All going on!

Things have been so busy this month that it is just getting silly!

At work we had the sudden news that the department was moving.  We have been in the same place for my whole 25 years at the place, and this came out of the blue.  The time frame for getting the current location cleared was very short, but somehow it was managed.  We are now in temporary offices and I will be moving again at the end of August.  So much for the quiet summer that we normally have in the academic world!

Number One Son also just graduated, as a Master of Physics with a First Class Honours Degree. 

He tries to be modest, but his pride in his amazing achievement really shows in this pick...
We had been thinking that this might be our last visit to |Lancaster Uni, which is about as far a way from home as you can get and still be in England, but no!  Arnie, our youngest, is showing interest in going there himself in a year or so!

Mrs RC and I travelled up on the day and stayed over night, allowing us an evening there to have a meal and relax a bit.  This was much needed, and was almost like having a mini holiday!  Yes, things have been that busy!

Custard the Labrador is really feeling his age this year, with some leg problems really affecting him now.  He is having injections that are working well for him, so hopefully we can hang onto him for a while yet.  It all comes down to quality of life, and he is still happy at the moment.  He walks when we arrive at our destination, but he now has to ride in his cart that we have had for many years knowing that this would happen at some point.

The house is going to be really full again soon.  Not only has Number One Son moved back "for ever", but one of his friends is also going to move in.  Never ones to turn our backs on someone in need, it will be a squeeze, but it will also be fun.  He is a great lad who we have kind of adopted as part of the family so he will fit right in.

I really can't believe how long it is since I posted again.  MUST TRY HARDER!

Washed Out...

Last week, my part of England had very miserable weather, but as the weekend rolled it everything cheered up, with the sun starting to break through the clouds and the temperatures rising to something reasonable for the time of year.


This was spoiled for me on Sunday when a stomach bug arrived and kept me trotting to the loo all day.


Yesterday I was still trying to shake it off, so called in sick and spent the day trying to rest and revitalise myself.  More or less managed it, but I am still feeling a bit under the weather today.


I am now waiting to go out for my Tuesday evening of games, but a thunderstorm just rolled through and caused a bunch of sudden localised flooding around the place.  Hopefully things will have drained before I have to leave, as I will be getting very wet trying to retrieve my bike if not!


Number One Son has now finished his Masters, and is very confident of getting a good overall grade.  He is now having a short holiday with a few friends before we bring him home.  Can't wait.


Our daughter has also had good things happening, making it clear that leaving her job was a good move.  She has been accepted at the Uni that I work at, studying Criminal Psychology and Forensic Investigation.  This means that she can live at home while studying, which will save a load of money for all of us.  Mrs RC is also fascinated by the psychology part of this course so wants to read her books too!  Also, given that my Masters will be focussing on Anti-Social Behaviour, there will be a lot of crime study going on at home come the Autumn!


Hm, looks like the rain has passed, hope the drains are working...

Long, lazy weekend...

Monday was a Bank Holiday over here.


Some people like to have a nice long, lazy weekend, relaxing in the early summer sun, soaking up a beer or two.


Others like to treat it as the time to do some major work on the garden, getting it ready for summer.  It is a traditional time for planting up those final flowers, digging ponds, fixing decking and arches, etc.


This makes it a busy time for A&E departments, of course.


On Saturday we moved Mr Chuffington into the front garden, which is more wild than the back garden.  The change in environment is very dramatic from him, as he used to be on a paved area with much less interesting stuff to do.  He seems to be having real fun with it, rummaging around under bushes and in the grass, and marking his territory. 


So, on Sunday morning we bit the bullet and set about digging another, bigger pond for the fish.  The big fish (including Lonesome George) will move into this one while the smaller pond becomes a nursery pond if they spawn again.  Last year they had babies and we took some indoors for safety, but they gradually died.  After we lost the last four the tank was cleaned and refreshed.  We bought three more fish, which died within days.  With this final defeat, we have decided to go strictly outdoors for our fish.


The new pond quickly took shape, and on Monday we bought the liner, fitted it and filled the pond with fresh water.  We will be giving the new pond a couple of weeks to settle (and will be moving some water across from the old pond so that it gets some life in it) before we move George and Co across.


Had a moment when I thought I would be on my way to A&E.  I was loading clods of earth into a hand truck to be moved to the front garden when I took a step backwards.  Only my foot caught on something, causing me to just topple over backwards.  Luckily I landed OK, suffering nothing more than a small graze on my back and a bruise on one buttock.  Nothing a nice hot bath couldn't fix.

Update for anyone who is still hanging around here...

Well, the last couple of months have been busy, routine, and with a fair dollop of stress from various sources.


Number One Son has been working through to the end of his Masters, having a bit of a crisis along the way, thinking that what he was doing wasn't up to standard.  His grades are coming back and although some are below his usual (not necessarily his own fault IMO) they are still enough to get him in as top of the year.


He comes home soon, for ever apparently!  Time to sit back and see what he wants to do next!


Our daughter became disillusioned with where she was working, so is now applying to go to a local University to study Forensic Science.  This means that she can live at home while she studies, which will be both nice for us and a lot cheaper for her!  Hope she gets a place!


Our younger son, Arnie, is in the middle of his exams, and has also had a bit of a crisis, not thinking that he is being taught everything he needs to know.  A ton of self study later and he is doing OK, feeling that things are going well now.


Roll on summer, eh?

Oh my poor neglected blog

Yes, I seem to have turned into one of those bloggers...


But I have been doing this for 10 years now and I guess there is only so much to write about.


Life has settled down for the moment, work is steady and  a little more taxing than it used to be, meaning that the breaks that I used to use to write now tend to be spent trying to escape from my PC!


So there is not much to say today.


It is foggy outside, which I like.  Not the obvious thing for a cyclist to say, I guess, but I find that it slows the cars down and generally makes the journey more enjoyable.


Mrs RC is about to reach one of those birthdays, so to celebrate we are having a family day in London.  Number One Son will be joining us from Uni too, which will make the day even more special.  We will be visiting a couple of shops that we have wanted to go to for a while, maybe a market or 2, wrapping the day up with a meal in China Town.  Looking forward to it immensely!


Oh, and I have another Star Wars tournament at the weekend.  I now have so many ships that I am at a total loss as to which ones I should use.  So many options.  I will probably go with the ones I like most rather than the ones that I think are tough - my usual approach to things, which probably explains why I am poor and happy!


Hope to see you all soon!  I will be playing blog catch up later today, I promise!

Winter!

Proper winter has finally arrived in England.


Over the weekend the warmish wet weather that has been with us more or less constantly since the early autumn has been replaced by clear skies, cold, crisp air, frozen puddles and ponds, and frosty grass.


Love it!  Of course, when there is ice on the road I have to be careful, checking for traffic before pulling into the middle of the road to go around it.  I know the roads very well, but don't want to get too intimate with them  :-)


Most of England also had a dose of snow at the weekend too!  It worked its way south, reaching London and the counties to the north and west of Kent, but we had nothing.


Boo!


We like a bit of snow!


Custard loves snow, and will roll in it, making doggy angels.


Frou Frou hates it, though, as she gets it stuck to the fur around her feet and between her toes.  This does not amuse her, and means that she ends up being carried home, which is not an easy task given that she is rather heavy for a small dog and we still have 2 other dogs on leads!  If we do get some snow here I suspect that there will be 2 walks.  One for Frou Frou and Spot (who is rather attached to his bed that is next to a radiator) and one for Custard.  He likes to get out and about, regardless of the weather!

Circle of Life?

Wow, famous people seem to be dropping like flies this year.

Lemmy was not the greatest singer or musician, but her was the arch-type rocker...


David Bowie needs no introduction.  His massive range of styles means that there can be few people who do not like at least something of his, even if it is only The Laughing Gnome or his Christmas duet with Bing Crosby.


His songs were the background music to my teen years, and I saw him live in the 1980s during the Glass Spider tour, which was amazing.

And the today, we here about the death of Alan Rickman, one of the greatest actors ever, IMO.  From the bad guy in Die Hard to Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility to his wonderful role in Galaxy Quest, he always played the part to the full, tugging at heart strings with his subtle facial expressions.  Just watch this stuff from Galaxy Guest, a dumb spoof of Star Trek that he takes to another level.




A sad year so far!  Let's hope this is the end of it!

New Year is under way....

2016 has been very busy so far, both at home and at work.  Nothing in particular, just busy.  Part of the business at home has been that I now have a table in the bedroom where I can play small games with my Star Wars ships.  I have been able to experiment at odd moments with different combinations of ships and weapons.  Great fun.

We are still looking after Spot, my mum's dog, but on Saturdays I take him to her house for the day.  She is OK in the house, but still lacks the mobility to get out on her own, so this week I took her out in a wheelchair.  We took Spot to the park, where we saw this Mandarin Duck on the pond.

There was only the one, in with all of the other ducks, but he really stood out.  It seems that there are a few thousand of these in the wild in southern England these days.  Would be nice to see some more, and maybe some babies in the future.

Mrs RC has been doing more knitting and crochet.  One of her latest creations is this blanket that she made for my mum.  My mum loves it, and so does Garfield the cat!

The unseasonally warm weather has continued, and Mr Chuffington has failed to hibernate again.  He has not been very active, but he has come out of his bedroom each night to eat half a tin of dog food, and meal worms.  Tonight he was waiting for me to bring his bowl, so I snapped a pic.

I don't think he was very impressed...

Christmas

I have had an amazing Christmas this year.

All of the kids have been home, and everyone has been in high spirits.  Not the most sociable of Christmases. but Armie's girl friend visited on Christmas Day and me had my mum over for Boxing Day dinner. Funny, but as my mum has got older she has become increasingly manipulative.  

My mum used to be the most selfless person ever, and still is when animals are involved, but with people she now likes to get her own way more and more.  So we had been planning our Boxing Day dinner when, at some point, she drops the comment that she has not had a good curry in a long time.

Not the most traditional of Boxing Day dinners, but it was rather good.  I made a really good curry with small chunks of beef in it - and the beef just melted in your mouth too.  It was a sort of korma, creamy, coconuty, and spicy enough to be delicious but not too hot.  This was served with home made naan breads and Mrs RC made some wonderful onion bhajis.  YUM!

This Christmas has also seen the return of my cooking mojo.  At some point I lost it, and have not wanted to cook for some time, but as Christmas got closer I felt something stir in me, and I have really enjoyed cooking again.  Mrs RC has also enjoyed letting me cook too!

Mrs RC has taken up crochet again, starting by making things for a local charity shop.  Having made some dinosaurs and reindeer and stuff for the shop, she decided to make a Yoshi for Number One Son.  This was done without a pattern...

Yes, she just made it up as she went, with no pattern of any sort to guide her!

As predicted, this Christmas was very Star Wars.  Not only was the new movie released and utterly wonderful, I got some new ships for my X-Wing Miniatures collection.

I knew I was getting these ones, including the big cockroach ship from The Empire Strikes Back:

But I actually got this lot!

They are getting an outing tomorrow, when 4 of us will be having a big battle at the local game store.  It is going to be spectacular!  I will try to remember to take photos...

Hope you all had a great Christmas!  I will be catching up soon.

Photo Post

I have been thinking that I have not taken many good photos this year.  On trawling through my files, I think I was wrong.  Here are a few of them.

Rolling into the holidays...

Only 2 and a bit days of work left now!


The Uni is open until 23 Dec, but I booked a few days off so I could finish on Friday.  Then Mrs RC announced that, due to the expected crush in the shops on Saturday, she was going to do hers on Friday!  That was not on!  She couldn't do that!  So I booked Friday off too, so we can go together.  Even if I only get to carry the bags, at least I will be there.


Then we will be ready.


Number One Son is home and settled in, much to everyone's relief.  Our daughter finishes work on Friday and Arnie finishes school then too.  Our daughter is really hyped for Christmas this year.  It is her first Christmas working, and she has been spending so much it makes my eyes water!  She even forced us to put up the decorations at the weekend, even though we all had colds and sniffles and would rather have just snuggled on the sofa and watched TV.  Still, it is all done now, thanks to her.


I guess this is going to go down in history as the biggest Star Wars Christmas ever?  The new movie will be huge, I know it.  They hype is now crushing, the nerds are bursting with excitement (OK I am in there too), and I am getting some new ships for my game.  The one I can't wait for is the Rebel Transporter.  Remember the ship that leads the escape from Hoth, the one that looks like a huge cockroach?  That is it.  It is going to be so much fun in games.  No guns or missiles, but it does have a bunch of nice abilities that just mess with the enemy.  And to just add to it all, between Christmas and New Year I am organising a big game at the local game store, which will feature as much of my collection as I can squeeze in.  Big ships, little ships, the Falcon being chased by Boba Fett, etc.  Ooooh yeah!  Going to be a real geekfest!


See you soon!  Hope you all have a great Christmas, but I am sure I will be back before then.

What are the odds?

The north of England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland have been suffering the attentions of Storm Desmond, which has dumped a month's worth of rain in a day or so.


Number One Son's University is on the southern fringe of the area that has taken the most damage.  The city has escaped serious flooding, unlike some towns and cities further north, but they have lost their electricity.


On Sunday afternoon, the university announced that it was closing early for Christmas, everyone had to go home.  Easier said than done!  Number One Son relies on the train to bring him home for Christmas, and although they were offering free buses to where the trains were actually running we were doubtful that he would be able to complete his trip before the trains stopped running for the night, given the chaos that seemed to be reigning anywhere north of Liverpool.


I was about to ring my brother and ask if he fancied driving to Lancaster and back over night when a reply appeared on Facebook in reply to a forlorn message that I had posted.  I had asked if any of Number One Son's friends had electricity, and I got a sheepish "um, yes" from his best friend up there. 


Somehow, in a city that is in total darkness, (according to the news the city and its surroundings have 55,000 houses with no power) one house has power. 


Theirs.


So he trotted down and took refuge with them, and is staying there until the trains get running again, hopefully Wednesday or Thursday.


So, what are the odds?


I think it is our own little Christmas Miracle.

The End is Nigh!

The end of term, that is!  Just over a week to go!


Then Number One Son will be back from Uni and Christmas can really get under way.  We are planning on a good family Christmas this year - lots of fun together, less of the expensive presents - the kids are having trouble thinking of things they need anyway, so it is coming to things like gym membership for Arnie the power-lifter.  Oh, I am suspicious about one present that is being bought.  I am sure it is for me and I think I know what it is.  If I am right I will be a very happy bunny  :-)


Talking of bunnies, ours are getting into a breakfast in bed routine!  When I go to feed them in the mornings they look out of the bedroom part of their house and wait for me to poke food through the bars for them - going down to the food bowl is obviously too much effort these days, bless them!  Of course, I am happy to oblige, they look so cute!


OK, time to nip out for lunch before I take a small class this afternoon.  It is generally grey out there these days, but reasonably warm - VERY warm for the time of year!  Trying not to get too used to it, it is going to be a real shock when (if) the snow arrives!

December!

December is here, and the Spirit of Christmas is starting to stir in me.

I am wearing a Christmas t-shirt.

My DVD of "A Christmas Story" is close at hand.

I have bought a Christmas present (Secret Santa at work), and tried to buy another but failed, as it was sold out.  I will have to hit Amazon for that, I guess!

Spot is still living with us.  My mum is back at home, but not up to walking Spot just yet so he is living with us and visiting, which seems to work well.  Spot is enjoying having two homes at the moment, trying to stop the cats taking charge of my mum's house when he visits...

Work has changed a fair bit in recent months, as I have been relieved of my more mundane work and given more time to work on mapping exercises for students as well as some headroom to start probing some research interests.  All good stuff, but more taxing on the brain.  No more "oh I feel like doing something that doesn't need thought, I will update the registers".  No, my brain is engaged all day, which is good, very good, but it does mean that I am losing my grip on my Sci-fi novel, which is a shame.  I am hoping that I will adjust and be able to get back to it.  I was enjoying it.  The heroes have just "stolen" a battle cruiser and flown off to see what is really happening in the galaxy... I used quotes above because can the Galactic Emperor really steal a ship that belongs to his own navy?  If Obama decided to take Airforce 1 for a quick fly around would it be thought of as stealing?  Discuss  :-)

For now...

...enjoy this:

Life, eh?

The weekend started off well enough - a great day on Saturday playing Star Wars games.  I came last (my fleet was designed for fun not winning) but had an amazing time doing it.


Then, on Sunday morning, it all went pear shaped.  My mum had a fall and broke her leg.  Into hospital, metal rod screwed in place by mid afternoon, all seemed as good as it could be.  With luck she would be home by next weekend.  Except now they are saying probably another week or two, as they don't think she is improving fast enough.  Really?  She has arthritis in both knees and now has a broken leg to recover from, how much do they expect from her?  We have got her dog, Spot (previously my dad's dog, they divorced years ago but stayed on reasonably good terms) living with us now and have offered to have her stay with us for a while too if necessary, so we will see.


Our dogs seem happy enough to have the visitor staying with us, although from time to time we do catch Frou Frou with a sort of "Is he STILL here?" expression on her face.  She is a funny little thing.  At least he seems to be distracting her from trying to bite the young fish through the fish tank's glass.  It is a wonder she hasn't chipped a tooth!


Ah well, more soon.  Have a good week!

Poor Neglected Blog...

Back for another visit to my poor, tumbleweed infested blog.


What has been happening in the world of RC?


Hm....


Flu. 


Yes, we have had a plague ravaging the house.  Mrs RC is in her third week of feeling bad, I am in my second week, thought I had shaken it but it is still lingering.


We had a parents evening at school for Arnie, our youngest.  Mrs RC usually goes, but as she was deep in the misery of flu I went along instead.  Nothing but praise for our guy (forgot the Proud Parent Warning, sorry!).  But he is doing a great job, getting his work done in good time, getting to the gym, having a social life.  He even took one of the teachers to task for being late giving out some homework because it messed with his timetable!


England seems to have a blanket of fog at the moment, there are some great photos showing just the tops of London's tallest buildings poking out of it, eg...

It is pretty think, often dropping visibility to about 50 yards, which makes the roads a bit dicey at times!

Had a good ride in the fog on Sunday.  I had been planning a day with lots of rest, but early on the light tube in the main bathroom died, so I decided to go for a stroll down to the local hardware shop to buy a replacement.  I ambled down there only to find they were out of stock, so I ambled back home again.

The next nearest hardware store is about 2 miles away, or 3 if you take the meandering lanes which are much safer in the fog.  So I jumped on my bike, peddled over (following the lanes for safety), bought the tube and peddled back again.

As soon as I took the tube out of the box I knew it wasn't right.  They are not supposed to rattle!

So back to the shop, along the lanes again, grabbing a replacement that did not rattle (4th time lucky!), and then home again.

This one did keep me hanging for a couple of minutes before it actually came on, but it did work in the end.

By this time it was mid afternoon, and Mrs RC was just putting a huge roast dinner on the table, so all was well in the end.  And no one had to have a bath in the dark that night...

Seeing Doves in a New Light

I have spoken about doves a fair bit this year.

It started with the dumb pair who were trying to nest in a ridiculous place.

Then I got to thinking that doves are just the natural victims of the bird world.  I see them bullying each other, but I also see them being bullied by every other bird that comes along.  They just don't seem to have any fight in them.

But that view changed today.

As I was leaving for work, I looked up at the nest that is on our house, with its third pair of babies.  Yes, the dumb doves certainly know how to reproduce now they have a good place to do it!  The mother had just hopped from the next to the roof, possibly on her way to find breakfast, possibly because she sensed that something was wrong.

There on the roof was a magpie - notorious eaters of other people's babies.

The magpie hopped closer to the dove.

The dove lifted off, then dived at the magpie, attacking with all the ferocity of a mother defending her babies.

The magpie retreated, looking shocked, but this retreat was clearly not enough, and the psychotic dove dived on it again, forcing the magpie to flee!

Yeah.

Look at the photo above again with admiration, she is a real tough cookie!

Good stuff

I guess it had to happen - Country music is getting bigger and bigger over here, and sooner or later some Brits would have to try their hand.

I think these two do a pretty good job, watch out for them!

The Long Haul

Took Number One Son back to Uni on Sunday, a round trip of a little over 600 miles.  My butt is still recovering from sitting down for so long...


The traffic going up was pretty good, except for one incident.  We were rolling along merrily, over half way there.  All I did was say how good the traffic was being.


I caught the look from by brother who was driving.


Then I realised that there was no traffic coming the other way.  Not a good sign.  Within seconds our side of the road had ground to a halt, and then crawled for a couple of miles.  We then reached the crash site, which had just been cleared, and everything moved off as normal again.  The blockage on our side seemed to be solely caused by people "rubber-necking"!


The Uni was reasonably quiet when we arrived.  The Saturday had been the big arrival day, so we dodged a bullet there!  My son is back in the same room as last year, which was rather nice for him.  We quickly unloaded, then headed to get some lunch at a pub that we are starting to feel like regulars at.  Then is was time to say goodbye and head southwards for home.  The return traffic was rather less pleasant, but not the worst we have experienced, but we passed the time in the usual way with a constant stream of chatter about everything from Syria to queuing in shops.


I had the foresight to book Monday as holiday, so I had a bit of a laying, then Mrs RC and I went out for breakfast that had become lunch by the time we arrived.  Having eaten we then did a bit of shopping before heading home for a fairly lazy afternoon and evening! 


I totally slept through the red moon thing that happened, it was at its best over here between 3am and dawn, which is not a time that I tend to be awake.  Never mind, my camera is not great for that sort of shot anyway...


Hope you are having a great week!  More soon.