Blog

A bit of history and a look to the future

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 15:18:07 +0000

Last Sunday, my archeologist friend Ruth from Canada came to the UK for a job interview, so I had a great time making sure she got enough ‘quaint Englishness’ (not hard, given where I live) to distract her from the pending interview. I always get to see more stuff when I’m playing guide and we had a great time: a ride in a double-decker bus, a wander round the centre of Oxford, a very chilly walk among sheep at the White Horse, and an English cream tea in Wallingford. If you know Ruth, I strongly recommend you go and have a look at the photos on her blog, ‘cause they’re so much better than my efforts (which can be seen here).
Anyway, she got the job (did anyone ever doubt it?) and will be moving to the UK in a couple of months! I’m looking forward to visiting her in Exeter. Congratulations Ruthie!

And speaking of future events - only 4 week to go until Cosmo and Koji come home!

Winter wonderland

Wed, 6 Jan 2010 16:59:59 +0000

I may not like winter very much but if it’s going to be cold, then it should at least snow! I love snow and we’ve now got more than enough of the stuff! Work was shut today and we were all given a day of special leave after between 20-40 cm of snow fell in Oxfordshire overnight. I went out for a walk through ankle-deep snow this afternoon, and it was like being in the alps (but flatter). It’s likely to hang around for a while as well ‘cause the “longest cold-snap in 30 years” is forecast to last at least another fortnight. Biscuit has taken up permanent residence in front of the radiator.
Here are a few photos of the snow in and around Sutton Courtenay.

Sting is back!

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:49:24 +0000

Yay! After a very long absence, Sting has finally left Panemma some guestbook entries :-))
Not much has been happening here - I’ve been at home with swine flu for a week and the country is struggling with pre-Christmas preparations and an unusual amount of snow.
And as I don’t have much to write about, I’ve just put together a new album of random photos from December 2009...

Autumn colours

Tue, 3 Nov 2009 18:13:32 +0000

I feel like I’m back at university (a Good Thing really): I’m learning tonnes of new stuff, it looks like I’ll get tested on what I’ve learned, and I’ve been given homework (“here, read this”: 300-odd page book on Molecular Microbial Ecology - yay!)... I hope I’ll look back one day with a snigger about how unbelievably ignorant I was when I started in the lab.

It is now definitely autumn and I went for a walk with my camera at the weekend:

The Thames near Culham Locks A minor effort at Halloween

Yew berries Houseboats at Sutton pools

Nothing much

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:24:43 +0000

Had a pretty good week this week. It’s been quite sociable and very busy and I still have a rotten cold. So rather than write much I just want to post some pikkies of my grumpy cats (and who can blame them for being grumped?). There’s now a cat calendar on the home page to count off the Caturdays left until their release... my poor cats (sniff).