Room

I raced through this book! I only recently blogged about finishing the previous one. And I wanted fiction this time.

When, many years ago, Room came out, it piqued my interest. But I can be a bit slow! I didn’t buy it at the time. And by now even a film has been made about it. But I got my proverbial together and ordered it. It arrived on time to be next in line after Emperor of Rome. Is there anybody who doesn’t know what this book is about? For in case of yes: a woman and her small son are locked up in a room, and have been so for years. The son has never been anywhere else. This much is clear from the cover of the book. The rest of this text contains spoiler alerts.

It’s a page-turner. It might not start fast, but that’s how I like it. I was quite into the daily routines of Room. But quite early only in the book, the woman decides it is time to try to make their escape. It becomes clear she has tried before, but not since the boy was born. But she thinks he is now so old he can be involved in an escape attempt. Additionally; she fears for her life as the man who is keeping them captive is in financial trouble, and what would he do if he can't afford food and energy for three people anymore? What happens if the mortgage lender repossesses the house?

The book is told from the perspective of the boy, and as far as he is concerned she seems to suddenly get the idea to try to escape. The reader assumes she has not thought of much else in the past seven years, but has only now decided to involve him. It is clear she hasn't been willing to admit to the boy that they are in a highly unusual, even traumatic, situation. But now she must.

They hatch a plan and manage to execute it. She first pretends the boy is ill, and later that he has died. She tells the man to take the body away and bury it somewhere far away. The boy is rolled into a carpet, and is instructed to play dead. The assumption is that the man will put the boy in the carpet in the back of his pick-up truck, without checking. And he will inevitably have to stop at traffic lights sometimes. The boy is instructed to then jump out and run for help.

It actually works out that way. So much could go wrong! But the book won't work if he doesn't make it out. So the boy runs to a dog walker, pursued by the abductor, and the dog walker doesn't trust the situation and phones the police. They show up pretty promptly.

The problem then is that the boy has only just turned five and has never before been outside Room. How on earth does he know where he came from? But the dog walker has a description of the car, and the boy remembers how often the car stopped or turned. The police have enough to go on. They find his mum.

This all went a bit fast for me. I have a bit of a long attention span! But that's OK. Because then you wonder how they will fare in the outside world.

The situation is fundamentally different for the woman and the boy. The woman has finally been released from a seven year nightmare. The boy has been ripped away from everything he knows except his mum. She wants to go outside and feel the sky and the rain and the sun, but he doesn't see the attraction. He is scared of rain, and perfectly happy to be in a confined space. And he isn't happy that if he is outside, he has to wear special sunglasses and a lot of sunblock.

The boy has to come to terms with the absolute avalanche of new things thrown at him. The woman has to deal with the intrusive press, the police wanting to take evidence, social services sticking their noses into what happens to the boy, having to deal with lawyers, and finding out that some people haven't really responded to her disappearance (or even on her return, with child) the way she had hoped. They are on completely different trajectories.

There were some scenes that raised my eyebrow. They both are something I would see as a safety breach. Soon after the woman is rescued and brought to a psychiatric hospital, her mother comes visiting, with her new partner. The woman's brother also shows up; he has a partner and small child. And only days later, after they probably have only spent a few minutes in each other's company in total, these relatives come and pick the boy up for a visit to a museum. The mother is having a bit of a breakdown and can't get out of bed, and the reader is given to believe she doesn't even know this is going on. What psychiatric clinic would allow a child like that to be taken away from the mother, for hours, without her consent? By practically strangers? That didn't seem plausible to me.

The other thing was that the woman is put on medication. And she is given such a large supply of it she is capable of plausibly attempting suicide with it. I would think she just gets her daily dose and not more.

The author also puts some societal criticism in. The boy grew up in scarcity; his captor is really not going to spend more on his prisoners than necessary. He is baffled at the over-abundance and waste, both in food and consumer goods, in the wider world. He is also puzzled by that everyone seems to be in a hurry. 

The book ends with the boy wanting to go back to visit Room. They get permission. When he gets back there, it doesn't feel familiar anymore. You imagine he has peace with just not living there anymore. And then you have to imagine the rest of his life.

I thought it was beautiful! And I thought it was a plausible attempt to get inside the mind of a boy in a situation like that. I'm glad I finally read it. Only 15 years late! 

Not much academic poor practice, a lot of academic malpractice

When it's marking time, it is also academic integrity time. And I must say I have been busy! But I noticed that I am busy in a different way from the first semester.

Normally, quite a lot of the cases are just occurrences of bad paraphrasing. Students have, slightly too often, the inclination to take text from the sources they use (mostly peer-reviewed articles), change it a bit, and then put it in their work. What we want them to do, of course, is absorb the knowledge, and then rephrase it entirely in their own words. But admittedly, that is more work. Unfortunately for them, though, it is very easy for a software to pick up on such things. So normally, my academic integrity time often boils down to deciding how much of the text they have ripped out of the sources they used, and how big the penalty is I will give them. And then document all of that.

This time, however, I am predominantly dealing with actual academic malpractice. Two types reared their heads this semester: collusion and fabrication. The students have to produce their own work, and if their work is too similar to that of a peer, we call them in and establish how that happened. If it becomes clear it indeed was a case of one student doing the work and the other one pretty much recycling that, the recycling students doesn't get marks for their work. And normally, the recycled student gets a stern warning. Letting someone else use your work is academic malpractice as well, though, so they are at risk of also not getting any marks. 

Fabrication is when students make up data or references. Generally, the problem is the references. Too many students still haven't realised that if you ask ChatGPT for references, it tends to make stuff up. And these students clearly don't have the habit of actually reading what they cite. And it is very easy to prove that an article doesn't exist. We take that quite seriously. A scientist will always be flawed, but has to be trustworthy. 

I have been dealing with both cases of collusion and fabrication this semester. And I've totted it up; in the first semester, I dealt with seven cases of insufficient paraphrasing, vs five in this one. And in the first semester, I had five cases of academic malpractice, but this semester I have already dealt with eight. And there are still four on my list. And the list could get longer; after all, the marking is not finished. But it looks like this is really the semester of academic malpractice! I have no idea why. I wish it weren't.

I think it won't be long before ChatGPT gives real references. I suppose we then have to mark a bit stricter on whether what the students say these sources reveal is really true. That's more work! And by the time free AI actually can do the literature review for you, we can demand a lot more from the students. It's a bit like when Excel became available. Suddenly one could make the students (like me at the time) do a lot more calculations, and make them a lot more complex. But that is a bigger discussion. For now I'm just a dealing with the large number of students I have to penalise quite severely!

TNH in new terrain again

I know I probably shouldn’t blog about every Thursday run. It would get a bit dull. But do I want to blog about this one. 

We started from Llanberis again, as we had done a lot recently. I was hoping that this time, we would do a sensible route. Not like the previous stomps over Elidir Fawr and Moel Eilio! And it started reasonable. We headed into the valley below the Llanberis path over a gravel road. It was gorgeous! I had actually never been there. And as we had had so many times recently: the weather was amazing. 

Heading into the hills

Deeper into the hills

Of course, sooner or later it went weird; we did start trundling off track, and went up slopes that were too steep to run. And difficult for me to run down. This was on the flanks of Moel Cynghorion. But we didn't go all the way up.

Steep up

Steep up

And steep down

I had expected a modest run as those who were interested in that were going to have pizza afterwards, and the restaurant had been booked for 8 pm. But it looked like running was more important than pizza. It was 8:30 by the time we were back at the cars.

I hadn't signed up for the pizza; that would be a bit much as I had had a caving trip the night before, and would be seeing Jenny the night after. I sometimes need to just be home, and in bed early. And clearly we got more running than I had anticipated, but this time it had stayed within reason, and it had been a lovely night!

The week after I'm not running. And who knows what the situation will be the week after that! The weather might have completely turned by then…

Marking spurt before the deadline

The dissertations have been submitted. And the last exam has been done. That means that marking time is now in full swing. And we always have a deadline, but at the end of the academic year we always have a more important one. At the end of the year, we have the exam board meetings where we discuss the students’ results, but that means the results have to be in. Normally, we have four weeks to mark anything; at the end of the year it can be less.

I started with the dissertations. First those of my own students; then the ones of the students for whom I am second marker. And then later, inevitably, some where the first and second marker didn't really agree, and a third was needed.

My exam work was very limited. I have three exams in the second semester; one is a first year exam which is an MCQ test and which get automatically marked by the software. And the other two have very small class sizes.

It was good, I suppose, that this was quite manageable; I would actually be in the Netherlands on the day of the deadline. So everything needed to have been marked before I would set off. That gave me less time than most.

There is also marking of essays of freshers and second year students, but for non-graduating students the deadline is later. We want to have the results done earlier for the students who should be graduating this summer.

Altogether the deadlines were tight, but the load was very manageable. Quite the opposite from the marking at the end of the first semester! This is nicer… 

A chinstrap penguin. They featured in one of the dissertations I marked. Pic by Andrew Shiva

Underground trip for women

I stopped going underground on a regular basis for reasons of excessive laddishness of the men I had been going with. Since then, I haven't done that many trips, and quite a few of them were just me and one other woman. Maybe two. Occasionally a man or two. And Miles isn't very laddish and if it were up to me, I would go underground with him a bit more often. I think we went once.

There are ways of connecting with larger groups going underground that have guaranteed absence of excessive laddishness: there is an initiative called speleo sisters, and they do caving weekends. But I think that is a bit much for me. Firstly, it is a national initiative, so it could be very far away from where I live. And secondly; if you do a whole weekend you want to do some epic caving, but I am so out of it! I have therefore never joined a speleo sisters weekend.

Then I started noticing announcements of women only caving trips in North Wales. This initiative was associated with the club UCET. We have quite some members of UCET in the cave rescue team. It looked interesting! But I was never available on the day.

Then I saw a trip to Parc announced, on a day I could make. Parc is not very far away; that matters, as UCET is based quite far east, so some of their trips might well be an hour’s drive away, or two hours, or maybe even more. Parc is only 30 minutes away! I signed up.

I did what nowadays is my usual thing: on the way there, I wondered what I would have forgotten. It turned out I hadn't forgotten anything. And on the parking lot I changed into my gear. It turned out we were a group of seven. Not a bad score! And most of them I already knew a bit because they are in the rescue team. It was a nice crew.

The idea was that we would go down to the lower level and have a look around. We didn't really have a particular goal. We first had to get there! 

On the level between the ladders and the pitch (pic by Mary)

Starting down the Pitch (pic by Mary)

It took us a while get down the ladders (you can only have one person on a ladder at any given time), and even longer (or at least it seemed) to come down the pitch. Not all of us were equally experienced. But we all got down! And then we had a little walk. We saw the ore chutes, the submerged wagon; all the sights. I had seen all of them plenty of times before, but that didn't matter.

Group pic without Mary, who is taking the picture 

Distant lady on a ladder

The ore chutes (pic by Mary)

Some of us were wondering how deep the water would be in the passage to Kneebone Cutting. We all headed to the tube that gives access to this part of the mine, and a few of us would go and check it out. But then everybody came through. It seems to have been decided! This was going to be the way we would come out. And the very ochry water was up to our knickers.

The previous time I had been in his mine, it had been with Sharon alone, and we weren't quite sure how to climb out of the pit. We managed it, but it wasn't comfortable. But now we figured we knew how it was usually done. It was indeed a whole lot easier! I free-climbed out, but there was a rope for people who weren't comfortable with that.

We then walked back. It was getting late! I changed and left. Sometimes, these trips seem to end in the pub. But it was already past my bedtime.

I had had a good time! I really liked the atmosphere of this trip. It was really friendly and sociable. I'm definitely going to do this again if I am available, and the trips aren't stupidly far away. Although if they are, maybe some car sharing would be an option, and that helps.

I also had had a chat with Mary, the lady who organises these trips. She explained how they had come about. She is in UCET, and he was a bit dismayed there were so few women in the club. I know how she feels! And she said that if you managed to convince a woman to join, they show up once or twice, and then decide it is way too blokey, and never show up again. 

She figured she might be able to create some critical mass by organising trips for women only. Then nobody is put off by the blokeyness, and before you know it they go on a whole load of trips, and have a great time, and then maybe that way you can convince several women to join the parent club in a short span of time, and then they can together counterbalance the blokeyness. It may very well work! I am now thinking of joining UCET. And I wouldn't join every weekly trip. As I said; some of these are really far east for me. But if they venture a little bit further west it might well be an option. Thanks to Mary, this might be a club that is quite welcoming to women. And it's not as if that is unique; both the PCG and the YCC had good form there. But here in North Wales, I am afraid that is worth mentioning!

Welsh course finished

It is finished! And I am a bit sad. I had really enjoyed this Welsh class. We learnt all sorts of grammatical subtleties that I'd been wondering about for years. It was very satisfying. And I also just liked the style of the tutor. And I had lovely fellow learners.

Finding a suitable course is not easy! I am pretty much at the end of what they teach. There is no further course I can advance to. And then you just have to hope that the courses at this level don't cover the same material. And when you try to select a course, you'll have to do that on the basis of very little information. It generally is just a sentence. They never tell you who teaches it. 

I already asked the teacher of this course, Gwen, if she also teaches something similar next year. She said she didn't know yet. But at least I have her contact details. I could ask her a bit later if she knows by now, and whether any courses she teaches next year might overlap too much with the one we had this year.

I sure want to keep doing a Welsh class. People are surprised by that; am I not fluent by now? After all, I have had my Welsh language teaching qualification for years now! But it is a case of use it or lose it. In daily life I don't get to speak much Welsh, and the Welsh I do speak generally isn't full of grammatical intricacies. I need to keep that at level through practice. And a class is good for that. So I hope I'll find something good. 

The last time I applied a bit late, and had to choose from courses delivered from South Wales. I did not intend to do that, but there was no choice anymore. I didn't know how well that would turn out! And such coincidences can just as well turn the other way next time. I will find out next academic year!

 

Excerpt from the last material we covered

 

Stairs all finished

When the men delivered the new garden stairs, the work wasn’t entirely done. The wood lasts longer with a stain of sorts. And it needs some anti-slip measure. And as well; it keeps the panel between my two compost heap compartments up, so that had to be reattached. 

I started with fixing the panel again. That was just one screw! And the next step was painting it. Of course, the cat ran through the paint. And what I suppose is the most important step is the anti-slip. As long as the wood is dry there is no problem, but it gets dangerously slippery in wet weather. We haven't had any for a long time, but it could come back second!

Giving the new stairs a protective coat of stain

With that in mind, I got my bag of coarse sand from its storage space on Saturday, and sieved some out in the river. And I put it in the sun to let it dry. That is something this weather is very good for! And the next day it was dry, and I mixed myself some epoxy and stuck the fine gravel I had created to the steps. And the next day it had fully hardened. Job done! That will hold for many months. Touching up anti-slip is not that much work. And the stairs in total should last me for many years! And I now know how to find someone to replace them when also these, inevitably, will decay into a state of unacceptable precariousness…

Anti-slip applied

All dried and ready for use! 

Drought

Strange is the new normal! Last year we had a veritable washout of a spring (entirely anecdotal evidence here), but this year, summer seems to have come in April. We have had weeks and weeks and weeks of hardly any rain. The water pressure in my water butt is pathetic. And the garden is starting to feel it.

I think it was over Easter that we had the last proper washout of a day. And it was Eastern that I did a fair amount of gardening. I moved plants around! They are not overly happy that was followed by a dry period. So when I did the rounds a bit to check which plants were suffering, it was pretty much a plant that has suffered before in droughts, and the plants that had been moved. I hope they will make it! But I am aware that moving plants can be risky. I am certain I am murdered my latest sage plant that way.

Scorched plant

Since Easter, we have had one Monday evening with thunder and torrential rain. And then nothing again. As I write this, it is actually a bit damp. We have a slightly rainy weekend. But it is not very substantial.

With drought also come wildfires. There have been quite many! And some of them were rather persistent. But I think no personal tragedies have occurred.

Typical commute picture: the only cloud in sight is a small cloud from a hillside on fire…

The forecast now finally shows things other than just wall-to-wall sunshine. And I've enjoyed all that sunshine! We have had such amazing Thursday runs, and my hike with Vahid was great as well. But I suppose it's good things seem to be returning a bit more to normal. In the long run, humans don't enjoy whatever it is plants don't enjoy! 

Look, rain!

Crib Goch with Vahid

I tend to coordinate lunch with Martin and Susan, but you could argue that is superfluous. Quite a lot of the staff eat at the same time and at the same place. So you are rarely without company. My colleagues Winnie and Marianna often appear too, for instance. And there is a chap called Vahid who often shows up, but so far he has escaped to mention on his blog. And he only has limited time to appear on it! In the not too distant future, he is going to move to Bristol.

Recently he asked if anyone had done Crib Goch. Most of us had. And I asked him if he wanted to know because he wanted to do it himself. And the answer was yes. But he didn't want to go alone. I said I was quite happy to go with him. I had only done it once, but you can't get lost on Crib Goch. And we were in the middle of a spell of bright and calm weather, which is perfect for the purpose. So we decided that if the weather was going to be good in the weekend I wasn't busy with Jenny and races, we would do it.

The weather was perfect. Vahid decided we should go on the Sunday, and I had said that it is best to go quite early. Our plan was to drive up to Llanberis quite early, take the bus to Pen-y-Pass, do Crib Goch, and then walk back over the Llanberis path. And so we did.

We obviously started on the Pyg Track. And that is really beautiful really quickly. And it was busy, but not stupid busy. And then we got to where the Crib Goch path veers off. The views rapidly get even better there! And the scrambling is fun. Vahid was very happy. And me too. It was such a gorgeous day! And what’s better than enjoying beautiful landscapes in good company? 

Only a stone’s throw from the parking lot/bus stop

 

 

 

Intrepid hikers

View on Llyn Llydaw

The scramble to the ridge

There were quite some people on the ridge, but not so many it was annoying.Vahid was impressed with the ridge’s good looks. And it wasn’t particularly windy. 

On the Crib

On the other side of the Crib there was some more scrambling. And we sat down for some food. There was also a Coastguard helicopter hovering around, to the delight of Vahid who has helicopter-minded relatives.

More scrambling

After all the scrambling we walked to the Llanberis path. We decided to pop to the summit, which was quite close by now anyway. If you do that, you get the views of the Watkins Path as a reward! Luckily, we both agreed on that queueing for the actual summit was pointless. So we soon started our way down.

Summit pic

We had been a bit scourse on the ridge, but during the lockdown we had a nice breeze so we weren't bothered by the Sun. We did have to sit down and extend the parking for Vahid’s car as we were taking longer than expected. But then we got down without further issues.

On a different day it would probably have been nice to go for ice cream in the village, or something like that, but with us having spent so much time on the hill it was better we just stayed at home. His house was full of children, and by now maybe his wife needed a bit of backup. And I had chores to do.

I hope we can take a few more mountains off his list before he goes! This had been a lovely day. And he agreed with that. So don't be surprised if there’ll be more of this in the near future!

Back to Parkrun

I quite like the idea of Parkrun. It’s amazing how many people it gets into running. But I don’t like the practicalities of doing it myself, under my current circumstances. So I hadn’t been for many years. 

The nearest Parkrun, and therefore the most obvious one, is the one at Penrhyn castle. But that’s on the outskirts of Bangor. I bike to Bangor all the time for work! I’m not so keen on doing that very route on my free Saturday. 

I could drive, of course, but I have issues with that. It seems rude to drive when I can obviously bike it.  And The problem isn’t solved by going to a different run, because these are all too far away to bike, and then you are driving for more than half an hour there, and more than half an hour back, when you only run for some 20 minutes. That doesn't sit right with me. 

One Friday I decided I would give it a go anyway. It suited what I would be doing the rest of the weekend. And the weather was nice. So biking that commute a little bit more would at least be pleasant. And I was surprised that I had managed to dig out a barcode from my archive.

I got there and locked my bike. I had a last toilet break and then headed for the start. I wasn't quite sure where to place myself. These Parkruns have become so big! The last time I ran it, I seem to remember we started in the courtyard. We definitely started in the courtyard one of the two times I did it. Nowadays that is impossible. Way too many people! And many of them are not very fast. The average time is 30 minutes. I am considerably faster than that. I just had a stab at it and lined up.

Coming to the grand gate of the castle

Suddenly a familiar face appeared. Liberty, one of our students! She was back! She had been out of running for a while for reasons of an injury. It was great to see her back in action. She said she was going to be slow, but at least she was back! Then we started. I immediately realised I was too far at the back. So many slow people around me! It took me a while to wrestle myself further to the front. And it was so busy, and in places the path isn't very wide, that it was difficult to pass people. I suppose in a way, it is a victim of its own success. But there was nothing at stake so sometimes I just hung back.

At some point I realised I was overtaking the guy I call my almost-brother: Steffan Sayer. I call him that because at the Nick Beer race, the organisation asked me if we were related. That was a bit of a stupid question; they have our names written down, so they could see the difference. But almost all Brits pronounce our names in the exact same way. And he is an incredibly strong runner. I will never overtake him again I'm sure!

I ended with a sprint finish. I could hear someone behind me trying to overtake. It was someone I had overtaken in the last few hundred meters. I was not going to let him get past! And in front of me was some bloke I almost overtook in my enthusiasm to outrun the person behind me. And we ran over what I thought was the finish, but then someone encouraged the bloke, and I thought that maybe the actual finish was a few meters ahead. I made sure to cross that first. He did get his token before me! I hope that means what I initially thought was the finish indeed was, because otherwise he jumped the queue.

When I had been scanned I went back to see if I could cheer on Liberty, and I could. She also come in with a sprint finish! I think she is back. And we had a little chat by the finish. She even said that it had been my talking about running that had inspired her to start as well. I didn't know I had so much influence!

Then we each when our way, and I biked back in the gorgeous weather. It had been a nice start of the day! And I later found out I had done it in 22:15. That was good enough to be 3rd woman. Not bad! Although I know I can be much faster; during the last Border Leagues race, I managed it in 20:33, as part of an 8k race. And that course was flatter, but, of course, I had to keep that speed up for 3 km longer. I also have done it faster in a whole array of 10k races, but some of these are pretty much 5k uphill and then 5k downhill, and I can guess in which part I then do it that quick. Either way. If I do it again, I want to beat my own time! Obviously.

In spite of this opportunity to get competitive with myself I am not going to make a habit of this, but I might as well do it a bit more often on days when getting your exercise out of the way in the morning is a good idea. And next time I will be more ambitious and start further to the front!

Nomination fizzles out

I had no idea what had lead to me being nominated for a teaching award. I was certain I wouldn’t win. And I didn’t. But I didn’t like the way I found out. 

I had found out about the nomination thanks to a message by the Head of School. And I also found out about the outcome that way. The Head of School sent out a message congratulating my two colleagues called Martyn with their award success, which had been celebrated at the awards night. The awards tonight? Why didn't I know there had been one?

I asked one of the Martyns how he had heard about it. And he started digging in his emails. The first email he came across was the message from the Student Union that he had been nominated. I had never had that! As I said, I had to hear it from our Head of School. So I suppose that explained it! They somehow hadn't communicated anything to me.

There is one explanation I can think of: when you do a PGCertHE, you get registered as a student. And that comes with a student email address. I don’t think that’s still active after all these years. But would that be the address they used?

It turned out wouldn't have been invited to the awards night anyway. That was only for shortlisted people, and I'm sure I wasn't shortlisted. I think in the olden days, a nomination was enough to get invited. Maybe I'm wrong! But the university has money issues, so I could imagine they take any opportunity to reduce cost. The evening also traditionally involved a meal, but this time there was only coffee, tea, and cake. Another budget cut! But I would like to have been told that I wasn't shortlisted. So my first nomination, and it ended like a damp squib. A bit disappointing. It reminded me a bit of something I had deserved and that also ended disappointing; when I got my PGCertHE, I did go to the awards evening, but I didn't get my award! I found it on the doormat when I got home. That's not a very festive way of receiving it.

The good news, obviously, is that the Martyns were shortlisted. And one of them was runner-up, and the other one had won! Very well-deserved, I'd say. Although I admit I don't know who they were up against. But they are both splendid!

Our two Martyns; one winner, one runner-up

Another Thursday night hill run with a lot of walking

The previous TNH had been my first one since my knee injury, and has also been a rather weird one. We went up a mountain that practically no one could run up. And I certainly couldn't run down it. I figured that this week, it probably wouldn't be so extreme! And initially it looked like we were on more traditional territory. We started in Llanberis, and headed in the rather traditional direction of Bwlch-y-Groes. From there we turned southwest in the direction of Betws Garmon. 

Into the hills

Waiting by a stile

We came through a copse with the mysterious red chair. Ross’ dog Coco was willing to pose in it. The lighting was pretty bad but it was sweet anyway! And beyond the copse we came to Ystrad/Garreg Fawr mine. Some people went through! This was turning into an unusual run.

The best pic I got of Coco

Admiring the mine

From there it didn't get stranger, but it did get un-run-like. We headed straight for the summit of Moel Eilio! And that is not anywhere as extreme as stomping up Elidir Fawr as we had done the week before, but it is still so steep that practically nobody ran up. It was about 375m of ascent; nothing like the 775 of Elidir Fawr, but still a bit of work. I was glad to reach the top! Even though I knew that from there on, it would be downhill, and I would be the slowest again.

The long way up the hill

We waited for the stragglers and enjoyed the views. I put on an extra layer. It was getting late! And it's a rather exposed location, of course. And then we headed down. I wasn't anywhere as slow as the previous week, but still indeed the slowest. But somebody has to be.

Nia looking regal while admiring the view

When we got back to the car I didn't linger. This run had taken us quite a while! Total ascent had been 730m. To be honest, I hope that next week we just do a more traditional 400m or so of ascent, and not everything in one go. So that you can spend most of the time actually running!

Business cases published

The university had to cut 15 million from its budget in order to balance its finances. They had already opened the voluntary redundancy scheme to see how far that would get them. And when that would be a bit clearer, they would provide a business case per administrative unit (colleges, schools, services etc). 

These business cases have now been published. And it had already been said by the Dean of the college, but it is now officially confirmed; we as the School of Ocean Sciences officially don't have to make any cuts. Our business case shows the loss of one professor, but I had a bit of a tally, and this is the professor that has retired in January. We don't have to lose additional people. And more professors will retire, but as these are not on the list to be cut, we can replace them.

From the email in which the publication of the business cases was announced

We also don't have to lose what nowadays is called professional staff (not sure if they are suggesting that all staff that is not listed under professional staff is unprofessional). That surprised me a bit, as there had been word that our photographer was taking voluntary redundancy. The latest gossip has it that he will take early retirement instead. Which is good news! He is leaving anyway, and this way he will be replaced.

So it's even more official now than it was. But it's now also clear of what the situation is in the Schools and services that do take the brunt.

There are two men from the school of Psychology and Sports Science in the Thursday Night Hill group. Their school has to lose a lot of people! And on Friday I bumped into the neighbour with the collapsed wall. She is professional staff, stationed in the same School. So they all spoke of the gloomy atmosphere there. That's sad!

I know universities are likely to initially show a rather gloomy picture. Firstly, so that they can later say that they did a really good job in limiting the damage; secondly, so that a lot of people get scared and take voluntary redundancy, which is the most palatable way of getting rid of people. So I suppose the initial 200 redundancies were never going to happen. They've scaled it down to 78. Still a lot! I hope the people who end up carrying this burden will land really well somewhere else…

Dog walkers on the cycle path

I have very strong opinions on people who walk their dogs on the bicycle path I use to get to work. Both positive and negative opinions. Maybe I should start with the negative ones. 

I really don't like it when dog walkers block the width of the path, and don't pay attention to anyone approaching. That can just be one person and one dog, but a lead between them, but more often it is several people and several dogs. If I walk on a bicycle path I am so Dutch I keep looking over my shoulder at all times. There might be bikes coming, and this is their territory! Brits don't have that instinct.

If you approach some configuration of dog walkers, and ring your bell, the response generally is: first they have to think about what the bicycle bell means. When they have worked it out, they look over their shoulder. Or even in front of them! Some people manage to not even notice a cyclist coming towards them from the front. Generally, because they are looking at their phone while walking the dog. People who then spot me clearly still have to face another intellectual challenge. What to do with the information that there is a cyclist coming? And when they have worked it out, they will generally go to the side, but quite often in a badly organised way. The people on the left go to the right, and the people on the right go to the left. The people go to the side but forget to take the dog with them. That's a lot of chaos! It is not unusual that you have slowed down to walking past by the time you reach them. That annoys me.

It is not just annoying, of course; in the worst case, you could run the dog over. I thought I was going to, years ago in Plymouth! But I ended up hitting the dog walker. And I went over the handlebars. Dog and walker were fine! I was upset. But it could have been different; this was a small dog, and I could imagine that the collision with a downhill-going cyclist could end really badly for a creature like that. I struggle now to find the corresponding blog post. 

I also don't like it if people do everything in their capacity to make sure they won't even hear my bell. Walking around with headphones, and then a hoodie over the top. Why is that a good idea?

You also get people who say I should slow down. I fundamentally disagree! I am only one cyclist wide; at all times, there should be space for me to get past. I should not have to bike walking speed on a bicycle path. If I want to go walking speed, I'll go and walk! Do these people also walk their dogs on the road, expecting the cars to go so slow that nothing untoward happens if they appear, over the full width of the road, behind a blind bend? Because that is clearly something such dog walkers don't pay attention to. Neither to the slope of the path. If it is on the steep side, you can expect fast cyclists!

I also had this encounter with a lady who was walking her dog who hated cyclists, on the cycle path, off the lead, without checking if anyone was approaching. At least she was polite about it and apologised. I did accept that apology and have no hard feelings, but I still don't think it was a particularly good idea, and I hope she pays more attention nowadays. Or, even better, walks the dog on footpaths nowadays.

Having said all that; I suppose you can imagine that if I encounter dog walkers who do stay to the side, or keep an eye on what's coming (or even both!), are actively appreciated by me. Especially if they also have well-behaved dogs.

My favourite dog walker is a man who walks a black Labrador. I have never, ever, had to ring my bell at him to alert him to that I'm approaching. He always spots me himself. And I think he then says something to the dog that I can't hear, but the dog always calmly sits down by the side of the path. That's perfect!

One day I encountered him again, and I decided to just stop and tell him how much I appreciate that he keeps his dog safe and always gives me safe passage, unprompted. I think he didn't see that coming. But I'm glad I told him! It would be a waste if his dog-and-bicycle-path skills are so appreciated and he doesn't even know about it…

Arbitrary bicycle path pic

 

Emperor of Rome

Whenever I come across Mary Beard in the media, I like what she does. And I know she writes books, but I have never read one. And then I came across one in a charity shop. I bought it! It was Emperor of Rome. And when I had finished my Welsh book I started it.

It's basically an evaluation of what we actually know about emperor of Rome. It's not even that much. And she also evaluate information that is out there about them, but which might not be very reliable. For instance, quite early in the book she mentions the important distinction between emperors who had been murdered, and emperors who had peacefully transferred power to their successor (still by dying, probably, or maybe exclusively). Their successes probably keen to paint them in a particular light. If they came on the throne as the Sun of the previous emperor who had died in natural death, they load there position basically to the authority of their successor, and they wanted to paint them in a very positive light. If they had been involved in murdering the previous one, they of course benefited from showing that person in a very negative light. And there is a risk that a lot of vote will be written about an emperor is in that period not long after the end of their tenure, so we might get very biased views on all of them.

She dives into what we know about various aspects of the lives of the emperors. Their food, their administrative duties, their travels, military campaigns, etc. There clearly was a lot of spin, and a lot of gossip. But also some interesting sources on the cogs of the empire turning. These would be letters from regional administrators to Rome or vice versa, or court transcripts, or suchlike. 

I really enjoyed it! It’s great to read a work of history with such clear explanation of how we know. And the Romans are not my favourite topic, but that’s OK. It suddenly sort of is when it’s Mary Beard writing about them. But for my next book I want fiction! 

Snowdonia Half Marathon: I’m back

I was lying in bed the night before the race, and it struck me I had no clue at all how the race would go for me. Generally, I have some idea! But now I didn't. I hadn't run a half marathon without IT band problems since 2022, and I had managed to add a recovering knee sprain to the mix. But I had successfully run a 10 mile race since the IT band problems, and a 10k race since the knee sprain. So all sorts of things could happen. It could all go well. Or maybe my IT bands would protest and I would have to wear knee supports to be able to keep running. Or maybe I would get fatigued, misstep somewhere, and re-sprain my knee. And I struggled to evaluate the relative probability of all these options.

It started fine. I was car sharing with Mary, who I had met at the Rhostryfan race, and also the Trawsfynydd race. That was nice! And we had no problem parking, getting our race numbers, and doing a little warmup run combined with a wild wee (this race always has enormous toilet queues). I also made sure to apply sunscreen. It was a hot and sunny day! Just like last year.

Mary and me before the start

When the starting gun went we set off. I didn't start out too ambitious. This was not a sprint, after all! And there is a lot of uphill in the beginning. No need to wear yourself out on that. 

Quite soon the race reaches the first lake: Geirionydd. That signals a long flat bit. I ended up having a chat with another runner, in a pink top. She introduced herself as Ann, and she said she was also an Eryri Harrier, even though that wasn't obvious as she didn't have a club top. And he was already talking about finding the lake quite tempting in this weather. And we both greatly enjoyed the views. This race is known for them.

Generic pic of the race from Run Wales’ Facebook page 

There were many water stations. I don't know if they had introduced more than normal, because of the weather. I never accepted so much water in a race in my life! I might have turned down one bottle, but I accepted all the other ones. I typically drank about half, threw some of it in my face and over my neck to cool down, and then tried to throw the rest in the water bottle I carried with me. There was always space! I was really drinking a lot by race standards. And it's not really easy to empty a water bottle into one of these floppy runners’ bottles without making a complete mess, but well, quite a lot of the water ended up where it was supposed to go. Good enough.

Between the lakes there is more uphill and downhill. And the usual became obvious: I was a bit faster than Ann on the uphill, and she was a bit faster on the downhill. But we often ended up near each other again on the flat bits.

I was glad that everything was going alright, without my knees protesting. Slowly the kilometres ticked by, and nothing worrying happened. That was good. I got halfway and everything was fine. I got to where last year, my knees started to protest, and everything was fine. And then I knew I was approaching the big hill that makes this race a bit infamous. My knees were feeling fine! And I am quite happy with hills. So I started trundling up. And I overtook Ann along the way.

When I got to the top there was a woman there, who said I was sixth woman. Sixth! I didn't know I was doing that well. And she also said that three of the women in front of me quite close by. In other words: if I try my best, maybe I can overtake some. That is the sort of thing that sparks my competitive side. What doesn't, obviously, is that I was just on top of the hill; from there on, almost everything would be downhill, which I am rubbish at. But we first got a flat bit, and I accelerated on it. I still had something left in the tank, and it wasn't far now!

I might have gained a bit on some women on the flat, but soon indeed the downhill started. That was the end of me gaining on anyone. I just hoped I wasn't so slow that all sorts of women would be overtaking me. And I seemed to be doing ok; there was even no sign of Ann coming thundering past. And then I reached the bottom of the hill. The rest of the course was flat! And it was only 400 more meters. I looked behind me. No Ann. No other women either. But I remembered the sprint finishes of the Borders League and I didn't trust the situation. I looked over my shoulder again and spotted a pink top. Ann! 

As much as I had enjoyed her company, I didn't want to let her get past me now. So I accelerated again, as much as I could. I could feel myself grimacing in the last tens of meters. But if I was giving it so much, and she was a bit behind me, it would be very difficult for her to get past. And then there was the finish. I had done it!

Relief at coming over the finish line

Seconds later, Ann came over the finish too, and I gave her a hug. I had enjoyed competing against her. I hoped I would get more opportunities! And the announcer at the finish told us that we both had a category win: I was the fastest F45-50 at 1:51:59, and she the fastest F65-70 at 1:52:10. We were 6th and 7th woman, in a field of 235. I hope I am still that fast when I am her age!

The photographer appreciated our finish line hug

We went to get our medals and race T-shirt, and I went to get my bag. It had my recovery drink in it, and a lot of water, and sandwiches. And an apple. I took all of that to a good spot by the finish, and while refuelling myself I cheered on everybody else who came in. I was especially waiting for Mary, of course. She looked a bit knackered, and I wasn't sure she had spotted me cheering at her. But I caught her by the medals.

Only minutes later, the ceremony started. They don't wait for everyone to finish. I don't even think all category winners were already in. Do they not have an over 80 category? If the fast man from the Hebog running club would be here he would have easily finished, but most octogenarians would need a bit more time to run this race. It would be a bit rubbish if they have to slyly give you your medal and voucher when everybody else has already gone. And I looked it up: the category winners in the F70-75 and F75-80 categories indeed weren't in yet. They deserve as much applause as all the other category winners!

But anyway! This race attracts people from all over the country, so I didn't know many of the winners. I recognised the second man: he was also performing really well in the Nick Beer 10k and Ras Trawsfynydd. At the Nick Beer race they even asked me if he was related to me; his name is Sayer. But mine isn't!

Medal pic by Mary

With that over we could go home again. We both had enjoyed it! And both run it faster than last year. We were now both a bit boiled, though. It was nice to get into an air-conditioned car.

It was a pity that not more Harriers had wanted to car share. I really enjoyed sharing with Mary, like I had with the Borders League people. I might put a call on the club Facebook page a bit earlier next time! And I have Mary's phone number.

I was really glad that, making sure I did keep the advice of my running coach in mind throughout the race, I had managed to run it without problems. I am clearly still good for half marathons! Which is great, because I enjoy them. Which one will be next? Caernarfon again? Time will tell!

Transmission

I was four when Ian Curtis died. I was about 16 when I discovered his music. I knew I was never going to see Joy Division live. And I have peace with that, but when I had an opportunity to go to a tribute concert I wanted to take it. ‘Transmission: the sound of Joy Division’ would play in Neuadd Ogwen. 

I went with Jenny and we went in a few minutes before it was supposed to start. It was very empty! That's not very nice for the band. But they didn't start at the time listed on the website, and by the time they did appear on the podium, the hall had filled up a bit.

The audience was a bit mixed. I saw plenty of people I figured might have been fans when the actual band was still active. And it looked like there was a fair number of people like me; not the youngest anymore, but too young to have been aware of the music when it came out. And then there were some youngsters. Some teenage goths, and also a young boy with a ‘Curtis’ top on.

They started playing. I loved it from the very start! I have played these albums again and again in my formative years, and the music now resonates very strongly with me. Quite often, it is the bass player who starts the song, and feeling these deep notes rumble through my body was quite special.

The band doesn't try to look like Joy Division, but they do sound quite like it. The biggest difference, in my experience, was that the singer takes a bit more time. For instance; Ian Curtis got through the short sentence "she's lost control" considerably quicker, as far as I can tell.

I don't like all the songs equally, of course. But the ones that are not my favourites were still amazing because it is just different if it's done live. And I laughed at the fact that the bass player fairly regularly only needed to use one hand. The other hand would make the tones less deep. You can't have that! This is Joy Division.

I was really glad that they played the Day of the Lords, and even more glad they played New Dawn Fades. I did expect them to; after all, the back category is not huge. And I thought they would end with Love Will Tear Us Apart. They didn't!

The lead singer was not a talker. Nor were the others. The singer would sometimes mention what a song had been called, after he had sung it. I think most of the audience didn't need that information. And he regularly stuck up both his thumbs and thanked us for being there. I don't think anyone minded, though. They were well received!

At some point they left the stage. They probably were going to come back for an encore. But Jenny is not a late sleeper, and she still had to drive half an hour back. And I wanted to get to bed to be rested for my race the next day. So we left. I'm sure the encore was also good, but I figured we had different priorities now. So we both went home!

I'm really glad we went! I will probably never get closer (pun not intended) to a real Joy Division gig. Hearing some of your favourite music live is special! And it was even next door…