Oakwood as usual, DRAFT: 23-Dec-2017

Once again, a merry Xmas to you all, we hope 2017 was kind to you, and if not, that Xmas provides comfort.

Your scribe hopes that in spite of BT spending all its money on football rights instead of upgrading the abysmal broadband connectivity in the UK anywhere outside London, that the numerous photographs render in something less than geologic time.


January

Issy went off to Oz partly looking at the work environment, partly mooching around and partly visiting far-flung family. The rest of us grumped through January as usual until the annual Burn's night and a diet of Haggis and malt whisky did for the rest of January.




Alannah, Felix, Mum and Dad wave off Issy on her way to Oz.

Issy and great aunt Ethel in Nowra.

Here our lovely friends the Donaldsons once again put a haggis or two to the dirk. Ian is on verse 27 of "ode to a haggis" whilst the rest of us pretend we can understand the words.

February

Your scribe reached the tender age of 69 and there are many aspects of life he now feels he is getting the hang of although these have temporarily slipped his mind. Leo and Alan passed through on their way to a conference, and your scribe flew to Los Angeles for an NSF conference on computational reproducibility, arriving in the middle of the Oscars weekend. On the flight over, he was the only person not going to the Oscars, however when asked by a pretty young thing what he was going for, he modestly explained that he had been nominated for the best horror part not needing makeup. Sadly, the young thing thought he was being serious. He thinks its time to get out less.



Your scribe indicating his preference for chocolates.

Issy demonstrates the one finger jab in the eye to truculent chorus members at the Bolshoi in between Oz and we think New Zealand on her travels.

March

And into March and the first of several visits to your scribe's alma mater, King's College Cambridge, this time for a look at the Alan Turing archive with lots of letters to various contemporaries. The chapel remains a constant source of wonder. The reverb time is close to 5 seconds, but you probably knew that. Izzy left for New Zealand.



Looking up at the barrel-vaulted ceiling of King's chapel. In this high-technology age, your scribe often reflects if we could actually still build such an incredible structure today.

Letters and some of the other memorabilia in the King's archive.


April

A nice month with several opportunities to get out of the house. Your scribe and his old school friends went wandering round what turned out to be Oxford on their annual Bottle of Britain Memorial tour. The highlight of this was visiting the Griffith Egyptology archive at the University and a trip round the Diamond synchrotron courtesy of an old friend there. It's not as big as the large Haddock Collider at CERN but musn't grumble. Who has as much fun as we do ?




This is the Diamond synchrotron or at least a bit of it. It is quite simply stunning engineering.

A memorable day. We were fortunate to get into the Griffith institute, an archive of Howard Carter's artifacts and notes from Tutankamun's tomb. This is the page from his diary for Saturday, 4th November 1922. Carter was always very neat but was a bit overcome with this entry. It reads "First steps of tomb found." It is almost unbearingly exciting to see stuff like this.

Consummate demonstration of the four-way selfie - "Gentlemen in a confused state".


May

Ah yes, the Isle of Wight. Laughing fit to burst, eating fit to burst and a drink or three - a lovely time as always with our old friends. Also Leo passing through from Singapore and a trip to the Eden project squeezed in around the wedding of our neighbours' daughter.




Lots of domes - it must be the Eden project. Well worth the trip.

Your scribe emerging from the steam wondering where he is.

Just to show it was no fluke, another magnificent selfie, this time on the Isle of Wight.




Gillian explaining her immediate needs to the manager of the gin distillery in Cornwall. A small barrel should be sufficient.

Leo and Issy sharing a bit of down time as Leo passes through again.

Richmond Park was spectacular this year. Here Leo and your scribe enjoy the vista.


June

The New Malden Buona Vista social club hit the West End. Your scribe can't remember why though. Food was involved. And drink. The band also played one of its rare gigs, this one a charity gig for the Samaritans and Great Ormond St. Hospital.

mz



Outside somewhere or other in the West End. We had just seen something memorable. Wonder what it was ?

On a rarish appearance in the Colourhouse Theatre in Merton. Issy part way through something by the incomparable Nina Simone.


July

Very emotive month. Gillian was invited to the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Passchendaele on July 31st at Tyne Cot cemetery.




We managed to get there in spite of Eurotunnel's best efforts.

We had just seen the film Dunkirk, so we dropped in at Dunkirk on our way to Zonnebeke. G on the beach - a lovely day with families and children digging holes in the sand. What could be different than the events that took place here in 1940 ?

Your scribe too.



Part of a wonderful ceremony at Tyne Cot.

Gillian with her Granddad.


August

So, we got a last minute cancellation on a trip to see the total eclipse of the sun in Wyoming with a delightful group of people led by two distinguished astronomers. Our third, but this one was by far the best. What a trip ! We also had a family get together as a memorial for her lovely Uncle Albert.




We saw the eclipse on a ranch just outside Jackson Hole. Utterly spectacular. A few hours later the umbra came over from the mountains turning everything an eery brown.

The Grand Tetons, Wyoming at sunrise.

On the way home, called in at Charlotte to see old friends Greg and Liz. This is the view from the back of the seafood restaurant we ate in.



Your scribe imaging a partial eclipse through the holes in his hat designed to let the steam out. If you zoom in, you will see both holes have a partially eclipsed sun - a pinhole hat.

G's family at a get together. My family is very small so they just adopted me. Wonderful lot.


September

We fitted in the 50th anniversary of your scribe's arrival as a callow 19 year-old at King's College, Cambridge. A large number of his contemporaries were able to get there from all over the world and it was a splendid if brief visit.



Your scribe spent his third year in a garret at the top of this mediaeval spiral staircase. Once you enter the door, the temperature drops by around 20C summer and winter. This valiant attempt by the College to make your scribe's brain super-conduct and do better in examinations than had previously been the case sadly failed.

This is a diffraction halo from the nose of the aircraft your scribe was travelling in. It appears here as one of the strongest your scribe has ever seen and should appeal to the physicist in all of you. Er, is anybody still listening ?


October

A bit quieter than last year when we were whizzing round New Zealand. A trip up north working on Nannie's house and at least for your scribe, a large amount of time spent walking and thinking about his research work (he and Greg, mentioned above, are still trying to convince evolutionary biologists that mathematics is quite sufficient to explain some important properties of proteins) in the incomparable Richmond Park.



Dad finds daughter hiding in dustbin.

Your scribe spends quite a lot of time taking pictures of inscrutable signage such as this. Even though he voted to remain, he thinks that in response to Brexit, the EU is attempting to undermine the fabric of our dear country by making all the signs completely incomprehensible. Fortunately, the British people take very little notice of anything, especially the EU, and this elaborate plan to stop Brexit is doomed to fail.



Your scribe walked around 700 miles in Richmond Park this year just thinking and generally annoying the deer. Its never the same and never fails to take his breath away.

An autumnal view over Pen Ponds.


November

We managed a trip to a conference in Budapest, giving us the first chance to see it again in more than 30 years. Its still lovely.



British Airways rise to the challenge of a difficult financial climate with their new budget Budapest offering.

The chain suspension bridge over the Danube and the view from our hotel window. Just to the right of the left hand tower you can see the dome of a building which the incessantly advertised Viking river tours always appear to be passing in front of. Your scribe expected to see a long line of their boats queueing up to float past it but there was only one. Might give that tour a miss.


December

Good grief, December already. Are you all organised ? No, of course you're not. Never mind, just enjoy it !


Gillian tries out her new glasses and to her delight, finds the birthday cake on the first attempt.

Round-up

We hope you and your families are well. We wish you a very merry Christmas and health and happiness in 2018.