. I was glad she was still on time!

In a way it is fun to win, of course. But having been eliminated now means I won't have to bake again. My Thursday evenings are mine again. I hope I can spend all of them running!

University in dire straits - again

British universities have been in the news for at least months. They are all targeting financially! And it isn’t difficult to guess why. 

In 2012, universities were allowed to raise tuition fees. And they all did, to the tune of £9000. But that was an excellent excuse for the government then decides they had money enough and cut down investment from that direction. And that worked for a while, but universities have not been allowed to raise the tuition fees to compensate for inflation. And you can get a lot of inflation in 12 years. Especially if it sometimes hits 11% in this crazy country.

Is £9000 really the limit? Not for foreign students! These pay a lot more. So universities are really keen to rake them in. The problem is, though, that we have had 13 years of Conservative governments who liked nothing more than keeping foreigners out. And we have a Labour government now, but not an awful lot has changed. So, surprise surprise, the foreign students aren't quite arriving in the numbers they used to. Double whammy!

One thing that the slightly less glamorous universities suffer from is that the most glamorous universities, such as Oxbridge, have just allowed more students in. And if you have the opportunity to go to such a prestigious university, you take it. But that drops the numbers at the other universities, like ours.

Then an email came around saying that vice chancellor would give all staff an update on the financial situation of the university. That sounded ominous! And on the morning of that day, an email came around to provide a summary, so people were reasonably prepared and could think of questions beforehand.

I went. The rum was absolutely packed! It was the biggest lecture room in the whole university but some people had to stand. You can tell people who were worried.

The VC and the financial head of the university took half an hour to explain the situation in a bit more detail. Then there was opportunity for questions.

So what are they takeaway messages? Situation is bad but not terminal. The university is trying hard to find savings outside cutting jobs. I suppose that means the heating will be switched off more often! You can still apply for promotion, but you don't get the incremental wage increases you normally do get. There is a voluntary redundancy scheme, but they are not planning to have compulsory redundancies.

This is the Nth period of financial trouble I have seen this university get through! So far it always came through. And so far it has always taken me with it. I think that is what will happen this time as well. But in the long run, it is clear that something structural has to change. Will this government make a change that matters in this context? Will they stop trying to keep foreigners out? Not very likely. So far the rhetoric is still all about limiting immigration Will they allow the universities to raise tuition fees? Maybe. But will that mean fewer people will show up? Maybe that too. We'll see. In the end I will still be universities. Not sure if it will be the same number and whether they will have the same size. Time will have to tell! But if anything stands out I'll report back here…

Physiotherapist again: now for ankle

It was almost becoming a habit: hot-tailing it to the physio after any race. First when my iliotibial bands couldn’t cope with the Snowdonia half marathon, then when they still couldn’t cope with the Caernarfon half marathon, and now because my ankle didn’t like any of my running since probation, and that included the Bangor 10k. 

The physio did the usual thing of asking me to stand and lift and hop and suchlike until he had an idea. Then he made me sit down and had a feel of the actual ankle. And soon he squeezed underneath the bony bit of the outside of my ankle and I yelped. Found it! It was the peroneal tendon. 

He said I could run with that. But he would give me some strengthening exercises. He also explained why it might not have complained during a race but instead the next morning.

My morning routine is now very long! I might want to consider getting up 15 minutes earlier. I still have my upper body strength exercises, core strength exercises, olde ankle exercises, old and new knee exercises, and now new ankle exercises to do. All in all that is quite a lot! And I suppose I can't complain because there are plenty of people my age who couldn't have such an ego-boosting running career, but I must say, trying to keep your body performing at that level at this age is quite a lot of work…

Annual glaciological trip

This year, I had my glaciological trip the very day after an Anglesey geology trip. And that’s ok! The weather had been great the day before, so that was promising. 

This year I had booked a demonstrator. In earlier years, it had happened that Lynda had a migraine on the day and had to pull out at the last minute. And I had David stand me up as the first aider. So I had become cautious! I had reminded David several times so chances of him not appearing had been left as small as I can make them. And if Lynda would be ill I would still have my demonstrator, who was Finley, my old MSc student. 

Everybody made it. And almost all the students were there. There was a bit of a hiccup; the coach rental company had had a bit of a brain fart and not assigned us a big enough coach. Luckily, half the university was out on a trip, so they just swapped us around with another cohort that seemed to fit into our smaller vehicle. Then we were good to go.

At Pen-y-Pass we had the usual wait for all who needed the toilet to negotiate the queues. Or rather: queue, as of course there were plenty of loos for the needs of the gents. And then we were off! 

It was the wettest when we arrived on site. Quite some waterproofs were put on. But it stayed pretty much dry from then on! 

After my spiel the students spread out in small groups, and set out to collect their measurements. And soon afterwards I went off after them. It is important to check whether they are really measuring what they should measure. If they don't, the data set gets really difficult to interpret! I only had to move one group who had got the wrong end of the mistake. And it was good I also Lynda and Finley on the case.

Notice the small groups of students scattered around

The lake level was low and there were rocks available that are often submerged

I asked Finley to collect the locations of all groups on the map. And at some point I just sat down and had my lunch. I always struggle a bit too get my food and drink in if I am responsible for a trip! This is something that is easier during the Anglesey geology trips, where I am not the person with whom the buck stops. 

After a while every group was done, and some people were getting a bit cold. So I did my epilogue a bit earlier. And then we went down back to the youth hostel. You can't phone the coach driver to come and pick us up a bit earlier from that location as there is no phone signal there, but Finley had volunteered for walking in the direction of the village, and phoning him wherever that was possible. But on the way down we came past a patch with signal. I quickly phoned the coach driver while I could! And then had to leg it towards the front to stop Finley from walking off.

I think next year I will book the coach to pick us up a bit earlier. In the worst case, you don't have a complete data set, but you would still have a usable one. And it saves students from getting cold and bored. For this year it was done again. And two days later I had the complete data set!

I hope this cohort of students will do well on the field trip report. But that is a matter November. And after two days in the field I was glad to be able to do a few days in the office. Especially with the current avalanche of dissertation topic proposals I had to deal with!

Llanddwyn in the sun

With a new academic year we get another series of field trips with the freshers. And when we can, we start with Llanddwyn. And this year we could.

There was some confusion beforehand. I had asked Dei what the logistical plan was. Two vehicles delivered to main campus he said; the big one for him and the smaller one for Jaco or me. 

Then I got an email from the SOS receptionist. A car had been delivered for me, in Menai Bridge. I was puzzled. The head of our technical staff, who books vehicles, wasn’t in, so couldn’t clarify. Was it for the upcoming glaciology trip? I went to pick up the key. The car was clearly for the Monday, when we had the Llanddwyn trip, but Dei assured me it wasn’t anything to do with that. Weird! 

When I had already left I got a message from the head of technical stuff. It was for our trip! That was weird. And he specified it was for me, not for Jaco. That annoyed me if it; that means I would have to first go to Anglesey, pick up that car, drive back to Bangor, pick up the students, and then go back to Anglesey for the field trip. Wouldn't it have been a lot more practical to allocate it to Jaco? He lives on Anglesey!

On the very day it turned out okay, though; because of my ankle problems so I had hardly been running I was having exercise withdrawal symptoms. I quite often drive to work if I have a field trip on, basically because I carry so much more if I am out in the field all day than when I am just sitting in a comfortable office, and it is difficult to fit all that into my bicycle bags, and it can also be quite exhausting to be in the field all day. But with my exercise deficiency I biked in. So having to go to Menai Bridge was actually a good thing. And Jaco had reason to shoot off as early as possible, so it was good he wasn’t involved in ferrying students around. So that turned out ok.

The forecast was great. We drove there in blazing sunshine, and that pretty much stayed with us until the end. And I had put dibs on the first outcrop. I think it’s important to rapidly bring the message across that women have scientific things to say too. Of the men it’s unlikely they’d doubt that. 

Llanddwyn seen from a pillow lava

Walking to some limestone

The melange

We talked tectonics and Ocean Plate Stratigraphy and metamorphosis and ancient life. And as usual, we ended with the amazing melange at the far end of the peninsula. 

I think it was a success! Let’s hope the other trips go as well…

More gadgets for the elderly

In the olden days, if I had a splinter, I could see it without problems. Nowadays I even struggle to see it while wearing my reading glasses. If I have one that is difficult to get out, I scrutinise it using my hand lens. But I can’t remove it while looking through the lens, as I only have two hands. And it is all correct to look at it, then trying to blindly get it out, and then looking at it again. In the end it always works, but it is not ideal. And I decided to take action. 

You can buy magnifying glasses on a stand. Then you can get the magnification hands-free! So I wanted to buy one. And I wanted to have one that fits with the aesthetic of my house. So I ordered a brass model. None of that plastic-and-LEDs nonsense! And it came. For the picture I just faked a splinter; the proof of the pudding will be a real one, that is actually embedded. I hope the magnification will be strong enough! But I think this will help…

More old buildings with Nick

We had just seen each other the previous weekend but that’s not a reason to not do it again the week after. And Nick had come up with an abbey to go and see. That sounded fab. 

I decided to come by train. Better for the environment, and I could use my time for something useful. I packed the book we use for teaching the students about the geology of Anglesey, and the course materials of my Welsh class (I had missed a class for reasons of a cave rescue committee meeting). And a novel. And I of course had my phone. 

The train journey went well! And Nick picked me up from the station. I had brought cake as I had been practicing for the cake competition. We had that first. And then we dropped off his son and headed for the abbey. 

It was Haughmond Abbey, and it was gorgeous! The church was no more than foundations, but other buildings, like the chapter house and the Abbot’s Hall, were in much better nick. 

Approaching the abbey

Eclectic stone masonry 

Ruins under blue sky 

Happy visitors

When we had seen it all we tagged on Moreton Corbet castle, as that was nearby. That was beautiful too! 

This must have been grand

After that we went home. We had a little walk to see if we could spot traces of a military camp (Roman, in all likelihood) that I had spotted on an old map in the field right next to Nick’s house. We couldn’t. It had probably been ploughed into oblivion. And then we had a beer while Nick cooked ramen. What a day! 

The next day I had a train at lunchtime, no no time for adventures. I did sneak out of the house shortly after 7 to go for a short slow run. I wanted to be careful with my ankle! But it was nice to get some fresh air and morning skies. And I did my full set of morning exercises before anyone else woke up. I brought Nick coffee in bed. And not much later we set off for Shrewsbury for brunch. We were feeling fancy! And Shrewsbury is very old and pretty. I’ll take pictures next time we’re there. 

The sun came up at the end of my run

Another successful visit! Stay tuned for more. 

Improvising darkness

It's autumn, and the Sun is low in the sky in the afternoon. And as it so happens, I have a velux window in the ceiling, which faces south. And that means that in the afternoon, the sun can shine straight onto my monitor. Obviously, that means you can't really work.

In the olden days, I had blinds I could pull down. But these broke. I told Estates; I told them twice, but they haven't responded, and it seems they are very unlikely to be willing to do anything about it. It's a sorry state the university is in!

When it had just happened, I would hang my keffiyeh from the bar with which you can open the window (with difficulty). But then Dean lent me some blackout material with fixings. There was a big sheet and two small ones. If I’m feeling optimistic I will use the small bit. Initially it’s only an upper corner of the window the sun comes through. By the time the Earth has rotated a bit more and the Sun shines past the small sheet, it may have clouded over. But when I’m feeling pessimistic I’ll use the big sheet. That makes my office look somewhat ominous. 

Small measures

When I really mean it

I don’t think Estates have any intention of fixing this. I might want to think of a more pleasant solution myself. I wonder if a colourful drape that just hangs down, rather than being stuck to the glass, would look better. It should be easy to put up and take down. I might be able to work on a sunny afternoon without making my office gloomy! Imagine that…

Linguistics inaugural lecture

I’m not quite sure why I noticed, but I did. There was an inaugural lecture announced in the Staff Bulletin. (I suppose the inaugural lectures in SOS were also advertised there.) The email with the link to the bulletin didn’t even mention which school the speaker, Marco Tamburelli, was in. But I must have looked, as otherwise I would not have known that he was a linguist, and that his lecture would be about linguistic diversity. It sounded good! I signed up. 

When everyone was seated and he had been introduced, the fresh professor started with discussing the linguistic diversity in the UK. It's bigger than I realised! And then he gave another example, from Italy, not only because, he said, he was from… a region that was currently under Italian administration, but also because it just was quite linguistically diverse. The audience assumed one of the minority languages he mentioned was his own.

He also spoke of what historically happened with languages. He said that in empires, languages generally were not under threat, because as long as you paid your tax, the authorities didn't care what language you spoke. They might want you to speak a unifying language, such as Latin in the Roman Empire, but they were not trying to make you stop speaking any other languages you might use. He said things were different in nation states, and said that when Italy was unified in more or less the shape we know it now, there was a campaign of making everyone speak what we now call Italian and nothing else. 

He also spoke of the various levels as to which people appreciate majority and minority languages. If a minority language is rated as of lower value or lower beauty, it will be under threat, as people want the best for themselves and for their children.

He didn't get much beyond that. Before I knew what was happening, he stopped. I was a bit disappointed! I would have loved to hear more. But he needed to leave time for questions, and I figured we would be booted out after an hour sharp. And that happened. There was a fair number of questions, but at 7 pm the chair called it quits.

When I walked out I said hello to Peredur, who had showed up too. And then I left. I intended to go straight home. It was late enough! But to my disappointment, so did everybody else. There wasn't even a dispenser of tea! I know the University is struggling financially, but this seemed unnecessarily stingy. Oh well. I hope the new professor wasn't too disappointed. And I'll keep an eye on such announcements. I like occasionally sticking my nose in a discipline other than my own! 

Autumn colours

 I already declared it autumn a month ago. And it sure did feel like autumn. But the trees were still green. And a month, and quite a number of evenings by the fire, later, the trees are now joining in the autumnal mood. It is beautiful! Both in my garden and on my commute. And everywhere else as well, for that matter, but these two locations matter most for me. I quite like autumn! It means bringing dry socks to work, but also beauty I'm sure I didn't fully capture in the pictures below…

View from the bedroom window 

View from the garden

View on my commute

View over the river

Cheered too soon about the cat

 I was so glad to report the cat had practically lost her bald patches! But I had cheered too soon. I started noticing they came back. And that’s sad! And it also suggests that her feud with the neighbour’s cat wasn’t quite the whole story. And I’m back to square one now!  Not sure if I’ll ever find out why exactly she does this. But it improved once; it might improve again. I just hope so… 

Barely helping in Parc y Moch

I suppose I got distracted! Before I went to the Anglesey Barracks with Nick, I actually briefly helped out with a new Parc y Moch initiative. A call had gone out to say that they intended to erect another structure, but that they needed some more hands to do it. I have hands! So I knew I couldn't stay long, but I showed up to see if I could contribute in the limited time I had.

I managed to be slightly useful! Soon after I arrived, Harri showed up with two other gentlemen, and our first task was to carry two tree trunks to the location of the structure. And that obviously is easier to do with four people than with three.

When we got to the location of the structure, I saw there were six concrete blocks sunk into the ground, with a piece of screw thread sticking out. My next job was to clean the threads with a metal brush, as the concrete had obviously got into that. And soon we had all of them so clean a nut would go all the way down. But that sort of was what I had time for. Luckily, Harri kept an eye on his phone, and said there were more people coming. I am sure they managed to put up the vertical beams! I hope to find out soon how it all turned out. I suppose my contribution was very limited, but it was better than nothing!

 

Bangor 10k 2024

I wasn't at all sure how my race would go! It was only a few weeks after having to run half the Caernarfon Half Marathon in knee supports, and a week after not running at all in the weekend (nor on Thursday) for reasons of a sore ankle. But I wanted to give it a go. Whatever was wrong with my ankle clearly wasn't particularly serious, and this race was one where I kept my 10k personal best, and where I also had won an actual medal last time. That was bronze; could I do it again? Or maybe even better than that? Worth the try, even if my ankle would hurt a bit the next day. 

Nick was coming with me. He noticed that as soon as I was in the start area I was starting to get race vibes. And I saw some acquaintances: Gilly from the club, my colleague Winnie, and Liberty, one of our students who had participated in the field trip recently. It was good to see them all! Gilly was also doing the 10k, but Winnie and Liberty were doing the half marathon, which starts at the same time.

I also wanted to go to the loo, and I thought I might be able to sneak into a university building, as the queue for the public loos was a bit long. But that didn't work. I only have out of hours access to Ocean Sciences buildings! It would've been a lot quicker to go straight into that queue. Oh well.

Then I lined up at the start. As has been my habit recently, I made sure to be somewhere near the front. Then you can start running at your own speed straight away, without being kept by the crowds. This time I didn't need it for keeping track of how many women there were in front of me as this race is an out and back; at the turning point you can check how many women there are in front of you.

I started off fairly fast, but sufficiently comfortable. And before I knew it I ran past the 1 km sign. And then the 2 km sign. This was going well! Sue we were on the bicycle bus. I know it is gently uphill. Once I would get to the turning point it would get easier. 

When I approached the turning point I started seeing runners coming the other way. But not even that many! And only one woman. She looked really fast. But when I myself then started running past everyone who came behind me I didn't spot a woman anytime soon. So it looked like I was in silver position, and would likely stay that way. Nice! That's better than bronze.

I made sure to keep my speed up, although it was clear I wasn't really challenged. Basically, all the way from the turning point to the finish, I couldn't see a runner neither in front of me nor behind me.

By MaesG, I spotted one of our students who had graduated this summer. I was sure she was there for Liberty! But she cheered for me as well. 

When I approached to finish, I first spotted a Cybi Strider I know from Welsh class who was enthusiastically cheering me on. And then I spotted Nick on the other side. I knew I had done well! I first greeted Nick, and only then thought to look at the time. It looked like I had done it within 43 minutes, so that would also be a personal best. Not bad! And my knees were fine, and my ankle was complaining a bit but not worryingly so.

I collected my finisher metal and T-shirt, and got a hug from the woman who had won gold. And when the third woman finished I sought her out to give her a hug as well. And then I just joined Nick to cheer on all the other runners. And drink some water. And update my Strava.

While we were there, the first half marathon runners were already coming in. The winner only needed 1:13:52! That is a cracking time. And I hoped they would do the prizegiving ceremony soon. I wanted to be back from that on time to cheer Winnie and Liberty on. And I didn't expect them until 1:45, but that was coming close now!

Luckily they announced the ceremony, and we got ready. At this race, this does not involve a podium. You are just called forward one by one to be given your prize. And I got called twice: once as second woman, and once as fastest woman over 45. I got two vouchers; one worth £50 and the other one £30, so I can enter two races for free. And I got two additional medals, and a jumper. And we cheered on everybody else, until they got to the male age categories, as I was nervous we would miss Winnie and Liberty. We went back to the finish. I was starting to worry we had already missed winnie, but then we saw Liberty approach. And shortly behind came Winnie! We had seen them both!

We went back to the finish area to see if we could find them, and we did. So we exchanged some sweaty hugs! But then it was time to go. 

At home I found the results; I had run 42:37, which is almost a full minute faster than my old PB. And I had come in 9th overall! Not bad for a race with 230 runners. And I had actually been the fastest person over 45, regardless of gender. So good results all around! I don't know if sacrificing a Thursday run had enabled me to do this, and I never will, but either way, the outcome was good…