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…