Ankle test

With my ankle still not being happy I had to resort to getting my exercise on my bike. But I was really keen to make some strides towards getting my running habit back. And I started with a little loop around the parking lot near my house. It was about 130 m. But my ankle felt okay the next day.

The next day I dared do two loops. And that was still ok. The day after that I wondered if I could do three. But it didn't feel good enough so I stuck with two. And I did three the day after. I did that for two days, and then I did four. Then the day after, it felt really good, and I did six!

By then I decided I might want to venture further away. That parking lot is a bit dull. And I had reached the weekend. So on the Saturday, for the first time since the start of the experiment, I actually put on running gear. Until that time, I had only put on a running bra and running shoes. If you only do a few hundred metres you don't really need the full kit. But now I was venturing further out, and I wasn't going to do that in jeans and a cotton T-shirt. 

My first run after the car park just went over the nearby field where people walk their dogs. A loop of some 900 m. And it felt ok! It felt a bit precarious in the beginning, but I had the impression that when my ankle warmed up it was getting better. And the day after that I did 1.5 km, still ok. And the day after that I wanted to do 2 km, but things felt good and I stretched it to 3 km. Not bad! My shortest regular run is just over 4 km. With the progress I am making now I would probably be able to do that the next day.

Venue of the 3k run

This also means I have a chance of running the upcoming 5 k. Everything I have been doing recently was a fairly gentle jog, but it is tempting! Watch this space. Would I be able to get myself to 5 km race mode in very limited time? 

Dathliad Cymru Affrica

Susan had spotted Ibibio Sound Machine coming to Neuadd Ogwen, and she suggested we went. They would play in the weekend festival that celebrated African music. Ibibio Sound Machine would play on the Saturday. Nick would be there that weekend, and he was up for it too. 

We wanted to know what time Ibibio Sound Machine would play, but that information seemed to not be available. So I decided to just go and ask on the Friday, as the festival would already have started, so there would be someone at the door. And there wasn’t, but there was a poster outside that gave the times. That was good! What wasn’t was that Ibibio Sound Machine wouldn’t start until 10pm. That’s bedtime! 

The plan was that Sue and Dean would come down to mine at 18:30, we would have takeaway together, and after dinner we would just go. And we did it that way. 

It was exciting to introduce Nick to Sue and Dean. A pity Martin hadn’t wanted to join. And we could go and pick up the food we had ordered online. It was a veritable feast! And I made sure to drink a lot of tea afterwards. Then we tidied up and went next door. 

We got in when the second-last band: Sabary Kagnin, was starting. After getting drinks we went in. They were really good! They were a large band from Guinea, with a modern drum kit and bass, but otherwise African instrumentation. And a dancer. And they rocked it! I wasn’t in much of a dancing mood, but that totally wasn’t their fault. 

Sabary Kagnin

When they were done there was a break. Ibibio Sound Machine started a bit later than scheduled. And they were good! But I had to admit they weren’t quite as exciting as the previous band. I did recognise several of their songs this time though. That was nice! 

Ibibio Sound Machine

At some point they were done. And of course they came back for an encore. I was sure it would be their current hit ‘17,18,19’. But it was ‘pull the rope’! Surely then they would do two songs in the encore? They walked away again. And a bloke in the organisation climbed on stage and tried to incite the crowd to incite the band to do one last song. And that would surely have been ‘17,18,19’. But other people appeared on the other Side of the floor, yelling at him and gesturing at him that he couldn't do that. They really had to stop! That was a bit of a pity.

When we brought our glasses back I saw the man who had been at the door. He confirmed that their license still only allowed them to make noise until 11 pm. It was 11:30! Oh dear.

We were all well and truly ready for bed. All of us are early sleepers! And Sue and Dean still had to walk home, in the rather inclement weather. I don't think any of us were up at our usual time the next morning. But I know now what band to keep an eye on for next year’s episode of this celebration. It would be nice to go see Sabary Kagnin again, and then be mentally prepared! 

Sea zoo with Nick

Two weeks after his birthday, Nick was coming to Wales again. Beforehand, we had decided it would be good to explore a bit more of Dinorwic. But closer to the day it was clear his visit would coincide with that of storm Bert (which turned winter straight back into autumn). And a day with a weather warning for wind and rain is not a good Dinorwic day! And we had better to do something indoors. And we settled on the Sea Zoo. I had never been, and felt bad about that. 

We got there without incident. No trees on the road, no floods. And we enjoyed it! I was looking forward to some good anemones. Nick was looking forward to sharks. And we both got what we wanted! And bucketloads of other creatures such as lobsters and crabs and starfish and whatnot. A nice day out! 

Lobsters! 

And anemones! 

A sea urchin that camouflages itself with rocks and shells! 

PDR 2024

I had hoped we would finally do the PDRs in summer! But that season came and went, and there were no PDRs. Eventually, they would take place in November. And given that I get to have both John and Dei, it is much harder to book than if you only have John. And I ended up even in late November.

It was on the Thursday afternoon of a busy week! By the time it came around I was knackered. I suppose it might have made me more relaxed.

Most things are okay. But I did bring up the topic of one of my modules I don't like. I would love to split it in two, reorganise my half, and give the other half away. And the school isn't keen on half-sized modules. But one can dream! 

We had already talked about the dissertation module earlier in the week. And we talked about my RSI. And about the teaching in my and Dei’s field in general. And decided maybe we should all sit together and discuss if maybe we can coordinate things better, because it seems that it was a while ago anyone actually had a good look at that.

I thought it went well! These PDRs are getting better. But it would still be even better if they would take place in between the academic years, and in the middle of them…

First taste of winter

I had just been discussing with some other locals that we hadn’t had snow on the hills yet this year. That's a bit late! But then it came with the vengeance.

One morning I was having my breakfast, and it started to snow. Very scenic! But not necessarily good for logistics. Luckily, I didn't have any teaching early on. So after breakfast I just went up to my home office and worked there for a while. In the meantime, the snow outside could melt again.

By the time I went to work, the roads and paths were clear again. No problem! But the hills were beautiful with their new white coat.

Snowy hills in the distance

The next morning I again sat down for breakfast. It was getting light. Until it wasn't. It got dark again! A big cloud rolled in, and to my surprise I heard thunder soon after. And then it started hailing like there was no tomorrow. And then it snowed. The road looked tricky. I stayed in my home office until about 11. Then I chanced it. 

View from my home office 

The bicycle path was still full of hail, so when I briefly came off it in the nearby village I decided to stay off. I could avoid using it by just staying on the road. And then everything was totally fine!

The bicycle path wasn’t very inviting 

Susan had had difficulty getting to work as a car had slid out of control and got in the way of her commute. The roads in her neck of the woods are so narrow it only takes one misplaced car to put everything into deadlock. But she had got there. And Martin had managed without issues.

I did come into the office, though, to an email that the meeting I had that day was going to be held online, as the person chairing it had not dared attempt their commute. This raised some eyebrows; surely, if Susan and Martin could do it, so could they. But alright; then we do it online.

On the way home all was well again. And the next morning I had to get to Bangor, so I used a different route. And that turned out to still be icy on the less travelled parts! But I negotiated them without anything going wrong. And on the way back, all was well again.

More ice on the road than I like

All that was uncomfortably combined with the heating in my office not working. So I made sure to do all these commutes with longjohns under my trousers, and my big hiking boots with sizable socks! Otherwise my office would be too uncomfortable. But in this kind of weather, it is actually quite nice be quite warmly dressed on the bike. At no point did it feel excessive and sweaty.

On the Friday afternoon, someone appeared to repair my heating. With success! So the longjohns can stay home next week. 

By the end of the week all the logistics had gone well, and the view of the mountains was still gorgeous. And I hadn't fallen ill. So first week of winter can be officially declared a success!

Dissertation allocation: debacle

‘I tend to release it to the staff first. And if they are ok with it, I release it to the students.’ I was so casual about it! I didn't expect any problems. I was wrong.

When I didn't expect it anymore, an email came in from a disgruntled colleague. He wasn't happy that there were some colleagues who didn't have their full load of students. And that's not the first time! These are people in the physics corner of the school. Most students are in the biology corner. And I do ask all staff to volunteer for supervising other people’s topics, because some topics are just very popular and we need all hands on deck with these, but the problem with these physics-focussed people is that they would be inclined to volunteer for other physical projects, and these never attract much attention. And then they end up with fewer students than most.

I totally understood his frustration, but I in turn was frustrated that he brought this up after I had already completed the allocation. Sort that out beforehand! And a bit of an email battle ensued through the weekend. It ended with the Head of School inviting me and Dei (as he is the Director of Teaching and Learning) for a chat on Monday. The disgruntled colleague wasn't available as he was teaching.

The outcome was: for this year we leave things as is, but next year I get the power to force everyone to take up their full load of students. So if they don't volunteer for biological projects, I will give them biological projects. I look forward to that! It will be nice to spread the load evenly. And there absolutely are biological projects I would not be comfortable with teaching, so of which I could imagine they wouldn't be either, but there is so much choice that I am sure they will find topics they will actually do quite well on. 

First things first; let's first deal with this year. But I do think this is an improvement in the long term!

Cycling instead of running

I haven't been doing my regular running in months! And it frustrates me. But I figured that if I run through my niggle, I am only going to make things worse in the long run. So I have started to do loops of the tiny parking lot next to my house. First day: one loop! And I got away with that. Second day: two loops! And that is my attempt to get back into running without forcing it. But that is surely not doing anything about my general fitness levels. And I pretty much only have my bike for that.

I only commute during the week, so this weekend I decided to give it a bit of welly. The weekend before I had been in Shropshire without a bike, so without exercise. The first day this weekend I decided to stay on the road. I had a lot of things on, and I didn't want to do elaborate things with mountain bikes. I decided to bike to the Dinorwic surge pond. That is about 500 m up; that is some decent exercise. And I had already visited Pwd in the morning, so that is an additional >100m.

It was quite lovely! It was good bike weather and the route is beautiful. And I felt like I had already done something when I got back home. Or rather; when I reached the top, because getting home from there is a doddle.

My goal in the distance

A cow trying to fool me

The view from the top 

Rain cover selfie

The next day was a bit less ideal; I had something on in the morning, so I couldn't go particularly early. But I knew that there was rain on the way. I hoped I could get my ride in before it would all kick off!

I just headed for Ogwen Cottage. It's not that high, but it is beautiful and very straightforward. And it was only raining mildly when I biked out. Unfortunately, it got serious when I got to the highest point. Oh well! Biking back down is never that much work, and I knew I had dry clothes at home. So I racked up another 300 meters up. That is less than a normal commute, but it was something.

Close to home

Approaching the head of the valley 

Heading for the clouds

View back down

I hope my little loops around the parking lot will extend into serious running not too distant future. But if not, I will have to keep myself ticking over like this!

Last weekend of Pwd feeding?

When Pwd the house panther came to live with Martin for a year, he became a good source of entertainment. Martin regularly has updates about his misbehaviour. He is a bit of a wind-up merchant! And sometimes we get to see that for ourselves, either when we visit Martin, or when we are called to feed him when Martin is away. I am feeling quite privileged but I actually haven't been attacked by him and all that time. The worst he did was shout at me when I stopped scratching his head.

In late November, Pwd’s permanent people will be back. And if they need someone to feed Pwd I suppose they get someone from the village to do that. So I think this weekend, when my services were needed, was the last time I will have seen him in his temporary home. But then I am sure we'll be meeting him again in his original home in Llanberis! 

Brit Rock 2024

It was a busy week, but I was going to make it even busier! I noticed the Brit Rock Film tour was doing Neuadd Ogwen on Thursday, and I knew I wouldn't be able to run anyway. Might as well seize this opportunity! I dropped Charlotte a line to see if she was up for it too, but she was otherwise engaged. Two years ago we had gone with a bunch of ladies from the climbing club. Last year I hadn't gone; I seem to remember I had something else on that day. And it's not as if I still climb; the last time was 2.5 years ago, but still; why not watch other people do it?

You don't go to Brit Rock for the interesting storylines! It tends to boil down to "some people manage a hard climb in spite of some particular odd stacked against them". And so it was this year! But the landscape photography is always amazing.

The first film, Freja’s back, was about a young woman who had fallen during a climb, broken her back, and now would be climbing something difficult only six months later. I suppose there was a bit of moral in the story; sometimes you just are the final authority on your body. Of course she succeeded in her climb, and of course it was hard.

Watching Freya’s Back

The second film, Climbing Blind II, probably doesn't even need a synopsis. Blind bloke lead-climbs something very difficult, after an earlier film had been made about him lead-climbing something else very difficult. This film actually made me laugh quite a lot! The blind bloke, Jesse, is really quite vocal when he pushes himself to the limit. There is a lot of grunting and swearing and straining. And it is even funnier when you contrast that with the unbreakable serenity of his wife who is also his belayer. Of course he succeeds in his climb, and of course it was hard.

Then the last film! Nose Job. It's about two young British lads who have just retired from competitive bouldering, and who decide they are just going to do the nose of el Capitan in Yosemite. I suppose everyone who reads that premise thinks "one does not just do the nose of El Capitan". And there are several people in the film who indeed express that exact sentiment. But the lads give it a go anyway, which involves two very wet and miserable nights on a portaledge (and also some less miserable nights on the crag) and they deserve that; who goes climbing el Capitan without having tried out their portaledge on a more forgiving crag first? But credit where credit is due; they actually succeed in this climb. But it is hard.

It was a nice night out! Maybe again next year?

The Great Marking starts

This wasn't the first marking of the year, of course! Thanks to our very early field trip, my marking starts in September. But then there is a big pause. And then in November, it all kicks off again.

This year I had two assignments coming in in a week in the middle of November. One on Wednesday and one on Friday. The one on the Wednesday has about 100 students. It is not a big assignment, but it's just such a big cohort! And the assignment that came in on Friday had only 35 students, but the assignment is a lot bigger.

That is really quite some work. I have to still prepare my lectures and tutorials, of course, but otherwise I will basically be spending every working minute marking. I hope I will make good progress. It will feel really good to get these enormous batches out of the way! Especially as the week after, the third batch would come in. A sizable assignment with some 45 students. But then, luckily, the bulk is done. Maybe that will help in not being exhausted by the time the University closes for Christmas! I have a bit of a habit of falling ill then. Hopefully, I can avoid that this year. And hopefully I won't come down with something before I even get to December, like last year. Wish me luck!

 

An algal bloom, related to the big pile of marking. Pic by NASA

 

Foram confusion

I tend to slightly dread the foram practical associated with our September fieldwork. So many forams, and so few staff to check their identifications. But this year, another complication arose. The students are asked to send me their data after the practical, and I assumed I would just collate all their data in one spreadsheet and then they could go and interpret it.

It didn't quite work out that way. I thought I had been hammering the point to the students that a sample of which you don't know the provenance is worthless. But I got loads of counts sent to me that didn't specify which sample they represented. That's not helping! And I collect the actual samples as well, so I can check, but these weren't very well labelled either. So I just had a spreadsheet with the samples I could match up; some of them were impeccable, with detailed and matching sample information on both document and microslide. But of some I just didn't know where they belonged. I hope the students can look at their notes, recognise their handwriting on the microslides, et cetera, and work out which sample is which. Because this data set is pretty rubbish! Next year I will have to personally check every single microslide to make sure it is obvious which sample is which…

Fine forams, but which sample are they from? 

Bike path repaired

Most of my commuter routes start on the bicycle path which is a converted railway track. And it is a fine path, but there is one stretch where roots of the trees next to the path have started to push up the asphalt. Obviously, this was getting worse and worse through time. It is unpleasant! The lumps are pronounced and quite sharp. It really can't be good for your bike to bike over them every day. But what choice do I have?

Some months ago, someone had spray painted them yellow. I was hoping that meant the council was going to take action on them. Maybe just grind them down? So that the tarmac would be level again? But it might just have been a protest action by a disgruntled civilian. Nothing happened.

Even later, warning signs appeared. At least I didn't think that was an action of a disgruntled civilian. They don't tend to have traffic signs lying around. But I didn't need to be warned about these bumps. I just wanted them to not be there!

One morning I biked in, and just after the bumpy stretch there was a big van parked in the middle of the bicycle path. I didn't find that particularly polite, but I just got past in the verge and didn't think more about it. But then I biked back in the evening. And there were three pristine new patches of asphalt where the bumps had been! Now I knew what that van had been doing there. It must have been associated with the repair work.

I was so chuffed to bike over the heavenly smooth surfaces! And it made me really appreciate tax. This must have been the council, so my council tax must have made a tiny contribution to it. And this is why we pay that money! I will now bike over these repairs almost every working day, and every time I will have the feeling my council tax was well spent. And I won't feel like I am destroying my bike. Hurray! 

Dissertation topics allocated

It is done! I managed to allocate every single one of the 193 students a topic and supervisor. It was a bit of a chore but it is done. There are so many students this year! And we did have more teaching staff to distribute them over, but the problem is that it still is a very limited number of members of staff whose topics are popular. I had SO many students who had picked topics from the same five popular people. And you can't give these people infinite numbers of students. So then you have to check who else is willing to supervise the topics of the popular people, and keep shuffling people around until in the end you make it fit.

I really wanted to get it done before the marking would hit. And I didn't quite manage, but it was close! On the afternoon of the day when I could have gone into the field with Dei and Jaco but wasn't really necessary, so opted to stay in the office and get this done, I did indeed get it done. That felt good! But then I had to do a check whether everything was ok. Generally, a few mistakes creep in. And they had. There was one student, for instance, whom I had given a supervisor twice. That sort of thing. But when that was done I made a tidy list and published it to the staff.

I tend to release it to the staff first. And if they are ok with it, I release it to the students. And in the meantime, I can turn to my marking…

 

A deep sea fish; star of a very popular topic. Pic by Theodore W. Pietsch, University of Washington

 

AGM Eryri Harriers

I was on the phone with Mike, who had organised the Pedol Peris race, when he told me the running club would have its AGM in November, and whether I was coming. I said yes. I had only been a member for a short while, and I was wondering what an AGM would be like. 

My colleague Chris would go too, so we travelled up together. It was in a Felinheli pub. We were early! So we just had a chat and a drink until more people started arriving. 

The meeting would come with food. After quite a while of socialising everybody started going upstairs, where the food would be served. There was lobscouse or vegetarian bean stew. A lot of runners turn out to eat veggie! And on the wall there was a looping slideshow with running pictures. 

After the main course, the actual meeting started. It was quite an efficient event! There were reports from the various officers, such as the chair, the cross-country officer, the road run officer, the youth trainer, the kit officer, et cetera. They were all quite engaging and kept it brief. Several pressed the message home that it is important to volunteer. The club organises races, but it can’t do that without volunteers. And the various trainings (like my standard Thursday) also can’t run without volunteers. And the club seems to have some 250 members! That should be enough. 

There also were some positions to reconfirm and to fill; three positions were open, and some were filled but could do with a new person. And there were some documents to vote in, like a slightly amended constitution, and a renewed grievance procedure. Almost all of that went smoothly! We just don’t have a press officer at the moment. 

There were also some special thanks to people who had made extraordinary contributions, and to top that off we voted in two new honorary members. And that was the official part!

The meeting. Pic from club FB page

The venue

Then we only had our desserts to eat, and then it was done. It was getting a bit late, so Chris and I just left. 

I surely intend to pull my volunteering weight! There seems to be some club race on in January. I should find out about that! I might make myself useful cheering at endless strangers again…

Battery

In summer I made a decision: I was going to get a battery. And the company that would provide it said the model I would get would come on the market in autumn. And it did! It arrived in early November, and in mid-November I got an appointment for it to be installed. That would take two days. Luckily I had two days in a row where I didn't have much timetabled. 

Installation happened without too much incident. The lady who had come to visit the house, to decide on things such as where the battery would go, had made decisions the actual installer didn't agree with. There was some drilling that made my computer not able to hear what I was saying. The power had to be switched off a few times, and there was a bit too much electricity going down the Earth. For that last issue, a bloke from Scottish Power had to come out. The cat didn't like all the faff and wasn't seen until it was all over. Altogether, very much within reasonable limits.

By the second afternoon it was all done. The installer showed me how to work the app. I can now keep track of how full my battery is, how much energy is coming in, and how much I am using. It will be great to keep an eye on that! I hope I will manage to be self-sufficient on many days. I suppose I will report back!

I don't think this battery will earn itself back anytime soon. But it will feel good to be able to contribute to renewable energy storage, as renewable energy is all good and well, but some of it is impossible to regulate. You can't summon the sun or the wind if energy demand is high! But with batteries, energy generation and use can be decoupled. And that is what we will need. I’m doing my bit… 

Winter biking gadget

More silly season news! I got me a new gadget. It will make my commutes more comfortable. In summer, I bike to work with glasses on, to keep the insects out of my eyes. In winter I don’t. There are still insects, of course, but not so many I find it worth the discomfort of glasses. So it does happen I am midway and get an insect in my eye anyway. I always try to get it out, but it’s hard if you can’t see what you’re doing. 

After yet another one of those situations I figured there must be mini-mirrors on the market. Keychain mirrors. And there are! So I got me one. And next time I end up with a bug in my eye I can remove it in style. That will feel good! 

Nick’s birthday weekend

We had only been together for a few weeks when Nick would have his birthday. And I would travel to Shropshire for that. We had discussed beforehand how we would mark the occasion; I asked if I could take him and his sons out for dinner in Shrewsbury. I wasn’t sure if that was ok! I am the new kid on the block. Maybe they have family traditions. But it was Nick’s birthday, so I suppose his sons would probably be willing to accommodate his wishes, and he liked the idea. And we agreed on it. But made it lunch later, for logistical reasons. 

I arrived the evening before, braving the unnervingly alcohol-minded tendencies of my fellow train travellers. And the evening was mainly spent ferrying his youngest son to and from training. It overran, and we were in bed late. 

The next morning was the big day. After we woke up, Nick went downstairs to make coffee, and I quickly brought out the birthday cake I had brought. With candles! And over breakfast I gave him his present. But then we were back on dad taxi duties; Nick’s son also trains on Saturday morning. 

When we got back I changed into a dress for our lunch. Nick also brushed up. And the boys got ready. I hadn’t had much interaction with the oldest one yet; he is often away. But now he was joining us. He got quite chatty!

Getting into Shrewsbury and parking up was a bit of a nightmare, but all was good when we got to the restaurant. It was a nice place! And the menu looked good. I think we all had a great celebratory lunch! I felt quite privileged to be accepted into this company. 

In the evening, everyone went off to do their own thing.  The logistical reason we could not go for dinner had vanished. Nick and I just had some bread, cheese and fruit, followed by a celebratory beer, and called it a day. We could go to bed at a reasonable time now! 

The next day we finished it all off with a visit to the Soldiers of Shrewsbury Museum, as that is conveniently located right next to the station. And then I left. It had been a good weekend! And the next one is already in the diary. Roll on. 

 

The museum

On the inside

Still not running

When I tried a Thursday Night Hill session, a month after the Bangor 10k in which I made an ankle niggle worse, I came to regret it. My ankle was not amused the next day. So I rested it again. And most of my exercise had to, again, come from my commute, but I even added some weekend biking to not lose my shape too much.

How long would it take for my ankle to accept running again? I really hoped that it would be short. I was conscientiously doing my exercises. And the first Thursday after the ill-advised running session I was in the Peak District anyway. Could I run the week after?

On the Wednesday morning, before breakfast, I gave it a go. I wanted to do my short loop to see how it would go. But I only was a few hundred metres in when I decided that this wasn't much of a success. I could so feel my angle again! So I kept the loop to only 2 km. And I could still feel my ankle the rest of the day. And the next day.

I don't know how long this will take! But I do think it would be wise to play the long game. No full-scale running until my ankle is okay with it. I'm really not enjoying this! But it probably will be the quickest way out of this…

View on my test run

Again, depressing election news from the US

I had been feeling scared about the American elections for months. I was hoping it would turn out ok! But I feared it wouldn’t.

I remembered the 2016 elections, when I had more hope. I woke up, as usual, with Radio 4, so as soon as I awoke I heard the news. And my heart sank. 

This time I had less hope. So when I again woke up to the news, and heard it looked like Trump was winning, I was still sad but less shocked. 

What will this mean for America? And for Ukraine? And Gaza? And the rest of the world? We will have to see. I fear a lot of people will die directly because of Trump’s decisions. But he was fairly and squarely elected. 

You can tell I’m felling numb and fatalistic. But this too shall pass. We will need to hope for better things happening in four years’ time! 

Welsh class: taught by a language pedant

When I registered for my Welsh class, I was making do with a limited selection of classes that still had spaces. And the amount of information available about these courses is limited. The level is given, and then a one sentence description. I selected those that looked suitable, and then, basically, decided on the basis of how long they were (I went for 2 hours instead of 2.5) and which evening they were on. And then I just kept my fingers crossed!

I accidentally made an excellent choice! This course is right up my street. I am learning exactly the stuff that I had been struggling with so much. In Welsh, clauses can be quite complicated. Something like ‘the boulder that blocks the way’ is quite straightforward, but when it gets to things like ‘the boulder that would block the way’ it gets difficult. And the tutor in this course dives straight in. And she happily explains about noun clauses and adverbial clauses, and direct and indirect objects, and the whole lot. We don’t just do clauses, of course. There is a lot more to it, but this stands out for me. I also enjoy the other topics, even when they are a bit esoteric. She even mentioned consonantal and vocalic use of the letter ‘w’ in Welsh. I had never heard of these terms in any language!

This lady, Gwen, at some point mentioned being a linguist. I think I can tell! And I love it. I hope she does a similar course next year. She is so right up my street! I learn lots, and the course is a veritable challenge, without being disheartening. And I don’t feel out of place as a rare northerner among the southerners, with their conspicuously different vocabulary. And I feel accepted, even though I noticed I use my ‘w’ in a lot more consonantal way than the rest! Maybe not anymore by the end of the course…

 

From the course material

Student saves the R day

I am on a modernising spree! I had worked out how to, in theory, plot up the sort of data we gather during our annual glaciological field trip, in RStudio. The one thing I was struggling with is getting the data into the software. When our students are taught R, they are advised to work online, rather than in the desktop app. And I could make the scripts work, but I didn't know how to get an input file in there. So far I had basically got around that by just copying my data straight into R and saving it as a file. And that is fine for a proof of concept, but if you have a file with the data gathered by 15 groups of students, that becomes impractical. It was time I would learn how to do this the proper way.

RStudio has this button that says "import data", but it then only allows you to import it from a directory of which my computer doesn't know where it is. And if my computer doesn't know, I don't know. I decided I really needed to find out, and I asked the lady who had helped me before if she could help me again. And we had a look together. She had no clue either! And she needed to know this as well.

By chance, she was just about to see her master student. When the student saw me she wanted to go away; clearly my colleague was already engaged in something. But we waved her in. And I just asked her if she knew the answer. She did!

It turns out that there is another button that says "upload", And if you click that, you do actually get access to all your file space. And once you have uploaded your file onto the mystery directory, you can "import" it from there. It was that simple! But as far as I am concerned, not intuitive at all. But that was all I needed to know. I thanked her and went back to my office. And no time later I had all my data imported, and a whole new set of graphs produced. Success!

 

Fast graphs! 

 

Bridge without traffic lights

On my normal morning commute I approached the bridge, and I noticed something unusual. There seemed to be cars going both ways! That is unusual. That normally only happens on Friday afternoon, or when the winds are so heavy there is no maintenance work going on on the bridge. But it was a calm Monday morning! Would this mean the work was finished?

The obvious part of the work was over, so this could be it. But I was sceptical, as I would have expected some media attention if the bridge would be open from now on. And over lunch I heard it also needed to be painted, so it would close one lane at a time soon again. (This has been confirmed.) Bummer. But understandable; the bridge is 200 years old in 2026, and I can imagine it wants to look good for such a special birthday. 

It will be annoying to get the traffic lights back. But once they’re gone after the paint job, they should stay gone. That would be great! 

Look, no traffic lights! 

Retrofit report

It feels like I had my sustainability survey done years ago. It was only in July! But now I have received the report. 

So what does it say? Well! Quite a lot of it is rather evident. They recommend more insulation. Ideally they want it on the outside of the house (which is very expensive), on the ceiling in the bedroom in the extension (which is quite disruptive), underneath the floor on the ground floor, so between the house and bedrock (both disruptive and expensive), and also between storeys. And in the attic. At least that latter suggestion is not disruptive, and not very expensive.

Another suggestion was to improve insulation between the heated and unheated spaces of the house. I have a conservatory next to the master bedroom, and a little extension where the washing machine lives tagged onto the kitchen. And the doors and windows leading to them are old-fashioned and single pane. That can be improved on as well.

So what am I going to do? I should really get my arse in gear and improve the insulation in the attic. And then I might take a little step approach. The first thing my money is going to is sort a battery and infrared panels. Then my bank account will probably have to recover for a bit. And I also want to have the bathroom redone. I have a bath, while I think that is not of this age. If you use them, you use so much water and energy! I want it taken out and replaced with a shower cabin with an electric shower. Then I would be ready to not mind if my gas boiler gives up. I suppose that should come next. And that is another thing my bank account will probably have to recover from.

I also want to renovate the kitchen. It is ugly! But that is just a cosmetic issue, so less important than all the faffing with batteries and infrared panels and electric showers. But on the other hand; the sooner I get that done, the longer I can enjoy a beautiful kitchen.

So did this survey tell me a lot of things I didn't know? Not really to be honest. But maybe it was good to have a specialist look at it, and provide estimates of cost with all the possible interventions. And then I can decide which of these I want to tackle, and in which order, and with how much time in between.

Either way; I suppose one thing that needs to happen is that there will be a post on this blog within the year that says I have added a lot of insulation material to the attic. That is such low hanging fruit I should really put that higher up on my to do list! But, of course, before that happens I need to do a bit of research into both insulation material would be best. I think it might actually be sheep’s wool! I am in Wales, after all…

 

Last lawn mowing of the year

Yes it is silly season! It's time for a non-event on the blog. But quite a satisfying non-event.

In early autumn I had intended to cut the grass one last time, but for a combination of other things to do and the weather it never happened. An although I thought the garden looked annoyingly messy, I was resigned to it staying that way until grass cutting would restart in spring. But the day after I came back from the hike it was dry weather. So I saw a chance!

My garden looks a lot better again! I am quite chuffed this opportunity presented itself. I’m sure that’s it for the rest of the year now! It’s November; growing season is over… 

Before

After

Swamp hike 2024

After teaching, I set off to the Peak District for the annual Swamp hike. There was congestion near Manchester. There was a fuel stop that required a bigger detour than I expected on the basis of what my satnav was telling me. And there were very slow, very big tractors on the small roads near Edale. But I got there. Even though it took me almost 4 hours. 

My friends were already in the pub. And this was a literal stone’s throw from the campsite they had booked. There was absolutely no parking space by the pub, but one of my friends came out and showed me where to park on the campsite itself. And then I could join them. I could do with a pint after a busy teaching day and a gruelling drive!

There were only four of us; some of the regulars couldn't make it. But we had Roelof, Viking and Sleutel. When I realised that, I was wondering if that would cause trouble; they are all a foot taller than me, so it was turning into the tale of the sausage dog and the three Dobermans. Uphill all would be well; but on the flat, and downhill, I might struggle to keep up. But that was a worry for later. Now it was just time for being glad to see each other, have a pint, and have a pub meal.

The pub

Not hiking food

After the meal I pitched my tent, and we all brushed our teeth and went to bed. And from our tents, we could all hear the wind pick up quite considerably.

The next morning that wind was still strong. Not ideal! And given that we were in a village anyway, we thought we might not bother with camping stoves in high winds, but try to find coffee elsewhere. When I was trying to park my car somewhere in the area I noticed that the café of the station was open from 8 am. We went there! And had a great start of the day.

On the campsite 

When that was done I just paid for my car to stay at the campsite for another night. And then we were off! In the sun but also the heavy wind. The path was clear and well-maintained. Initially, we would first head south so we could go over Rushup Edge, but in these winds, none of us wanted to be on top of a ridge. We headed straight for the Pennine Way, which would take us over the Jacob’s Ladder to the edge of Kinder Scout. A beautiful route, going from bucolic to bleak. And surprise surprise, when we got to the top of Jacob's Ladder, it was again so windy it wasn't fun anymore. So instead of turning right onto Kinder Scout proper, we went straight ahead and headed for the reservoir on the other side. That was much better! And we had lunch with a view over the reservoir. 

It started sunny

Sunny but windy! And with clouds approaching 

Jacob’s Ladder

Reaching the ridge, Viking clearly struggling to stay upright 

Proper swampy terrain

View from the lunch spot

By then the wind had abated, so we headed for William’s Clough, which would again get us to the edge of Kinder Scout. By this time that was fine, but daylight would soon fade. We looked at a little saddle underneath the ridge, and decided that might be a good spot. We first stocked up on water and then we headed there. It was fine camping spot! A bit misty, but that was atmospheric.

In the Clough

Hike selfie: Roelof, Sleutel, Viking and me

It was still early, so we first had a beer. The men had carried actual beer all this way! And then Roelof cooked his famed butter chicken (with fake chicken) in the dark. The pan fell over and some of the sauce and ended up in the grass, but it was still a fab meal! Even festooned with some fireworks down in the valley, although these were tiny from that distance. And shortly after that we all went to bed.

Relaxing with beer

Butter (not) chicken! 

My tent was comfortable, but my sleep was disturbed. Some unidentified creature crawled into my ear. I hate that! It's not the first time that happened to me. I think it got out because at some point I couldn't feel it anymore. And from then on I had a nice night.

The next morning the mist was back. I had breakfast with my leftover lunch; my breakfast would last! The lunch needed to be eaten now or never. And we agreed on a route back. Initially, the idea had been to go back to Roelof’s car, but we could just as well go back to mine. It was a lot easier to find a nice route to there. We agreed to go up to Kinder Scout, traverse it, and go down through Grindsbrook Clough. 

Our little tents in the morning when i got up 

Two curious sheep appeared, and made short thrift of the food spillage of last night. They liked butter chicken as well! And then we were off. Soon we were on the edge, where it was very atmospheric, and very quiet.

On our way to the plateau

Brief appearance of the sun

Amazing outcrop

 

We got to Kinder Downfall, and there headed to the interior of the platform. That meant the going suddenly wasn't as comfortable anymore! On the edge, the path is clear and firm and wide. But now we were heading into a peat landscape, transected by endlessly many streams, cut into the slippery subsurface. The path wasn't always obvious. We really relied now on navigation with phones! In no time it gets very difficult to navigate by map when you leave the edge. And we were moving really slowly. All these gullies we had to descend into, and then climb out of, complicated things. And Roelof had a stomach ache and was struggling. 

The landscape on the platform 

We were glad when we got back to the edge, where there again was a clear and solid path! It's also very busy. But that was OK. We followed the path until we got to the ravine that carried Grinds Brook to Edale. And that was basically a scramble! In the beginning, at least. We were moving slowly again. But then the path got smooth again, and we could march back to the pub. 

Descending the misty but busy gulley

Further down it looks more hospitable 

We decided to first have pub lunch there, and only then do the logistics. And that was the right call. Roelof had suggested we take my car to get his, bring it to Edale, and then redistribute. But we checked just how long that would take, and reconsidered. We’d just all pile into my little Corsa, bags and all, and go back to where Roelof had parked up. And that is indeed how the adventure ended! It had been short for me, but worth every second. I wouldn’t mind doing some more Peaks next year!

 

Back where it started!