Ice on the windscreen at 6 AM – this took place just last week! It tricked me because there was only ice in the middle section of the windscreen, I’ve swiped my finger on the side and it looked just wet, not icy, I then had a nasty surprise when I used the wipers! š
Thankfully now there’s a balmy 13 degrees C outside! Not bad, if it wasn’t for the very strong winds that came with the temperature increase…
And why was I driving away at 6 AM? I guess you already know the answer… š
So yeah, after that amazing week in Arizona I’m back in cold, damp England. Well, I can’t really complain – much to my amazement it was quite warm on my arrival, so warm that I was actually roasting inside my car while stuck on yet another M25 traffic jam while returning from the airport!
But the weather here is like a Heaviside step function – Friday evening was still amazing (17 degrees C at 8 PM!!), and by end of Saturday the cold, the wind, and the rain muscled themselves in. As I’m writing this I have outside a balmy 6 degrees C and 95% RH. Anyway, this is not the Met Office so I should probably stop talking about the weather! š
Going back to my trip, I have yet to organise my 1000+ photos I (with some help from the front seat passenger) took whilst on the trip to the Grand Canyon and the Navajo Reservation in Arizona. It is going to take a while but it is going to be worthy, there are some spectacular and exquisite images in there.
Right now I’ve been busying myself with teaching, preparing student chapter activities, researching and thinking about more potential research. Obviously still trying to cram a few runs and sculls in the meantime, especially with S Silvestre so close by (and I have to say that I’m being rubbish at preparing myself for it – I miss the training sessions I was having with my rowing mates back in Porto, here I feel I don’t push the same!!).
Finally got some time to sort out the website and make it look the way I wanted – I feel it is better this way, first time visitors will not go straight into my blog content, which might be a good idea, especially if people from a more “serious kind” end up in these pages!
OK, I think it is time for bed now – tomorrow is going to be a big day, especially since we’ll be hosting a joint colloquium with a few other research groups from different schools within the university. It has all the potential to be quite interesting and to foster potential collaborations between people with a broad range of interests and skills, which is something we definitely lack and that I did see in abundant quantities in the States (more on that in a later post…).
Via Flickr:
Apart from the wind & current which made my life a bit more complicated on the way back, it was a very good outing this morning! And I had plenty of time to disembark, sort out my oars, get some slings out, take boat off the water, wash & wipe it thoroughly and still help another club re-rig their boat before I set sight on the rest of the club (yeah, I was the first one to go out š )
Very clear sky during the night with limited sunlight during the day, and we have one chilly morning š
Interestingly enough, my office only went as low as 20Ā°C overnight! I wonder the fortune the university is spending on heating bills…
Here we go!… time to get out the warm stuff out of the wardrobe. And maybe get some weights inside my pannier bags, otherwise I think I might fly away! š
Anyway, I can’t really complain – last weekend I had an amazing outing on Sunday morning! No wind, and the temperature was such that I actually had to take out layers! We even had a BBQ in the evening here in the house (and this time we had proper coal! š ).
Speaking of Sunday, it is a wonder how I managed to do so much during that day having arrived quite late the night before (~ 3:30 AM), due to the combination of a dinner in Slough which ended up quite late (but went quite well! š ) and a closure of the M25 just before my exit (talk about luck…) which forced me to face a massive traffic jam on a A-class road running parallel to it at 2 AM (absolutely surreal!).
Anyway, to my astonishment I managed to wake up on my own at 7:30 AM, not feeling sleepy or anything! (not a chance of that happening during the week… š )
Via Flickr:
First it was because it was cold, then because it was wet, and now with such lovely weather outside I’m complaining it is too dry and I get dust everywhere :-P. Anyway, that doesn’t stop me from training!
Going out for a run and getting alternating sunshine (& sort of clear skies) and heavy rain – did I went to run a half-marathon? Nope, just 30-40 minutes outside and it was enough. Welcome to England :).
Do you know the feeling of barely being capable of maintaining 10 mph over a flat road without considerable effort? Well, if you lived around here you’d discover it pretty soon! š
Judging from the lack of lengthy posts around here, you should have suspected that already! š I’ve been too busy enjoying myself in the sun and warmth, and also doing some sort of useful work on the side :).
Last week was a bit hectic, a combination of both birthday party, some other group celebrations, house hunting and a paper in the process of being written. I mean, I can’t really complain – I am completely master of my time now, no-one depends on me and I don’t depend on anybody, so I can afford arriving home at 21h if I want/need to.
Meanwhile, the good weather has been more or less constant, which means I was able to row on both Saturday and Sunday – hooray! On Sunday it was absolutely fantastic – no wind at all, and I had the river mostly for myself, flat water aplenty! It is true that I have a few bends to worry about, and the river is narrower than some B-class roads around here, but I’m in the water with a more-or-less OK single! I am grateful, and I became even more grateful after reading this post about people rowing in the devastation caused by hurricane Katrina – my tribulations are nothing compared to theirs!
Yesterday I also had a good friend visiting me. We had a great time, I showed him some of the views around here, sadly there were no oysters because we got there too late! (and it was Sunday…)
30mph+ wind gusts, and I can hear the wind howling on my window. How did I manage to get up here without flying away? š
