I’m an external examiner at the University of Mauritius on an MSc and BSc programme, which means they fly me out for a week a year to do the award board. This is my second (and last) year. This is the plane loading up at Heathrow
Monthly Archives: June 2012
Duck clouds in flight
Yesterday I had real ducks in flight, today the cumulus clouds reminded me of ducks in flight.
Ducks in flight
Torrential rain, high winds and plummeting temperature in Wales today. I know they say it’s nice weather for ducks, but I think even they’re fed up with it.
What you looking at?
Some black eyed suzy vine in my garden
Litter champion
My daughter and her friend did litter picking today. This arose because where we walk our dog there is lots of litter along the road embankment, and my daughter decided to write to the council about it. So she said she would be happy to volunteer to clear it up. A few weeks went past and then a nice chap from Keep Wales Tidy knocked on our door and said she could become a Litter Champion. She is now the youngest one in Cardiff. It comes complete with your own litter picking stick and hi-viz jacket.
So today, four of us spent an hour and a half collecting rubbish from one patch. We filled 8 bags of rubbish. It is amazing the amount of crap along side roads. Every school should do this as you can’t help thinking ‘we really do produce a lot of packaging don’t we?’
Anyway, I’m proud of her for taking action. Part of me has a slight ‘Big Society’ concern that this is getting volunteers to do what people used to be paid to do, but I think in the case of litter it really is solved best by a combination of council and local activity. Litter champions of the world unite!
At the races
We went to Ffos Las racecourse today. It was a Jubilee Family Day, so I took my daughter. I’m not sure if it’s necessarily a good thing to get her excited about gambling, but it was good fun, and unlike me, she came out marginally up on the day.
It is a lovely, new race course, but bloody hell it was cold and wet. It felt like December, I really wished I’d bought my winter gloves as the rain was coming in horizontally.
Heading across the Bay
We went down Penarth today for a meal, and got there by a combination of bus, taxi and boat. This is me with the munchkin crossing the river (photo not taken by me admittedly but I did the post photo editing, does that count?)
Jubilee made in China
A jubilee pen – Made in China.
Watched a bit of the flotilla thing today when I got in about 5. It was a surreal spectacle really, miserable weather, lots of boats bobbing up the Thames and the BBC struggling to make it into an event.
A controlled experiment
Those who like a scone with clotted cream and jam are often divided as to whether it is jam or cream first. So here I conducted a controlled experiment and did one half for each method. The results were inconclusive and further trials are required.
This counts as a jubilee theme doesn’t it?
The lost castle
My wife took me for a run today towards Rudry and we passed this derelict castle. It is [url=http://www.ruperratrust.co.uk/]Ruperra castle[/url] and is all boarded up. It looks to have been magnificent, with walled gardens, stables, deer park, forest etc. A shame to see it falling into such a state that it will soon be [url=http://www.ruperracastle.blogspot.co.uk/]beyond repair[/url]. But if you have £1.5 million going spare you [url=http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-35927516.html]could buy it[/url].
Glimpsing it through the trees it had a ‘secret garden’ type feeling, you could imagine kids having some summer adventure there.
