Brief catch up with old caving friend Lionel

 I was in the office when I received a text from my old friend Lionel, saying that he was on his way to North Wales, with the Plymouth Caving Group. Was I around?

It was a Friday and I had already been wondering how I would organise all the things I wanted to do with my weekend. On Sunday, I would be running the Caernarfon half marathon. After that, I wanted to see Neil. On Saturday I wanted to see Kate, who I hadn't seen in a while. I also wanted to run the last lap with Jacko. That Saturday was his last day! And on top of that; the Ring O Fire race, a 210 km ultra doing the entire Anglesey coastal path, was in progress. Two of my friends were running: Louise, Lionel from the track, and Tony, who is in the Eryri Harriers. I had hurt Louise mention that if people come to support her it really helps, so I wanted to go in cheer them on at some point as well. Altogether I had a lot on! And I still wanted to take it so easy on Saturday that I would be rested for my race on Sunday.

Long story short: we decided to go for dinner on the Friday. They were staying at Ty Powdwr, the hut of the Karabiner mountaineering club, as is the default. And I drove down to pick him up. 

It was good to see him! The first thing he did was say that I hadn't changed a bit. But who was talking? He hadn't either!

Back in the days, and I am talking 2010-2013, we quickly developed into the duo that you would contact if you had a slightly irresponsible caving adventure in mind. We were up to all sorts! And had loads of fun. He was also instrumental in getting me to join the cave rescue team. And he's been back up in Wales several times since. Nowadays we are more likely to do an hill walk together. That's fine too! And there is no time for any of that stuff, we at least try to get a coffee together in. 

When we got to town it was still quite early, so we first went for a pint in the Heights. After that we went to Pete’s Eats; it has the same name as before, but everything else seems to have changed, and I wanted to know what it was like now. It is absolutely totally different! But the food was fine. 

We caught up about all the things that had changed in our lives, and those that had stayed the same, since the previous time we saw each other. He is quite busy with his house and all the grounds around it, and the animals. I told him about my kitchen project. And we talked about the recovery of our mutual friend Rick, who had had an unfortunate incident on his motorbike. And we talked about running, and mines we had and hadn't been to, and things like that. Enough to discuss!

When we were done I brought him back to the hut. I don't know when I'll see him again, but I am confident I will!

World scientists’ warning to humanity

The first notice went out when I was still at school. It was quite brief. What sort of notice was this? It was an attempt of a group of scientist to write a peer-reviewed journal article that was actually addressed at the world population, and in order to try to give it weight, they tried to get as many scientists as possible to add their signature to it. Did it work? Clearly not!

The second notice was 25 years later. I was already working in Bangor by that time. A lot can happen in 25 years! And what happened to the notice? One thing that changed was that they shifted the focus away from the size of the world population. They figured it was not the polite thing to do to blame people for existing, or for having children. And there was 25 years more of data. And pretty much none of that data was encouraging.

As I actually was a scientist by that time, and I must have heard of it (although I don't quite remember how), I signed it. Is it likely to be particularly effective? No! But if someone takes an initiative like that, the least you can do support it. Signing might be largely ineffectual, but doing nothing is worse. Several of my colleagues, such as Stuart and Martyn, had signed as well.

They've clearly not waited another 25 years for the third notice. I received the email already. They are getting ready now for the third notice to be published 10 years after the second one. There is 10 more years of data, and as usual, that does not provide much inspiration for hope.

 

Top of the front page of the draft third notice

So will this third notice get noticed? Quite possibly not. Even though there are now ways attracting attention to something that didn't exist yet 10 years ago. That is not a guarantee of anything, though. Poor old Jacko was really straining to get attention for his Guinness world record. And this is just a text. A lot less sexy than a whole bunch of ultramarathons! But what can one do? If these things come to my attention I will keep signing them. 

I do think that maybe by now the effects of the climate apocalypse are so tangible that people are starting to pay attention. But paying attention is one thing, and changing society to avoid the worst is a different one entirely. I might still have a few decades to live, and I will find out the hard way how this issue pans out over that time…

 

Fruit and veg harvest

This year’s harvest started with beetroot. I figured they might not grow an awful lot more, and I might as well eat them. I ate the first batch. That was one meal. I think I can get another meal out of the next. That is it! Quite a lot of work for not much food. But I think the beetroot were suffering in the drought. And I didn't want to go and water them every day.

Sad beetroot plant 

The next step was: apples. I don't know if it was something to do with my untalented tree husbandry, or the blisteringly hot and dry summer, but it's not been a good apple year. There are apples, and they are tasty, but just not very many. 

With this camera angle, it actually looks quite good

It is going to end with beans! I had never grown them before. They seem quite forgiving plants. And they must be! I have beautiful beans on my plants. I look forward to eating them. And I will certainly do this again! When I eat them I will also dig out some potatoes. I have loads of potato plants, but it seemed too early to harvest them. But I think the best thing with homegrown beans is homegrown potatoes.

Look at those beans!

I am wondering if I should do another round of planting crops. Would the autumn be long enough to yield something? I suppose I don't have an awful lot to lose! 

Yet another car update

I mentioned that my plan for getting myself an electric car was: go to a big car dealer in England soon after my trip to the Netherlands, and then just buy the EV they have that I like most. It sounded like such a simple plan!

I had already phoned them; they said you could reserve a car, and book a test drive, but only one. It is a long drive, and it seems stupid you can't just drive a few. If you can drive only one, then why would you even? You might as well just buy a car from a distance. Who would make a 5 hour round trip more than once to decide between a few possible cars? 

The good news is, of course, that Neil would come with me, so he could book a test drive as well. And then I could at least make a two car shortlist, and then just choose the best one.

With that plan I phoned them. I had already started a spreadsheet with interesting cars before I went to my trip; I had identified six. When I came back, two of these had been sold, and nothing had taken their place. And with only four left it shouldn't be too difficult to make a two-car shortlist. But when I phoned them, they said that the two cars I was most interested in were not available for test driving. They said they had to undergo some technical tests. I thought that was a bit annoying. Can't they mention that on the website? It is all very well to have all these cars on that site, but if you don't know which ones are actually available, that's of limited use. They said you can go in and switch the engine on, but I do think that there is value in actually driving around. Without that, you might (again) as well buy them from a distance. And then you still want to know which ones are actually available.

They took my details and the license plates of the cars I had hoped to test drive. They say they will let me know when they might be available. It could be weeks! By then, term has kicked off. Very inconvenient. I hope this will work out. Oh and at least, I got the money back I plaid for the Nissan Leaf…

The Bluest Eye

I still have an urge to read classic books. And after I had managed to get through the rather practical book about running and breathing, I started one again. The Bluest Eye. I figured I should really read a Morrison, and this one seemed a good one to start. 

Spoiler alerts!

The protagonist is a nine year-old poor Black girl. And she basically reveals the big plot twist on the first page: there is another girl in their social circle, who ends up being raped by her father and pregnant because of it. The protagonist has a real child's perspective on everything.

You don't really get the perspective of the other girl, but you do get the whole life stories of her parents. And given that they are American, poor and Black, these are not uplifting stories. 

Quite early on the book, the protagonist says that she doesn't understand why dolls are always depictions of pretty blonde white girls, and that she hates them. She understands the social pressure to love them.

It is the girl that ends up pregnant that is the one that explicitly asks for having blue eyes herself. Does this end well for her? I'll leave that to your imagination.

This is obviously not a cheerful book. It is full of racism, poverty, domestic violence and alcoholism. But who said that books should be uplifting? What I did like was the big background you get of many of the characters in it. It is one thing to introduce someone who does monstrous things. It is another thing to show the life that someone has had before they did it. And I think it is a good idea to read more or less realistic depictions of awful lives. People have those. And if you're lucky enough not to have one yourself, it is good for the soul to sometimes step into the shoes of people who do. Or did.

It's not a big book; I read it entirely during my trip to the Netherlands. I can really recommend it! For those that don’t mind a bit of a battering…

End to my Dutch trip

The main focus of my stay was family, but I would spend the last night with friends. I would go see Roelof after he would come back from work and at some point, Viking would join us. I would spend the night there, and then I could go straight to the Eurostar terminal the next morning.

On my way to Roelof

When I got there I first caught up with Roelof over a drink, on the balcony. Micha did the cooking. Spectacularly, as usual. And after dinner we returned to the balcony for more drinks. Viking was at a promotion party, so he came a bit later. Unfortunately, not before after bedtime. Oh well; I thought I would be able to cope.

In order to not keep Micha awake, who wasn't 100% and had to stick to conservative bedtimes, we went to a nearby terrace. Viking soon joined us.

Viking had been on holiday, Roelof and Micha had been away twice and would go a third time, Roelof had done things on his house and had exciting events coming up. We had all read books and seen films and listened to music. And had thoughts about climate and AI and the nuclear apocalypse. Enough to talk about!

Then the pub closed, and we all went home. Then followed one of the less successful parts of my trip: the night. Roelof asked if I wanted to the balcony door open or closed. What was more important: get fresh air in, or keep mosquitoes out? And I am not used to having to think about mosquitoes at night, and I like fresh air, so I said open. And regretted it.

I woke up a bit sleepy the next morning. The mosquitoes had had a whale of a time! I counted 14 mosquito bites on my left leg alone. That makes me appreciate my rather mosquito-free time in Wales again.

Travelling back to the UK went smoothly. I had a direct train to London, which was great. Getting to Euston was fine too. When I was at the picnic benches awaiting news of my train, some lady waved at me. She came up to me and said she recognised me from the Eisteddfod. I had never expected to have a lively conversation in Welsh in the middle of London.

Soon after that, things turned for the worse. My train, which would get to Wales via Stafford, Crewe and Chester, was delayed. Initially only by 20 minutes, but soon the sign said that getting to Crewe would be faster by a train that would leave 41 minutes after the original departure time of my train. Shit! How bad would it get?

Delightful Euston

Then there was an announcement. My train was only 20 minutes late after all. And it duly trundled all the way to Bangor. Soon I was home. And I got to sleep in my own bed, next to my own cat. It had been good to be in the Netherlands, but it was good to be home as well!

In the Netherlands: my dad and sister

My dad was diagnosed with vascular dementia two years ago. And a condition like that can do a lot of destructive work in two years. He was still quite good during the family reunion in May; he needed his walker to get around, and had an afternoon nap, but otherwise he was pretty much fine. His handwriting is bad now, and he struggles with the practicalities of life, but he still had a perfectly mainstream perception of the world. 

When I was in the Netherlands I wanted to see him, and suggested to my sister we go together. She was up for that. And so was my dad. 

We agreed to meet at his place, have a coffee, and then whisk him off for a walk and lunch. I arrived first; Petra was a bit delayed, so we started with a coffee with the three of us. And I got a bit of an idea of what my dad’s situation was. And he is now living in a world of augmented reality. He still perceives the world we perceive too, but his head adds features. He sees, hears and feels things nobody else can detect. And nothing seems threatening, but  I could imagine this is a bellwether for worse things. And these perceptions keep him awake at night, or wake him up, and when he then interacts with them he wakes his wife up. She was starting to feel the lack of sleep. 

My sister knows all this, of course. She sees him more often. And when she appeared, we had another coffee (with cake!) and then we all left. Joke went swimming. 

We went to Staverden Estate, not far away. I hadn’t heard of it. It was lovely! And it had an interesting history. It had been founded in the deep Middle Ages, had acquired city rights, and had been a holiday venue where my father had been several times as a boy. 

We started with a walk. The estate had beautiful grounds! And my dad skilfully negotiated any tree roots or other obstacles with his walker. And the weather was gorgeous.

Not the best possible picture but it will do

When we had done the walk, my dad was ready to sit down for lunch, though. And we could sit outside. It's a rather glamorous place! And the food was good.

When we were done my dad was tired and we went home. We had a last cup of tea and then my sister and I left, so my dad could have a nap. 

I had the rest of the day with my sister and her family. It was a full house! You never know how many people are living there, with student kids boomeranging between (temporary) student accommodation their childhood home, and suchlike, but everyone was there at least part of the time. Except the cat; she had died earlier in summer.

We drank tea and made dinner and caught up. I heard what the current state was of the education of all the (adult) kids, and I heard some holiday stories, and talked a bit with my sister how she sees her future. We also did a nice walk on the moor. And I did a book exchange with her; she had given me a book by AS Byatt, and she had read a different one herself, and she wanted to talk with someone about that book, and read more Byatt, so I had brought mine and exchanged it for hers. I figured that the book I had brought for the train would get finished, potentially even before I would get on the Eurostar back.

Of course I was sad that there was no cat. But when we had been sitting outside in the garden in the evening, a hedgehog had trundled past…

Then it was time to go to bed. I could sleep in David's room; he went back to this student digs in Amsterdam. And the next morning my sister had to get to work quite early, so I had breakfast with Aernoud, and then I went back to Amersfoort. I was lucky to have seen everyone! I hope they will all be well in this new academic year…