Finally: saw session

My firewood stock was getting low! So after my car repair session, it was paramount I would go and create some more really quickly. And I did. I spent a few hours sawing wood, crowbarring bits of wood apart, crowbarring metal bits off wood, and chopping kindling. It was a fruitful session! And now I feel ready for the near future. That's a good feeling! And I still have a fair amount of uncut firewood left. That will last me until spring. But my stocks are a lot lower than they have traditionally been. I remember having to keep finding new places for firewood, and that is now absolutely not a problem! But at least there is also a fair amount of wood from the garden slowly drying out in the garage. In about a year and a half that will be fine for burning as well!

All the firewood I had left! Mind that the ‘natural’ wood on the right is not yet ready to be burned…

Chopping kindling (notice the new basket)

The result! 

Air fryer

I’m on that bandwagon! I had thought about it for a while. Something that gives you food rather quickly and in an energy-efficient way is always likely to get my attention. I have an oven, and I like dishes that involve an oven, but I am often a bit hesitant to use it. I am only a one-person household, and heating the entire oven to cook dinner for one seems wasteful. And obviously, I often cook for several days, which would be similar to cooking for several people, but still. So when the air fryer became popular I was paying attention.

As it so happened, there is a program on the radio called "sliced bread" where a reporter evaluates a particular hype suggested by a listener. Air fryers featured, of course. I listened to that episode, and came away still thinking it was a good idea.

I also don't like overconsumption. The thing with a hype is that lots of people get one, and quite a lot of these will then see the novelty wear off, and not use their toy anymore. Or otherwise; maybe people get gifted them for Christmas, when they don't want them. So why buy a new one? Maybe better to wait until after Christmas and striking then. Less consumer protection, but more warm fuzzy feeling about basically reducing waste and maximising the resources that had gone into making this unwanted appliance in the first place.

Being unable to do particularly exciting things for reasons of health, I had a scroll on Facebook marketplace between Christmas and New Year. And there was one for sale in the village. That sounded ideal! And the lady who was selling it was happy to meet up on New Year's Day. So I biked there, had a nice chat, bought the air fryer, loaded it on the back of the bike, and went back home. And there I made space for it in the cupboard.

My main aim was to roast vegetables! I love roast potatoes, and roast beetroot, carrot, parsnip, onion, aubergine; you name it. But I had leftovers in the fridge that needed eating first. So it wasn't immediately able to use it for that.

On the 2nd of January, though, the weather would be great, so I had proposed a walk to my friends. They had accepted. But I have a reputation too keep up! I bring cake on a walk. And I didn't have any. I had better make something quick! And I had just bought an appliance that can make things quick. So I had a look at the documentation that came with the appliance, which didn't speak of baking, and just had a Google. You can clearly not just put the cake batter into the pan of an air fryer; the idea is that the air can get around the food stuff in the pan. So you need to have a container in the pan if you bake. That's okay; I have very small cake tins. And this was not quite what I had in mind when I bought the thing, but it was worth an experiment. I googled some vegan chocolate cake, and tried it out. It works! In half an hour you have cake. Enough for the hike.

Air fried chocolate cake

While I was doing that, I also noticed that the cat was a fan. When the air fryer is switched on, it has a display area with moving lights (like a timer counting down). She found that fascinating! And she was even interested in sitting in the box. Normally she doesn't care about boxes! But for this one, she made an exception.

Cat mesmerised by air fryer

Cat in air fryer box

So I have an air fryer now! I look forward to roasting my first vegetables. But it has already proven its worth. I hope I will get a lot of miles out of this.

First job of 2025: car repair

When I woke up on New Year's Day I was feeling a lot better than I had been doing the two days previous. So I geared up for some action! And the first thing I did was to repair my car.

The struts that are supposed to work the boot of my car had worn out. Initially I had to be careful that when I opened the boot, it wouldn't smack me on the head, but later the problem got so bad that I had to manually lift that door up, and it's surprisingly heavy. And then I had to keep it up while putting things into, and taking things out of, the boot. That is not very practical. But I had encountered that problem before; almost exactly 10 years ago, I had dealt with an identical problem with my Ford Fiesta. So I knew it was easy to solve!

When I had got back home I had started the phone car scrapping yards, but that didn't result in anything. So I then just phoned a car parts dealer nearby. And they had struts available by the 31st, and I had had time to come collect them. So now it was time to put them to use. I used a pole that I think officially is a curtain rod to keep the boot up, and replaced the struts. I was done in minutes! First chore of the year successfully completed! I'm not sure how much longer this car is going to last me, but now it will at least sit out its old age with a prim third door…

Before

After

Dutch pension

It had been nagging at me for many years. I had a working history in three different countries, and I had absolutely no clue what that meant for my pension. And I really should find out. So many months ago, I had finally managed to get myself some sort of digital identity, with which I could sort out my official business in the Netherlands.

When I got back from my Christmas trip in that country, I figured I might as well see if I could indeed use that to access my pension. So I did. And I could! It was easier than I thought. And well worth the effort. 

This means I have now solved the problem. The other problem is still there: my Norwegian pension. I think I will need to get a similar digital identity, but I suspect that will be difficult. The only thing I have is my "birth number" (a bit like a UK national insurance number) and I imagine that won't be enough for a smooth processing. 

I remember that when I got into the country, I wanted to get my drivers license, and the problem was that in order to apply for one, you needed to show an identity document that has both your picture and your birth number on. The only identity document with picture that I had was Dutch, so that didn't have my Norwegian birth number on. I needed to ask help from an Norwegian colleague; she trawled through the legalese involved, and told me to point out to whoever didn't want to accept my separate passport and birth number that in section 6 paragraph 5C (or something) it is stated that picture and birth number do not necessarily have to be on the same document. And then it worked out. And then I got my drivers license. And that then was a document that has both my picture and my birth number on. I could imagine something similar will happen this time! Stay tuned…

Looking back on 2024

2023 was a year of working too hard, and dating and running. And hanging out with my hill-based friends. How different was 2024? 

Not an awful lot different, to be honest! And I suppose that is mainly a good thing. Only the working too hard is a bit of a bummer.

January started with just that; I had a lot more marking leftover from the first term then I did this year. So I was still frantically marking coursework until the very moment the exams came in. Not an ideal way to start the year.

In February, racing started again with the Nick Beer 10k. And I got busy with my Athena Swan application. And my application for promotion. We also hired a maternity cover; we had already been hiring people in 2023, but these would not start until the New Year. This lady would start pretty much immediately! I also got busy with a big time saving device: my new mitre saw. Important for someone who does a lot of house heating with wood.

In March we appointed the last new member of academic staff. And at the end of the month, I submitted both my application for promotion to senior lecturer, and for an Athena Swan bronze award renewal. I was a bit wild-eyed by the time I sent off both but then there was a big weight of my shoulders!

In April, the dissertation module came to an end. That is always a busy time for me. And I started fell racing. I am still rubbish at that! But it was fun. And I had some visitors: the Cornish were back.

May brought a lot of marking, again. And an eventful race! I ran the Snowdonia half marathon, and limped over the finish. That turned out to be an IT band problem. I still don't know if I can run half marathons without them complaining. And I found myself cat sitter, so I could go travelling in summer. And at the end of the month, I heard that my Athena Swan application had been a success! That was excellent.

June was for travelling. First to the Netherlands, for our annual family reunion. That's the family on my dad's side; excitingly, I also met up with a cousin from my mother's side. And then to Finland, to celebrate my sister's birthday in Lapland. That was a fab holiday. In spite of the mosquitoes!

In July there was more travelling, but this time by other people; firstly my dad who came to visit. And then my old friend Frank. And my running looked up; I managed to run a silver medal in a 10k trail race, and joined the Eryri Harriers. And I met up with a guy I had got chatting with on a dating site. 

In August I really enjoyed the Eryri-related Thursday runs. And I saw more people: my cousin popped by again, with her family, Kate who had moved to England popped by again, and I joined Jitske for a few days hiking Shropshire, after which I saw the dating guy bloke again. And Lydia came over from London. I also managed to run my first gold medal. That was exciting! And then I went to the Netherlands again. 

In September, I tried a half marathon again. That didn’t go well! And I had my last visitor for a while: Rick, my old mine exploration friend from the southwest. And almost immediately afterwards, term started, with our annual field trip. The fun was over! And I ran Moel Eilio with the Thursday Night Hill group, and came away with an ankle injury I still have. And I saw the bloke from the dating site, Nick, a bit more. And I reconnected with an old school firend: Koen.

In October, Nick and I decided to be a couple. A big step! And I ran me another silver medal to celebrate. My ankle didn’t enjoy that! And term got into high gear, which all lecturing starting, and a lot of work on facilitating students designing their own dissertation topics. Luckily, by then we had a whole lot of new(ish) colleagues, with whom I also socialised. 

November was still stupidly busy with work. And no running to speak of! December started like that too, but then the pressure dropped. And I could celebrate my birthday without stress, and later go to the Netherlands. And that was the year pretty much done!

So yes, 2024 was another year of working too much, dating and running. And hanging out with my hill-based friends, although when we see each other, we often just meet up for dinner, and that rarely ends up on the blog (but not never). It doesn't mean it doesn't happen, and it doesn't mean it's not important to me! I hope to see a lot more of them in 2025.

Regarding the working, the good news of course was that the two big projects going on both came to fruition: my promotion application, and my application for the Athena Swan accreditation. These were the big things! And 2025? I intend to apply for senior fellowship of the higher education Academy in summer (I've been procrastinating). Wish me luck! Otherwise, I don't expect huge changes or spectacular events. But you never know. There is also this tiny matter of the University being in dire straits again! Who knows how that pans out in 2025.

The dating went better than it had been in living memory. I really hope Nick and I can make 2025 a glorious year for the two of us!

And the running! This was such a successful year, until it wasn't. I never ran gold before, and I had several silvers. I was on such a roll! But I am clearly of the age now that I can't take any of that for granted. I start the year only capable of doing very short careful runs, because of my ankle. But I am religiously doing my physiotherapy exercise exercises. I really hope I will be back in fighting form very soon!

Was there anything else? Last year I mentioned ChatGPT. I figured that might have changed my work a lot by the end of the year. And I suppose it has, but it went so gradual I barely noticed. We for instance make sure to run all our exam questions through AI to see how it fares. If it can do a good job, it's not a good exam question! But so far there is still so much it can't do we can always think of other exam questions. And the University wants to phase out exams anyway. Coursework is much less AI-vulnerable, although of course not entirely invulnerable.

I also mentioned I was going to do a duathlon. And I did! But I don't think the competitive cycling is for me, and the running on that day also wasn't, because it was too soon after my IT band issue had reared its ugly head.

And I was right to worry about politics! What on Earth will happen when Trump assumes power again? And how will the situation in Syria develop? How long will the rickety coalition in the Netherlands last? How will the elections in Germany go?

And I had a last new Year's resolution: reading more books. And did I? Yes! I barely read anything in 2023, and I read seven books (almost 8) in 2024. Still a disappointing number to be honest! But better than it was. May this continue in 2025! 

And the cat? No mention of her so far! But she is not a very time-specific aspect of my life. She started the year thinking a very good use of her time is snoozing in a comfortable chair. She ended the year thinking snoozing in a comfortable chair is a very good use of her time. And she is still the little spoon every night, and she still loves playing with the fishing rod toy. Just like last year. And probably next year…

A much simpler solution to phone issues

I might not have been very healthy on the last days of the year, but one thing I managed to sort. When my old phone initially did not want to charge, I bought a new charging cable. That sorted me out for a month or two. When the problem came back, I just bought an entirely new phone. We are so dependent on these things, and if you can't charge them, they are useless! But when I was having a cup of tea with Miles he said you can just buy wireless chargers. And they are very cheap. I wish I would have realised that when I was in the Netherlands! That would have saved me quite a lot of money. But hey ho.

On the day of New Year's Eve I bought one. And it worked! My phone is modern enough to be compatible with that. So now I can be downright contemptuous of any charging port issues. It is fab!

Charging wirelessly 

I am now having two pretty much identical phones, so how is that panning out? Well! It's actually quite handy. Only one of them has a SIM, but that's OK; most communications don't go over the SIM card anyway. So sometimes I'm multi-screening with two phones. Handy for instance when I want to blog on one phone, and look up the blog posts I want to refer to on the other one. Or if one of them needs charging, I just use the other one. So it wasn't money wasted! But it does show me that sometimes my ignorance is an expensive thing. Not that I didn't know that; imagine how much money I might have spent unnecessarily on the house. Because I know nothing! But life goes on, and this is the second time Miles guides me to a very simple solution to a problem you can also tackle the difficult way. The first one was the heated pad for the cat. Which she absolutely loves! And which is a very efficient way of keeping her warm through the winter. Hooray for simple solutions!

Somewhat miserable betwixtmas

I came home on a Saturday evening. And all was well! I had managed Christmas without falling ill, I had got home without problems, and it was still so early in the Christmas holidays I could afford to spend some time with Nick. And did all go on like that? Well, no!

On the Sunday, I first sorted out my alarm, and I did one of my interval runs, that the physiotherapist had recommended. And I made sure to have quality time with the cat. I also had to hit the kitchen; Miles was coming over. It was good to see him! It had been a while. So a good day. 

Pic taken during my run

The next morning I woke up with a stinking headache (no we didn’t drink any alcohol). I was also feeling lethargic, and with an overabundance of slimy substances in my system. Dammit! I thought I had dodged that bullet! But clearly not. So the second last day of the year I did very little. Would I be healthy enough to go and see Nick on New Year's Eve? That didn't even become the question! Nick encountered some challenges of his own that made it a bad idea for me to come over. So on the day of New Year's Eve I first did some chores I suddenly had time for; I had to buy some car parts, and when I was in town anyway I also bought an electronic gadget. And some firewood baskets. And otherwise I just made myself comfortable. I lit a fire, did some blogging, read a book, and had more quality time with the cat. I made sure to eat nice food, and at 8 pm I was pretty much ripe for bed. Not quite how I had imagined things! But it was not a bad day at all. And I clearly wasn't entirely well again, what with barely lasting beyond 8 pm.

The cat looking daft and cross-eyed on NYE

So that was how my year ended! I will do a separate blog post with an evaluation of the year that thus ended in comfort but not spectacle. Stay tuned!

Welcome home by the heat alarm

Travelling home from the Netherlands by train is a long slog! I was glad I got home. I could already hear the cat inside when I approached the door. And then I got in and things were a bit less welcoming. 

My house smelled a bit strange. And I heard a strange beep. What was going on? Had I left something on?

I snuggled and fed the cat. And did a little round to see if everything was ok. All seemed fine! Except that the heat alarm in the kitchen seemed to run low on battery. Hence the beeping. Some of these alarms might be quite demure in their communications of diminishing battery charge, but not this one. The sound was decidedly unpleasant! But I really didn't want to deal with that right now. I had the strong suspicion I didn't have the required battery, and I had only just got home. I really didn't want to leave again. So I just checked how loud the sound was if I just closed the kitchen door. And it was bearable!

I made sure in the cat's food and water were outside the kitchen as well. And the smell? I never found out what that was about. Maybe that was placebo effect. Maybe your house always smells a bit strange if you have been away, and maybe you place too much emphasis on that when you also hear disconcerting sounds. But I stopped worrying about it. And I went to bed fairly early. And I did manage to sleep through the sound, that I could still hear. I couldn't really close more doors, as that would impede the cat.

As the sound was so unpleasant, it was pretty much the first task in the morning to sort that out. I shut down the electricity to the alarm, took it down, removed the battery, and went to the local shop to buy a new one. I decided to buy two. If this alarm is running out, it is quite possible the other alarms are not far behind. If the next one goes, I can sort that out without having to go to the shop.

I put the new battery in, and put everything back in place. Such a small job really, but just a bit too much after a 12 hour train journey. I hope that's me sorted for years now!

Back on the Eurostar (premier seats)

This was the first time I got me fancy seats! So how was it? 

Amsterdam Central Station in Christmas outfit 

It started like any other Eurostar journey from Amsterdam. I don’t think there’s a lounge there; just a long platform. So I got there well on time, and just waited in the cold. But once it appeared, the train was nice. I again had a single seat, so had both a window seat and unimpeded access to the luggage rack above me. Nice! And they brought breakfast. And I quite like train breakfasts. This was not as nice as in the train to Lapland; the entire experience, that is; this is not a judgment on the cuisine. But it was nice anyway.

Breakfast

We got to Brussels without issue. And there all was as usual again! You find yourself the Eurostar terminal, and get through ticket control, security, and passport control like everybody else. I saw no priority lane or anything like that. And after passport control you get herded into some smelly underground shop until they allow you onto the platform. Fancy ticket or not; that’s your fate! But again; once I was in. It was nice. 

I got fed again! Quite well, even. And there was wine. All very fancy. And the weather was even good. There was fog both in the Netherlands and in the UK, but not in Belgium and France. 

Space, wine and blue skies

I was in London on time. And that was the end of the luxury. Euston is notoriously un-luxurious. And the train from there was in good nick but very full. Difficult to manoeuvre. It got me to Crewe, where I changed again. The next train, to Chester, was ok again. And the last one too. That line often used rather delapidated carriages, but this time it was ok! And it was also not full of boisterous drunk people. That sometimes happens. 

Glamorous train gets you to glamorous destination: St Pancras

Altogether I got to Bangor on time. Success! And would I book fancy tickets again? Not on purpose, I think. Especially not on the way back; the fun of the luxury is a bit dampened by the fact that it will be followed by the long trip through the UK, which is generally the bleaker part of the journey. But if I’m ever late booking again and the economy tickets have run out, I’ll make sure to enjoy the pampering again! 

New Dutch phone

 I had had issues with my phone before, I only had it for about a year but it started to struggle to charge a while ago. I sorted that with a new cable. But just before I would travel abroad it gave me problems again. I cleaned out the charging port as well as I could, and set off. It still struggled!

I had a few issues with a malfunctioning phone. The first was: I had my train ticket on my phone. I had managed to get my hands on paper Eurostar tickets, but not the ticket from London to Bangor. 

The second issue was: I was going to see Koen, but we hadn’t agreed a time yet. But I hoped I could perhaps sort that from my mother’s iPad. 

The third issue was: the journey back. It’s a long ride! And it really helps if you can do a variety of things in the train. Read the newspaper, read a book, update one’s blog, send messages to one’s loved ones, do a puzzle… if the only things I can do are reading and doing the puzzles in the newspaper that gets really dull after a while. 

The first thing was the most urgent. But I had enough charge to send the PDF of my train ticket to my brother in law, who then printed it out. Stress over! But the other issues still stood, so I decided I might want to get me a new phone. And I had spotted a shop right behind Hilversum’s railway station. 

On Boxing Day I walked to the station. I had no particular train in mind; between Hilversum and Amersfoort they go so often, you can just get to the station at any time, and it will be fine, and I popped into the shop. And got me a similar phone to the old one. I a few minutes I was outside again! 

At my mum’s I tried to get my latest iCloud backup onto it. That was a bit frustrating but it worked in the end. It also involved me running through her house, looking for the router. My mum couldn’t quite remember where it was! Then it insisted on doing a long software update. That was done just before bedtime. And then it needed to install all apps. That took until the morning of my departure. All done! 

I didn’t really intend to get my next phone in the Netherlands, but it’s done now. I hope I’m now sorted for at least another year! And I hope this one has a longer battery life. But it’s quite nice this phone will be a bit of a memento of a family visit! And some weary people whose first customer I was, that drizzly Boxing Day, two hours after they opened the shop…

The old phone; my WhatsApp has already moved over