Entertaining new friends

When things were a bit quiet during the Easter break I saw an opportunity invite some new friends over. We have a whole bunch of lecturers from the latest hiring round, and I had already been on a walk with one of them, but I was hoping to create ties with more of them. So when it turned out that my Italian colleague Marianna was going to be around, my British colleague Winnie as well, I invited them over for dinner. And I suggested a walk beforehand, because it is very beautiful in my area, and I figured they might not be familiar with it yet.

I decided to make my take on Indonesian fried rice. And I figured we could go do a Moel Faban loop before dinner. And that worked out! 

Marianna, her husband Severin, and Winnie all travelled up together. And it was lovely weather. I showed them the cat, the house and the garden (priorities), and then we went on our walk. It was lovely! It wasn’t fast, and I knew that route like the back of my hand, but it stays beautiful, and I was glad to show my friends. 

I didn’t take any pictures of us! But I did take one of a pretty horse

When we were done we were peckish, so we quickly sat down for dinner. I’m glad they liked it! And Marianna had made a lovely strawberry pie for dessert. 

I really enjoyed it! And Winnie was already talking about doing it again but then from her house. Count me in! 

Bra saga makes crucial progress

 After having tried on a Maaree Solidarity sports bra, I really couldn't wait to run in it. It felt like such a game changer! But the lady with whom I did an online fitting said I needed it a slightly different size. Which, of course, they didn't have at the time. In my despair I then tried a Shock Absorber, but they turn out to have a really strange sizing system. Since when is the circumference not just the circumference of your rib cage in cm or inch? With them, it isn't! So that didn't work. I sent it back. And kept waiting for news from Maaree. They said they would probably be restocked in late April. 

On Good Friday I got an email saying they had new stock in. I didn't waste any time! I immediately ordered a bra. I had intended to buy two, in the two available colours, but there was only one colour available so I just bought one for now. And I was painfully aware that if they would deliver quite soon, I wouldn’t actually be able to try it out, what with the knee and all. But I was still very excited. 

The Thursday after Easter the bra arrived. I quickly put it on. The sizing seemed ok! And the next morning I did a small pre-work run. With my other knee support (not the reinforced concrete one) on, this time. 

New sports bra! 

I don't think I'll want to run in anything else anytime soon! Nothing moves. And when I asked, they said they’d stock the other colour too within the foreseeable future. I sweat in sports bras, I need two of them! And why not in two colours. My running has just changed for the better! 

Finishing the time series analysis

I did it! I have finished the entire practical! I am very chuffed. One of my colleagues, Luis, had asked me to look at his practical doing time series analysis on data related to larval dispersion in RStudio. It came in two parts. I had struggled a bit with the first part, which is basically a familiarisation with RStudio and wave functions. I am not a natural with coding! But I had got through it.

I wasn't sure what to expect with the second part. I imagined it could be more science and less coding. And that was true. I flew through this part of the practical. After a calm start it dealt with autocorrelation and spectral analysis. And I do think I have learned a lot! This exercise has been well worth it for me. I'm sure this will come in handy in my teaching, sooner or later.

I will write up my thoughts on the practical, and have a chat with Luis fairly soon. I hope it also will have been worthwhile for him. At least he now knows that this practical is doable even for people who are rubbish coders. The only thing you need if you're not an R natural is a bit of stubbornness!

 

Real analysis! 

Roofers finishing the job

The roofers who had fixed my leak said they’d be in touch after Easter to do a more thorough job than the emergency repair they had done on the day. I kept an eye on my email and other messages, but I didn’t see anything appear in the days after Easter Monday. 

One morning I was making breakfast, and noticed some noises outside. Neuadd Ogwen, I presumed. But when I popped into the garden to check on my recently moved plants I heard a shout. There was a man on my roof! They were back! They hadn’t announced their return. But it was ok.

I watched Franco dance over the roof with fear in my heart. I would not be comfortable doing that! But he clearly was. And he started at the front of the house. Then he moved to the side. That involved placing a ladder against the neighbour’s house, and getting to my roof via his. It’s a delicate situation! The neighbour is rather protective of his roof. I told them that. Franco said he knows my neighbour, and it’s ok. The neighbour himself was walking the dog, and not around. 

Franco taking pictures of the situation so he can show me

When Franco was down again, the neighbour returned. He was angry! He had seen Franco in his roof and he was not impressed. It was a very uncomfortable situation.

The neighbour went inside and the men continued their work. What else would they do? And by then the waterproofing was finished, but while Franco had been up there, he had noticed some broken slates. He offered to fix them while he was there anyway, and I accepted that. And in doing that, they would be working on the front and the side of the house. Well away from the neighbour’s roof.

Quite quickly it also became clear I have really unusually shaped roof tiles on my roof. One of the broken ones turned out to be very long and very narrow. I think it was 28’ by 9.5’ (71 x 24 cm). Luckily, they had just picked up an old roof tile from a previous job the day before. It was 30.5’, so they could cut it to size for this job. They said they hadn't expected it to come in handy anytime soon, but it clearly did.

Late morning they were done. I hope this work means my roof is good for several years to come! And I will keep an eye on these imperfectly plugged holes drilled into my slates. I might have Franco and Luke come back every so many years to patch up the waterproofness. Not ideal, but clearly manageable!

Bread issues

I was so happy to get me a bread machine! Fresh bread all the time. And when the old one got very old (I bought it second hand) I managed, after some trial and error, to buy another one that makes equally good bread. And it had better; it was top of the range. I was quite happy for several years. 

Then my bread became flatter. It’s supposed to be bread height! But the loaves came out only about half that. I wondered if the problem was my flour. I replaced it. I wondered if the problem was the yeast. I replaced it. I extended rising time. I didn’t know if the bread maybe rose too much, and then collapsed, rather than never rose much in the first place, so I reduced the amount of yeast. 

Not high enough

Nothing helped. I have not at all exhausted all possibilities! I can customise everything with this machine. But why was it producing disappointing bread when, given the same ingredients and the same settings, it had produced lovely bread before? 

I want to keep trying for a bit. Must be worth it. But I’m miffed! And maybe I’ll bring my old machine out of retirement for the occasional loaf. Or buy something in the shops. I like good bread! And I should be able to make it in my own machine! But if I at least temporarily can’t, then I’ll try to get it some other way…

First tentative run

My knee was making good progress! If I could bike to Moel y Ci and do a walk over the summit, surely I would soon be able to run again. And I dared give it a go on the Tuesday, so basically a week after the incident.

I didn't want to go far, I wanted to stay on the road, and I wanted to wear a knee support. And I chose the most solid one. I hadn't worn that in a long time! It was actually a bit of work to get it on. It is one of those tube shaped knee supports, so you have to pull it on like a leg warmer. But it is quite tight!

Ready for a first run! 

I headed for Coetmor Road. I was going really slow! Firstly because I didn't want to push the knee too far, and secondly because I was wearing that support. That's not helping. But it felt solid enough. And at some point I even loosened the Velcro of the knee support a bit.

In the end I couldn't resist briefly heading into one of the fields next to the road, which has a public footpath in it. This was off-road running! But a rather level field. And it went okay.

Who could have resisted this field?

I then went back, and had the task on my hands to get that knee support off again. I had been sweating in it! It was a warm day. It was quite some work to remove it. But I did! And my knee felt really good. I wondered if maybe it did because it had been so warm. Maybe I should keep it warm at all times.

After I’d managed to get it off

The day after I was still okay! I had clearly got away with this. I think I can soon have another attempt. Maybe with a different knee support, which is easier to put on and take off. I don't really think I need the full power of this particular knee support. And it was only 2.67km, and slow as fuck, but it was a start! I will be careful, but I hope to be back to normal soon!

Easter gardening

With is the university being closed for days, and me not being able to hike or run, I had plenty of time to turn my attention to the garden. And it really needed it! I suppose my garden and me are engaged in a constant battle. It tries to grow out of control on all fronts, and I try to keep up with that. And even try to make overall improvements. Unfortunately, not hindered by any talent. But some effort makes the place still quite enjoyable.

The first thing I did when the university closed was cut the grass. That already made quite a difference. and then I set out to do some more fundamental things. Last year, I cleared an old raised bed of ivy, but hadn't yet put anything in there. And the rosemary died, which left a big empty space. And I still had issues with several raised beds, where plants I had grown substantially since having been put in, and had now either started to compete too aggressively with their fellow plants, or had outgrown the raised bed. That needed attention as well.

Big part of a raised bed overgrown by grass

Two plants in a small raised bed they have outgrown

Both beds looking a lot better now! 

Some of it needed a bit of planning. Sometimes you want to make changes in a chain. Move one plant to a different bed, so you can put a different plant in its place, and put a different plant in the place of that plant. But I got a lot done!

Upstairs bed also looking tidy. Plant on the left pruned so it stays within the bed; plant in the middle moved back so it stays within the bed, and plants on the right moved in where the rosemary used to hang

I hope all the changes I made will last. Some of the plants I moved won't like it and will die. But that is all part of the ongoing battle against entropy. But for now, I am quite chuffed with how my garden looks! Even though I don't have to worry about having nothing to do anytime soon…

First plants in the de-ivy’d raised bed