Still alive!

In the last 3½ years I've come back from Ascension Island, been back to the Falkands, moved house, met a girl, got engaged, taken up knitting, cut a tiny bit off the end of a finger off with a knife (trying to get some crackling from a roast), and gained then lost a lot of weight.

And drunk quite a lot of good coffee.

Details to follow I hope.

I'm sat on the verandah of the Office accommodation (bashas) on Ascension Island. The view from here is four volcanic cones and a lot of sky.

These were taken from different areas around the accommodation and on different days, well the first two were the same day with different views from the basha.

The fact I'm here at all is kind of a surprise, and sort of last minute too.

About three months ago I had just got back from a month detachment to Leuchars (the boss called me on Thursday and asked if I could be there for Tuesday morning - I said sure, but you're paying for the hotel!) and the boss pops into the office for a quick chat.
"You know how you said you don't mind working over Christmas as long as you get some time at home with your friends?" he said.
"Yes," I replied, already expecting bad things.
"How would you feel about doing that, but somewhere a bit different?"
The whole "spend some time at home" thing seems to have gone out the window here.
"Where, exactly?" I asked.
"Ascension. Next month. Until January."

In between I went to Pippa and John's wedding, which was brilliant, and ended up having more time off than I was expecting owing to a change of flight date, which was nice.

If you've never been here (and statistically, that's everyone) this is a little island 8 degrees south, 14 degrees west in the Atlantic. And I do mean little, it's about 10 km a side and roughly triangular, there's heavy showers 3 months of the year, drizzly showers (which shouldn't happen but given how humid it is any kind of shower drops the visibility down to almost nothing) 4 months of the year and tropical sunshine the rest of the time. The time I'm here for is end of the drizzly showers and into the hot season. Or that was the initial plan.
I've known a few people that have got here and then been bumped straight south to the Falklands so I made some plans. On my bed at home I left a bag packed with cold weather gear and told Sarah that if I got pushed south she should post it out and I'd get the Office to pay back the postage. I also packed some basic cold kit because I'd be coming back to the UK in the middle of January from a hot little island, chances are I'd want something warm!
On the first day here I dumped my bags into the transit room (my permanent room was still being used by the guy I was replacing), went to the beach, went snorkelling and got sun burned. When we got back the boss had just finished his shift and asked a couple of us over for a quiet word.
The other guy, Donald, as heading to the Falklands for a few weeks anyway but they had asked if he could come down a bit earlier. They had also asked if there was anyone else they could borrow for a month.
I laughed aloud at that.

In the time I had before I went south I got stuck into the work here, which is weird. The actual shifts are fine, there isn't very much to do; forecasting the drizzly showers, however, is a nightmare. There's no good model data, the satellites aren't much cop and just when you want good imagery the sun sets or rises and you lose the definition from the satellites. The next nearest observation is St Helena, 300 odd miles southeast, so not all that much help there.

But I did get out for some swimming (and had a toe bitten by a fish), went for a walk on the side of Green Mountain and enjoyed warm evenings with a gin and tonic - shortly turning that into warm evenings with a martini, including olives. Having moved into the en suite room at Travellers hill I was properly able to enjoy the pace of life here.

 These are pictures of the walk up Green Mountain, they cut some of the paths through the rock in the 1800s when there was a detachment here guarding Napoleon over at St Helena; although cutting the paths sounds like a lot of work, it might not have been as bad as you think, the rock is mostly quite loose volcanic stuff that you can cut through with a stick. Not a massively reassuring thought when you're 2000 ft up on the side of a hill. And I have edited the last picture slightly, just to remove a bit of chin. Or a couple of chins to be honest.

Three weeks after arriving I was back on the aircraft heading south again. The company running the airbridge had changed to HiFly and although the aircraft itself was a bit old and ragged no one minded because the on board entertainment took the form of iPads that were handed around.
I was actually in the Falklands as an observer/forecast support, which meant hourly observations, nightly weather balloon launches and lots of admin stuff. I managed to get to the gym around 3 times a week (something I need to start up again) and until I knackered my knee I was up to the third week of the couch to 5 K plan.
It was a great little tour and makes it 4 trips in 5 years, with next years already booked - I'll need it to pay for going to Tris' wedding and stag do! Although I didn't get out all that much it was a good time.

The four weeks down there passed very quickly and then it was back to the Island, this time when I got into the room and opened the door to the en suite shower/loo room I was greeted by 4 huge cockroaches. Or at least they looked huge to me. I'm not sure what the official international size range is for them but their bodies were around 2 inches long! Taken me 4 days to get rid of them all and I'm still wary of the shower!
I think the resident lizard might be sorting them out though, so that should be a plus.

We're still getting some showers (just had to move inside to stop my Mac from getting wet) but they seem to be dying out. There was a Movember variety night on Saturday when the 6 movers (responsible for getting the aircraft in, sorting out the luggage and passengers etc), all male, did a talent show/Miss Ascension Island competition with songs, dancing, magic tricks, swim-wear competitions (yes, one of them was in drag in a mankini) and general fun.  On Monday night they threw a pizza party at their lounge (we can't call them bars) which most of the camp turned up for and that was another really good night.
Basically, I'm enjoying life here (apart from the bugs but it's a tropical island with a dodgy pipe system so there's not a huge amount I can do about that) and I'll try to add some more photos before I leave.
I'm going to try to get some underwater pictures and the turtles will be back on the island over the coming months so that will be something to see.

Oh I'm also doing Movember again.

This time I decided to actually register for it so if you fancy throwing money at a good cause and can't think of any other ones, please feel free to pop over to http://mobro.co/jamesfearnley 
I know it looks like I'm missing a bit on my left hand side in the picture but it's just a bit thin there. 
Not as bad as my beard-of-shame though:

Figured it would be a bit hot for that out here.

Now for a serious decision. Do I go to the gym, go to the beach, have a drink or do all of them in order? Oh the harsh life I lead :)

A blog post! Yep, I'm still here.

Ok, I know I owe you guys a Falklands post with loads of photos, probably a post covering all the exciting things I've done since then (but not mentioning getting so drunk at an official function that I embarrassed myself completely. Crap, forget I mentioned that!) but for now I'll slap some photos up from last weekend.

Sarah (house mate Sarah, not any of the other ones) had her parents and sister in law visiting with her sister in law's dog Gary. We went over to Channory Point to try to see some dolphins. Nope, no dolphins but I did manage to get a few pictures of the dogs that came out quite well. Maisie is the ginger Cocker Spaniel, Gary is the other one.

On the way home we stopped off at Brodie Countyfaire for tea and a cake which was nice and nowhere near as expensive as I was expecting.

On other matters I've been to see Sherlock Holmes 2 (again) and loved it, Underworld in 3D and enjoyed it (don't go unless you've seen the others and liked them!) and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. I'll say this, the flame effects in Ghost Rider were superb, the 3D was very well done (although I was expecting the chain to really fling out more) and the bike was cool. For the rest, I think it may have been one of the worst films I've seen for a very long time. Not sure what it was, just didn't like most of the film and normally I love Nick Cage in silly popcorn films.

Brief post before my time runs out

By which I mean the time on my wifi card (100 minutes a week). Seriously, time yourself! See how long that lasts...
I'll get more online soon but I've made it off camp (Sea Lion Island once and Stanley once) and seen many, many penguins, Elephant Seals and other animals. Work is mostly going well and I would sign up for a tour next year if we weren't so short back home.

Anyway, DVLA bad, post office slightly better, I'm missing the ginger hound, we REALLY more single desperate ladies down here that aren't too bothered about military guys but like overweight hairy forecasters.
Oh and go on England in the rugby!!

Ooops

Right, it's been almost a year since I put finger to key (so to speak)and I've got a few catch up blog posts to put on, including weddings, flights, cars, cocktails, dogs parties and a few countries but for now I wanted to say that I will be putting a bit more on here as I'm currently sat in the departures lounge at Brize Norton (again), getting ready to head back out to the Falklands. I know, the last post was about the Falklands but I did come back and I've seen quite a few friends in that time and even made some more.
As it is, this time I'm due to have a fat boy seat on the way down (woohoo!) but as is my want I'm not going to fully believe that until we're wheels up and I'm reclining the seat to it's lie flat position (after the pilot has turned of the seat belt light, of course :) ) and I managed to get away with not carrying too many books this time, just some ones for work and a Kindle - more on this gadget in a previous post but safe to say it's still wonderful and I'll add more detail soon! So much so that I found myself trying to turn off a normal book rather than just putting it down.
Anyway, time to grab a coffee. I'm on Skype now (when I can get connection) but email is probably the best way to contact me, or leave a comment on the blog and I'll see it doon thar.

Falklands 2010

So, second time down and a few things were different. I already knew some people down there, I had a girlfriend down there and I knew what I was doing.
That, at least, was the plan.
Turns out it took me much longer than it should have to get my mind in to the local weather and I've already mentioned that Kate and I broke up half way through the tour.

Although I didn't see any penguins I did see some other birds:



A turkey vulture at Goose Green, the second largest settlement in the Falklands, not counting Mount Pleasant. Population: about 35.

Ugly bugger up close. Which is probably what he thought of me.



This little fella was chilling inside a wreck at Goose Green, he's a night heron. Lovely, isn't he?


Sometimes called the military starling or the Falklands robin, I didn't capture just how damn RED the breast is on this Long Tailed Meadowlark. At least I think that's what it is; the chest is amazingly vibrant.


No visit would be complete without a striated caracara. This one wouldn't take off, just sat there, posing.



Just east of Stanley, this is Surf Bay, nice break, beautiful water and really white sand, it's probably a good thing you can't see that I'm wearing a full down jacket, gloves and hat. The water is about 4 degrees, rising to 8 at the end of summer.
I couldn't get to this beach last time owing to the mines that kept washing up on the beach. It's cleared now, or so they told me.


And this was a night in the Crab And Sprocket that started when Humf and Paul said "Fancy a drink?"
I think the details are self explanatory.

I'm aiming to get back down later in the year, but that might depend on some news due out of head office in the next couple of weeks.

One or two words

Things have changed since the last blog entry, as you’d expect with it being almost 9 months ago.


I’ve moved out of the flat and am now sharing a house with a friend from the mess. She had the chance to buy a 4 bedroom house for under £100,000 and needed someone to help with the rent, I get most meals cooked, someone to keep an eye on my kit while I’m south/away and I get the ironing, martini making and spider catching duties. It’s a nice place but I do need to drive to work rather than cycling.

I’ve been asked to be godfather to a friends’ bairn, which is awesome, and I think I won the “most inappropriate Christmas gift for a baby” award with a Leatherman and two rock CDs :)

I’ve changed my car, I now drive a Grand Vitara 4x4 which is much more sensible up here, although I miss 50+ mpg like you wouldn’t believe.


I did go south (photos to follow) about 3 days after moving my stuff into the new house and didn’t see a single live penguin while I was in the Falklands. At one point I was thinking “next week I’ll see if I can get on a trip to Sea Lion Island” and then realised I was flying out in 4 days! I could have gone over to Bertha’s Beach to see some Gentoos but that would have been like going to the zoo. In the end I felt that it was almost more impressive not to have seen any ‘guins.
Kate and I broke up while I was south, although that means that it was face to face rather than over the phone as she’s still down teaching at MPA. We were looking after a place for some friends down there and she came in from the garden to say that we need to talk…

Yeah.

In the end I understood her reasons, we had a few days avoiding each other but with the mess not exactly being a big place we were guaranteed to run into each other fairly soon. I’m glad that we managed to stay friendly but I was, and still am, somewhat gutted.


Back up here and the way we’re working has changed. I’m now apparently on permanent early starts, and I do mean EARLY. The shift starts at 0530 and it’s a 20 minute drive into work. Some of the time I’m over at one of the squadrons, sat in the planning room to answer all their questions like “what’s the weather at our target?” “Will we be able to get laser lock on from this height?” “When will the wind increase?” and, more often, “Will I be able to fly my personal light aircraft this afternoon?” or “will I be able to go mountain biking over the weekend?”
I’m still waiting for “would you like a cup of tea?” I’ve done a couple of extra training courses, including one on how to talk to people (not totally useless, to be honest) and none have covered more than 50% of what I get here on an average day. What the future holds for the station, my job and the office as a whole I don’t know, we were supposed to hear something last week which got put back to maybe next week, I think I’ll be ok as long as the station is here (so no guarantees) but I think a lot of my friends may get shafted.

In lighter news, I’ve taken up dive training with the camp BSAC club and I’ve bought a Kindle, fulfilling an earlier wish of mine. Both good so far, especially the Kindle. I sprung for a third generation 3G enabled model and it is brilliant, the screen is very easy to read, the library is pretty good and conversion to the right format is easy with Calibre. Down sides are that the web browser is pretty poor and it feels a bit delicate but I’ve got a good cover for it now and it’s a book, not a tablet. Some people have said “oh but it’s only greyscale” but again, it’s a book, not a magazine. I haven’t tried any of the papers on it yet but I might try the Times free trial soon. At the moment I’ve got more than 250 books on it, most of them open source/out of copyright. I can see that it would be VERY easy to run up a huge bill very quickly. I’m told there are some file sharing options but one would never do such a thing :)
The third generation Kindle, like mine, natively support PDF files and I’ve put on some ones from work so, rather than lug around three A4 files, I’ve got a light piece of kit that fits in my jacket, let alone my bag. Down side of this is that the pages are very small on the screen so you need to zoom in a few times or use the landscape orientation option. There is a bigger version (the DX) that would be better for this and I think I’ve planted the seed of thought in one of the executives in the office that they could be very useful to forecasting staff to have with all the reference documents on, although I think rugged cases would be a worthwhile investment in that case.
No, it doesn’t feel or smell like a book, you can’t kill a fly with it, use it as a beer coaster (well I bloody well wouldn’t) and, despite what you see in the adverts, I wouldn’t put it my back pocket. However, it is very light, easy to read, the battery lasts a long time (especially if you don’t have the whispernet wireless turned on) and, did I mention, I’VE GOT OVER 250 BOOKS ON MINE! I haven’t even filled a quarter of the capacity. All this on something that is actually smaller than my pencil case. I’ve started reading from the Kindle rather than normal books these days at home, partly cause you can’t tell what I’m reading from the back of the device.

Anyway, it’s almost half twelve, I’ve been in work since half five and I’ve got to get back to the main office for some admin then I’m buggering off home.
I’ve probably forgotten something massively important that has happened and I need to add some photos later so there might be another post coming before too long.

30 times round the sun

But more importantly, welcome to the world John! Hope Pam and Paul manage some sleep at some point during the rest of this year!

So I woke up this morning (da da da da dum in a blues style...) and thought "oh crap I'm not a 20 something any more!" A few of times actually.
The last few birthdays have been basically just another day but today felt a bit different, and it's hard to say why. I can't really say that I felt more mature, more refined or less likely to streak across the beach at midnight, but I did, do, feel like some kind of milestone has been passed.
If anything I'd say I feel a bit more confident. And it seems a bit brash to say that is just because I've got time served; but maybe that's all it is, perhaps maturity and experience are just fucking up in the small ways when no one notices and carrying on, not letting them see you sweat and blagging the decent roles. Getting through the big problems by shear power of will and the appearance of confidence.
As one of my old kayaking instructors used to say, "don't be good - be convincing!"

Gods know it feels like that at work sometimes.

*edited to add* In something of a tradition of the last few years, once I've got settled in the evenings I took one of my cigars (thanks for the Don Tomas Clasico, Smudge!!!) out to the front of the flat and had a moment of "thought" which this year involved a comfy chair, a glass of wine and the aforementioned smokable. I should mention that I get through, on average, 3 cigars a year, so I don't think I've got too much of a problem.
While sat on the moon chair, hoping for a break in the clouds to show the aurora that is supposed to be out there tonight, I thought "hmmmm, I feel in a 'poets' mood" and so, like every 'modern' guy I whipped out my phone, tuned into YouTube and pulled up the videos for "If...", "trust me on the sunscreen" and a couple of Roger McGough poems.
I felt decadent and almost educated with my choice of videos, but that was rather offset by the wine and cigar. I doubt there was any kind of point to this, so rather than leave it without a punchline I'll give you a couple of links that some might enjoy: Here and here.

Plans sometimes happen when you don't expect them

Next month I'm flying back south ('deep' south). Not sure of the exact timing details yet but there's a few weeks left to organise that, must remember to take my DJ and possibly a kilt or two...
The week before I go south I'm moving house. Should be an interesting couple of weeks.
Next week I turn 30, and the implications of that really haven't hit me yet, but there's a whole load of stuff it could be. It's just a number, but over the last 3 days it seems to have become more and more significant. I'll put that down to paranoia for the time being.
Tonight I spent a fair amount of time this evening chatting to one of the guys from the search and rescue squadron, good guy; we talked about linux, Mac's reduction in the world of IT, xkcd, various things about the world of RAF funds reduction and the effect of an Air Commodore on groups of young officers (you really had to be there).
Got home and had a link sent to me to this, a talk by Prof Brian Cox (OBE or is it MBE? - anyway well done Dr Cox!!!) which matches almost to a tee one of the conversations I had this evening. Wonder, my friends, endless wonder about the world, the solar system and the universe in which we live.
There are some times I wonder if I made the right choice 5 years ago, the three courses available to me on that day (and it was actually a day - two job offers in 24 hours), choose one of the two offers or carry on as before. I do sometimes regret not staying working for Blacks, although by now I'd either be running the Cheltenham store or they would still have shut that store and I'd be somewhere else - but that is a path down a road undiscovered and a route forever unknown.
What if I had taken the job with James, working with AWE with the best job title ever - firing technician at the Atomic Weapons Establishment. I'd be working with one of my best friends and might even be on the way to getting a masters or a PhD. I can't describe how much I want a PhD so I won't try, but suffice to say it's a lot.
But here I am, I've taken the other road, it's taken me almost as far south as is possible and certainly further than I thought would be possible six years ago, and I'm still hoping for the chance to get that bit further south. I've still got the chance to get the commission that, it's fair to say, I still lust after. Admittedly, I've got a fair amount of work to do in order to get there, but it's within my grasp and the only thing stopping me from getting there is me. So I'll see how this deployment south goes.

And for those that haven't heard, I should say point blank. I'm going back to the Falklands for a few months :) And I'm really looking forwards to it for a whole bunch of reasons.

But as the song went a few years ago, trust me on the sunscreen.

Oh and for the record, Guitar Hero Metallica - BRILLIANT!!!!!

Realisation and a couple of links

I hadn't thought that I'd been up here all that long until a few months back I was down in Exeter doing a course in satellite interpretation (good course) and I was in the pub next to the hotel, looking at the whisky selection. I was surprised that there were only 6 malts, and that they were those specific ones (can't remember exactly which ones but basically a basic selection of the regions) and I mentioned to the guy behind the bar that I was surprised he only had one Speyside.
Turns out he was the manager.
He seemed surprised by what I said and asked me what the difference was between the different types, which I found I didn't have any problem answering, explaining the different tastes and characters.

Looks like I've been living in the Spey catchment long enough to pick up a few things.


OK, so this is a pretty pointless post but aside from that, have a look at this site of customer idiocies. There's also Text From Last Night which is just a bit too disturbing, all told.

Some extra reading.

A few follow up links from yesterdays rant:
The Daily Mash take on the matter.
A little something from the wonderful Cocktail Party Physics.
Astropixie's take, which actually prompted the post.
The Met Office VAAC charts page - that's Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre - (don't look too hard at the title, it stands for Volcanic Ash Graphic, ok? Nothing dirty with that at all...) and another Met Office one that gives some of the reasons behind the model.
One last (for now) Met Office one giving some gen on the particulates found in the dust layer.
A Norweigan model animation of the ash, but I'm not sure of what it specifically shows, I've mainly included it cause it looks cool.

And for a bit of a change, Kate's sister's post that was referenced by Ben Goldacre in his miniblog links.

Ash up your pipes

I'm glad that it looks like we're going to be able to re-open the airways tomorrow, even if it's not for all that long.
I'm more glad that no aircraft have fallen out of the sky.
I'm rather pissed off with the people saying that nothing happened so the precautions were excessive.
If someone plays Russian roulette and doesn't die, would you say there was no danger at the start or that they were lucky? Would you say "they were fine so I'll give it a go"?

There is ash in the atmosphere, it's nasty shit.
If you think I'm overstating that, consider that this is made of rock (generally between 0.1 and 1 mm but sometimes much bigger than that) that can rather damage windscreens and paintwork, not to mention potentially breaking the skin of the airframe; there's volcanic glass mixed in (more so in this case as the silicon dioxide makes up 58% of the tested ash at Lerwick) which can melt in the combustion stage of a jet engine and form a layer of glass over the insides of the engine (check Flight Global for images of what volcanic ash can do to the engine on a F-18) as well as the fact that the ash itself can build up on surfaces and stick, ruining airflow and making the aircraft somewhat heavier. Oh, and did I mention the sulphur? Yeah, it's sulphurous, too much of it and it becomes a danger to respiration, add water and it can become sulphuric acid, oh and it stinks!
Can be pretty though, the effects of the particles cause a static buildup that results in lightning at the volcano and St Elmos fire on the surface of aircraft flying through it. Cop yer whack at this:
from NASA for an indication.
More pictures (some amazing ones as well) from the Big Picture from the Boston Globe.

We've had recorded ash across the entire UK, you can't see it but it's there. Or at least you can't see it in the air but it becomes visible when it builds up on cars and other surfaces. We've seen this from Lerwick, Aberdeen, Boscombe, all across Devon and most of the south. They took samples from West Freugh in southwest Scotland and they found 2000 ft of ash at two different levels in the atmosphere today. Some parachute dudes found a couple of layers (they reported some weird visual effects and "a stinging sensation on the lips" as well as dark areas in the air) and before you say "but the BA and Lufthansa flights were OK", we knew that we don't know the exact areas of the ash, it's distribution or exact makeup so we knew there would be clear areas and not clear areas, the research flights that went up found both.
We had some satellites but they were obscured by higher cloud, our radar isn't good (expensive) enough to find the ash, we don't have enough actual weather balloons spread across country (or upwind - it's ocean, which isn't really conducive to weather balloons) to get detail of the atmosphere and our wind profiler/lidar network needs so much investment any political party that suggested funding it properly would be laughed off the stage. We do have some of the best observers and forecasters in the world, one of (if not the) best set of models in the world, although they could do with being a bit more flexible, which we could do with more funding and a bit more flexible approach. But we haven't had a situation like this crop up, we've no experience of this type of thing on this scale and it takes us time to get the required information. It might even take us a week.

I was asked "how much ash is too much, because I've heard there is no safe amount?" and I can't answer this because I'm not an engineer or a Rolls Royce specialist. They (Rolls-Royce) are saying you need to cover the aircraft, put them inside and don't turn on the engines. Preferably cover them with fine silks and satins. OK, I'm exaggerating slightly, but only a bit.

In the 1980s a couple of 747s hit ash clouds and had all their engines cut off. These clouds are one of the few things that can kill all the engines on a multi-engine aircraft within minutes. To clear the engines of the glass build-up you need to put LOTS of clean air through the engines which generally requires about 12000 ft of free-fall. Our ash layers were around 4000-8000 ft.

Yes, it's been an embuggerance for many, many people, our mail up here is stalled (the post is sent by aircraft then driven on), my girlfriend is stuck at Brize Norton until at least Thursday and we'd both rather she could have waited up here until she was needed, not to mention the financial implications and all the people stranded.
But let me put it this way, I would rather she spent ten years waiting at Brize rather than be in an aircraft that took the risk of flying through an ash cloud at 8000 ft and having the aircraft turn into a glider.

Have a look at this for more explanation.

Could different levels of reaction be used in the future? Yes.
Yes if we know the exact distribution of the ash.
Yes if we know the composition of the ash.
Yes if we know how fast it's being produced.
Yes if we know the winds at every 500 ft interval and the vertical motion of the air over the entire area of the ash cloud.

Until that point ask yourself if fire engines need to drive so fast to every call out, or if you want your doctor to take you seriously any time you have a sharp pain in your chest. Or would you rather the fire brigade assumed you were burning toast rather than stuck in a building, your doctor assumed you were over-reacting rather than see if it was an heart attack.
Are you happy with the airline assuming that they know best and that because "they didn't hit any ash areas" means "we won't hit any ash areas."
Or wait until we know more about the circumstances and can say "OK, we've had a check and we think this area is safe while this area isn't."
Even if it takes a week.

Or the volcano stops.

I probably should have called them back and told them it was a joke

Just in case there are any guys from 12 Sqn reading this, I was kidding, we're not being privatised (yet - ask me again after the election...), we're not being bought out by Disney, I won't be going into briefings wearing Mickey Mouse ears and we won't be diverting all telephone enquiries (including target weathers) to a call centre based in Mumbai.

Honestly, I was going to say that they should check the date but it was too much fun.
Wasn't as good as last years though.

Think I'll shrink wrap my boss' desk next year.

Some things, but not all, and not quite the ones I wanted

Christmas and the New Year, Kate, myself and two friends (Tash and Chris) went off to Arosa in Switzerland for a couple of weeks snowboarding and spending quality time together. It was epic and my 'boarding has improved massively (as I found out at the Lecht a while later - but more on that later). There was a decent amount of snow and some unbelievable conditions, although on Christmas Day the falling snow, which did give a wonderful surface, meant visibility was only about 10 feet and you couldn't see where the edges of the slopes were. Fell over lots, only big falls a couple of times though.
Spending time with Kate was marvellous, but the two weeks went too fast, as always happens.

Into the new year and Scotland had the coldest winter in decades, for which there had been a 1 in 7 chance of a colder than average winter for the northwest of Europe. People forget that the seasonal forecast is for large areas, not specific places. Some people think that the forecasts ruled out cold winters, but if you roll a die there is a 1 in 6 chance of getting a 5. No matter what the outcome, there was a 1 in 6 chance of getting a 5. But there's got to be someone to blame, hasn't there?

Moving on.

Work was quiet, so I managed to take the opportunity to use the service transport to the Lecht for a days boarding. Conditions were a bit icy in some places but generally awesome and it was the best boarding I've ever done. Also the longest session, for which I paid the next three days...
No photos of that, so you'll have to take my word on it.

Been working all the jobs we have, observing, forecasting at both stations, forecasting on the big desk; also found out how much my job is worth in the private sector. Turns out it's LOTS more than we are paid. Government say we should be paid just under median market value but the market is based on what we're paid. Go abroad (such as Australia) and you can get even more. Even with the exchange rates and cost of living, lots more. Not for me though, not yet anyway.

Friend (one of the Sarahs) has been in hospital a lot recently, she's got a rare form of MRSA called PVL MRSA (I think), so she's been in isolation having her system cleared, the rare times she's been out of hospital we took her dog for a bit of a walk on the beach.


Turns out I've got a lot to learn about taking photos in snow. Been recommended changing the exposure settings.

The house move has been delayed, partly due to weather slowing things down, but also problems with planning permissions; and still no news about the potential job development, but might hear next week, or the week after. Having said that I've started becoming an NVQ assessor, it's even more work that doing the sodding NVQ itself! The first assessment went ok, once I'd finally finished the write-up. Hope to get that finished by the end of summer.

Back to Exeter next week for more training, but now it's off to work for the night.

Autumn turns, and the moon is born again

The blog title isn't leading to anything, I just thought it'd be nice to write.

In September I was down at head office doing a course in winter forecasting, which was pretty good. Like most of the training we get, it can feel that we're being overtrained, but I had a think about it and I realised that they could just tell us "if you see this, then you put this into your forecasts" but rather than do that, they teach "if you see this, then this is happening, which means this might happen." We get taught the background reasoning and systems at work, rather than just the effects. When you think about it this is probably why our training takes longer and is more expensive than other places.
I had a big hire car when I was down there, with an electric handbrake, but I did NOT like it, I can see it working with an automatic, but not safely with a manual.

Bit later, I was back south for Dad's 65th, for which mum and Becky had arranged a surprise party. Keeping a surprise from Dad is not easy but we managed it, when he walked into the room he was expecting to go in and have a half price pizza, not for there to be 50 odd friends and family from all over, grouped together for him. Which was brilliant.
I managed to see Pippa, Sara and Andi, and Sian and Matt while I was south, which was awesome, and when I got back it was Oktoberfest, again awesome.

We had the station Friends and Family day, bit like an airshow but small scale. Typhoon came round and did a very impressive display - that thing just has buckets of power! I was working for the start of the day, and did the weather brief for the Red Arrows, also got to watch them doing their pre-flight brief, where they dissected their last performance, and they are REALLY strict with each themselves and each other. Have a few photos:



Apart from that, not too much has been happening. I'm going to be moving next year, a friend is buying a house and I'm going to be renting a room from her; I've been working a lot over the road at the other station, mainly at a level above what I'm supposed to be working. I'm looking at potential job development, but have nothing concrete yet.
I've almost got used to that moment when you think "oh good, it's half two and I start work at half five." But I still don't like that thought.

Language

Kate sent something to me that I feel I must share, it's a little poem about the English language..

I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble, but not you,
On hiccough, thorough, lough and through?
Well done! And now you wish, perhaps,
To learn of less familiar traps?
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird,
And dead: it's said like bed, not bead -
For goodness sake don't call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and threat
(They rhyme with suite and straight and debt).
A moth is not a moth in mother,
Nor both in bother, broth in brother,
And here is not a match for there
Nor dear and fear for bear and pear,
And then there's dose and rose and lose -
Just look them up - and goose and choose,
And cork and work and card and ward,
And font and front and word and sword,
And do and go and thwart and cart -
Come, come, I've hardly made a start!
A dreadful language? Man alive!
I'd mastered it when I was five!

(some sources add a final couplet)

And yet to write it, the more I sigh,

I'll not learn how 'til the day I die.

Hope she doesn't mind me reposting it here. There's an American reading it here, but up here "dead" can indeed be pronounced "deed", and don't get me started on the Welsh year, here and ear, all of which are said "ur" or saucepan in the Townhill dialect.

One of the sources gives the following:

The poem...is attributed to T.S.Watt (1954) and appeared in the Guardian...

However, in the following publication it is attributed to Richard Krough, 
see: O'Grady, W., Dobrovolsky, W. and Katamba, F.1997. 
"Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction_, London: Longman, p.614"

Interestingly, following one of the links trying to find an author with whom to credit the work, I came across a version on the West Cumbria Dyslexic Association, which has an option at the top to very quickly change the background of the page. I'm wondering if this would be a quicker way to test if anyone does find particular backgrounds easier to read from. Or, in the case of Mac Cmd+Opt+Ctrl+8 to invert the page, although I personally have issues reading white text on a black background (persistence of vision is a bugger) it does make the text stand out better.

Right, last bit of packing listening to Tori Amos on the radio before the hire car turns up, drive to Inverness via work, fly to Bristol, pick up another hire car, drive to Exeter for a course in winter forecasting/explosive cyclogenesis/polar lows then home in time for the last night of the Proms!

Right, been a while but here we go with a catch up. The little story thing pretty much went as I’d thought it would, thanks for the feedback though Rich! I’m sure I’ll have missed something that’s happened in the time since my last full post, but the main things since I passed my IAM (still woohoo about that!) are that I applied for a new job at work and did some walking.


Ok, maybe it’s a bit more complicated than that.

The new job wasn’t actually a new job but a 3 months secondment to a place called Rothera. To say that I was rather keen to go would be an understatement and pretty much all the indications were that I had a good shot at it. The position had been massively undersubscribed in previous years and I had Southern Hemisphere experience, winter experience and could put a tick in all the boxes on the application form.
But alas, it was not to be. Once the sift date had gone past and then a bit of extra time had lapsed I gave HR a call and was told that it wasn’t their department. Next day (hmmmmm, bit suspicious about the timing) I got the email saying that I had been unsuccessful in my application. I asked for some feedback but so far haven’t received any; there’s almost no point asking HR about it at the moment as we’re in the middle of a pay offer so they are all busy telling people that they’re not really getting a £5000 pay cut, it just looks that way.

So, one disappointment down, but now I may get the chance to spend Christmas with my girlfriend and some mates in Switzerland. So, not all bad.

Tash and Chris came up again for the Summer Ball, which had waltzers, a surfing simulator, laser clay pigeon shooting, FOOD, drink, more food and other posh entertainments (but not of the “masked ball” variety).

Chris and Tasha on the surf simulator. Yes, I did go on it, and did quite well, but unfortunately I don't have any pictures of that. Shame.
Week later we met up again, this time at a camping site in the Cairngorms, in preparation for the big walk – the Wolftrek 45 mile jaunt from Forres to Cairngorm. In the end I had to bin first, partly due to feet but mainly my knee was about to collapse; so I stacked at 17 miles, Tasha made 32 and Chris and Venora managed the whole 45 miles, swearing never to do anything as silly EVER AGAIN.
The time for their 45 miles was 19 hr 15 minutes, which was pretty damn good, but a bit longer than the fastest guy, who completed the route in 6 hr 52 min. ^-^
We had started out at a decent pace for the route, about 3 miles an hour, which we felt we could sustain, and which was about the right pace to get a time on par with the average from the last year’s pack. Problem was that everyone started off in a big bunch, mainly at the pace of the people who were only planning to do the first section. Pretty soon we were at the back, which isn’t a problem really, just a bit disheartening.
By the end some 40% had dropped out. Our team was the last to reach the first, second and third/last checkpoints but Chris and Venora finished in the middle of the pack, mainly as they didn’t get caught out by stopping in the comfy chairs at Glenmore Lodge.
Three days later I get a message from Chris asking if I was up for trying to beat the time next year. Ha! So much for never again!

Kate is up visiting, and we’re trying to successfully use the bread maker that Tasha and Chris got for me, but my first attempt was less than brilliant.

We also went to see Coraline over the weekend, a Neil Gaiman film that you can tell is one of his stories for children by the way it’s dark and quite disturbing. Good though, especially the cat.