Tree coming down

In summer, I ended up talking with a neighbour. Our gardens border each other. His garden is higher than mine. And there is a tree standing on the edge; the southern edge of his garden. You can imagine that takes away a lot of light. And he said he wanted to remove it. Was I ok with that? It’s his tree, but inevitably the sawn off bits would end up in my garden. I didn’t mind. And then he said he would let me have the firewood. Even better! 

He said the best time to fell trees is winter. You only have to deal with the trunks and branches; not with leaves. 

He has started now! He’s doing it himself, with a battery-operated chainsaw. And it's a tree with very many trunks, and he is just doing one at a time. And he very kindly chopped up the wood into more or less stove-sized bits. It's great!

He has done two days’ worth of work now, and I have so far quite easily been able to remove the cut bits and put them in the garage I have some old garden wood there; by now it has seasoned long enough so that I can burn it, and thus make way for the new wood. I could imagine that at some point I will struggle to keep up, but I'm sure I'll find a way. And I'm curious to see how the garden feels without that tree towering above it!

The tree in question after the work had just started

Spoils below

Ladies’ trip in Llandudno

There was another ladies’ trip! In the west. And it concerned a mine I hadn’t been to. Exciting! It didn’t seem big, but I was keen to see new ground in good company. So after work I drove to the meeting point, where I already saw some caving-suited ladies. I changed too. 

This mine falls under the responsibility of a local caving club, and there were some members of that club there to show us around. They stood out a bit, because they were men. One of them showed us a map, and told us what to expect. And then we went in. One guy, Rich, stayed with us. There was a good group of us! I didn't know everybody's name.

Most of the mine is basically just an adit. It still has some rails in, but also a fair amount of mud, so your best bet is balancing on these rails. We went down the ladder and did just that. And I noticed Hydrobia and leeches in the adit! I don’t think they intended to be there. But the place is tidal and all sorts can wash in. 

The main adit

Leech and Hydrobia 

It also struck me that whole adit so far was through glacial sediments. I thought it would be bedrock. And we did read bedrock at some point, but I was quite amazed how much of the infrastructure was in loose(ish) material. And that was one point where the ceiling had come down. That was right underneath the road, and you could look at the road surface from below. A bit spooky!

Adit with good stone work

Beautiful Victorian trash

We went into a rather nice bit that went dead, and then went towards the far end of the main adit. We got to a collapse. It was quite muddy. Liz was at the front. Rich, who seemed to know her, ushered her on. She wasn’t keen! That should have been a hint. The rest of us pushed on. Gwyneth ahead, me third. 

In the sticky mud

It got a bit cartoonesque. We slithered over a mound, and ended up in really sticky mud. At every step you risked losing a welly. And Gwyneth vanished into the next collapse. It was a crawling jobby. In the sticky mud! But she didn’t see a way on. Rich insisted it was there. She asked if I wanted to have a look, so I slithered past her and the other lady and did. Nothing! We retreated. 

I suppose Rich had just been playing with us a bit. We now understood Liz. She probably knew! We were very muddy now. And we joined the rest for an explore of the rest of the mine. 

The highlight of the trip was a flooded shaft. Spectacular! And otherwise it was nice to see the whole mine at that level, but nothing could touch that shaft. And there was a little bit of workings in the level below, but we didn't go there as Liz checked it out and said the water was up to her knees, and nobody really fancied that. So after a group picture we headed back to the entrance.

Once out we did another group picture. There was the option of going to the pub afterwards, but I did not take that. It was a tiring week! I went straight home. It wasn't even far; not much more than half an hour. But I needed my sleep.

Surface group pic

It's always nice to be out with the ladies. And to see new ground. I did both! And I just dumped my dirty kit in a big bucket in the conservatory to worry about later. Work called again, and then running, and then more work, so it would be a while before I would be in the position to clean it, and check if I accidentally would have brought any leeches with me in my boots!

Sceptical composting

It's great that people are trying to use less plastic. But not all endeavours are without their own challenges. In the past years, I've been getting an increasing number of bags that looks like they are plastic, but that claim they are compostable. 

If they are the potato starch bags from the WholeFoods Co-op, I shred them and put them in the food bin. But I only just about produce enough food waste to accommodate that. And then there the other bags in which you can buy things like vegetables or clothes or coffee. No way these fit in too! So what to do with them? 

They are compostable, but does that mean you can home-compost them? Or do you need an industrial composter for that? And if you do, doesn’t that render the entire concept futile? Nobody has one of those, and no council collects compostable-in-industrial-composters waste. 

Maybe, though, you can actually compost them just like you would compost garden waste. I have a compost heap; I can at least give it a chance. So I shredded a pile of these bags and mixed them into the weeds and grass clippings that make up my heap. 

The bags

They’re in there now! 

I must admit I am sceptical at how successful this will be! I could easily imagine that the next time I turn this thing over, I will come across all these pieces in pretty much the same shape they have now. But I won’t know until I try. 

So what if it doesn’t work? Maybe I’ll have to pull them out again and burn them. Sounds tedious! But I’m not sure what else to do. And as well. If it doesn’t work, then what to do with future bags like that? I suppose there are two options: bin them or burn them. Binning them will have them slowly decompose in landfill: that creates greenhouse gases like methane, but a half-decent landfill will catch those. Burning them would create CO2, which is a weaker GHG, but it will go straight into the atmosphere. Which is worse? Not sure! 

I suppose this is a long term experiment. Compost isn’t made in a day. I should give it years! But then I’ll know. Although, of course, the materials evolve. I might be in it for the long run! 

Trophy shelf

When I started racing I started getting medals. Initially, I just put them in a box. Last year I put them up. I liked the result! But in Wales you often get a slate coaster instead, and it seemed wrong to not have these there as well. 

In 2024 I won my first traditional trophy, in the Pwllheli 10k. Or rather, two of them, as they gave me both the overall female winner’s and the category prize.  I wasn’t sure where to put them! I settled on the office; I have a narrow shelf there, and that would do the job. And since then I won another one in Llanberis and one in Holyhead. 

It irked me I didn’t have everything together, so a dedicated trophy shelf near the medal rack made sense. The cat added her voice to that; I came back with two trophies from the Twin Piers race. I didn’t have a shelf, and I just temporarily put them on my chest of drawers. And the cat knocked one of them off. The glass tile. It now was glass shards. Bummer!  

I had a shelf I had taken down when I was doing up the house. That fit underneath the medals and next to the bike! So I put it up. And put my trophies on. Including the glued tile. I was chuffed with the results! Later I added all slate coasters. 

As it’s right by my bike, I see the trophies every time I get the bike in the morning or put it back when I get home. And that makes me smile. Success all around! Running trinkets tidily concentrated, and me glad. What’s not to like!

Cat on a diet

The first time I brought my cat to the vet they said she was a bit too heavy! Oh dear. I managed to sort that, and years went by without the vets having comments about her weight. But I had noticed she recently had been having quite a gut. I suspected I had let it slip again. 

Every cat owner knows their cats lie about how hungry they are. Mine does. But you never know when! Sometimes I'm sure she means it. I am sometimes quite hungry! But I must have given in to her cries too much. 

She shouldn’t be more than 4.5 kg. She was 5.6! So that’s it. I got my old letter scales out so I could weigh her food. No more just grabbing a handful of biscuits from the bag. Her wet food stays the same; that comes in little tins that are the size they are. 

She’s not overly chuffed! But also, not putting up a fight. I hope I will get her down to 4.5 kg reasonably soon! And then keep her there. Is much better for her health! 

Diversity for pathogen enthusiasts

Quite out of the blue I was asked if I was willing to give a talk about EDI to an audience of PhD students in a programme dealing with pathogens. I was! But then I had to think about what to talk about. Equity, diversity and inclusivity are rather broad topics altogether. 

I decided to go rather applied. I gave examples of the wide range of EDI. Pointed out in what way they could come into contact with it. Suggested ways in which they could contribute to EDI in their various academic institutions. Pointed them in the direction of where hard data can be found. Such things! I only had half an hour, and I wanted to leave sometime for questions, so that was most of it already.

Luckily, term had not started yet. So I could find time for it in between (and after) my exam marking. I hope it was useful! I got fewer questions than I had hoped. But I tried! 

A figure I showed

 

Living with the panels

So the panels have been installed and payed for! But what are they like? Well! That is mostly the good news. They're largely fab! 

They’re not my entire heating system. The gas boiler keeps the house at some background temperature that is colder than comfortable, but not anywhere as cold as the outside temperature. And I, of course, have my log burners.

What I do is just switch them on in a room where I think I'll be for a while. For instance; days are getting longer so I am having breakfast in my bedroom again, but when I use it as a bedroom I keep it quite cold. For breakfast I like it a bit warmer. So when I go downstairs to make my breakfast, I switch the panels on. And when I come back, the room is nice and warm. And when I'm done with my breakfast I just switch them off again. And I can also get my living room to a nice temperature without having to light the fire.

Do I ever forget to switch them off? Yes, that does happen. But I think I'll get more routined with experience. And I suppose the cat likes it if I forget. 

So in general, I am quite happy! But there is already one bump in the road. Well, maybe two; more about that later. The panels are managed through thermostats, but these can go rogue. The one in the bathroom did that. I had the installer replace it when he was here anyway. And I'm only a few weeks in, but the thermostat in the living room seems also also have gone rogue. But the installer left one spare thermostat, and I'm sure the internet knows how you swap them over. I've seen it done; it is not complicated! Just a bit of a bummer that I already have to think about this.

There is one I'm not happy with. It's at the top of the stairs. That is where all the heat of the house pools! I don't think I'll ever need that one. Furthermore; who is going to linger at the top of the stairs? I had challenged the judgement of the installer when he said that space needed one, but he insisted. I don't think I am forceful enough. I paid for a totally useless panel. Redeeming fact that this one isn't wired in; it just has a plug. I could put it elsewhere, or flog it. I'll think about it. 

I hope in the long run I will stay happy with them. Time will tell!