Caulk the extension

I really love sitting in the extension when the rain is absolutely hammering it. The sound is very loud on the plastic roof, and with all the glass around, the rain is all around you, but you're a snug and dry. Or at least, that is the idea. Several years ago I had seen for the first time that in heavy rainfall, sometimes the water comes underneath the conservatory wall. And that's not how it should be! You don't want a wooden table, however improvised, standing in a puddle of water. And the paint with which the floor is painted is a lot less moisture-tolerant than I hoped it would be. 

I decided I probably should caulk the seam. And I put that on my to do list. And then left it there. For years. I was wondering if the caulk I had would actually have totally solidified, and would be unusable by now. But I suppose there is only one way to find out!

On the August bank holiday Monday I put it to the test! And my caulk was still working. Finally, finally, I have actually done the job. I have no idea if this will actually solve the problem, but it was a reasonable attempt. And soon it will be autumn; I am sure we will have plenty of torrential rainfall to test it out. I hope the conservatory floor will stay dry now! If it stays dry the entire autumn then I will declare this is success. But I already feel good about having finally got this chore out of the way!

Before

After

Almost another call-out

I was in the train back to Bangor, from Chester, minding my own business, and looking forward to having an evening with the cat. And then my phone lit up with a message. We were put on standby! We had only done a rescue the previous weekend. This is getting a bit much! Sometimes an entire year goes by without us being needed to rescue a person. And this was a person rescue. And of course it was in the very same venue as the previous one.

I indicated I would be available later. I did not give an actual time estimate; on the way out, my one hour train journey turned into a three hour combined train and bus journey. So I wasn't keen on doing any estimates until I would have got to Bangor! I could just update then. 

The good news was that before I even got to Bangor, we were already stood down. It was a situation with someone being overdue, and they had made contact with the homefront. I was relieved. I got my evening with the cat back!

This time it was a false alarm. But it does strengthen my conviction that this is the venue to watch. Oh well! The more often we have to rescue people out, the better we will get at it. As long as it just remains the situation that the people we get out are largely a bit tired, cold and hungry! And nothing worse…

Run (and lunch) in Chester, if you can get there...

It started well, and went downhill quickly. Not the run; this was Chester after all, so not much in the way of hills. Also not really the date. As that was what the run was part of; a third date. The issue was getting there. 

I got on the train without issues, and it set off eastward in a promising way. But before we reached the first stop  there was an announcement: there was a technical problem and the train would terminate at the next stop. There would be a replacement bus service. Great. 

I got on the bus. It was filled up all the way. And we were off! But we were on the slow coastal road, as the stations between Bangor and Chester are a bit more seaward than the dual carriageway. This was getting slow. And at some stops, the bus driver had to wait a bit to let other thwarted rail users get on.

The back of the bus was full of young folk who had a lot of beer in their luggage. And they had a Bluetooth speaker. They just started a party! There was some loud and uncoordinated singing along to Mamma Mia, and to a cover of Zombie. I think that there would have been a dancefloor if the trip would have been only marginally longer. And all the beer required an improvised stop to let some ladies have a wee between a lorry and a corn field. I was glad I had an emergency flask and sandwich with me. 

I finally reached Chester close to 2 PM, although I should have been there at 12:17.  And we would leave for the Great Gatsby at 16:30. Plenty of time, but much more than having lunch and getting ready wasn’t going to happen! 

The play was lovely, as I already pointed out. And after that we just had some tea and called it a night. And yes I did stay over, and no not in the same room. I know there would be questions!

The next day the plan was: go for a run, and go for lunch. And we did! We did a lovely loop that started in Chester proper, and had a big loop in the rather green area between the river Dee and the A483. On the one side it was fields; on the other it was woodland,  associated with an estate. And it rained beforehand and afterwards, but the actual run was dry.

the Dee

While we were running together I tried to remember what the previous time was I went for a run with someone. I wasn't quite sure, but I knew it was years ago! In 2015 I had several running partners, like Gordy and Coleen. And I know I ran with my niece once, but I can't find that, so I'm not quite sure how long ago that was. I think that was later! I mean, in 2015 she was a bit on the young side to go for a run together. Especially as she was the navigator. But either way; I enjoyed that! We were not perfectly matched regarding speed but that's okay. I hope I can lug him along one of my running routes well in the not-too-distant future!

Lunch afterwards was good too! A nice contrast of sweaty muddy running, and then having a civilised lunch in a café all brushed up. Maybe here in Wales we can combine a run in the Carneddau with lunch in the Green Olive one day!

The Great Gatsby

Two weeks before I had had a rather enjoyable second date. So soon after, we started planning a third. We would be in the Chester area again, which is less good for outdoor exploits, but better for anything cultural. And we settled on an open air performance of the Great Gatsby. 

We took our seats in good time, and had pizza from the local caterer. And quite early on, a lot of the actors came out, and started playing a bit of jazz, and doing a little jig. It brought everyone into the right mood! And they all looked marvellous in their period costumes.

It also didn't look like rain. That was good! The forecast hadn't been overly promising, so I had full waterproofs with me. But I would not need them at all.

Then the play began. I was familiar with the story as I had a read the book a few decades ago. I didn't matter! I loved just watching the story unfold in front of me. And I must say; if you read the book, you have to make up the costumes and the music and the parties and the dancing in your head, and I am a bit limited in my capability of picturing that in style. And here I didn't have to! 

Early on in the performance (so no Gatsby yet); Tom Buchanan in the chair, Nick Carraway on the right, and also no Daisy yet. Later I was too immersed to take pictures. 

I thought it was an excellent performance. Some characters were a bit exaggerated, but I expected that. It had struck me as the sort of theatre where they do that. But I didn't find it distracting at all. And I loved the effortless cool of the actor who played Gatsby. I suppose it may very well have been an effortlessly cool actor who played a character who makes a concerted effort to look cool, but also to make it look an effortless. Complicated!

All the other actors were excellent as well! And I suppose Jordan was also effortlessly cool. And there is a lot of straining in the others, because that is the story. Tom Buchanan was played as a downright oaf. But he gets some redemption later, of course.

Almost all of the actors also played an instrument and/or sang, and almost all the musicians also acted. A bunch of multitalents!

The story ends sad, of course. But after the final scene, all actors (also those whose character had died) came back on for a last little dance. So everyone left cheerful anyway.

I thought it had been a brilliant production! I think it had been an excellent choice for our third date. I’ll write about the rest of the date in the next post…

Typing in Dutch

When my RSI got out of hand, I became almost a monoglot in written form. Speech recognition software works very well in English, but in any other language, at least in my experience, it is a bit more difficult. I did use the Welsh speech recognition software, but it is clearly not anywhere near as well-developed as the English language stuff. It gets a lot of words wrong, and then you have to correct it with your hands anyway. Just typing it straight away is not even that much more demanding on arms and hands.

I know my phone should be able to understand Dutch; my sister can dictate in Dutch, and she has the same brand phone. And I have tried to use that functionality, but I failed miserably. The closest I came was speaking to my phone in Dutch, and it then indeed writing down the text in Dutch, but immediately afterwards also writing the text down as if it was just very strange English. For instance, if I would want to dictate ‘ik wil een fiets’  then I could, but it would be immediately followed by ‘it will in feet’ as that would be what the phone figured I probably had said on the assumption I was speaking English. So I gave up on that. But only after the phone amusingly assumed I had called  my sister a ‘crazy cold pinecone’.

It is almost 3 years ago that I had to sign off sick with serious RSI. And since then the situation has greatly improved! I've still not fully recovered; I guess that might take another year or two. But I am increasingly able to type a bit. Especially on my phone, as that is good with predictive text. In April I already started typing messages to my sister again. I had spent years only recording voice messages, as that is easier on the arms! And I still do that if I have a lot of text, but I am glad I can send short messages in written Dutch without thinking too much about it.

If I wrote emails, I still did that exclusively in English or Welsh. And some of the emails I would have preferred to do in Dutch was to two Dutchman who give guest lectures in my applied marine geology module. It was weird sending them emails in English, as I had always just communicated with them in Dutch. I both know them from my time at Free University.

This year I felt confident to ask if they were on again this year, in Dutch. I did compose these emails on my phone, for reasons of predictive text. It felt good to have the choice again! I am glad that there is still progress. And as I said; I sort of hope that after some two more years of this malarkey I can put it behind me. I think I will always be careful! But I am glad it is not likely to be something that really hinders me for the rest of my life. I am still doing one set of physiotherapy exercises for my arms every day. I've been doing them for years! And I see no reason to stop. 

I will be careful and not overexert myself, but I thought this was so hope-inspiring I wanted to share it!

Application Senior Fellow Higher Education Academy

I mentioned earlier I wanted to apply for promotion to senior lecturer. And I said I next needed to apply to become Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. And by now I have had a look at what that takes. Most people would have done that years ago, but I’m me, and I hadn’t. And I must say this could become a stumbling block! You basically have to demonstrate in two case studies that you are a leading light regarding education both in the school and in a wider context (college, university). And there are lots of criteria to meet: management, inclusivity, innovation, whatnot.

In my SL application I am going for the scattergun approach; I have been in the job for a while, and from all various corners of my activities I can cobble together examples of a lot of the things they want to see. I am fairly confident about that. But if everything needs to be in two case studies, you need to have done two big, all-encompassing things. I will just give it a go; I'll just think of the biggest things I have done, and then try to write them down as convincingly as possible. There is a fair chance it won't be successful, but then at least I will have had a try, and then the second attempt will be easier. And I can have that second of times after I have indeed done too big things. And at least I now know what I'm working towards. I have just taken on two rather big jobs earlier this calendar year; it’s quite possible I can use these two in a second attempt. Right now it is still too early.

I have heard a rumour that being a Senior Fellow he is now not desired but essential. So if I don't manage with the senior fellow application, then the senior lecturer is also not going to happen. But again; if I get a lot of the work out of the way now, I should be able to strike without too much difficulty once the senior fellowship is sorted. Whenever that may be. It looks like I'm in for the long haul. Not what I would have hoped, but if that's what it takes then that's what I will do! Stay tuned...

Small-scale local race

The day after my 10k race in Caernarfon, I came across another race on Facebook: Ras y Mynydd. It was a mixed road/trail race in the surroundings of Mynydd Llandygai. It went around Moel y Ci. It looked like a cute local initiative! And it was two days later, at 7pm. I decided to go. That area is so beautiful! I had been running around there before, for instance over the top of the hill. I didn't care I had just rung my lungs out of my body. I was keen to do this race as well!

That day I hitched a ride from Martin, as I figured that if I was going to run 7.5k race (partly trail) in the evening, I couldn't really justify also spending an hour and 15 minutes on my commute. There is a limit to the amount of time I can spend exercising! Sometimes I just have to keep my job down and my household going. And the cool thing was that for entirely different reasons, Susan did the same thing. We had never gone to work all together!

After Martin dropped me back off, I quickly ate some soup, got my bike ready, and changed into my running gear. I also packed clean clothes and a towel as there was mention of showers. And then I set off! And this time it was only a 20 minute ride, so a lot more forgiving than the previous time I had biked to a race. But I still figured the soup would have been processed sufficiently by the time I would start to not cause trouble.

I parked up at the Memorial Hall, which was race headquarters, and registered. You just filled out a little form in which you gave your name, address, club (if any) and gender + age. The administrative ladies then just gave you the next number on the pile, and added that number to your registration form. And I paid the very modest £6 fee. I was ready! And I was pleasantly surprised; the weather forecast has been very wet, but the skies had cleared considerably.

Race HQ

I spotted a lady I knew from Welsh class. I still fairly regularly bump into her when I am running. And she looks fast! I figured she'd outrun me. It was nice to see her. And she lives in the village, so she had known about this race for years. It seems to be real tradition! But I had only just found out about it.

I had made sure I had enough time so I was a bit early; there was a bit of hanging around going on. I also spotted Dave and some of his associates. I hadn't seen him since early May. But then it was time to line up at the start. And then we were off!

At the start

Seen from the other side (pic by Nick Pipe)

Off we are! (pic by Nick Pipe)

I had decided beforehand it wasn't going to be a race where I would push myself hard. I had only done that three days ago! And the scenery was very beautiful. I had my camera with me, and I intended to use it. Even more so now that the weather was better than expected. But that does take time. But I got carried away and started quite fast anyway. Oh well! I knew I could wear myself out a bit in the beginning; some of that route would be downhill on uneven terrain, or slippery, and I'm not very strong on that kind of terrain. I could rest then!

We started on asphalt, and then got onto a forest road. And from there we turned off onto a narrow path with kissing gates. That was the sort of terrain I can't go fast! The path was quite slippery as it had been a wet day, and I think it is more important to not fall on my face than to run a good time.

The path lead to a bigger path, which went uphill for awhile. That is where I can do my thing! And the views became spectacular. And the downhill wasn't too steep or uneven, so that went alright as well. But when we came back to asphalt, I could accelerate again after all. No worries about where to put your feet!

The route made another loop outside the village. The views of the even better than before! But as this was off road, and the place was very muddy, you did have to pay attention to what you did with your feet. All went well. And then we got back on asphalt. I decided to squeeze out what I still had left, and thundered back to the memorial hall. Finished!

I found an acquaintance who had finished a few minutes before me, and we had a little chat. Together we saw Dave finish, and shortly after that, the lady from Welsh class. And then we decided it was time to go in for the cup of tea and piece of cake that was included in the racing fee!

When I registered they ask me if I wanted to certificate. And I had figured that why not; I did! But that meant I had to wait for them to be finished. And they were done by hand, there and then. So I just chatted away with familiar and unfamiliar people, and cheered on the winners of the various categories. This race had special categories for locals! I liked how it was all a bit improvised. And after the ceremony with prices, that certificates were finished. I went to get mine. And that was the only indication I would get that they of my time! 39:56. And it was my first episode of this race, am my first 4.6 mile race ever, so I couldn't place it in context. But I was happy with it!

Bye then it was getting quite dark so I had to make my way home. I had forgot to bring the big headlight of my bike. With the lights I had, I was visible to other people, but I couldn't see very much myself! But I got home safely. 

I really want to do that race next year as well! It has been great fun. And it is a beautiful route. And it is a fundraiser for the Memorial Hall which is the headquarters. After deducting the costs of the race, they only raised some £300, but it is something! So I intend to be back…