Late night post

Hi,

Probably shouldn't post after 4.5 glasses of wine, but hey, let's live a little. Last night, we went to Sarah's 30th. Great time, thank you Andy, Phyll and Sarah, and Greg, who did a great job handing out drinks vouchers. It was a casino night, but as we had to drive back, we couldn't stay and win, so I lost all the fun money at black jack. Boo was brilliantly winning on roulette but foolishly gave me her chips and went socialising.....

Pictures tomorrow when I'm sober and have resized them - just started and realised 2MB+ files should not be uploaded!

Had lunch with Heleen, Brian, Linda, Kieran and Alice in the British Museum today. Then went to the Dr Who exhibition. Pictures tomorrow - including Kieran in the Tardis! And Cybermen and Daleks!

How can you wait? It is so exciting. Gotta go now.

Trevor

Bluebells 2008

It is that time of year again, so we went for our annual bluebell walk near Rickling Green. Fabulous as usual. Just one picture this time.

Posting for Mike

While in Ottawa yesterday I had half an hour loose so went for a walk on Capital Hill. Next to the house of parliament I spotted this. Focus on the Little Furry Object(LFO), not the blue anorak. LFO claimed to be the member of parliament for kicking horse pass, but I think he (or she, the voice was kind of neutral) was actually a Mountie in disguise to protect Ottawa against terrorist attacks. This suspicion was further supported by the local police nearby who claimed that the LFO who clearly was disguised as a groundhog, was in fact a gopher, very suspicious, unless, of course they were actually CIA agents from the US disguised as Ottawa Police, the CIA would undoubtedly think that Gophers and Grounhogs are both weapons of mass destruction and be unable to tell the difference between the two.

Anyway at last report, Parliament is still safe.

Mike

Names

Nobody is posting any more and I am really getting a bit perturbed by seeing Tom’s nether regions every time I check the blog.
So, just to prove that everyone’s lives our probably more interesting than mine. Here is my thoughts on names.
Cataloguing and ordering papers at work is often brightened up by laughing at people’s names. One of my favourites is Fartmann!
However recently I have been ordering papers on a specific somatic mutation. One prolific author is Mr Barstard another prolific author is Mr Randi.
Surely one day they must do a paper together. What joy that would bring to my life!

Deck chairs

Just to let you know that the family love of deck chairs is not over. While London was experiencing snow last weekend we were sitting on Deck chairs in the French Alps with Matt and Sue. Very nice time we had too.
Here is a picture of Tom, their airdale displaying dogly dignity. Really, Tom, put it away, you're not David Beckham!

Following on...

....from the conference-related story below, I was wondering if anyone has ever been to a conference or dinner where they had really excellent pre/during/after dinner entertainment, and if so, what was it? I find sorting this out even harder than keeping people awake after lunch (although that can be a challenge all day when talking about training software).

At the first conference I did two years ago we had a wine tasting challenge which was fantastic (www.tasteofthevine.co.uk) but last year we had a speaker who was just dreadful (so I won't include his website link). This year the favoured suggestion amongst the guys here is a casino night but I'm not that sold. Our audience are training/HR bods and range from graduates right through to those knocking on the door of retirement and is almost a 50/50 split male to female.

Any suggestions would be gratefully received :)
Love Kate xxxx

Graveyard spot

On Monday I went to a seminar at the British Library. Once again it proved to me that they keep the most boring speakers for after lunch when everybody is sleepy. Is there some kind of sweepstake among conference organisers to see how many people they can send to the land of nod?
Anyway, this time they excelled themselves. The bloke giving the talk was a substitute and he was clearly terrified! He was quietly spoken and had a strong Lancashire accent and he gabbled. He was incomprehensible. I tried to listen to him but after 5 minutes and I could feel me eyelids growing heavy so I decided to write a letter on the complimentary pad of A4 British Library paper they had given me.
When I looked round after 10 minutes or so there must have been at least 5 people asleep. There were others reading the brochures that had come with their welcome pack. Others were tapping away on their laptops - I bet they were playing spider solitaire. At least the speaker didn't notice as he never took his eyes from his notes or the screen. But it was toe curlingly awful. At the end of his talk the chairman who could obviously see everyone's inattention said: "Well, thank you, it's always difficult to deliver somebody else's talk"
The two guys in front of me were American and this speech (incomprehensible to everyone) had been proceeded by a talk by a Glaswegian! The last speaker before tea was an American and you could see them almost crying with relief!
Still, a trip to London is better than proper work. I got a lovely lunch and when I should have been networking at the lunch break I went for a little walk around the British Library and visited their lovely shop.

Coastal command memorial

Hello there,

The girls were with my folks in London over Easter week, and I came up for a day and then flew home with them at the end.

While we were there, we went to Westminster Abbey and had a look at the memorial they have just put up for all the members of coastal command.

Here are the photos I took. I fiddled them a bit to bring up the contrast a bit so you can read them better.

This first photo is the main memorial stone.



This was carved into the wall at the bottom and slightly to the right of the main sculpture.



You may have to click on this to read it properly, but this is the inscription below the sculpture.



I might add that it SNOWED that day...it was FREEZING! I am turning into a wimp.

Poland and back

Here are some pics of Poland - not many of Krakow because my camera got stuck open and despite my attempts stayed that way until I took it into the camera shop in Cardiff when it went back in the first time the guy tried. Don't you hate it when inanimate objects make you look a complete fool?


The top one is the square in the old town of Warsaw. What is extraordinary is that all the buildings in the old town have been built since the war as the Germans flattened Warsaw before they left. after the war the Poles rebuilt it from pictures done in the 18th century. Unfortunately for Warsaw the Russians also did a lot of building so a lot of Warsaw is hideous concrete communist blocks. However I didn't take pictures of those.



This is the church in the centre square in Krakow which is unremarkable outside but is seriously gilded and painted inside. we did our last concert in here. There is atrumpeter who plays a warning fanfare every hour on the hour which cuts off before the end because someone did so in the 12th century and was shot by an arrow before he finished but it warned the people and the fended off the enemy. Now that is really keeping a tradition going. Must be the most frustrating music job going as you get to play the same piece every hour of every day and never get to finish it.

This lopsided picture Brian took when we were having lunch in Warsaw with some students. That huge loaf of bread in the spare place is full of saurkraut and sausage and was a starter!!

We had a good time there and the choir sang really well, and the weather was mostly kind as we only had one wet day and it wasn't too cold. Thankfully the rain is following the Martins around instead of me. The Oki Doki youth hostel was actually very good and I can recommend it to you.

It's official! We are the new Peggy!

We have just returned from a lovely long weekend in Rome to celebrate my half century and three of the five days we were there it poured! OK, that is not enough evidence that we have inherited Peggy’s strange talent for attracting precipitation. However it rained on our holiday in Brittany last year, on our holiday in the Cevenne the year before. We have had two weekends away with friends and it has poured for the entire weekend. Honestly, a few years ago we stayed about 40 miles from Madrid in August and it rained. I fear that we are indeed the new Peggy. I think if we were to go to Alice Springs it would rain for the first time since Peggy’s visit when it rained for the first time in years.
Actually, people should pay us either to visit very arid places or to stay away from places.
That said, it didn’t spoil our enthusiasm for the eternal city. Goodness, but it’s chock full of art and history. We came to the conclusion that we are now of an age to appreciate Bernini. I think he is like anchovies and you just won’t like him when you’re too young. We did have a mostly sunny day for my birthday when we did the Ancient Roman stuff. I shall have to rewatch I Claudius and Gladiator now that I can picture it all. To be honest nearly all I know about ancient Rome is from I Claudius and Shakespeare.
If you want to see pictures of Rome you can look at Helen’s from December.

Beyond my ken.

I sometimes realise how very little I understand of the work that goes on in the Scientific institution where I am employed. The other day everyone in the institute received this email:
"Sorry for the hinx mail.We urgently need some anti-goat antibody conjugated with HRP for acouple ofWestern blots. Does anyone have some to spare? Thanks a lot"
Now the words are english. The sentences are properly constructed and yet it makes no sense to me. Ah well it keeps life full of mysteries.
There was a visitor at work last week - none other than the Archbishop of Canterbury - rather random really

Here is Brian with the orchestra on Tuesday - taking his bow at the end of the piece!!!!!!

Answers

I will put the answers as a comment. So that you can't see them by accident.

Quiz

Well done, Brian, I look forward to hearing the concert on the radio.
So from the sublime to the ridiculous. I have to set a round for a quiz next week. It is going to be lyrics from musicals and films. I thought I might test it out on my extended family and see if I've pitched it right. Could you let me know how many you get without googling it - I will tell you the answers if you like.

1.A lady doesn't leave her escort
It isn't fair, it isn't nice
A lady doesn't wander all over the room
And blow on some other guy's dice.

2. Is he tough? Listen, Bud! He’s got radioactive blood.

3. Now when you pick a pawpaw
Or a prickly pear
And you prick a raw paw
Next time beware

4. Lots of chocolates for me to eat,
Lots of coal making lots of 'eat.
Warm face, warm hands, warm feet,

5. If it should chance to be
We should see
Some harder days
Empty larder days
Why grouse?

6. Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk,
I'm a woman's man: no time to talk.

7. We're drawin' the line,
So keep your noses hidden!
We're hangin' a sign,
Says "Visitors forbidden"
And we ain't kiddin'!

8. But now these days are gone, I’m not so self assured
Now I find I’ve changed my mind I’ve opened up the doors

9. Don't see lights a flashin'
Plays by sense of smell
Always gets a replay
Never tilts at all

10. There's a sad sort of clanging from the clock in the hall
And the bells in the steeple too

The concert was fantastic

Just to say that the performance of "Points of Decision" last night by the BBC was absolutely fantastic. Hearing it performed by a really wonderful orchestra was amazing. Brian was really pleased with it all - the piece, the performance, the orchestra - everything. A truly magic experience.

That's it really. We will get a cd in a couple of weeks and I'll post the date of theBBC radio performance when we know it

Out and about

Having reached the end of a manic two weeks on Sunday night, I am only just beginning to recover and feel even slightly awake. Having deposited Saffy on mum, first up was an exhibition in London Olympia. This is where Moira works but who I only saw fleetingly from a distance before she had to go home poorly unfortunately - hope you're feeling better if you read this! Following two exhausting days of working, drinking with Dutch people and watching belly dancing (long story) was a trip to Paris for another exhibition. I was lucky enough to get to go out there a couple of days early to get some sight seeing and shopping time in which was awesome, I looooove Paris. Then it was back home for a night before dashing off to Sussex for a wedding. It was the first of my school friends to get married and the weather was unbelievable lovely for February - we had drinks and photos outside in the sun, which was great as Buxted Park where it was held was absolutely stunning. I'd definitely recommend it if you fancied a nice weekend away (although it's not cheap!)

All very exhausting but excellent fun :) And as I got some nice piccies along the way and have actually managed to upload them from my camera for once I thought I'd post them. Next up if I get my way at work are trips to Rome and Barcelona, so Christine I might be paying you guys a visit soon!

Love Kate xxxx

Flowers in winter

This camelia has come into flower for some reason, even though it is warm it is only just February, and it is the first time it has flowered. It is a gorgeous colour but I hope we don't have any frost or it is done for

Here we have Kate explaining to Saffy why she is wearing an elf outfit (because we are cruel and like to laugh at you) on Christmas day too.

Does anyone else get all their text underlined in Blogger or does is just not like me/Macs?

Radio Stars!!!!!!!

Just to let you know that we have found out that Brian's piece will be on Radio 3!!!!!!!!! we don't have a date yet, and it will be hidden in the contemporary music ghetto at 11pm but with listen again you can get it at a more reasonable time (though on the computer which buggers the sound). He is now even more nervous.

Also - just to add to the pressure - the choir is going to be on thePolish equivalent of Radio 3 and we will be singing live ! No time to do it again, get it right, not panic - do it live why don't you - with a bunch of teenagers most of whom hadn't sung a note till 15 weeks ago. Eeek. Other than that we are looking forward to Poland.

love Helen

Book group continued.

Does anyone want my copy of the book? I could pop it in the post if you like. (OK, I admit it. I'm not a fast reader - just a bit of a quitter!)

snow

Just had dinner with Peggy who is doing very well. we had about six inches of snow today, which is a pain if you are driving, but as I was on subway and foot was no problem. The snow in the parks is magical. I still remember the first time I saw real canadian snow at about age 13 and just rushed out and rolled in it.
You really can't believe how beautiful it is.
But then if you live here and it goes on and on and on yuch.

Sea Dog