Spaced out

I love where we live.  We are fortunate in this part of Oxfordshire to have the amenities of a market-town on hand (shops, library, schools, pubs, takeaways, restaurants, museum, football team, churches, health centre, leisure centre, children's groups, social groups etc) or town/city facilities close enough by (hospital, cinema, arts centre, train stations). Yet within 5 minutes walk we're on footpaths that meander through farmers' fields, and in 5 minutes drive we can be on the lovely ancient Ridgeway (http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/ridgeway/).  To my mind it's the best of both worlds.

Yesterday we visited the Rutherford Appleton Laboratories for their Space Open Day to learn about other worlds! (http://www.stfc.ac.uk/RALSpace/Default.aspx).  This is only 15 minutes drive away, and was a free event - woohoo, something to fill another day in the school holidays (which by now are dragging on, for both chidren and parents...).

We arrived late, having picked up a teenage friend of my daughter's who took an age to collect her things to be ready to go.  I don't remember being that bad at that age, but memory plays tricks on you, I'm sure.  So we got badged up, had the health and safety talk, and joined our allocated group in the 'Mars Robotics' building.

I'm not good with science.  I've not been able to get my head around it since Mrs (battleaxe) Carruthers (maths teacher at the Convent school I attended in the late 1970s).  If you weren't good at maths you didn't do physics - that's how it was back then - and I wasn't good at maths...  'Mrs Carruthers, I don't understand' 'You don't need to understand it, JUST DO IT' she barked.  Full stop.

So although the things they told us during the visit made sense (in context) as soon as I left the various buildings the normal soundtrack to my life returned and wiped clean the interesting information I'd just been told about electrons, positrons or whatever-trons.  The same thing happened a couple of years ago when we visited the Diamond Light Synchatron (another tron!).  (http://www.diamond.ac.uk/).  But that's another story.

Within the Mars Robotics building is a central quadrangle, which, un/surprisingly, has been filled with rocks and earth to resemble the surface of Mars and enable realistic testing of the robots to be done in the development process.  Unfortunately they didn't demonstrate any of the robots in action, but the roving photographer took a photograph of our group 'on Mars' with the robot vehicle.

The soil and rocks had come from Tubney Wood Quarry ( http://www.hills-group.co.uk/consult/tubney-wood.html), a local site, so it seems that Mars is closer to home than you would think.  They also test the robots in a desert in Chile.  So I learned something then.

The next session was light science - as in the science of light (doh) - lasers, and also much more talk of electrons and charged particles.  They've a lot of interns and students and they were all very enthusiastic to communicate either what they were doing or what the equipment on display did.  A nice young man (!) started to explain something to me, but I had to stop him part way through with 'I'm sorry, you lost me at electron'.

The children had a lovely time here, Phoebe, under careful instructions, became positively charged using the Vandergraph Generator (I thought that was a psychodelic band from the 60s!), and her hair stood on end - to the general amusement/satisfaction of the gathered group.  She was also very taken with the lasers and defraction lenses.  Tom had fun trying to move a laser beam through a maze, discharging the electrons from a plasma ball (?), and racing a hydrogen powered toy car.

I was interested to see the old technology - they had an IBM 360 computer - the size of my car, which was the state of the art when installed in 1969, and had the equivalent computing power of the RAM of a modern day printer.

The final session was space based.  Phoebe and her friend spent time learning about geology with rock samples, and we all had fun with the UV camera and ice-cubes!  This was to demonstrate how the scientists look into deep space to find things hidden to other telescopes.  The solar flare man had 3D glasses for us to try and we missed out on making bracelets with special UV detector beads that change colour in the sun and indicate when it's necessary to put sun screen on.  (These are available on the internet we were informed later, so we may have to have a hunt for those).

The final 'wrap up' session had us in the lecture theater with all 10 groups gathered together to give feedback (by way of handsets you pressed a button for to answer the questions on screen).  The lady in charge had her assistant pouring liquid nitrogen onto a small disc - thereby making a smaller magnet levitate.  You could have a closer look at the end of the session, as it was very small to see in a lecture theater, but it was magic the way the magnet hovered, the polarity reversed, the dry ice swirling around it mysteriously....

She said this was the most exciting thing about working at RAL.  They'd discovered this effect of this super-conductor in the 1980s, and it had initially been discovered in 1919, but, she enthused, THEY DON'T KNOW HOW IT DOES IT.  I love to see someone so animated, so enthusiastic and passionate about what they do.  Life affirming, and still more to explore - out there, and closer to home.  The future, it seems, is science.

See ya!  Kat

Driving me mad!

I'm not a good passenger.

I flinch and flutter and have to sit on my hands to disguise my unease at the other driver's manoeuvres.  I read the road and have braked before they brake. The red brake lights in front of us flash 'danger' and I'm adrenalined up, ready for flight or fight, which is not a good feeling in a confined space (the passenger seat) and may result in a few squeaks or eeks from me when the driver responds to prevailing conditions a smidge later than I would.

Or rather they appear to respond to the situation later than I would have because they are usually driving at a speed higher than I would choose to travel at, so in effect they arrive at the situation sooner than I would have if I were driving.  I drive more slowly, cautiously, to give myself a safety cushion, and I'm not at all comfortable when I'm not in charge.  Apologies to all concerned.

I've done my share of driving this weekend, and we've covered a good distance.  Firstly on Friday night a quick trip up the M40, M42, M6 & M54 to visit friends just outside of Shrewsbury.  On Saturday we then left Shrewsbury to head to Tywyn in Wales for the annual Race the Train event which my husband has been running in for the last 15 years, and this year celebrated its' 30th anniversary.

Here's the train..

2nd train on Rotary Race on Talyllyn line

You can check out the website here:  http://www.racethetrain.com/event-description.html

The runners have heard the legend and run to try to beat the train back to Tywyn - two main distances, 10k and 20k (7 miles and 14 miles - just over a half-marathon).  The key seems to be that you're racing the train, and not the other runners, which gives this race its unique atmosphere.  Also, the terrain is a challenge in itself, (think Welsh valleys and hillside sheep), and this year the weather did its utmost to throw a spanner in it.

So, here's an idea of terrain...

sheep running alongside the moving train - runners in the bottom of the field

back in town/Tywyn the race traditionally starts with a toot from the engine...

And then the weather set in...

It's quite difficult to get good shots from a moving train carriage.

The passengers are very vocal in their encouragement of the runners, and the runners mostly respond positively to the cheery banter, but there are some of them for whom the race is just too much...

this is how close you can get to the train before it leaves you behind to re-evaluate your fitness levels/tactics/shoe choice

Whilst it's fun to ride the train and come up with witty lines such as 'not far now', or 'nearly there' and 'run faster', the drawback to having a husband who is experienced in the event and pretty quick is that we don't actually see him....  Never mind, his time this year 1:47:00.  The train came in 1:48:15.  He beat it.  Positioned around 175 out of 935 who completed the course.  And that's not bad, well done him.

Needless to say we're all a bit tired and emotional from the weekend, so I'll stop here and try to write more during the week.

TTFN! Kat  :)

Things that go bump in the night...

... the thump woke us both up.  I looked at my bedside clock.  The digital readout said 05:11.  Great.  What was that? I thought.  He went downstairs to investigate.  The dog remained silent.  Some guard-dog he turned out to be.  On his return he said the mirror had fallen off the wall and onto the sofa below.  It didn't appear to be broken, so it could wait until morning.  An hour later the alarm clock went off, and it was time for him to start the day.  Groggy, but not from alcohol, I turned over and dozed a little longer until it really was time to get up....

No.  Not the start of my latest American detective novel. This actually happened last night/this morning.  Luckily the mirror didn't break, as the sofa below had cushioned its fall, but it could have been very bad. It's a huge mirror.  Quite simple and modern in style, and can hang either way - full length it's probably 1m75cm by 60-70cm? and is surrounded by a maple frame which is very wide, say 15cm all round - so total size something like 2m x 90cm or so maybe, I suppose I should measure it, but hey-ho. It's big, and something that big falling off the wall in the middle of the night is a bit alarming, to say the least....

On closer inspection it appears that the two picture hooks it was hanging by(!) had, over time (quite some time, it's been in the same place for 6 years...), stretched, so they didn't point upwards any longer.  Hence the weight of the mirror, combined with the pounding the sofa takes with children bouncing on it, making the mirror rattle, and my nerves jangle, had accumulated the effect so that this event happened when it happened.

I've added another picture hook to the wall, and re-positioned the others and re-hung the mirror, and so far so good.  Watch this space, as they say.

Last month we had a couple of birds fly into the kitchen window.  It happens.  And when it does, it's a split second thing, the bang, the peripheral vision, the wait for everything to be allright.... And then the inspection below the kitchen window when after some time nothing happens, and you start to doubt yourself, to doubt your hearing, your periphal vision, your mind playing tricks again...  And you go outside to see is there a poor dazed bird lying there?  And there was.

dazed and confused ... I know how it feels!

So there was this poor juvenile thrush, clinging to the potted courgettes I'm growing below my kitchen window.  And there in the pot next to it was it's poor dead friend.  Must have broken its neck on landing badly.  Were they fighting over territory, or both avoiding a predator? We'll never know. My Mum shooed it away, and disposed of the body of the other one.  All part of life's rich tapestry...

Night night.  Kat.

Cookies ...

Bad cookies are the bane of my life.  No.  Not a disaster in the kitchen, although clearing up after Phoebe could drive you to the brink....  I'm talking about computer cookies.

A-A-A-R-R-R-G-G-G-H-H-H-!-!-!

I have a netbook. I like everything about it, compactness, screen size, portability etc.  So does my son.  Phoebe's got one of my husband's older laptops for help with homework.  It's in the study and does not go out of there.  So you quite often call her and she doesn't hear because she's attached to the laptop with her pink headphones.... but at least we know where she is and what she's doing.

Tom is frustrated by the apparent (to him) unfairness of his not having a games console or computer of his own.  We've noticed that his TV viewing has increased since last year's arrival, and we have a 'screen time' limit of 1 hour per day - be it TV, Computer or DVD (well, a DVD's allowed to run as it would be petty to cut it off mid storyline).

We've explained to both children about children's brain development being (probably) affected by too much screen time, but it goes in one ear and out the other, so strong is the lure of the screen, (so weak their willpower/understanding?), so easy a babysitter it is for the busy parents.  It's becoming a battle, and can be difficult to manage without tears, and/or storming off in a huff (and that's just me!!!).

So, from time to time, I give in, and allow Tom time on my netbook.  He's drawn to games, which he's had experience of at other children's homes or at the childcare centre he attends in the holidays.  I try to steer him towards more educational sites and don't mind the Lego site, but he invariably ends up on Bin Weevils, Moshi Monsters, Club Penguin, Sonic, Monsuno, Hexbugs, Techdeck and Minecraft.

Some of these sites are product related - so he's researching the latest developments in the toys he already has, and I accept this interest as part and parcel of having a 7 year old boy.  But we don't allow him access to sites which require him to register or request parent's e-mail.  So he's found a way around this which is logical and, to my mind, a wierd aspect of the modern world.

Because he can't play on Minecraft on my computer, he's found his way to YouTube and can view film which people have posted there of them playing Minecraft.  (!?)

So he 'joins in' by watching film of other people playing a computer game and listening to their commentary as they play, (which sometimes is a bit fruity, and I've told him he's not to repeat this language).  I honestly don't know what I find more disturbing/unsettling - people posting this stuff (WHY???  for the love of whatever you hold sacred, WHY?), or Tom watching it... I'm just too old and the wrong sex I suppose.

Anyhow.  The downside of him going on my computer is it gets gunked up with Cookies.  Now.  I'm not technical by any stretch of the imagination. As I understand it a Cookie is a program/app that the website you're visiting places on your computer so they can run certain investigations for their benefit.  (Sounds sinister?).  I'm suspicious but allow Cookies from trusted sites.  The BBC is my most obvious most visited and most trusted site.

Tom doesn't care about Cookies, unless they've come out of the oven, and I call them biscuits.  Herein lies the problem. How to make him more cautious/careful when he's on my netbook?  I think last night's episode may have demonstrated the problem to him..  

He'd been asking to enter a competition on Blue Peter (long-running childrens' TV programme) for a couple of weeks, and needed a form from their website in order to enter.  So last night, after we'd put him off all day (because we were too busy) I cut him a break and said OK sorry for not doing it sooner, I'll print it off now.

A-R-G-H!  G-R-R-R.  

The process took over 2 hours because my computer was so gunked up from Cookies, was running very slowly and kept going round in circles, and dragged its feet, and waded through treacle, and hung, and hung on task manager (ARGH again), and then for some reason the printer setup was SNAFU* as well, although by this time I'd sent the document 3 times, checked printer queue, saved it in downloads and become so throughly fed up that I decided a re-boot was necessary and then had to cold boot by powering down instead of closing down properly (ARGH again)....  Re-booted and cleared cookies and browsing history and now need to de-frag (again..) and work out why the wrong printer had appeared in default.

I probably should back up some of the photos from the hard disk and then delete them, there's over 3 years of photos there), but there never seems to be time to do that either...  But I certainly need to get a grip on the cookies.

Yeurk. Kat.

*SNAFU military term: 'Situation Normal All F*'d Up'  [  :)  ]

Brain melt

Another hot day - the hottest of the year - yesterday, and I'm disinclined to catch up with anything.  Chasing the shade was the name of the game, and we turned some of the lights off in the Library in an attempt to keep cool...  I never understood why the 'Shops, Office and Factories Act' or whatever it's called has a minimum temperature, but doesn't state a maximum temperature to work in.

I mean, you can always put on more clothes to get/keep warm, but when it's too hot you can only take so many off!  A bit of google searching finds:

( Workplace health, safety and welfare. Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992. Approved Code of Practice)
An acceptable zone of thermal comfort for most people in the UK lies roughly between 13°C (56°F) and 30°C (86°F), with acceptable temperatures for more strenuous work activities concentrated towards the bottom end of the range, and more sedentary activities towards the higher end.

Something sensible from the HSE (Health and Safety Executive)!  Well I never.  We hit 28'C in the Library with the windows and door open and the fan on, and there was no other way to cool down.  I'll show this to my boss next time we have a heat-wave, and maybe we'll have to close for the afternoon!  Dream on...

So, here's a quick recap of the Summer Holidays so far.  We had an early week away in France as both children's schools had broken up before the state sector, so no childcare available.  It was the middle of the heatwave, and the weather was glorious. The children, and we adults, hit the beach every day.  Its' the first time that's happened, and I think because the weather was so exceptionally nice it made sense (to me) for the first time.

Plerin les Rosaires - plage (beach)

So the kids played, the French sunbathed, and I took to the water like the French women of a certain age.  In as much as I walked in the seawater between knee and thigh deep for 20 mins that way and then 20 mins back again.  Quite a good work out, and I'm fairly sure my core strength improved.  That's what I'm telling myself anyway...

The beach is perfect - wide and flat, and is described in our battered copy of the 'AA Explorer Guide to Brittany' thus:
...'the splendid 3km (2 mile) beach of Les Rosaires to the south.' ...

There was one day when the sea fog beached up and stayed for the afternoon, and being British we braved the elements ... along with the French...

sea fog on the beach - eerie!

It's the first time since becoming a Mum that I've actually felt relaxed on holiday with the children. They didn't get on my nerves until the Thursday...  Must be an age thing - theirs and mine I suppose.  We'll have to see how I get on for the rest of the summer.

Wildflower planting in front of the church on the drag down the hill to the beach at Les Rosaires

Anyhoo, time to get the hens to bed, and I've a book to read, and work tomorrow morning, so will stop here and try to blog more soon.

Keep it sweet!  Kat