FOOD!

I like good food! We have some academics from Tianjin in China working in the Institute at the moment. I took them to lunch at the staff restaurant yesterday for (possibly) one of the worst meals of my life. I guess they'll do the same for me when I visit them?

It irritates me that England has good ingredients and some decent chefs and STILL manages to serve food that is only borderline edible.

It's over!

The asparagus season, that is. I think that English asparagus is the best in the world (this isn't a nationalistic thing, it's empirical - I've tried it on 3 continents) and the patch in my garden has been really productive this year. But it started early, so it's finished early too (asparagus shouldn't be over-cropped, it needs time to recharge itself). So I'll be reduced to buying it in the supermarket for a while...

All those little things you never thought of

Even though it's actually 3 months until I go to China there's so many things to do and think about. I'm getting my immunisations up to date (even though I went to Siberia last year, I still need more injections). One of my bigger quandaries is that I don't know how I can do without a guitar for a month -- I realise an option is to buy one in China, but that may be problematic.

I did (eventually) buy an iPod - partly for the flight - and I need to get a new laptop because mine's the size of a small suitcase and weighs a ton and isn't exactly fast! I've been thinking about safe drinking water too.

So, at the moment there's a plastic crate on the floor of my study and I'm just putting things in as I think I might need them. However, with a baggage allowance of only 20 kg, it's all getting a bit academic anyway!

Where I'd rather be today ...

This is Chateau Pichon-Longueville. It's in Pauillac in the Medoc just north of Bordeaux. It's wine is a classified 2nd growth and is just amazing! We had lunch here last year (as well as a wine-tasting).

If I could choose where to be this afternoon, it'd be here.

STOP!

Someone sent this to me as a birthday card - if only I could make my students do it!

The Somers Traditional Folk Club

I've been helping to run this club for a few years now -- interesting really, because I don't have a great love for traditional folk song, I'm much more interested in it as social commentary and/or protest.
Anyway, a local newspaper did an article on us that you can see at: STFC

Why I'm doing this

I'm going to China later this year, so it seemed like a nice idea to have a place where friends and colleagues could read what was happening to me.
I guess there'll be other things too...