Czech it out

Prague was fun. I can still remember most of it, I think, a few days later. I need to clear some time to write about it. But before I do, I wanted to look into the pronunciation of Czech words. I found what looks like an interesting language web site, which revealed a difficult looking tongue twister:

Strč prst skrz krk. (Stick your finger through your throat.)

Not a particularly representative sample of Czech from what I've seen, but good novelty value. There are other pages which might be simpler.

And a couple of other things that I've found recently that I thought I'd jot down, in case I get time to read them one day:

• The provocatively titled "Why most published research findings are false".
• A PhD dissertation Software Quality and Reliability Prediction using Dempster Shafer Theory by Lan Guo.
  

Brugge

It's a bit daunting, having had a concentrated few days without much record keeping. Well, I took a lot more photos than usual, but I can't put them all on here. I haven't even put photos up from the last post yet! Where do I start? I suppose I'll just type and see what comes out.

Last week was the half-term break. There were a few day activities for the girls, including a morning walk around the frosty countryside that seemed to exhaust them. But the main activity (as far as I was concerned) was our trip to Belgium.

We left Malvern at about 3pm on Thursday, and drove down towards Dover, and onto the Eurotunnel train at Folkstone. An interesting experience, driving in through the train carriage, seeing all the doors, and the emergency procedures requiring us to keep windows and sunroofs half open. There wasn't much view, 110 feet below the sea bed. But after 35 minutes, we stopped in Calais, and zoomed out onto the A16 motorway, heading north to Belgium.

The TomTom satellite navigation toy was quite useful. We have discovered that sometimes it gives spurious advice: rushing past an exit on the motorway it told us to go across the roundabout, take the second exit. But generally it's quite good if you listen carefully and occasionally cross-check with the screen map. It took us straight into Brugge (or Bruges, if you speak Francais; or perhaps Brooj if you speak Strine). It miscalculated where number 8 on our one-way street was, necessitating a second iteration through the one-way system - but that's nothing worth griping about. Overall, I was very pleased with it.

But the satnav wasn't the only new toy. I also bought a little 150W inverter, to power the laptop on the long car trip. The "Purble Place" (what a silly name) game kept Stephanie and Helen occupied the whole time! Maybe I should be embarrassed.

It was about 11pm local time (1hr ahead of GMT) when we arrived, so no exploring. We didn't get up until about 8am, and breakfast (museli, ham, cheese, bread, chocolate milk, fruit juice, coffee) took a little while to dispatch, so the sightseeing started a little later than we might normally have planned. But we walked through lots of interesting parts of the city. We took a horse-and-carriage ride through the old quarter, which placated the girls for a little while. The camera shutter was kept busy - not purely because of the scenic nature of the place, but also because I had decided that there were too many missing memories from earlier trips. We visited the Market square, the Belfry, the Burg town hall, a rennaissance museum, a fish market, and a cloistered nunnery, some defunct windmills (the old fashioned type) amongst other things. (There were dozens of modern electricity generating windmills around the place, although they weren't visible from ground level in the old part of the city.)

We could hardly have been luckier with the weather. It was certainly rather cold in the morning - I don't think my fingers woke up until lunch time - but it was a beautiful sunny day.

Sunday's schedule had us off to visit Gent. I managed to convince the navigatrix that the best way would be via a bridge to South Netherlands/Mittelburg (to tick off another country and see a genuine dyke), and through the Antwerp ring road system. We didn't have a printed map, so the satnav was very useful. Unfortunately, we didn't see much of the North Sea from our 5km bridge, because it was a tunnel. And a toll road as well. But that was ok. We saw some genuine dutch windmills, and dykes, and dozens of tractors. It was certainly very flat countryside.

The satnav directed us to somewhere in the centrum of Gent, but experience taught us that slight misinterpretations could lead to one driving the wrong way up a tram track. That aside, we managed to find ourselves a place to park, and then explored the town, some churches, a cathedral, a tourist office, and a castle. A waffle shop had been on the agenda, but our parking meter didn't permit that. We headed back to Brugge - less than an hour away.

There was some disagreement about what to do next, and then getting separated during a parade (which was visually ok, but aurally abusive) meant that we didn't get to our canal boat tour.

Sunday morning, checkout, and a brisk walk delivered us to the canal boat queue in time for the first cruise of the morning. We undertook ice-breaking duties on our tour. At only 5mm thick, it was easy enough to keep thoughts of Titanic out of ones mind. The driver (captain?) gave a commentary in four languages, in a voice about 14 octaves below middle-C, barely intelligible above the generic-european-language rabble behind us. We caught a few snippets, but most of the value was visual. I don't think the girls took their eyes off the breaking ice to look at the scenery once.

After a brootwurst mit broot to warm up, we searched for a decent waffle shop before our trip home. We found one, but were sorely disappointed with what we ended up with. It wasn't until the Vins de Calais shop that our spirits soared again. From there to the Eurotunnel was the first time that we accidentally found ourselves (well, ok, I was driving) on the left hand side of the road. But those Calais folk must expect that sort of thing, don't you think?

After a thoroughly forgettable hamburger for lunch at the Eurotunnel terminal, we were the last car onto our train. Keeping the guard talking about vaguely technical things somehow led to my invitation to the cabin of the locomotive (at the back of the train) for a chat with the deputy driver. The 3.5 hour trip from Folkstone to Malvern was quiet (thanks to the PC) interrupted only by the occasional request for a toilet stop. Christopher was very pleased to see us!

Herefordshire

Ok, that last post wasn't very interesting. But I had to get it off my chest. On more appropriate blog matters: we're now on half-term break. Yes, it doesn't seem that long since we were on Christmas holidays. That's what happens when Easter comes this early.

Things to report:
Stephanie had fun at the Birmingham ThinkTank science museum on Monday, and enjoyed the planetarium part. They also expanded their friction study in an entertaining way, with teams making different types of cars to race.

Helen was a Rat (in constume) in the Chinese New Year activity at school on Friday.

Yesterday we went for a drive to Berrington Hall, a National Property place in North Herefordshire. The building wasn't open, but the grounds were, to show off all the flowers given the early spring we seem to be having. I seem to have a personality flaw that doesn't allow me to get properly excited about large numbers of snowdrop flowers and the odd daffodil.

We delivered Stephanie to a school-friend's place at Yarkhill for a slumber party (although reports indicate that there was very little slumber to be had, especially for the Dad who had to go and sit in the bedroom at 1am to encourage silence).

Having one child away was a perfect excuse to get a takeaway Thai dinner - our first since being in the UK. The Indians must outnumber Thai restaurants by 10:1 or so - nothing like Australia. The food didn't seem as tasty as in Brisbane, but I feel we may need to have another try.

Herefordshire beckoned again this morning. After collecting Stephanie, we wanted to go to another National Trust place, keen to exploit our annual membership purchased the previous day. But the Weir Garden wouldn't open until 11am, so we popped into Hereford city for morning tea. We walked around in the 0° fog looking at the close-up sights, and then found our way to a Marks and Spencer cafeteria for morning tea - more scones, jam, and cream! The fog was slightly thinner (if you're optimistic) by the time we got to the garden. I thought it was a very nice place: a relatively steep bank with paths meandering through flowers, trees, and shrubs, past a fast flowing river Severn. I think the fog added to the atmosphere, although I think the majority opinion was contrary. I was a bit of a party-pooper and sat in the car to review some work papers while the others explored more at leisure.


We made it home just in time for me to disappear Gloucesterwards for a Howells feature evensong. The Gloucester Service, with Like as the Hart and Take Him Earth for Cherishing, a psalm chant, and even a Rhapsody in C Sharp Minor postlude. Far too rapturous for lent, but as Rupert pointed out, Sundays aren't really part of lent. Maybe I should go and have some chocolate before it gets too late! The sermon (not a regular feature at evensong) concerned Archbishop Rowan Williams and the furore over his Shariah remarks. The Dean suggested that most of the commentators who were complaining about the remarks could not have read or understood them - and he compared this to people who derided Jesus for dining with tax collectors and sinners.

I find the whole debate very interesting, and it reminds me of Barry Jones presenting a complex science policy about 15 years ago. It was labelled the "spaghetti and meatballs policy" after the complex diagram that he showed off. It seems to be very dangerous for an academic to try to present a complex idea to the masses. I suppose that even if the reporters understand the issue, they will have to make headlines that sell, and the competition is probably a "race to the bottom". I wonder if there's a way for society to avoid this...

The BBC seems to have a huge number of interviewees with "moderate" points of view, talking about how Jewish and Islamic arbitration already happens in the UK. But it doesn't hose down the problems. Some of the church people making the most inflammatory remarks (can you tell which side I'm on yet?) seem to have prior record of disagreeing with Williams.

That sinking feeling

Yes, that black veil of dread descended upon my computer desk again. The laptop started playing up, and wouldn't connect to the network. The symptoms weren't as severe as last time (i.e. it would boot and run most local software), but it's not much use without the network. Several services weren't starting, including DHCP, Diagnostic Policy Service, and about 10 others, due to an Access Denied error. Google (on the other computer) found a few other people with similar experiences, but not many answers. Microsoft had one report and recommendation, but it didn't help at all. I used the System Restore feature to wind back to a few days ago. This suggests that the problem may have been related to installing my Vista Samsung 4216F printer driver which I got from nodevice.com. Hmmm. I won't reinstall that one for a while!

But, wonder of wonders, after the System Restore, everything is just fine again. Phew.

For the last couple of months, I've been quite cautious when copying photos from the camera: they go onto a directory on my new laptop, and then I copy them (via network) straight onto the other laptop. Only then do I remove them from the camera memory card. I think anything else that's particularly valuable is on the network already in emails etc, or on a backup cd/dvd. (It doesn't help that the old laptop's optical drive is defunct though!)

I have been reading recently about Amazon's web services. The storage and computing services look like great fun to play with, and potentially useful for a backup regime.

Underdog

We went to see Underdog the movie in Worcester on Sunday. I was surprised how expensive it was - over £17 for an adult and two children in a multiplex cinema on a Sunday lunchtime. But we had a cheap lunch (eating a Subway and pasties standing on the footpath huddled out of the wind). The movie was entirely forgettable, but lunch, movie and train ride made a satisfactory diversion for three of us on a rather chilly Sunday afternoon. We were slightly careless about choosing our return train, and ended up on one that didn't stop at Malvern Link, so we had to walk from Great Malvern - not too far, though.

On Saturday, Stephanie and Helen both went horse riding, although it was slightly coincidental. Steph was riding as part of her Saturday morning school hobbies, and Helen had stayed at a friend's place on Friday night - they keep a pony at the stables next door. So they got to wave at each other in the distance.

Monday was my visit to Bristol University. It was another interesting discussion, with just one person this time. Again, there are possibilities for future work together, but some hoops to be jumped through before anything really productive occurs. We'll see what happens. Oh, and I found quite a good milkshake, although the viscosity would probably rule it into the thickshake category.

The scientific experimentation at work today was a determination that the tea room smoke detectors (if they exist) are not very sensitive. I took in the electric fry pan and beaters (along with my Australian power board with the UK plug!), and other sundry pancake making equipment and ingredients. I put a sign on the door, proclaiming "Hot Pancakes, 3:30pm here, don't make me eat them all". Fortunately, over a dozen people were able to help me. The remaining flour mix was consumed tonight for dinner, so I'm slightly over-mapled just at the moment, and I indulged somewhat in laughing-gas-propelled cream. But I also went to the gym this afternoon, so it should all be ok.

Now, I haven't mentioned wines for a while. There have been a couple of unremarkable ones, but it is important that I record my immense satisfaction with the 2003 Château Castera from Médoc, on the Bordeaux Left Bank (you know, Left Bank means more Cab Sauv, Right Bank means more Merlot). I'm going to have to order a dozen of these, but there are some hurdles: one place has the right label, but not 2003. Do I risk over £100 on a vintage I haven't tried? Another place has 2003 Château Puy Castera from Bordeaux Left Bank. My bottle doesn't have a "Puy" in sight, but how could they be different? Hmmm. The wine (trying to recall last night's adjectives) was nicely balanced, with good berry fruit and those all-important toasty flavours. It wasn't the longest finish by any means, but what there was was delicious. (Do we often write "was was"?) This winery was given the label "Cru Bourgeois Superieur" in the 2003 classification, but as you know, that classification was annulled by legal challenges from some people who missed out. I guess it's still a good sign, by any standard.

The only other news to report at the moment is that we've booked our airfares to Salzburg on Good Friday, returning Sunday 9 days later. In that time, the current (optimistic?) plan is to visit Budapest, Ljubljana, Venice, a West-Austrian ski resort TBD (pretty and pretty cheap are the primary criteria, good snow secondary), and the German Alpine Way road. Good Friday is one of the most expensive days to travel, but we don't have too many options.

Well, while I'm here, I might just mention that we're amazed at how often we need to replace light bulbs here. Maybe the power is a bit dodgy. Maybe there's too much vibration with kids jumping around upstairs. Maybe we're exceedingly unlucky, and it's coincidental. But some bulbs are lasting only 3 weeks.

New Castle

I managed to get to Newcastle Upon Tyne this week, where I had an interesting set of discussions with the Computing Science people.

On Wednesday, we went to pick the girls up from school, and then we stopped off at the Colwall station, where I we waited for the train. I was going to be waved off, but the train was late (although the electronic display wouldn't admit it), so they all went home to get out of the cold. I managed to let them know by phone when I was about to come past the railway bridge, so they zoomed outside to watch and wave as I zoomed past. The train driver joined in the game with a toot.


The journey to Newcastle was about 5 hours. After dumping stuff in my hotel room, I headed off to explore the Quayside area and restaurant offerings. Although I couldn't see them all clearly, the bridges were interesting. There was a scale model of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, with two others at different heights below it. We'll have to try to get back there to check it out in the daylight. I had set my cuisine seeking dial to "Thai", but didn't spot any suitable venues. There were 4 Indians within spitting distance, so I chose one at random. The meal was nice enough. My hotel was right on top of the railway station. I was briefly a little concerned that it might have been too noisy, but I hardly heard any train noises at all. The wind made such a racket rattling my window (despite a couple of bleary-eyed attempts to jam pieces of newspaper around it) that sleep was rather scarce. I could whinge about the shower temperature too, but you'd think I was complaining too much.

Tom met me for breakfast, and then we walked up to the university. I gave a presentation about the stuff that I'm doing, which was punctuated with lots of interesting discussion, some of which I've tried to take advantage of in my paper. We walked to the cafe for lunch through the snow flurries, and then took advantage of a lunch hour concert from a pair of folk musicians on Northumbrian pipes, guitar, piano, and accordian (not all at once), playing a combination of local and Finnish music. I think it was the first time I'd encountered such pipes (bellows under the arm, rather than a mouthpiece), and while I wouldn't nominate "folk" as one of my main musical interests, I certainly enjoyed the concert.

After some more discussions, and making plans to head back for a more detailed "workshop" in 6 weeks, I made it back to the train station, where I managed to jump straight on a Birmingham-bound train. It was slowed in a couple of places by signalling & prior trains (not by the high winds which had reduced speeds that morning). This allowed the conductor, sorry, "Train Manager" to give very detailed advice over the PA for people heading to just about any part of the country. People for P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, don't change at Sheffield, as we've missed that connection: stay with us until Derby where you will catch the 20:42. People for X, Y, Z, change at Doncaster... etc. I felt quite well looked after. I had an hour to wait at Birmingham, which was just long enough for a quick walk around the city to find a pub (bypassing the "Newt", opting for the "Shakespeare") where I found a bite (of Burrito) to keep me going. I made it back to Malvern Link by 10pm, and then it was just a 10 minute walk home.

This morning (Saturday) I finally managed to get back on the bike, and found some new roads around North Malvern and West Malvern. I rode (and walked a bit) to the top of the Worcestershire Beacon, and then to the North Hill and End Hill. Although there had been forecasts of widespread snow flurries across the whole of the UK, we had none here. There was only a very mild frost on the higher parts, admittedly with a chilly breeze. But by the time I got home, my fingertips and toes were past the "numb" stage, and now rather painful from the cold. The shoes and gloves aren't particularly windproof - maybe I'll wear plastic bags next time!

Joanna's gone to collect Helen from her sleepover, and Stephanie from her pottery and horseriding hobbies at school. I'm at home with Christopher, and Berenice has gone tramping somewhere with the footpath society. We're trying to work out what to do tomorrow.

I'm looking forward to Monday, when I'm off to Bristol to meet some more academics. Its these sorts of discussions that make me think it would be nice to work in academia. But then I just have to think of the exams...