A busy work week with little news

News from this end. Well none, I have had a busy week at work and I mean busy. I worked 4.5 days having booked a half day holiday and arranged things for it. So that means I have to take an extra days leave next week but next week is short already. Monday is a bank holiday, Friday is definitely my day off. Its going to be difficult deciding which day and a half I am actually going to be in work. Not helped by the fact that I should take a days study leave in that time as part of my writing weekend.

Work has been getting Information Commons figures for their annual report. The problem was I underestimate the effect 6,000,000 records would have on my computers processing speed. Fine for most things I wanted to do, but not for reading in or drawing graphs. When I needed to do that it was make a cup of coffee time or more accurately go for a leisurely lunch time. It is as well I started working with computers at the end of the days of sending programmes remotely from terminals, finding something to do for several hours, then getting a print out back that said you had made an error on line 10 and the job had not run. You learnt time saving techniques just to get small jobs run and I was using those techniques to finish handling the data I was using. However long hours churning numbers don't make interesting topics to write about.

Stuart can now photocopy the service sheets without me or Judith being there. I think in some ways the breakthrough was when I had to pass him onto Judith. Stuart's attitude when it was me I think was that it was a pleasant way to spend some time with me!!! My attitude was that it was a job I had given up to have time to do my thesis and it was not something I therefore wanted to be doing with someone else. The problem was as long as I did come it fulfilled Stuarts idea of what should happen. It was only when I was not there that he actually started to make the effort to learn how to do things. He did not even take in that there were clear instructions in the room on how to do it. With a person who wanted to do it, you could give them the keys and they could sort it out for themselves without any instruction. With Judith Stuart was not getting the reward so he actually set about learning. The result was last night I handed him the keys and he did the photocopying.

Yesterday I did shopping basically because I needed to. I really need to get more skilled with money off tokens. I could have saved ten pounds yesterday if I had just done! Now I have £15 in money off tokens to be spent by the 13th September. I also spent money on work clothes. My computer seems to have taken a dislike to putting in card numbers and the result is that I end up having to do them over the phone. So I purchased just ordinary trousers, tops and a fleece from Landsend, only for them having to ring me this morning to check. Oh well hopefully I will be smarter in work this autumn than I have been of late. Oh I am also struggling to find wool free walking socks. I also got a multi-tool, I was hoping it would replace both the screwdriver (which is quite bulky) and the penknife in my handbag but I decided that the pen knife had to stay, as it had a bottle opener on it. I think it has only been used once but I can think of at least one other occasion when it would have been useful. Oh anybody who thinks that either is going to be any use in a violent attack better think again. They are always bottom of the bag and they need careful attention when openning. If I wanted an offensive weapon my tiny nail scissors are a better weapon than these.

Today I went to Chesterfield for the service. It was quiet as are most congregations over the bank holiday. The magazine was going out and they have a couple of articles about the process of finding a new minister. Aparently East Midlands moderator has already met with the elders and they need to produce a profile and should be getting on with it.

Family visits make for a busy week

I am again going to go for highlights. Workwise I have been busy struggling with my computer which is struggling with the size of data set I am expecting it to analyse. But that is hardly news. Somebody has asked for stats and I don't think she is aware of how much there actually is in what she has asked for.

On Wednesday Cathy brought Sam and Hannah over. There is now a set pattern for what we are to do. So I went down to the station, I was early so got a soya latte while I waited for the train. I was slightly confused as it was only running as far as Doncaster and normally it goes to Cleethorpes but after Doncaster you were on the bus. Met them at the station, then walked via the tram route around to Ponds Forge and went swimming. Sam was probably the strongest swimmer in the pool and it was very frustrating for him as he could not swim for more than two strokes. Hannah was much to her frustration still too small to go in on the slides and decided that she did not like the waves the first time, and when Mum was not playing ball she said that she wanted the toilet. Sam and I went on the slides a couple of times and we swam around the edge with floats a couple of times as well with Hannah in the float. Actually one time we went around with just a float for Hannah and my hand in contact with her so she knew if she got into difficulties I would be there.

Then it was onto a Chinese Buffet for lunch. The kids thoroughly enjoy being at a buffet and being able to choose what they want to eat. Hannah discovered chicken and sweetcorn soup and ate one and a half small bowls of it. Prawn crackers were still fun. Also Cathy, Sam and Hannah had ice cream and Cathy came back to inform me it was non-dairy but I was so full by that stage I could not have eaten it if I wanted to. We then got the tram up to the University Stop and Hannah decided she wanted to see where I worked. Well as we were right next door, I took them up. Cathy was surprised at the untidiness of my desk. I don't know why, my desks have always been untidy.

Then off to the play park by my flats. They played quite happily for about half an hour, but then Sam and Hannah started to irritate each other the way only brothers and sisters can. We probably kept them playing for another quarter of an hour. Towards the end Cathy suggested they bounced on a trampoline and the one up the hill, so they both charged off. Unsurprisingly Sam got there first, and Hannah dutifully burst into tears at what she saw as unfair so I went to bounce with her at the set that was lower down. Unfortunately I got too cocky and tried bouncing from one to the other, the second time I did it, I did not watch my landing and landed solely on my left leg which decided this was totally unfair and gave under me sending me crashing down. This time hurting my knee. Actually I had already hurt the other knee just bruised from the see-saw which is a multi-person one and to balance things out Cathy sits with Sam while I sit with Hannah. Hannah asked why this was, and I explained I was heavier than Cath and she was lighter than Sam so it sort of evened things out.

Then we went to my flat and this time I remembered where I kept the box of games. Cathy and Hannah played pick up sticks while Sam and I had goes at trying to make up foam pieces into boxes. I eventually got a couple of them out but they are still tricky. Then it was back on to the tram to go to the station, where I handed them their journey bags and a pound each for sweets. Hannah chose a big box of tic tacs and Sam went looking for the best deal he could find and in the end decided that a bag of marshmallows from Mark and Spencers for 99p was it. Cathy meanwhile bought a ham sandwich, a loaf of bread and they had crisps and such for the journey back.

Saturday my parents came over and we went to Potteric Carr Nature Reserve just on the edge of Doncaster. It is a large reserve, if you look on the maps on the website we walked around the green path, which must be about a mile and a half long. There are a number of hides on route. Most of the birds around seemed to be coots or moorhens but I am pretty sure we saw a little grebe and chick as well although there is an outside possibility that it was actually a black necked Grebe. There must have been about fifty to sixty people at the nature reserve but there was lots of space and most of the time it was just us. The restaurant sells fresh food but once out of it, you are back to cafe fare, so we ended up with bacon and egg butties which was dad's suggestion (I know Cathy!). When they came the bacon rashes were more the size of bacon chops and the rolls were large. Mum and Dad started using an knofe and fork, I looked at it for about thirty seconds and decided these had to be eaten as a sandwhich which worked, both Mum and Dad joining me in that approach. After lunch we went to the nearest hide where there was a feeding station. While we were watching a Jay, a colourful member of the crow familly came down, and also a Great Spotted Woodpecker. We then carried on walking around. There may have been some interesting ducks on Decoy Marsh but my binoculars were not good enough to get identification detail from them, ducks yes and appeared to have a lot of white for a mallard, but other than that I could not say.

So to today, and nothing much happening basically as I needed down time after the last seven days and was realising I was getting migrainy sleepy last night. So I cancelled the car and have stayed in today.

This coming week should be quieter. I need to spend some time on greek just to get myself thinking back in that way. Then next weekend I actually have nothing planned and no essay to write so I am looking forward to having a study weekend. I may go to Rotherham on Friday or Saturday to do a recce, well to find the local history library and Tourist information so as to get background to Herringthorpe.

Week ending with a walk with Billy Anne

Anyway having looked at my diary I find I was in Birmingham for a supervision last Monday. I was in a state of panic going as I had forgot to print out the papers. I tend to do this in work. I had two options, one was to print them out in work before I went and the other was to go down there and print them out. I decided that in this case the extra hassle of getting into work did not outweigh the hassle of using an unfamiliar printing system. So I went into work. Just as well I did as both the rooms, I use for computing when I am there, were shut. This only meant therefore I did not get to check my email, rather than have to panic about finding a room and then sussing how the printing works. The other thing I normally do is a bit of a literature search. Checking if there is any papers I should be reading but I have learnt a trick so I can do that at home without going through a complicated set of menus. I took my umbrella and just as I was setting off for the station home it decided to rain. So my umbrella was truly wet. I am also learning that 5:00 p.m. train is very nice thank you. The people who are at a business meeting in Birmingham all get the 4:30 pm train and the people who work in Birmingham all get the 5:30 p.m. train so I get this one in between and there is usually lots of space on it!

At work we have had the results of the Voluntary Severance Scheme. It has not quite got the number of redundancies the University wants but when the fact that older staff were disproportionately represented in the scheme it might do. CICS has been quite heavily hit and what we are loosing is some people with a wealth of knowledge. I am quite sure that managers are going to find things don't happen and wonder why, then realise that the staff that did them have gone and no one has been delegated to do them. The good thing to come out of this from my perspective is that two of the staff who are leaving have decided to set up a walking group that goes for walks once a month and asked me whether I'd like to join. It was just as I was starting to get restless over walking again and wanting to be out doing it, so the timing is perfect for me.

Then Billy Anne made one her bi-annual visits to Sheffield. She said would I organise a days walking before she came, then she said would I organise it for the Sunday 16th August. Well St Andrew's Chesterfield was already holding a walk on that day, so I saw no reason to organise a second. So at 11:30 ish we headed out to Chesterfield to meet up with others on the walk. I made a mistake of thinking that because the roundabout which we turn off from the A68 was a messy last week, it would not be this week (the work on the new Tescos store is going very rapidly, which was the cause of the problem, and I just was over optimistic). The queues were worse, stretching all but twenty yards to the next roundabout. If it had been twenty yards longer we would have taken an alternative route. So we had a long wait and were later than planned at getting there.

We went the scenic route after us following Alec out of the carpark and me then realising he was probably heading home. So back to my map reading as the SatNav was failing to give me Clumber Park (arrgh). We got there, via Coal Aston which is definitely not on the route and then skirted Worksop. Fortunately I was better at navigating around the grounds and we got to the car park that they were meeting in and joined them for lunch. Then we divided into two groups, one group sat around by the cars and otherwise entertained themselves; the rest went for a walk around the lake. Well almost I don't think we got into Hardwicke village but crossed on a bridge before that. The pace was a gentle amble, the sun shone, there was an ice-cream van half way around and then swans and grebes on the lake. At one stage trying to get pictures of swans I crouched down and my left ankle which was bearing my weight decided it did not like this so plonk me down with undue ceremony. No injury apparent at the time but I woke with a stiff back the next day. John, Tricia and David's son thought it was hilarious which it probably was but only he would tell me. We ran Dorothy and Audrey home so were not dependent on my map reading skill and had a commentary and tour all the way. Including arguments about where the former military training college was and being told to stop on top of a narrow bridge to admire somebody's garden (which was delightful) Pictures of the walk are up on Flickr. .

Brief description of busy weeks

Right lets me see about news. Work has been busy, there are both a number of PhD students who are coming fairly regularly to see me for advice plus the department wants some specific statistics for the end of August. I have had to cut back the specific statistics as the link with the database has been lost and we could only handle data for the last year. I finally got the full data sets a week ago on Thursday now all I have to do is to make sense of them. With one of them the first act must be to reduce radically the amount of data stored to that which I am interested in. I wonder if I had better do a Grep Search before reading it into any other package. Grep is a powerful searching tool which is available free and I think only myself and one other member of the department use it.

The weekend before last I went to my parents. The Saturday we spent at Dunham Massey. The idea was to go around the garden and take pictures. This was so I could get more used to my new camera and Dad would actually take some pictures on his while I was around. You can see the half way decent ones I got. The day was warm and we did not get rained on, the cafe was not crowded and we were not caught up in a massive traffic jam, oh and the parking wasn't bad either. So the day scored a complete zero out of all Dad's worries.

The next day we went to Parrswood for morning worship. The numbers were down and they had no organist that Sunday. Not that this phased the congregation who went back to the old cantor led singing quite easily even for hymns where they weren't familiar with the words. Colin acted as cantor, I think on the grounds that somebody had to and given that the choice of elders seemed to be him, Roger Smith (great in the rythmn section but perhaps not so good at the tune) or Ruth, made sort of sense. The preacher was a student studying at the college from overseas. His sermon was different to what we had expected. What was going to happen was that my parents were going to go home then Ruth and I would walk up to the Heatons then Dad might come and pick us up by car. Well we hung around talking so long that mum found the kitchen and the washing up was done by the time they were ready to leave. We then had Sunday lunch and talked until late afternoon, before running Ruth home. I got the train back.

The week feels pretty mundane, I think I had an elders meeting on the thursday that went on and on for hours, just a lot of getting through the business, nothing very exciting, the elders approved a budget, recommended the accounts and agreed aims for the church to go in the annual report. I also went to the Dicksons on Friday for a meal and a talk. They were asking me whether I preferred a 10:30 or 11:00 a.m. start, I said after two years of getting over to Rotherham for a 10:30 start both times are going to give me a lie in!

The weekend was writing. The process of writing is interesting, unfortunately I had a thick day on Saturday when my brain refused to string two sentences together for most of the day. I nursed it along but the rate of work done meant that I did not get to Chesterfield on Sunday. Pity.

Last week again was pretty normal although they have just built a new common room and kitchen at work in the building I am in. This means the old one will become a meetings room. The new one is down stairs, so I bought myself a cup with a lid on it so I can take my coffee upstairs. Actually at the moment they seem to be making a small meetings area just outside my office. There is at present a watercooler, a round table and a chair, all it needs is a few more chairs.

On wednesday I had a migraine. The first one for four weeks, now if the next one could be in six weeks time I will be very pleased. Otherwise just standard work at the office.

Yesterday I went to Leeds for a shipmeet I had organised. The organisation worked by people suggesting places and me looking for a consensus so we ended up at Tropical World which is a set of buildings that try to recreate various tropical zones and have the animals, birds, fish and insects that live there. It is just beside Roundhay Park. Needless to say having planned a day that was ideal for a wet British summer Saturday we had brilliant sun all day! About eleven of us all told turn up, people coming from Hull and Durham as well as Sheffield and York. A group of us met at York Station and then got the taxi out to Tropical World, where we met up with the others. A different selection got the Taxi back to Leeds station at the end. I took my small camera so you can see the pictures.