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...