Sceptical composting

It's great that people are trying to use less plastic. But not all endeavours are without their own challenges. In the past years, I've been getting an increasing number of bags that looks like they are plastic, but that claim they are compostable. 

If they are the potato starch bags from the WholeFoods Co-op, I shred them and put them in the food bin. But I only just about produce enough food waste to accommodate that. And then there the other bags in which you can buy things like vegetables or clothes or coffee. No way these fit in too! So what to do with them? 

They are compostable, but does that mean you can home-compost them? Or do you need an industrial composter for that? And if you do, doesn’t that render the entire concept futile? Nobody has one of those, and no council collects compostable-in-industrial-composters waste. 

Maybe, though, you can actually compost them just like you would compost garden waste. I have a compost heap; I can at least give it a chance. So I shredded a pile of these bags and mixed them into the weeds and grass clippings that make up my heap. 

The bags

They’re in there now! 

I must admit I am sceptical at how successful this will be! I could easily imagine that the next time I turn this thing over, I will come across all these pieces in pretty much the same shape they have now. But I won’t know until I try. 

So what if it doesn’t work? Maybe I’ll have to pull them out again and burn them. Sounds tedious! But I’m not sure what else to do. And as well. If it doesn’t work, then what to do with future bags like that? I suppose there are two options: bin them or burn them. Binning them will have them slowly decompose in landfill: that creates greenhouse gases like methane, but a half-decent landfill will catch those. Burning them would create CO2, which is a weaker GHG, but it will go straight into the atmosphere. Which is worse? Not sure! 

I suppose this is a long term experiment. Compost isn’t made in a day. I should give it years! But then I’ll know. Although, of course, the materials evolve. I might be in it for the long run! 

Trophy shelf

When I started racing I started getting medals. Initially, I just put them in a box. Last year I put them up. I liked the result! But in Wales you often get a slate coaster instead, and it seemed wrong to not have these there as well. 

In 2024 I won my first traditional trophy, in the Pwllheli 10k. Or rather, two of them, as they gave me both the overall female winner’s and the category prize.  I wasn’t sure where to put them! I settled on the office; I have a narrow shelf there, and that would do the job. And since then I won another one in Llanberis and one in Holyhead. 

It irked me I didn’t have everything together, so a dedicated trophy shelf near the medal rack made sense. The cat added her voice to that; I came back with two trophies from the Twin Piers race. I didn’t have a shelf, and I just temporarily put them on my chest of drawers. And the cat knocked one of them off. The glass tile. It now was glass shards. Bummer!  

I had a shelf I had taken down when I was doing up the house. That fit underneath the medals and next to the bike! So I put it up. And put my trophies on. Including the glued tile. I was chuffed with the results! Later I added all slate coasters. 

As it’s right by my bike, I see the trophies every time I get the bike in the morning or put it back when I get home. And that makes me smile. Success all around! Running trinkets tidily concentrated, and me glad. What’s not to like!

Cat on a diet

The first time I brought my cat to the vet they said she was a bit too heavy! Oh dear. I managed to sort that, and years went by without the vets having comments about her weight. But I had noticed she recently had been having quite a gut. I suspected I had let it slip again. 

Every cat owner knows their cats lie about how hungry they are. Mine does. But you never know when! Sometimes I'm sure she means it. I am sometimes quite hungry! But I must have given in to her cries too much. 

She shouldn’t be more than 4.5 kg. She was 5.6! So that’s it. I got my old letter scales out so I could weigh her food. No more just grabbing a handful of biscuits from the bag. Her wet food stays the same; that comes in little tins that are the size they are. 

She’s not overly chuffed! But also, not putting up a fight. I hope I will get her down to 4.5 kg reasonably soon! And then keep her there. Is much better for her health! 

Diversity for pathogen enthusiasts

Quite out of the blue I was asked if I was willing to give a talk about EDI to an audience of PhD students in a programme dealing with pathogens. I was! But then I had to think about what to talk about. Equity, diversity and inclusivity are rather broad topics altogether. 

I decided to go rather applied. I gave examples of the wide range of EDI. Pointed out in what way they could come into contact with it. Suggested ways in which they could contribute to EDI in their various academic institutions. Pointed them in the direction of where hard data can be found. Such things! I only had half an hour, and I wanted to leave sometime for questions, so that was most of it already.

Luckily, term had not started yet. So I could find time for it in between (and after) my exam marking. I hope it was useful! I got fewer questions than I had hoped. But I tried! 

A figure I showed

 

Living with the panels

So the panels have been installed and payed for! But what are they like? Well! That is mostly the good news. They're largely fab! 

They’re not my entire heating system. The gas boiler keeps the house at some background temperature that is colder than comfortable, but not anywhere as cold as the outside temperature. And I, of course, have my log burners.

What I do is just switch them on in a room where I think I'll be for a while. For instance; days are getting longer so I am having breakfast in my bedroom again, but when I use it as a bedroom I keep it quite cold. For breakfast I like it a bit warmer. So when I go downstairs to make my breakfast, I switch the panels on. And when I come back, the room is nice and warm. And when I'm done with my breakfast I just switch them off again. And I can also get my living room to a nice temperature without having to light the fire.

Do I ever forget to switch them off? Yes, that does happen. But I think I'll get more routined with experience. And I suppose the cat likes it if I forget. 

So in general, I am quite happy! But there is already one bump in the road. Well, maybe two; more about that later. The panels are managed through thermostats, but these can go rogue. The one in the bathroom did that. I had the installer replace it when he was here anyway. And I'm only a few weeks in, but the thermostat in the living room seems also also have gone rogue. But the installer left one spare thermostat, and I'm sure the internet knows how you swap them over. I've seen it done; it is not complicated! Just a bit of a bummer that I already have to think about this.

There is one I'm not happy with. It's at the top of the stairs. That is where all the heat of the house pools! I don't think I'll ever need that one. Furthermore; who is going to linger at the top of the stairs? I had challenged the judgement of the installer when he said that space needed one, but he insisted. I don't think I am forceful enough. I paid for a totally useless panel. Redeeming fact that this one isn't wired in; it just has a plug. I could put it elsewhere, or flog it. I'll think about it. 

I hope in the long run I will stay happy with them. Time will tell!

First Eryri Harriers committee meeting

The committee meetings of the Eryri Harriers are actually open to all club members. In autumn, there had been a call for one. I intended to go! I was curious. But I had stupidly misremembered where it would take place. I had "Bethesda rugby club" in my head, but in reality it was "Bethesda cricket club". So I did not attend that meeting.

Now I am the secretary and I am expected to be there. And I duly turned up! To find one car in the car park, with Mike in it, staring at the shutters of the club. That didn't look good! But soon a bloke appeared who opened the door for us. Phew. 

We could soon start. It was a rather standard meeting! We dealt with the action points from the recent AGM, we decided we needed to plan a meeting for some change we were forced into but which couldn’t make with just the committee, and there were reports from our various officers. We decided we needed a subcommittee for the Welsh Castles Relay. And we had some agenda points requested by various people. 

It was by coincidence an exciting time to have a meeting! Three days after the meeting there would be a new club-organised fell race. I am sure it will go well! 

I sometimes had to ask stuff because I’m new to the game. But I suppose I have to hit the ground running. One of the action points from the AGM was that it was seen as desirable to have a vice-chair. We didn’t have one. Mike nominated me. And I was ok with that so I stood, and that was unanimously accepted. It will be acting vice-chair for now, as we need an AGM to make it proper. But it’s clear I am getting established in the running of this club quite swiftly! 

There were also cups of tea, and Nia had brought cake. We tried to get everything done in 90 minutes but we failed. Too much to discuss! And when we were done I was a bit miffed to see that the roof underneath which I had parked my bike was leaking profusely. I think my bike was only marginally less wet than it would have been if I hadn’t parked it under a roof at all. Oh well. I will look for a better location next time!

One thing we didn’t get around to was deciding on dates for future meetings. So I don’t know when we go again. But I think I will be up to speed by then! 

Small post-race hike

Neil had proposed a hike on the day after the race. We hadn’t decided on where to go. But it looked like the mainland would be cloudy, but the coast sunny. So we didn’t head for the mountains. I had my archeological book in mind, and wondered if Neil had seen Din Lligwy. He said he hadn’t! So that could be a goal. 

We drove there in the sunshine, and walked over the hoarfrost to the chapel and the remains of the village. That rocked his memory; he had been there before! But it’s a lovely site. 

Din Lligwy

The chapel in the sunny distance

We were actually both feeling a bit low in energy. Me probably because hanging around in the cold by the finish line the day before had done me no good. Neil wasn’t quite sure about why he was a bit sluggish. So we were ok with no big hike!

We walked to the coastal path and followed that south. It was beautiful and sunny! But still cold. The sand of Traeth Llugwy was frozen. We came past something I thought was an old quarry. And I figured it was the same stratigraphic level as Bishop’s Quarry on the Orme. Later we saw some beautiful sandstones underneath the limestones. Some good channels there! 

The suspected quarry

And the suspected channels

 

Further on we had a chat with some people at the Coastwatch post. They spoke of a seal on a nearby beach. We hoped it was ok. And we sat on a rock for lunch. It was so relaxed Neil even dozed off a bit. 

When we got to the next beach, we saw a chap with binoculars. We should have recognised that for what it was: a Coastwatch man we had seen at their post, checking on the seal, but he had to tell us that. Oops. The seal seemed fine! Just dozing in the sun. 

Go full page view for the seal

From there we just walked back to the car. Enough excitement for a day! And only when we were back at my place did it become clear just how under the weather we were. I was glad we hadn’t tried anything strenuous! 

Twin Piers race

I started the racing year with a race I hadn't done before, just like last year. This time the novelty in the calendar was the Twin Piers race, from Llandudno to Colwyn Bay. A rather flat course. Not the most exciting, but a nice one to start off with!

Because it is a one-way race, you have to think about how to get from the finish to the start. The race organisation mentioned there was transport; I assumed that would be with coaches, but it didn't provide detailed information. Would you have to be transported with only everything you would have on you in the race? Or was there bag transport? If everyone would show up suddenly by coach, would that not overwhelm the provided portaloos? I decided to sort out my own transport. I drove to the finish with my bike in the back. That way I could also recce the course. I had not done that on foot! And I found Emma, the fast Dutch lady who was picking up her race number, but would then drive to the start. She said she would run back to her car at the end. Perhaps, if my car stayed there, could she put a jacket in my car? Of course she could! I had one in there myself as well.

I got a good idea of the route, and especially the hill in the middle. And I had decided to scout out the public toilets in town. My least favourite part of the race is always queueing for the toilets by the start! But if you have a bike, you might as well just go a bit further away and have some public toilets all for yourself. Unfortunately, you get nothing for nothing in Llandudno. Both sets of public toilets I scouted out required a 50p coin for access. I did not carry any on me. I might have to rely on the loos by the start anyway.

The start confused me a bit. Normally, that is quite some infrastructure. But I suppose this time, all the infrastructure was at the end, and at the start there was basically only a bloke with a microphone and a big sign saying "Start" (which I initially entirely failed to spot). And there were portaloos. At least the coaches hadn't arrived yet, so there was no queue. I took advantage of that.

It was beautiful and sunny! I decided to strip down to my racing tire quite quickly. I stuffed my excess clothing in my bicycle bag. I had faith it would be safe there. And I was hoping to see a lot more Eryri Harriers. I saw fewer than expected! But I saw some fellow track runners. That was nice too.

Sunny by the pier! 

After a while I found the rest of the club, and we posed for a club picture. And then it was about time to start. I made sure to be somewhere at the front, but as soon as the whistle went a lot of people came storming past. This included two Cybi Striders of note: the first was my friend Louise, who had said she was going to try to stick with me as long as she could by way of pacing, which clearly went out of the window in the first second. The second was Richie, who is more or less as fast as me, so it is always anybody's guess who is going to win. In the last five races he had beaten me three times, so I really wanted to beat him again!

Club pic

I knew I would quite have liked to run a personal best, but then I would have to run from the start at a 4:15 pace. And I could immediately feel that that was not going to happen. Sometimes you have your day and sometimes you don't. This day I didn't. But I made sure I didn't stray too far away from Louise and Richie. 

After a kilometre or two I caught up with Louise. She admitted he had set off too fast again! A bit like in the Breakwater race. We ran together for a little bit, but then I wanted to go and chase Richie. I figured I could take him on this time; he had a bit of a niggle, and I was fine. That put me at an advantage! Am I overtook him before we hit 3 km.

I was alright on the uphill; I normally am. And the downhill wasn't steep at all. That suited me fine! But by about 5 km I was starting to feel the strain. I knew a personal best wasn't going to happen, but another thing I would quite like to get was a category win. My first race after my 50th birthday! And I had no idea, of course, who was in front of me, but I figured I couldn't relent, in order to maximise my chances of getting it. I plodded on, counting the kilometres away. 

In the last few kilometres, the field was quite spread out, so I didn't think any 50+ lady was going to jump out of nowhere and overtake me. I just kept up my speed and hoped for the best! And I was properly, properly out of breath when I finished. Immediately I received a text. The timing software gave me my time! And could even tell me the results so far. So I immediately knew that indeed, I was there fastest woman over 50! I was happy with that. My time was 43:47; 1:10 away from a PB. And quite unlike my previous 50+ win (even though I was 49) I wouldn’t have won in the previous age category. Oh well! And there would be other chances to try to beat my PB.

Emma had already finished, of course, Louise and Richie weren't far behind me. We did the usual after race chat. How did it go? Were we happy with our time? What was our ranking? And I got to my car so both me and Emma could put a jacket on. It was cold!

There was a bit of faffing, and then the ceremony started. I knew I would get a trophy, and there were several other Eryri Harriers who did. Excellent! And one thing I didn't see coming; this race also gave a price for the fastest theme. I wondered if you would have had to register as a team for that, but it turned out you don't. But they just do it take the fastest for men and the fastest for women from any club that has entered at least four of each, and then figure out which were on average the fastest. It was us! And I was the third fastest woman. I was proud of that!

Me, Emma and Louise by the finish

Getting my trophy. Pic by Louise

6 out of the 8 winning team members

I quite like that our team of 8 was almost entirely above 40. Only one of the women was running in the 35-40 category. And then we had 4 people in 40-45, 2 in 50-55, and 1 in the 55-60 category! So we were a bunch of superfast middle-aged people.

After the ceremony from the organisers, there was a second ceremony by Welsh Athletics, as this race was in the North Welsh championships. But because it was cold, quite some people decided to not wait for that. The crowd got smaller and smaller when they went through the categories! Because I had won outright in my category, I also got a medal from them. And with my finishing medal, that brought my loot to four trophies! And my category win got me a nice tile with an old picture of the Colwyn Bay pier.

Now it was really time to go. So I drove back to the start, found the parking place near where my bicycle was parked, and loaded it up. Time to go home! The racing year 2026 had commenced!

Loot!

Surprisingly handsome flatworms

I mentioned before that we have a fish tank at work. I wasn’t very excited about the fish, but the tank also contained invertebrates. These surely floated my boat! 

If you look now at the pictures I took back then, it’s a very bare landscape (seascape). But the invertebrates have grown, and we have had new acquisitions. It looks very lively now! Lush with corals and polyps and whatnot. 

When I recently had a look I noticed some red specks. I had no idea what they were, but by coincidence Craig, the brain behind the fish tank, just approached. He did know what they were. He said they were flatworms! I always imagine these to be bigger. These specks were more or less couscous sized. I couldn't see them clear at all.

The full tank

Notice the dark red bits

A few days later I made sure to have my hand lens with me, and I had another look. A whole world opened up for me! With the lens, I could make out their shapes. There is a lot of detail in the little things.

Individual wormies 

I don'I don't really know what I was looking at; they seem to have a bellybutton and a tail, but that is projection. Just that I could have a good look at them was enough for me. When people saw me do that, they wanted to have a look as well, and they were impressed too.

It seems that these little things are a bit of a plague, and they will have to be removed. There is a massacre on the horizon! Oh dear. I'm emotionally involved now…

January marking

When I went away for Christmas, all marking that needed to have been done by then was done. There was a pile waiting that had been submitted the 19th of December, but that was not too bad. I shared that with Jaco. This assignment was having the students be critical about an AI-generated text about topical subjects. Time-consuming, but actually quite fun! 

When that was done, the next batch came in. Exam marking! I was involved in two of them, a week apart. The first one was a module on shelf seas. Sometimes my exam questions in that module are not very popular at all. This year was different! We had about 100 students, and they all had to answer 2 out of 8 questions. So if every question would be equally popular, they would all have 25 students choosing them. One of my questions (I had two) drew 23. A fine number! The other one drew 57. Crap. 

The North Sea: example of a shelf sea. Pic by NASA

I finished the popular question before the students started on the second exam. And then I managed to mark the less popular one while the students were working on the other exam. So I could move straight on! Were it not that academic integrity cases, teaching admin for the second semester, and an invited talk about EDI got quite in the way…

Infrared panels finished

It is finished! It is mid-January but it’s done. The previous time the electrician had left with two issues unsolved: several panels without a thermostat because they hadn't brought compatible ones, and a hole in the wall because he had hit a water pipe.

When he showed up again to finish it off, I was surprised to see him and a colleague carry large boxes out of his van. These thermostats aren't very big? But he quickly explained: they were not going to install compatible thermostats; they were going to exchange the installed panels with panels that were compatible with the thermostats they had used so far. That sounded like an unnecessarily labour-intensive way to go about it, but so be it. It did mean more time, more mess, more disruption, more annoyance by the cat.

I got to work upstairs and they sorted things out downstairs. But at some point he wanted to know where I wanted to thermostats. I like them near the light switch. All the controls for a room in one place! And we figured from the light switch, the cable would go up. So we put the thermostats below it. That we had miscalculated. And the man still didn't have the device that detects metal wiring in a wall, so he chanced it. And tripped the fuse. 

The latest problem

He had to drive to Bangor to buy what he needed to fix the damage. But when that was done, he was sorted. He suggested we fix the last thermostat with double-sided tape. Fine with me! And the hole in the wall was not something he could do anything about; he was an electrician. They would have to send a plasterer.

I agreed with the company that they would just take some money off the bill and then I will sort out a plasterer myself. So that's it! I now have a full set of infrared panels! And they work. I did have to bicker with the company about the bill; I suspected they had lost track of what they had actually installed. So I wanted an itemised bill. They were reluctant, but I was right to be stubborn about that; it turned out they were trying to make me pay for the installation of two panels that had been installed in 2022. Cheeky! 

I now don't have to deal with this company anymore. I must say it has been a bit of a struggle! But now I can just enjoy my panels in peace. At last!

Old money

My stepmum found some UK banknotes in my dad’s stuff, and he is highly unlikely to travel to the UK again, so she sent them to me. He must have had them for a while! For they were the old papery versions, and the new polymer ones came in in early 2020. 

Would I manage to sort this? 

I hadn’t noticed, so I tried to pay with them. The lady in the shop wasn’t having that, but said you can still exchange them in a bank. A bank! They still exist. There are some in Bangor. So one day I biked there and had a try. The first bank said this branch didn’t have a counter service, but in Llangefni they did, and they would be able to help. 

The next bank I tried (might as well) said they could only help if I was one of their customers. I’m not; the nearest branch of my bank is in Liverpool. But they said I should try the Post Office. That was just up the street. 

I tried it. And it worked! Effortlessly. Which means I could have just gone to the post office in Bethesda or Menai Bridge. Oh well. It’s sorted now! And that money hasn’t fully expired somewhere in a drawer. That would have been a waste! 

More thorough repair of the wood burner

When I bought wood burners, I didn't quite realise that they need some maintenance. They tend to have something called fire rope on the inside of the door, to form a sort of a seal. You don't want the metal of the door directly on the metal of the stove, but whatever you want in between, it should be fire resistant, be a bit of a buffer so closing the door of your stove doesn't get too noisy, and keep the fumes of the fire in. Cue the fire rope.

After a while, my fire rope was starting to come undone. Initially I didn't know what to do with that, until Miles told me you can just glue it back. And I did that for several years. But I had to do it again and again and again. It didn't seem to really fit; there is a gully on the inside of my door, which is only 7 mm wide, but the original fire rope was several times that width. Strange!

You don't have to accept the original fire rope, of course. You can just buy that stuff, in several sizes, in DIY stores. Neil figured I should really do that, as it would actually stay put better if it fit inside that little gutter. He had a point.

I bought some, and a more generous supply of heat resistant glue than I had been buying so far, and now we decided to put it in place. We took the door off, removed the old fire rope, cleaned out the little gutter, and glued the new stuff in position. Then I lit a fire to set the glue. And it worked!

Neil had been a bit nervous that the smaller fire rope wouldn't properly seal. I will soon find out! 

The refurbished door, with the old fire rope for comparison 

Light switch in hallway back in business

Infrared panels are often best placed on the ceiling. Unfortunately, the same holds for lamps. So when I decided to have my whole house fitted out with infrared panels, several ceiling lamps had to yield. I had agreed with the company putting up the panels that they would move some of these lights; this is not a big job if you're an electrician, but it is if you're someone like me.

The problem was a bit that the process took many months longer than expected, and lights are actually quite a good idea. In the master bedroom, the ceiling lamp was moved to the side, which basically means that only half the room now has adequate light. In the little space behind the front door, there was no light whatsoever, so I put a standing lamp there. That was not ideal.

On a day with rubbish weather and Neil and I decided to act. Or rather; he acted and I watched and learned. I could not make sense of the wiring the electricians had left by the front door, but Neil could work it out with some of the equipment he has. And then he just fitted a wall mounted lamp I had bought for the occasion. It is absolutely lovely to have proper light there again!

We also considered the options for the master bedroom. For symmetry, it would be best to just buy another lamp like the one that has been moved. We checked how we would connect the wires, though; that doesn't seem to work. The wires would have to go through the ceiling, but the joists seem to have a crossbar and there's no way you could get past that. So I'll just put up another wall mounted lamp. The same model as the one in the hallway, but in a colour that matches the bedroom. Progress is being made!

 

Light! Next to my infrared panel. 

Marshalling XC again

If I remember correctly, my first marshalling ever was last year at the Eryri Harriers-organised fixture of the cross country (XC) championships. It was the first race after the AGM, committee members encouraged everyone to marshal where possible. It had been my first AGM.

This year I volunteered again. I am a much more seasoned marshal by now! And this time I was going to marshal all races. In total, there are six; it starts with the under 11 girls, and ends with the senior men. The races get longer and faster as you get along.

I was stationed somewhere where you always go the same way. At least what I could do is tell the runners where they would go at the next junction. It's good to know in advance! And I would assume most would have had a look at the map, but some might not have managed to remember it all. Especially those who had race jitters.

The first runners, the under 11 girls, we're running or muddy grass. But they already started changing this into mud with a little bit of decorative grass. And with every race that went by, the terrain got worse. I was really glad that I had decided again to not run myself. It is so easy to sprain something when you slip in these conditions.

The races came thick and fast. I did have time to eat my lunch along the way, but that was about it. And when the senior men had come by for the last time, I went to the back of the field to retrieve the route markers. And then my job was done! But it was already quite deep into the afternoon. It was time to do other things!

The next race I will be running myself. I really look forward to that! Unsurprisingly, it will be on the road.  And I hope that no weather warnings will get in the way…

The start of the senior men race

A Gog Triathlon Club runner seems to struggle with grip, with an Eryri Harrier in pursuit

The bloke who would win that race

To the physiotherapist for a niggle

It started with getting out of the car. One day I did just that, and felt something pulling in my right side. I didn't pay an awful lot of attention to it. But it became standard. And when it didn't go away, I started to wonder if it meant something was wrong. And when I started to feel it in more circumstances I figured I needed to act.

I could feel that it was something to do with my right hip bone. It felt like the muscles attachments to it were somehow not happy. Not idea why though. 

I didn't want this niggle turning into an injury, so I contacted my physiotherapist, and he had space. Storm Goretti didn't get in the way too much, so I made it there.

My suspicion was right! The tendons that attach my gluteus muscles to my hipbone are displeased. And the physiotherapist said he noticed some muscle weakness because of it. And it seems to also work the other way around. If I would strengthen the muscles, the niggle would go away. And he gave me five exercises. 

Artist impression of one of the exercises 

I just added the exercises to my morning regime. That had already been boosted by my strength training, but I think it compliments each other well. These exercises are mainly for my bum, while the exercises I did so far are more for my thigh muscles and calves. But the bum is absolutely crucial for running! So that is now looked after as well. The physiotherapist said it was going to take weeks for the niggle to go away. I hope by then it indeed will!

New family contact

In 2024, one of my cousins on my mother’s side, Jennifer,  got in touch with my sister. And through my sister, she got in touch with me. We even met up!

Since then, things have trundled along. Several other cousins have now joined in. When I saw my sister over Christmas, she told me of a concert several of them will be attending. It is very logistically difficult for me to join in with any of that, but I like the fact that this is going on.

Jennifer also has good contact with two of our aunts. And recently, I got the request, through her and my sister, if I will be happy to have a chat with one of them. Of course I was! And soon we did have a phone call.

The last time I met this lady, José, in person (any Latin readers might be surprised at me having an aunt with that name but there we are) what was when I was a child. By now I wouldn't recognise her if I bumped into her. And unless she has seen recent pictures of me, I'm sure that is mutual. But it was lovely to talk to such a voice from the past. And now she is a voice from the present again. Quite unexpectedly! 

Ragnarok

Yes, the apocalypse of the Norse mythology. But also: no, not that Ragnarok. I this case, I am referring to the book by A.S. Byatt. This book, however, is named after the apocalypse of the Norse mythology. But it is set in WWII Britain. My sister liked the writer, and knows I like Nordic mythology, so she figured it would be a great birthday present. And it was!

One imagines the book to be partly autobiographical. The protagonist is a child that is evacuated during the war, and when it ends, goes back to Sheffield, where she came from. That seems to match with the life of the writer. And this child loves to read. That also seems to match with the life of the writer. And this girl reads a translation of the Norse story of the end of the world. Even though it isn't, really. It's a bit of a biblical flood kind of story; everything that was gets destroyed, but afterwards there is a new start.

The protagonist isn't keen on that new start. Is she keen on returning to Sheffield? Not necessarily.

I like to reading the thoughts of this child. She is quite pensive for her age. And does ponder function of myths, and contrasts paganism with christianity. And think about the critical notes in her own Ragnarok book, where the translator comments on that not all parts might be of the same age, and might have been created in effectively different worlds.

I'm burning through books this week! They say you should start as you intend to go on. I don't think I'll keep this up! But I'll try to not slow down too much…

Local library

It's always fun to blog about triumphs! But sometimes when you blog, you end up broadcasting your failures. This is one of those posts I find a bit difficult.

I moved to North Wales yonks ago. And as you guessed from the title, I only joined the library now. I feel a bit bad about it! If you don’t use these facilities, they vanish. And borrowing books instead of buying them is more environmentally friendly, and doesn’t lead to your house cluttering up. Only advantages! 

Why didn’t I? I suppose it never made it to the top of the to do list. I don’t read much. I can borrow anything from the University library, which is a lot bigger. When I tried in Plymouth, I was a bit disappointed by the range of books available (I seem not to have blogged about that). It tends to take me longer than the borrowing period to read a book. 

What got me to snap into action? Welsh class! We will be reading a book for it. I had a look in the local Welsh books shop, but they didn’t have it. The University library seemed to only have it in digital form. So then I got my skates on and became a member of the library in my town. It’s free to join, and really close by! And they had the book. 

Now I'm a member! I intend to visit fairly regularly from now on. But I should get my teeth into that book for Welsh class first!

Cam i’r gorffennol

It took me about a year but I finished it! And I've had this book for years. I bought it from the author himself; he is a local celebrity, as he had been in the most famous punk band in Wales ever, but is also an archaeologist. And I like archaeology. And I've been on two guided tours with him. Through the media of Welsh. And at the end of one of them, he sold this book. I obviously bought one! “Cam i’r gorffennol”, or a step into the past. 

I don't think that book was actually meant for being read cover to cover. It is basically a list of interesting archaeological locations, and a description of what you can find there, and what is known about them. But I read it cover to cover anyway. Initially I took it with me to the Netherlands; then I got sidetracked by other books, but I recently finished it.

Quite a number of these places I have already visited. Bryn Celli Ddu, Tre’r Ceiri, Din Lligwy, Tomen y Mur… but it's nice to read a bit more about them anyway. And there are several I haven't visited yet, and want to now, like Dinas Emrys and Bryn Cader Faner. I'll try to visit some of these in the new year! That's a nice thing about an archaeology book: it's double enjoyment. Once when you read it, and once when it takes you places you otherwise wouldn't have visited. And I'm sure Neil will be up for things like that too!

Back to work

When I went back to work this year, I only went up the stairs, because of snow. Only on the Wednesday did I go back to campus. 

The worst bit of the road to work; this bit is only used by cyclists and pedestrians 

Traditionally, the year starts with exam preparation, and marking work from the previous term, and this year was no exception. And with marking, of course also comes academic integrity work.

Even though I spent more days working at home than on campus that week, it felt I was back in a routine in no time. In the first week I finished my marking. Then I could go and prepare a talk about EDI I have to give, and finish the rubrics for the dissertation module. And deal with more academic integrity cases. And prepare for lecturing again. I need to think about the upcoming climate module! 

More snow

When I opened the curtains on the morning after my snowy hike with Neil, I didn’t know what I saw. A thick blanket of snow in the garden! It was beautiful. Not logistically practical, but beautiful! 

 

I had been on a proper hike the day before, so I took this as a mainly indoor day. Plenty to do there! And I figured the snow drifts in the mountains would be unfathomably deep by now. 

The eerie light of an early snowy morning

View onto the street

What it looked like a bit later

The river once the thaw had set in

It was largely still there the day after; the first day back at work. The University sent a message (at 8:37, so I’m sure a bit late for some!) to tell people to stay home if possible. I heeded that. Seemed reasonable! 

The next day, the roads still didn't look attractive for either biking or driving. And I live on such a small road that the council doesn't bother with it. It doesn't get cleared or gritted. And I have some grit in the garage, but I thought I might as well just stay home again. I don’t like biking to work nervous about wiping out! 

That night, track training was cancelled. I decided to do some hill reps on a local road that happened to be snow-free. And over the course of the day, rain removed a lot of the snow. The day after, things looked fairly normal again! 

Race prep with technology

When Neil's niece Lois came over to do the Conwy Half Marathon, she taught oldies Neil and me how to share our location with each other. But she didn't stop there! She also told me you can upload a race route into your Garmin app, and then have it give you a strategy for running the race. You give it a desired finishing time, and then it tells you at what place you have to run every individual kilometre (or mile). Very handy! 

Km splits

Also given as a list

If you don’t want to know for every kilometre what your pace should be, but just want to know about the various uphill, flat, and downhill bits, you can ask it to cut the route into segments with particular gradients (you can choose how many) and give you target speeds for these. 

Split pace vs gradient

The app needs a gpx file for that, and you can make these yourself, even on your phone, in the app itself. So even for tiny club races I should be able to use this, if I want. This might help me with my aim to break all my PBs! Now I only need to be able to run as fast as the app suggests…

Into the snow

Neil was over at my place after our dinner at Chris’. And he suggested that we tag on a hike the day after. And it happened to have snowed the day before, and more at night. The world was quite white! We wanted to see that a bit more close up. He suggested yr Elen. That sounded fine with me! I suggested going up over the nose, and coming down over the ridge. And that sounded fine with him.

We made sure to pack warm clothes and walking poles. And then we set off. The road was a bit slippery in places. And the first thing we did after coming of the road was walking past Susan and Dean's old house. And then we walked through the fields in the direction of our goal. There is a stretcher there is no official pass, and as far as I have been able to judge no actual pass either. You just have to make your way through a field with a lot of rush. I suppose the snow help us not sinking too deep into the swampy bits this area is a bit infamous for. Relatively dry we reached the foot of the hill.

Yr Elen on the horizon, and a tiny horse closer by

To get to the top of Yr Elen you need to negotiate two ascents and two relatively flat bits. The first sentence was fine. Towards the top of it we came across two young lads who were coming the other way. They said it was a bit brutal higher up! But quite doable. And we were noticing that we were indeed getting into stronger winds. We both decided to wear double gloves. 

After the first ascent 

After the second ascent and a coffee break in the shelter of some rocks, we were really buffeted by the wind like there was no tomorrow, and I wasn't sure if we should go all the way up. There isn't much room for error in these conditions! But Neil suggested we at least get to the bottom of the last ascent and make a decision there. And we decided go for it.

There is a path there, but in the snow we didn't see it. We just improvised our way up. The snow was getting icy but not in a particularly slippery way, so the going was not so bad. And then before I knew it we were at the top! The views were amazing. We took some pictures. And then we were ready to start the descent. We were getting peckish, but didn't want to stop for food in such an exposed place.

Neil stomping over the icy horizon

Close-up of the ice formations 

Neil om the summit

The way on

Summit selfie

View towards Elidir Fawr

The ridge was quite doable! It is a bit like a stegosaurus back, and you always have something to hold onto. But that wasn't even necessary very often. We descended quite fast, and without problems, and passed a family group coming the other way. And not much later we stopped for lunch. 

We could just follow the family’s footsteps! That was convenient. And when we walked into the main valley we came across more people coming the other way; I suspected they were a father-daughter team. We told them what to expect. They were ready for anything, with a rope and crampons and whatnot. They would be fine! 

Looking over a stream in the direction of the village 

Not much further now

From there it is a rather uneventful walk back to the village. It had been a great day! What views. I’m glad we persisted.