Car light issues

Someone alerted me to the fact that one of my car headlights wasn’t working. That’s not a good thing, so I booked myself in at Halfords, to have a new bulb put in. And I figured I might as well have both of them replaced. If one fails, the other one might be a bit old. And I had checked a YouTube video of the process of changing a bulb in my model of car, and it looks complicated. So I figured I'd let someone else do that.

On an absolutely rubbish morning I got to the shop, parked up, and walked in. A friendly bloke asked me to park under the canopy that is there for cars that have been booked in for a procedure like that. And I tried to comply, but some entitled person just beat me to it, and parked his big BMW in the middle of the two parking spaces under the canopy. And it turned out he wasn't even there for having something fitted. I managed to sort of park at least partly under the canopy.

The friendly guy changed the bulbs, somewhat buffeted by the weather. He took an easier approach than I had seen on YouTube! But I didn't regret having him do the work.

That night I was going to properly try out my new bulbs. And it wasn't an improvement at all! At the gas station I checked whether they were even on. They were, but I felt like I saw less than when I still had one bulb. And when I got home I noticed the light of the beams hit my house suspiciously high up. That probably was the problem; the beams were aiming up at the sky rather than down at the road! That's not very helpful. I had probably been blinding all the people who came the other way.

When I mentioned it over lunch (where fortunately Martin was present; he knows his car stuff) people told me you can adjust that yourself. So that was me going back to YouTube! And indeed, there are some adjustments screws (not literally screws). But I had the impression they were for fine-tuning, and my beam was way off. Also; you need a very long allen key to properly get to them, and mine wasn’t long enough. So I decided to go back to Halfords and make them sort it. They had caused it in the first place!

Aiming too high 

On a Thursday, when I regularly drive anyway for TNH reasons, I went back. And a different man (who had sorted my bike seat problem) had a look. I didn’t even need to open the bonnet for him to spot the problem. The bulbs were not fixed in position. The adjustment screws wouldn't have changed a thing. He immediately wanted to know who had done that. And he put it right.

If you know what you’re looking for you can see the bulb is not fixed

Problem being solved 

It only took a few minutes, and then I was off to work. I couldn't really judge the improvement straight away as it was a bright day. But that night, driving back from the running session, I was really glad to see my beams pointed at the road again. Much, much better!

Knee update

When I had gone to my GP to have the lump on my knee checked out, she was very dismissive. But she did refer me for an x-ray. And when I was confident the results would be in, I phoned back. The receptionist told me that the result was "normal". I asked what that meant. The question had been: What was the lump on my knee? Not: Is my knee normal? She said the note said no fractures or bone lesions. And she didn't know anything more. And of course I couldn't ask more from the receptionist. She works with the information she has!

I'm now fairly certain I was fobbed off. So she didn't refer me for an x-ray because that was an efficient way of finding out what was wrong. That was probably just the cheapest possible investigation. And I don't think she cared that you can't clearly see any non-bone tissues on them. She is seen to have done something, and she probably is convinced I made the whole lump up anyway. But I didn't. When I encountered Dean while in running gear he spotted it from across the room.

My non-existent lump

What I think I'll do is let it grow a little bit bigger so it is even more conspicuous than it already is, and then ask for a second opinion from a different GP in my local surgery. I suppose the first GP just wasted some NHS time and money by sending me for useless scan. Let's hope a second one can do better!

Triple stats practical

Every year, we run a statistics practical for the dissertation students. It used to be run by a lady from the Study Skills team, but she left, and there wasn’t anybody else in that unit who could take over. Fortunately, I managed to rope my colleague Marianna in. 

She was immediately in for a heavy ride: the cohort was so big that not only didn’t it fit in one computer room; it didn’t even half fit in. We had to run the session three times. Three times three hours! And attendance isn’t great. It would have fit in two sessions. But we have to timetable for all the students; not just those who show up. 

Towards the end, when many had already left

She had kept the essence of the practical the same. And it went as well as could be expected! Some students were not keen to engage, some didn’t really need it and could just use the time to get on with their projects.but then there were some in between that benefited from us being there. 

It’s done now for the year. And let’s see if we’ll make the next year! 

Red Wharf Bay recce with Kate

Next month, we are taking the students into the field for our Earth, Climate and Evolution module. This year, Katrien can’t make it to the one in Red Wharf Bay, so I needed a replacement. And I recruited Kate for that. But she hadn’t done it before, so I suggested we do a recce. And I figured the dog would love a session on the beach. 

The day before had been horrendous, and the day after would be too! But the very day of the recce it was gorgeous. And somehow, there was still parking available. 

We did the whole thing, with Bryn following us around with a stone in his mouth. I think he resented us standing still too much, and not letting him have our lunches, but otherwise I think a good time was had by all. Success! 

Admiring a sandstone plug on the sunny beach

When I got home I went for a run in Cwm Llafar. I really wanted to make the most of the glorious day! And in order to get there you have to get past Sue and Dean’s house, and I thought it would be rude to not pop by to say hello. So I did that too. Sue was away but Dean made me a lovely cup of tea. And the cats were up for more than zero interaction! What a successful day. And the next one would be for epically rubbish weather with enough rain to flood roads, and enough wind to close them with fallen-over trees, so extra reason to enjoy this oasis of sun and a pleasant breeze…

How it started

Where I turned back

Financial troubles solving work dispute

What happens in the context of underground exploration doesn't stay in the context of underground exploration. Or maybe I should just say: when human relationships break down, they break down. It tends not to be situation dependent.

When in 2019 I spoke out against the glorification of sexual assault on a mine exploration trip, the person who actively tried to shut me up was a colleague. He was really keen for that sort of behaviour to remain unchallenged. At least if it came from his chums. And when he found out it was difficult to shut me up, he took me off the email list that is used for disseminating information about the underground trips.

Later he sent me an email, from his work email address to mine, accusing me of god knows what, saying he was not willing to talk about this, and expressing the wish to remain friends. I mailed him back that he could have at most 2 out of 3. If you hurl such vitriol at me and won't discuss it in person, like an adult, you will not be friends. He made his choice; he did not want to talk about it. So we were not friends. I have later encouraged him again to change his course and choose dialogue, but he ignored that.

It turns out we are both quite stubborn! He clearly really doesn't want to discuss the accusations he levelled at me, nor why he took me off the email list without a word. And I am not going to declare peace if he's not willing to do that. So we had a bit of a cold war situation going on.

This did affect our work, obviously; the low point was that he stood me up when he was assigned to me as a first aider. I don't believe that was a coincidence; he doesn't have a reputation for standing anybody else up (unless they were associated with me). 

I had been wondering if reminding him again that peace negotiations were still possible, but that nothing will change without them, would do any good, when reality overtook me. He has taken voluntary redundancy. So he's going! I'm sure that will be inconvenient for people; we obviously have one member of support staff fewer that can come on field trips as a first aider. He sometimes takes nice pics of fieldworks of graduations. And he does the layout of our periodical. And I'm sure he does other useful things that will now have to be picked up by other people. But for me it's good; I don't have to encounter him anymore, and I don't have to worry about being stood up if he gets assigned to my trips. (I am not worried about anybody else standing me up.) 

I suppose the term "this too shall pass" applies here! Even if two sides of a conflict won't yield, time will intervene and render said conflict irrelevant. Maybe these are good times to hold on to that thought…

Windy Parys

It was such lovely weather the first days of the week we were going to do the Parys Mountain trip! Unfortunately, the forecast said it wouldn't last. That day we were scheduled to go was going to be the worst of the whole week.

When the day approached the weather forecast got worse, and acquired a weather warning for wind, with gusts over 60 mph. Oh dear! Parys Mountain stands proud of Anglesey, and if it gets gusty, being on top of it makes you feel the full force of the wind. What should we do?

I briefly discussed with Dei. Postpone or shorten? The weather would be the worst in the morning, and would improve during the day. If we would go at lunchtime we would avoid the worst of it. And that was what we decided to do.

I was the first one to get out of the vehicle when we got there, and I immediately felt the brunt of the strong wind. Earlier that day it must've been awful up there. But we all zipped up our jackets and went for went to the viewing platform. Quite many of the students hadn't been there before, and they looked like they thought it was worth it. It is, after all, an amazing place.

We didn't linger as we figured it would be more sheltered in the pit, so that was where we went next. And we admired the view on the fold, and the Central Boss, and the remains of the black smoker. When we were at the Central Boss we did get rained on, but fortunately only briefly. Later the sun even came out!

When we were done with the geology there was a little bit of time left for history, which Dei took care of. And then we went back to the vehicle.

It was a bit touch and go this year, but I think we pulled it off! Let's hope that our next trip will have nicer weather…

Breast cancer screening

I didn't think I was old enough for breast cancer screening yet. I figured they start at 50. But I got the impression they start in the year in which you turn 50 when I got the invitation not very long after having turned 49.

For me it is a no brainer. Breast cancer kills a lot of women every year. And going to a screening might mean they catch the disease early, which makes it a lot more treatable. So with my invitation letter in my pocket I went to the parking lot of one of the big supermarkets in town, where a trailer had been parked.

The slightly gloomy setting

I walked into the smallest, but still functional, reception in the world, and from there I was redirected to a little waiting room. I was also asked to let the next woman in, for whom I had just made space. Through the next door I could hear a lady directing another lady. It sounded quite quick! And then the door opened and the next lady was asked in. And indeed, the procedure was quite quick. Not much later I could hear a goodbye coming through the door, and then the lady came out again to call me in.

I knew the procedure itself would not be pleasant! I don't think anybody enjoys being squeezed to a mush. But the goal justifies the means. And four x-rays later I was putting my clothes on again. And about 15 minutes after I had walked into the trailer, I walked out again.

It will take some four weeks before I get the result. I obviously hope all is clear! And if so, that means that's it for three years. And then I'll come back to do it all again…