Sent home to hike

On Wednesday my Dutch hiking friends would travel to Wales. They would get here around noon! So I had taken half the day off. And the two consecutive ones.

On the preceding Sunday I had done most of the preparations. And on Wednesday I went to work to get done what I could get done before I would head off! And it was around a quarter to eleven when suddenly my computer went 'poeink' and died. A power cut! That happens more often, but generally it doesn't last very long. I decided it was coffee time anyway so I went to the other building.

On the way there I found out what the problem was; a lorry had tried to make the rather tight bend just below my building, but hadn't managed. It had rammed an electricity pole and damaged the cables. It was rumoured the entire lorry had become live! But nobody had been injured. Good!

It looked like this would take a while. I decided to go home! I could do some last preparations before the hikers would appear. And then we would be off!

The culprit

Roelof and Micha in Wales

Roelof was a faithful participant in our yearly autumnal hikes. But this year, he decided to do things differently! He wanted to show the area to his fiance Micha. And so he did!

They would arrive the Friday before the swamp hike. I suggested we meet on Saturday, and we did. It turned out that would be a day dominated by storm Brian. Strong winds and heavy rain all day! Oh dear. I imagined a lot of huddling by the fire and drinking coffee.

I put on my hiking trousers and drove down. I had briefly wondered if I should bring a change of clothes but somehow lacked the motivation. Stupid! I had my head all filled with the much bigger hike to follow and didn't take this very seriously.

I found their stunning little converted barn in a beautiful landscape. This was Wales as it should be! Roelof had heard me coming. It was good to see him! Minutes later, Micha appeared too. We very snugly had coffee and pancakes. Then Roelof made a plan. He wanted to walk through woods today; a bit less exposed than open terrain! So we headed for the Capel Curig / Betws-y-Coed area. We plonked the car in Cae yn y Coed and started walking. The paths there are a bit confusing, especially in combination with the map, but the surroundings were lovely. It was nice! And wet.

Soon I regretted a bit I wasn't wearing waterproof trousers. But what can one do! I embraced the wetness. And the autumn colours were lovely.

 A very autumnal walk

After a while we got to Pentre Du. We crossed the road, crossed the Miners' bridge of which I was slightly embarrassed I had never visited it before. It was beautiful! And we then followed the swollen river upstream. We passed Swallow Falls; normally you see separate streams coming down the rocks. Now it was one big white churning mass. Then we went on.

 The Miners' bridge! Notice Roelof staring into the water.

When the path left the woods it also left dry land. Oh dear! It normally runs close to the river, but now it was in it. Roelof suggested we just walk through the fields; farmers would understand. I was skeptical. And indeed, within seconds an angry woman came out of a farmhouse and yelled at us. We found a compromise; we walked over the wall between river and field.

 

Roelof finds the path funny

We then had to do some wading and then we reached our intermediate destination; Ty Hyll. We had visited it before, two years ago! We revived ourselves with hot chocolate, coffee, and baked goods. Nice! Then we went back to the car.

On the way back we popped by a shop. Then we went back to the cottage to try to dry up a bit. We tried the wood burner but it was a bit temperamental. Roelof and Micha put on dry clothes and I just set out to hover above, and hug, as many heat-generating units I could find. It did get better!

We went out for dinner. We chose the Heights. I had only been there for my ill-fated fell race! Time to give it another chance. It was a bit busy as it was Saturday night but we found a table. It was a rather local place! When I went to get drinks I chose to order in Welsh as people looked at me funnily. I think I had 'foreigner' written on my forehead. Yes, but a local one!

After food (of varying quality; mine was fine!) it was time to call it a day. I had a hike to sort out! We said goodbye. They had a much drier day (I know, not hard) to look forward to!

It was really nice to see them! Although we will miss Roelof during the swamp hike. I hope they have a lovely week in Wales!

The university makes a plan

It's almost been two years! That the university has a financial problem, and is trying to sort things out. Is it doing that wisely? Well, one could discuss that. But it seems it now has made a plan of how to re-arrange things so as to save enough money to be sustainable in the future. The plans are now published and open for consultation.

When I had a look at what's most interesting for me: the academic staff in Ocean Sciences, I noticed there were more Teaching and Scholarship lecturers on the list than we currently have. That is very interesting! One of them is even a 'lecturer in Earth Science'. That sounds extra interesting. I had a small chat with our Head of School; he confirmed that indeed he was trying to make that happen. There were devils in the details, of course; this specific lecturer was only listed as lasting, well, for the duration of my current contract. But this is a long term plan! No use putting almost-gone people like me on it. Hopefully that caveat will be lifted. We will have to wait for the consultation period to be over, and the university then publishing a final plan. And then we'll see! Maybe I have a chance on a future here after all!

Wouldn't really mind staying in this area for a bit longer!

New assignment: how it went

My students did the new assessment! And how did they do? They did well! All who did it on time (several couldn't be asked and therefore will get a 40% for being late, or a 0% if they are more than a week late) passed. And most with an A!

It was easy to get the data on who got which got what question right, but with the MCQ questions, it wasn't easy to make an overview of who had answered what. And I found it important to see what people had answered! Only then you can evaluate how they did, and give appropriate feedback.

With all these A's, were my questions so easy? No, those of my colleague Tom were! His were done almost flawlessly. Mine were not done anywhere as well. But that was on purpose; Tom just wanted the students to engage and already think about glaciology-related stuff even before we mentioned it in the lectures. I wanted them to be very specific about finding data in literature. That's harder!

So what did I try to make them contemplate? I sometimes took a statement from literature, and then changed it a bit; could the students find the unaltered statement? I sometimes gave two values for a certain parameter from two different sources, and then asked if they disagreed, and if not, then why? They could then choose between: the measuring period was different, the measuring area was different, the method was different, that sort of stuff. They have to manage that!

One of the ones they found the hardest was when I explored a certain parameter and just dug out all kinds of data about them and then let them pick out which ones were correct. But it's a bit tricky to keep track!

One they really shouldn't have had trouble with was one where I asked about temperature over a certain depth interval in a certain ocean basin over a certain period of time. I gave several options. Two answers gave the value for a different depth and a different time period; one answer, of course, was correct, and one answer said 'we don't know, the sources don't agree'. And the last answer was the one the most given! And that's something I see more often; students seeing several different values for a parameter, and then deciding science clearly doesn't know what the actual value is, and that more research is needed. But if you do more research, you will probably find yet another value! If only because published data inevitably documents the past, and you can measure the present. So in a way, the students would say that the more research you do, the less you know. So I want to get them to evaluate the data that is out there, and realise that for instance, it's not that they don't know the temperature over a certain depth interval in a certain ocean basin over a certain period of time; they DO know that, and in addition, they also know about other time periods and other depths in the water column!

I hope this exercise will pay off, and get them to do better in the assignments to follow!

Penguins contemplating sea water temperature. Picture by Jason Auch.

Me too

Sometimes, a social media hype touches you. Sometimes, they make a difference. The ice bucket challenge, which I didn't join, actually did raise so much money it made a significant contribution to research on the disease. When I started to see people post 'me too' on Facebook, I felt I should join. Started by actress Alyssa Milano (for the rare people who didn't know that already) it was clearly meant to give sexual violence/intimidation/harassment a face. Statistics are one thing, and probably wildly unreliable anyway in this context as people are notoriously reluctant to talk about this, but if you hear it from people you know, very many people you know, the message might hit home. I think women in general know how widespread this sort of thing is, but do all the men know? I think not. I posted as well.

So what was I posting about? Do I want to talk about it? Well, not all of it. But I can mention the men hitting on me in public transport, and who wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. And when I was relieved to reach my stop I found they get out too and followed me. I'm not defenseless, but that's just scary! There is no guarantee at all I could keep a man like that off me.

I can mention the bunch of young men on a deserted railway station, one of which pissing on the rails. When he saw me he addressed me without putting his cock back first, and that seemed quite on purpose. I don't remember what he said but I do remember I was trying to look cool and un-intimidated while quickly assessing which direction I could run in.

Or shall I mention the man masturbating in the park?

Or the men who wrapped an 'amicable' arm around my shoulders, to try to feel my breast from the side? Or those that slapped me on the bum?

Or the men that sat next to me, unnecessarily close, in (again) public transport, especially when you consider the carriage was otherwise empty? Or those that moved their hand over mine when I was holding on to the vertical bar so as not to fall over when the carriage decelerates?

What about the man at the bus stop (public transport again!) who said he would come with me, and yelled all kinds of rather unfriendly things at me when I said he certainly was not, and stuck to my opinion? And who passed me several times more in the months to follow, clearly recognised me, and grinned menacingly?

Or maybe the man who suddenly lowered his head to kiss me straight on (or probably, rather in) the mouth at a party, and who I only managed to stop before it was too late because I didn't trust him at all? And why did I not trust him? Gut feeling. Never ignore your gut feeling!

Or that bloke who said I wanted to have sex with him, and that if I erroneously thought I did not, that  that was irrelevant; he knew best. He had made sure to point out his muscular physique first.

A man who grabbed my head and pulled it towards his crotch. Just banter, of course.

So many of the male cleaners at university who immediately got too keen if you greeted them. It was so common I turned rude and ignored them altogether. I hate the snootiness of pretending cleaners aren't people! But I'd had enough. Luckily there were some female cleaners too; I could greet them all I wanted without any of them then getting unpleasant.

A man who threatened to pull my breast out of my clothes in public as revenge for me having slightly mocked him.

A creepy GP that was a bit too keen pointing out that some of his patients fall in love with him. Luckily there were more GPs available in the area.

Need more? I hope not. There's more of course. Among other things, I've left out all the men shouting things on the street, but in more fleeting circumstances. Men you can get away from quite easily. Things like that blend into one amorphous blob over time.

What strikes me in that list is that most of this was in my time in the Netherlands. I don't know if it just happens less when you're older, or because I now live in countries with scarce public transport, or because I have got better at avoiding it. Maybe all of it. I'm glad with the change but I also know that it also means most happened when I was more vulnerable.

So now what? I think there are quite some men who indeed had underestimated the magnitude of the issue. Maybe they might think about it a bit more. Maybe even speak out. Maybe think twice before they made a questionable remark. I sincerely hope so!

On the radio, a woman called the whole episode mass hysteria, and women wallowing in victimship. I don't see that. Does worrying about this make anyone some trembling damsel in distress? Heck no. Anyone faced with a potentially outnumbering enemy is right to worry. (One person can already outnumber you if they are particularly big and/or competent in fighting.) And what I see is women making this personal for men. Do I normally tell the men around me about this? Well, not regularly, one prefers to talk about happier things. But maybe I should. I've started now. If I don't say anything, how can I expect wider society to know?

And what more do I want people to know? Parents, tell your children to trust their gut feeling. They'll need it! And every single time I was young and inexperienced and thought to myself 'why shouldn't I trust this person, I am just being silly' I regretted it. Tell your children to trust their gut feeling! (A lady in the Guardian said pretty much the same thing!) And speak out if you see or hear something like the above happening. If people feel like they won't get away with such behaviour, they might think twice! People used to smoke indoors everywhere all the time, and that's become unacceptable; change can and does happen.

I would also recommend everyone to watch the 'kjaere pappa' video... (linked here in the English translation). I think it says well why I think it is important to address the smaller things: the jokes, the casual remarks; I don't think they are separate from the bigger things...

Sent home by a storm

The morning was quiet. Quiet and clear! But there was a weather warning. One had to place one's faith in the MET office that this pleasant day would end stormy! Storm Ophelia was on its way. I did trust the MET office and drove in as I was a bit under the weather and didn't want to bike around in a storm. I had a tutorial on the mainland so it was more travel than when I'm just in the office. I was hoping travel wouldn't be too disrupted. It's not far, but the bridge is a bit of a bottleneck!

The first thing that was odd was the sun going funny. It was widely documented; there was forest fire smoke and Saharan dust in the atmosphere, and therefore the sun turned red. It was quite beautiful! I didn't manage to take a decent picture, but well, I pointed it out to David and he did. I'm glad he did!

 David's pic of the red sun

Later the wind picked up. An email had already gone out that all field trips would be cancelled. Seemed fair; my colleague Dei would be taking students to Rhoscolyn, and that's not a place you want to be in heavy wind. But while it still didn't look menacing outside another email came in; the university expected trees falling over and power cuts and mayhem and would entirely close at 2PM. Eh, OK! Not ideal; I had a lot to do, but hey ho.

I dutifully logged out at 2PM. Then I went to the door. It was 2:03. The door wouldn't open. Oh dear. While I tried in vain to phone security (they can remotely open it from the mainland) one of the technicians appeared. And then Jaco. The technician did the reasonable thing: she phoned the head technician. In the meantime Jaco tried to get out through his lab, but he couldn't even get into it. The place had properly gone into lockdown! I'd never seen anything like that.

Then the head technician appeared. He managed to get out, via the wheelchair route, and tried to then open the 'normal door' from the outside. He couldn't! And seemed to not be able to get back in either. But he told the other technician to go out via their storage room. That worked! The door into it had a digital lock, but it was a stand-alone; the outside door had an old-fashioned mechanical lock. We were free!

I went home and continued working there. It worked alright! There were no power cuts.

At some point I heard quite a racket. I had a look; outside, my top recycling bin was somersaulting through the back garden, independent of its lid. Oh dear. I could see my neighbour's bin felt like joining. I took both sets (we have snazzy stacks of three boxes for different recyclables on a trolley) into my garage, and threw a note through the neighbour's door that I had nicked his bins but would put them back after the storm would recede.

Nothing else really happened! Ophelia blew over some trees in town but that was all. Fine with me; Doris wreaked a lot more havoc and, well, we can do without! 

David went to the beach (the same as this one) to photograph waves when he was booted out of the office!

Pushed it a bit hard

Tuesday was a long day; first the field trip with the students, then briefly to the office, only to then bike to Welsh class in the evening. During the class I started coughing a bit, but thought no more of it.

Wednesday was a long day too, with a long day at work, then meeting Jenny, and then seeing Phill Jupitus with Marjan. And Thursdays are always long days. I knew I had to be careful but I still misjudged. It was Friday next, and I finally had nothing other than work, but there was a lot of it. I got home a bit late.

There was still a lot to do I went into the office on Saturday. The students had done the online test, and I wanted to collate all results so I could evaluate the results with the students the next time I saw them. And you can download exactly who get which question right, but not who gavce what answer! And I wanted to know what traps the students had fallen into. If you know what false answers they are tempted by, you can tell them why these were wrong.

I also wanted to collate the data collected during the field trip; I wanted to see what strange things the students may have done, so I could discuss what to do with that. But it's a lot of work! So I went into the office and worked until 18:30. During the course of the day, I started feeling that my throat was getting sore. Oh dear! That's always the canary in the coal mine. If the throat goes I go. I was glad to have finished my stuff.

On Sunday I stayed home. I did have my glaciology book so I could do some leasurely lecture prep while at home. I also had to design a route for the upcoming Swamphike! Still no rest for the wicked. I turned to Lemsip (other medicinal beverages are available) and Beechams (other lozenges are avialable) to get me through the day. I hoped that would be enough!

I would go to work on Monday but I decided to drive in. There was a severe weather warning on, and I didn't fancy biking across the bridge (for a tutorial) in severe weather with such a cold! And I decided to drive on Tuesday too. I had Welsh class again, but I felt so awful I went home in the coffee break. I would drive Wednesday still... I hope I will get better soon! And I know some of you will suggest not working so hard, but eh, the work has to be done! I'm sure my body can rest while my mind works. Can't it...?