Nice - Christmas Day 2009

Nice(SIc) Weather

The weather in Nice was mixed - to put it mildly! 23rd, some rain, some dry. 24th Rain (about 60mm!) very high winds and lots of surf (pics to follow) - not fit to send a dog out. 25th brilliant sunshine and warm enough for a picnic on the Chateau, 26th grey and cold, no wind, no waves, 27th bright sunshine!

Oh well ...

I haven't been blogging a lot recently. Some of that has been around finishing writing the book and getting a journal article accepted, as well as working with my Chinese colleagues.

Some of it is around work in general, though. Depressing.

The Book

The book's been with the publishers since the beginning of September and they seem to (mostly) be OK with it -- though we've needed to add a couple of things -- we hadn't forgotten exactly, it was just the relief of getting it of the desk and into the ether.

Somehow, I don't think it's going to make enough for me to retire ...

And back ...

Well, I finally believe that San Francisco has fog! Had a fantastic trip - worth the 10½-hour flight. Weather was wonderfully sunny (apart from one afternoon - unfortunately the one when we were walking in Muir Woods) but quite windy at times.

Some decent food too -- though the notion that the Michelin Guide uses the same standards for everywhere it assesses is, clearly, false. Food was good - but not great- in 2* restaurants and the service was adequate (but you can do better in Birmingham!).

Went to the Napa valley on a wine-tasting trip (I still don't really like Californian wines, I've tried, really I have) which was fun (and HOT) and saw the Coastal Giant Redwood trees in Muir Woods.

Off we go ...

So it's off to San Francisco in the morning (ought to be a song title, really). The cat's in the cattery and I just have to sort out our seats with Virgin Atlantic and we'll be fine (it's a bit odd that when you book as 2 people together they allocate you to opposite sides of the plane...).

Anyway, there are restaurants booked and a couple of trips planned (Muir woods where the giant redwoods grow and (of course) Napa valley for some wine tasting.

The Book

The end's in sight! Liz & I have been working unbelievably hard over the last couple of months in particular and the finished manuscript will go off to the publisher at the end of the week.

At more or less the same time, we're flying off to San Francisco for a well-earned break! Hooray!

Floor & Food

Finished the floor on Sunday. Lots of moving and sorting of book-case contents, returning guitars to their proper homes, etc., (they have to make room for a new friend, too - an Ovation double-neck!). Hope the damp problem's solved.

Last night went to the Mash House in Brindley Place with friends. It was OK, but the gravy was clearly Bisto's best. Sausages we OK too, but not special (to be fair, this isn't an expensive place). The on to a bar which had a 'Wednesday Special' on bottles of wine. Oh dear!

The Floor, cont.

So I finally managed to get the builder back today to lay the new floor. He's done a decent job of it -- BUT (and isn't there ALWAYS a 'but' with builders?) I found I couldn't shut the door to the room! The new flooring is about 1.5 mm thicker than the old. Now, I KNOW he had to take the door off to do the work, so you'd think he might check????
Anyway, though I'm really not a woodworker, I do have the right tools and it only took me 15 minutes to sort it (I guess a professional would have taken about 5).

There's a lovely phrase around here, "I wouldn't pay him in washers"!

The Floor contd.

It turns out that the self-levelling screed that had been used 6 years ago hadn't been given enough time to dy out (about 3 days, needed 2 weeks minimum), so there's been moisture trying to work its way out ever since.
So, had to do some repairs to the screed, and it's been drying out for about 10 days now (with a dehumidifier). We'll see ....

And ...

09:00
Q: Did the flooring fitter come?
A: No.

09:30: He's arrived!

11:10 - Oh dear! He thought the floor was dry, so I made him take up the damp-proof membrane & it was wet underneath! Damn!

More Moving ...

Looks like I may have survived the office move - we'll see.

Spent Sunday emptying the dining room at home. There's a problem with the laminate floor that we laid about 5 years ago and it's being replaced.


The picture indicates some of the stuff we had to move (the cupboards as well as the contents) + dining table & chairs, guitars, etc., etc. Took most of the day. It has motivated me to try to sell the 'portable' harmonium (that used to belong to Redditch Salvation Army) on eBay: should be intereating, at least.

Of course, al the upheaval has disturbed the cat - who's getting a bit old for sudden changes, I think. Oh well, she'll probably forgive me in time...

Office Move

The Department's move back to Muirhead Tower went quite smoothly, really. Lots of minor issues of course, lost boxes, won filing cabinets, etc. Largest irritation was the fact that (apparently) no key existed for my office -- in fact, my office didn't exist! While this, clearly, has some potential advantages, it's a bit problematic in terms of access and security. Eventually, they realised that the corridor outside my office has a room number (but no lockable doors) that had been confused with mine. What fun!

Work on the book proceeds, with my colleague Liz doing wonderful things!

Taste of Birmingham

The Taste festival has been on again this weekend, lots of restaurants demonstrating, etc. Had decided not to go, but then won free tickets, so sat in the VIP enclosure downing gallons of free gin and watching the world go by. There are worse ways of spending an afternoon!

ESTA

Because we're travelling to the US in September, I thought I'd better check the visa waiver position, since there have been some changes this year. The nasty green forms that one used to have to complete on the plane have been replaced with Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) - which (of course) has to be completed on-line. I was looking at some very official appearing websites for this which were charging somewhere between £8 and £20 (non-refundable, no matter what the outcome) which were top of the list in the Google search. Luckily, I also looked at the US Homeland Security website where -- what do you know -- you can complete the form for free! I suppose this means we all have to be more careful about Google-sponsored sites?

For me, the on-line completion is excellent, but there are still lots of people in the UK who don't have easy access to the Internet -- they're getting more excluded, I guess ...

Lift (elevator) instructions

I'm shortly moving back into the office tower we vacated 2 years ago that has now been renovated. I thought I'd like to share the new lift instructions with you (readers in the US please substitute 'elevator' for 'lift').

THE LIFTS AT MUIRHEAD TOWER

Welcome to Muirhead Tower. The four lifts in the central core are equipped with the latest technology Destination Control System. This system may be unfamiliar to some intending lift passengers. However, it is simple to operate, providing the following key steps are undertaken.

• When entering one of the central lift lobbies move to a lift Destination Operating Panel (DOP). There are two at each lobby (one of those at the G floor is located just outside the lobby entrance on the wall opposite the reception desk).

• Register your required destination floor in the DOP by means of the numerical buttons or specific alphabetic buttons for LG, G and M floors. For floors above level 9 it will be necessary to press two numerical buttons i.e. 1 and then 2, for the 12th floor.

• It is important that each intending lift passenger enters their required destination floor into a DOP. Do not simply enter a lift without registering your destination because you are following other people you know may be going to your floor. The lift system needs to know how many passengers require transportation to a floor such that it can perform efficiently.

• The DOP display screen will now indicate the floor you have selected followed by the lift (A, B, C or D), which will take you to your selected floor.

• Each lift has an identifier indicator located above the lift entrance within the lobby. Move towards your assigned lift and await its arrival.

• When the lift arrives the identifier indicator will illuminate and an audible chime will sound.

• Upon entering the lift there are two display screens within each of the two car operating panels, one of which indicate the position of the lift and direction of travel and the other indicates the next stops at floors that the lift will make. Your required floor will be shown on that display. It is not necessary for you to register any further call information, indeed there is no means for you to do so.

• The lift will now travel to your required floor, but please note that it may stop at other floors on the way for other passengers, so please look at one of the position indicator displays to ensure that you exit at your correct destination.

• You will note that within the car operating panels buttons are provided for the lift alarm, open door and close door functions. These operate in the same manner as for all lifts. The alarm button will initiate voice communication with a 24 hour manned rescue service should there be a situation requiring this.

• In the event of a power failure occurring in the building, the lifts incorporate a feature that will automatically drive them to a floor at reduced speed, should they stop between floors. This will take 20-30 seconds to initiate and passengers should not attempt to leave a lift until it reaches a floor and opens the doors.

• If there is a fire alarm within the building the lifts will automatically return to a main floor without responding to further destination calls. Once the lift has reached the floor and opened the doors passengers should exit the building by the nearest fire escape exit and not re-enter until directed to do so by University staff.

Gourmand Week (2)

The highpoint of this week was yesterday's visit to Cheltenham. We had lunch in the Blanc Brasserie (what Petit Blanc became when it was partly financed by Loch Fyne restaurants) which was more than OK. The main reason however, was to visit Le Champignon Sauvage a Michelin 2-star run by David Everitt-Matthias and his wife, Helen.

I had: Cured pigeon breast, pigeon rillettes and tartare with fig compote, followed by Gloucester Old Spot pork (belly & cheek) with home made macaroni and wilted hogweed, followed by cheese.

Ali had: Dexter beef cooked 2 ways, then Cinderford lamb with its gayette, lentils braised with morteau sausage, then warm prune cake, pressed apples and wild cherry stone ice cream.

There were the usual extra, cheese savouries, canapes, pre-dessert (a pre-cheese[!] for me) and petits fours with the coffee. A great wine list too, with lots of half-bottles (not something we see enough of in the UK).

Overall, a fantastic experience (that actually cost a lot less than I expected!).

Gourmand Week (1)

We'd usually be away on holiday this week, but other committments mean we're not (I'll be SO glad when that book is finished!).

So, we're eating out a lot instead - as well as doing some interesting cooking.

Saturday, we went to Liaison: wild mushroom velouté, lamb done 2 ways, duck (confit & breast) and some nice cheese.

Sunday, I cooked scallops with a broad bean & pea salad and pheasant with a wine sauce, peas and garlic potatoes.

Tuesday (in Wales) visited a gastropub - The Lime Kiln - near Oswestry. Had a decent steak (lots of the food was obviously frozen though).

More to come ...

The Garden (again) ...

A bank holiday weekend and the first 2 days have been sunny! We've been working in the garden and it looks OK at the moment, so (for those of you who are interested) here's a few pics ..

This is loking from the house -- the bamboo and laburnum are about ½ way down the garden.

This is the path!

Looking back towards the house from the far end of the garden (you can see the top of the roof).

This is the view to the south - so even though we live in a big city, the country isn't far away.






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Green & Gold

Late Spring can be a beautiful time in the garden. Here's a photo of a laburnum tree in bloom (it looks good for about 10 days a year!).

Shona's Wedding

Our friends Shona and Roly got married at the weekend. In many ways, this was a surprise as we didn't think that marriage was part of their plans.

So, a trip to Yorkshire and a fun evening at the party (in the same pub as the wedding).

PANDEMIC v EPIDEMIC

Because people keep asking me ...

An epidemic is an outbreak of a disease in a population which does not usually suffer from it: different health organisations/ministeries/departments have specific definitions about the percentage of people that need to be affected for it to be an epidemic. (So this is about the number of people affected)

Pandemic is used to describe the outbreak of the same disease in more than one country (again there are various definitions but WHO's is good). (So this is about the number of countries affected.)

Neither of these terms evaluates the severity of the disease.

[N.B. These are simplified explanations!]

Gardening!

I've just spent 2 days making the lawn bigger. We've been trying to reduce the work needed to maintain the garden for a while now (no vegetable garden this year, for example) and this is part of the process. There's one particular area where I felled a eucalyptus tree about 5 years ago (I LIKE trees, but this was about 90' high and only 50' from the house). For whatever reason, nothing much (except weeds) has grown in the area and expensive planting schemes have come to nought.
Anyway, I (eventually) managed to dig the tree root out and over the next 2 days we've cleared and cultivated an area that's about 15m X 2m - just need to get it flat now and then we can sow grass seed!

Oh, and it's Shona & Roly's wedding next Saturday!

Oh --- the good news ...

Harvested the first asparagus of the season from the garden yesterday (probably 2 weeks earlier than I expected) - fantastic!
I think that it's something to do with slow growth and the short season, but there's nothing to compare with English asparagus (and I've eaten asparagus in many countries and on 3 continents). Hoping there'll be enough so I can get bored with it!

Back ...

So, back from a pleasant week in the south of France: the weather could have been a lot kinder though, since there's not a lot to do on a wet Sunday afternoon in Montpellier. Some nice food, Les Trois Plaisirs in Sete was an outstanding meat restaurant in a town that specialises in seafood: a wonderful welcome from the chef and a great evening. The flight home was tricky, with a VERY short transfer time at Paris CDG (made much more interesting by a security scare just before we got through passport control) More later ...

Tonight's Meal

Special friends coming for dinner tonight ...

Carrot and celery soup with chervil and garlic foam

Smoked eel salad

Sea bass à la meuniere with wilted spinach

Rack of lamb with tomato farci

Cheese (and such cheese!)

Pannacotta with a blueberry kebab

Deadlines

This week seems to have been full of deadlines (well, this includes arranging deadlines too). Generally, I subscribe to Douglas Adams's approval of deadlines - he claimed to love the whooshing noise they made as they went by. However, some are harder to dismiss like the marking deadline for a module I'm coordinating for a colleague who's in Australia -- nearly 200 assignments to moderate takes time.
It's also been the deadline for 3rd year students to submit their dissertations - so more marking.

Then my publishers have finally put their foot down and demanded a final date for the text of the book (we agreed on July) - they've been really tolerant until now. [They have produced a chapter as it will look in the final text -- and I think it looks pretty good!]

At least it's the end of term today!

ANOTHER WEEK OVER ...

So much going on - and not much of it good.

Father-in-law's funeral was last Tuesday, went as well as these things can and I'm glad to have it over and some semblance of normality returning.

Lots of stuff happening - some that needs time to assimilate --- a dear friend's mother is ill and may have cancer; trying to decide how I'd like to spend the next few year at work --- realising thet the pound:euro exchange rate is now so bad that we may only get to France once this year (and that's only because I was paid for some work in €s) --- worrying about students (their dissertations are due in on Monday) ...

Oh, just lots of stuff!

Not a great week ...

My father-in-law died on Monday morning at the nursing home where he's been for the last 5 years. Mother-in-in law didn't make it in time to be with him, but the nursing staff were (I really like the idea that no-one should die alone). Still not sure how I feel about someone who stops for breakfast before visiting their dying partner.

We got there at about 10:30. This isn't the first dead body I've seen, but it still isn't a very pleasant experience. Ali stayed with her mother for the rest of the week (brother-in-law was on vacation in Canada, and came home on Saturday).

Still, it'll be good to get the formal 'goodbye' said on Tuesday (Meifod church at noon) and I'll soon get over the fact that he was a humanist/atheist and probably wouldn't have approved -- funerals are for the living, after all.

Thanks to all those who have been kind...

It's been an interesting weekend

On Friday we went (with Jaz & Nicki, dear friends) to a gourmet evening at a very decent restaurant in Hall Green, a Birmingham suburb. 7 courses of remarkable food that made a great start to the weekend - though it was probably the company that really made it great,

Then Saturday -- to Wales. It looks like Ron, my Father-in-law, has probably reached the end of his allotted span - he hasn't eaten much for a while now and it's fairly apparent that he's had another stroke. He seems to be reasonably comfortable or, at least, not in pain and the nursing home is taking good care of him and trying to prepare my Mother-in law for the inevitable. My best guess is that he won't see next weekend. I have a lot to thank Ron for, he taught me how to lay bricks and build dry stone walls. He also introduced me to drinking port. He also taught me - b y example - NOT to drill through live cables! I'll miss him (though I said my real goodbye 5 years ago - dementia is a tough thing for friends and relatives).

Today? Well, I had my hair cut. Put new wipers on Ali's car. Cooked 3 meals (breakfast was OK - scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and dinner wasn't bad: Warm chicken liver salad, rabbit ragout, cheese) did some work - the final year students are at the point where they're really scared about their dissertations. But, just at the moment, I've had enough. I've been supporting a number of people through various difficult times and it just feels like it's too much. Maybe tomorrow will be better, but I'm not counting on it - especially as it starts with a doctors visit!

At least the computer seems to be stable and functional!

COMPUTERS!

My system at home got hit by a virus (turns out my anti-virus hadn't been updating) and has trashed my desktop PC twice! At least I'm getting good at re-building, and I didn't lose too much data. But it's tedious - to say nothing of trying to find all those installation CDs that you thought you'd never use again. (also interesting to see what you can't get from the Internet -- Epson seem to be specially bad at this).

Anyway, I think the crisis is (probably) over -- I'm living in hope!

It's sunny and cold here today after last night's torrential rain. At least the roads are OK as it looks like we may have to rush off to Wales sometime soon ...

A Sunny Weekend

The weather has been unusually clement for the end of February/start of March. The sun has shone and the temperature has reached double-figures.

This weekend, I've finally straightened the edge of the big lawn and put in some permanent edging (a job made a lot more difficult by the fact that some previous owber seems to have buried a lot of masonry underthe edge of the lawn). Never mind, it's finished now. I've also prepared the 'old' vegetable garden for sowing to grass.

Our DTR (Digital Television Recorder) decided to die yesterday and - even though it was 51 weeks old - we managed to get a refund and replace it with something a bit better!

Otherwise, life goes on -- but we'll be in Sète in 5 weeks.

PAXTON

Saw Tom Paxton in Worcester last night -- this is an amazing man: certainly one of my musical heroes. I've known his songs for almost 50 years now and they still move me (I realised that I like singers and songwriters who deliver in 3 areas:
1: Songs of social comment, politics, etc.
2: Silly songs.
3: Love songs.)

So this is why I like Eric Bogle and Stan Rogers, I guess (and, at least, only one of them is dead).


BUT, isn't it strange how happy memories and sadness are so closely allied?

Cold here!

Since the report got written yesterday, we've had today pretty-much to do what we want. (Though, to be honest, choices are a bit limited!)

We decided to go to the new art museum KUMU. It was about a 3-mile walk though the snow (see left) to a fantastic Finn-designed building. My photo does not do it justice.
We spent several hours looking round the Estonian art -- some very powerful images from the period before independence.

Then, of course, we had to walk back! Getting a bit tired by then (the herring & egg sandwich helped a bit). Still had to go and change Estonian Crowns into Euros.

I think the bit of the museum I liked the most was the 'Head Room' -- see left!

TALLINN

So, here I am in Tallinn. It's pretty cold and the journey wasn't as relaxing as it might have been. However, it's good to meet with old colleagues and also to make some new friends.

Dinner last night was in a Russian restaurant (frankly, better food than I've had in Russia). Hotel is fine, but over-heated.

Anyway, it's 08:00 so time to go to work!

SNOW!

We've had a week of snow now (worst for 18 years, apparently) and I'm getting a bit fed-up with it!

There's been a lot of disruption on the roads and the airports have suffered too. Since I'm supposed to be flying to Estonia on Tuesday, I'm rather hoping that there won't be a problem (only have a 90-minute window in Amsterdam to make the connection).

We'll se!

Eating Well!

I've been eating well (too well) over the last couple of weeks:

Last Friday was my mother's birthday (86) so we took her to Turners in nearby Harborne, which has just been awarded a Michelin star. Did the 7-course tasting menu, which really wasn't bad -- my favourite part was the scallop tartar.

Then this week was the wedding anniversary, so off to Edmund's in Brindley Place in Birmingham --- really good food and wine (nice to see some 1/2 bottles) == beef fillet was great.

The I cooked tonight: scallops with bacon and black pudding on caulfifower puree: pork fillet braised in apple juice with saffron bread sauce (sourdough bread, which was interesting) and french beans: cheese: creme brulee.

Next Saturday, we're taking Selwyn to Liaison in Hall Green (it's his Christmas & Birthday present) - so that'll be interesting too!

However, it's now confirmed that we're having the coldest winter for 13 years! The forecast for tomorrow ad tuesday is dire (lots of snow) so we'll see!

SNOW!

It's been cold lately, so I've been keeping an eye on the weather forecasts. Last night was supposed to be clear and not too cold.

This is what really happened!
Now I know that weather forecasting isn't an exact science but I do wish that they would explain why the forecast was wrong, rather than just pretend that it never happened!

New TV

I decided to get a new digital TV for the bedroom - the old one was really past it and I thought that an LCD panel would be nice. Eventually, I decided on a Samsung from Argos. Bought it on Saturday, spent 20 minutes connecting and configuring and it was done. Nice picture; good sound.

About 40 minutes after I switched it off last night, I was woken by a voice in the bedroom -- the TV had decided to turn its audio on -- but only for about 20 seconds! OK, took it back to the store and exchanged it for a new one. Same 20 minutes wasted setting-up: same problem - 40 minutes after switching it off, the audio comes on for 20 seconds! Samsung customer services were charming, but hadn't heard of the problem. The offered a replacement within 7 days, but I took it back to the store (where they had now had 4 of the same model returned for the same problem) and replaced it with a cheaper model made by Bush. So far, so good -- watch this space!

Welcome to 2009

In the words of Si Kahn "May the new year bring you freedom peacefully."