WMC's diary pages, 2004.

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See-also: http://www.wmc.care4free.net/diary/.

April 2004

Thurs 1st

Fri 2nd

Pm: fun in sun with A & N. Bird box. Then Cory & Ryan (?) stream. Wet shoes. Jesse & Ezra. Bram: router. Talk: fields.

Download 300 Mb of nwn playable demo.

Sat 3rd

D reading in the big chair with the light streaming in. I confess: this one has had a distraction edited out of the foreground. Up 9. B'fast. What to do? Town. M off to w/rose & D back to bed. 'just want to curl up' he says but... I don't believe him. He's too bright-eyed. ME off & D magically recovers.

11-1.30 finish, sand, oil ant farm. Lunch. D has been off at J's.

Pm: M to town. Misc: garden; bw.

Try nwn with D.

Soir: finish nwn demo - its short. And (bar graphics) uninsp.


Sun 4th

Sun sun! D reading Orient Adv cartoons on web.

Arrive ~12, in rain, nearly first. Hello Marion & Ma & Rnlt.

DL play Jesus: 'L, go & tell my disciples I'm still alive'.

Lunch: we share table rnlt. They have new camera but didn't bring. R can retire age 42 with pension then!

Walk by canal. Lovely. But island between cars.

Torrential rain on return. E sleeps with M on sofa.

Try bgii/tob again.


Mon 6th

Take E to M'a late: katie late too. D with M. Work misc. Home just pre-7 in time for tail of dinner: Billy is there. M walks him back, D accompanies under protest.

Tues 7th

April showers.

With D to smoko then I talk with DStevens/jck/aj re higem, while D plays on lego website: the flash stuff half works on my box. Fin 12:20: rain, D lies down to watch the video.

German cafe for lunch - good as ever; crowded. Then rs to indulge D with some lego.

Wed 7th

To Ma 11 (via H for treas stuff). E won't rest & insists on pinching D so I give D permission to retaliate. 2 screaming. Eventually E sleeps.

Chimney sweep quite a bit. Fix 'gallery' in oo.

Clives T's: "rm -rf /bin/laden". Swapped (K vom) "my job went to india & all I got was this lousy t-shirt".

Thurs 8th

1 to Sir Isacc to give ML treas stuff & leaflets. Its cold out.

Home. Despite resolve, sit by fire with coffee. Then heavy rain/hail.

bgii till 12 - d'A free.

Fri 9th

Up at 9 since suspicious noises down. But all is ok. B'fast with E.

Read pc stuff at table & E comes in from l'room: "i'm going to be good". This means, on insp, that she has botty-cream on hands but *hasn't* put it on the sofa. So I wipe her off.

M up 10.20.

Allot 11:20 for 2h. Lots done: 1 1/2 rows pots; garlics transplant; 3 rows onions (those in coming up); peas; b beans.

Lunch at home: eggs. Then out in the sun with E (M quickly retreats inside to sleep by fire). Noticeboard: cut sides for side 2 & glue/screw bottom.

4:30: leave for Ma's via card for M'a. Stop tesco's so M can 'quickly' buy easter eggs for LT.

6: arrive. Late sun. Hello D, Ma.

Get D to write (as practice) a diary.

E comes down after 1h: "i've had a nice sleep"; back she goes. Then D wants a drink.

Midnight: reading Hobbes (with no comp sup). Bed!

Sat 10th

Leak! In sunroom. Why? Ma bath? No sign except wetness near wall. Ma calls known plumber. Who decides its a leak in flashing in gully between 2 bathroom roofs.

D badly behaved. Rnlt arrive 12-ish.

Trubble at lunch: first E, subdued when I threaten to remove her. Then T, forced to eat his soup & thereby sad, noisily.

Fire by M. Ma knits for baby.

I go for a walk 5-6+ but no-one else will come: the very threat makes DL play happily. Grey. Up hill (to R of road towards Marsworth). Quiet up there. Then back round canal circuit. Expt with leaving canal at rd bridge but too much rd walk.

Come back: ELT dinner & D upstairs sad. Why? Won't say. Comes down not-quite-so-sad for late din & game of uno.

Bathtime: DL, TE. I am as usual rejected in favour of M :-(

E wakes in night for light but is denied.

Sun 11th

Up a bit after DE. Ma off to ch; Rob takes T later to kids service. DLE airport lego.

Trad lunch sans lamb: calmer.

3:30: to Ivinghoe beacon. E walks up & most of way back! Well done E. D finds & carries back armfulls of chalk.

Chalk fun. N-&-C's.

Childs tea then misc running. M tries to rescue my nonagram. Bath ET. E weighs 13 1/2 kg (I weigh same in st); T 17-. DL splash a lot & annoy RN but I am relaxed. D & L both 23 but D an inch or 2 taller.

D sleeps on camp bed as ever. Ma says: why does he want to? M says, because he loves you.

Mon 12th

My b'day! Awake late. A present & card from D by my bed: creme eggs; & a pic of under ground pipe explosions with a key: prompted by Ma's leak.

Squirrel: climbs tree outside my window close & sits around looking alert.

School cap (a madelaine (sp?) moment: now an affectionate link to my past. But I'm fairly sure that then I hated wearing it. What would I do with D (or E?). Where do I want them to grow up?). Mother has given me a suitcase of junk - signed bottles for 85 (my 21st) & 86 (at seh). No time to open them all now.

J+J's with M & ET: DL don't want to come. Sun. Birds. Hive dead - remove. JJ out. House - slowly fading: plants invading walks. Photo ET for their future memories. Hard to believe the house will survive jj: you could get 10 on the plot nowadays. But the garden is beautiful. Rob & I may have been the last to play tennis there 25 years ago.

Back: stop at p'gnd. DL are 'killing ants' (L) or 'digging out mud between tiles' (D). ET on swings. ET form a unit quite well, as DL do.

E: k-k: who's there? banana hat!

[Now there is a big gap which I shall attempt to fill as best I can. This is due to the Clie running out of battery... irritating, and all the more so because it was my fault for not bothering to sync regularly or recharge batteries properly. Silly me.

All between now and tues 20th is from my memory]

After lunch we are off on the ill-disguised mystery tour to Northchurch common where we always had our birthdays when young. Mfd+J and F come too. Ma had got me a video of the super-8 tapes of some parties which we watched earlier. So we arrive - skies a bit grey but not raining. I remember the place. after discussion and understanding (and getting L and D down from their climbing tree), Rob and Ma are sent off to set the trail for the "paper chase" (breadcrumbs) are after 10 mins we follow (I don't remember this, but I trust Ma). And then our ill-matched groups follow: D and L with me in tow; N with T; M with E. MfdJF wisely stay with the picnic. We trail about distantly-familiar places and! there they are! crouched down in the dry bracken. Now we must leap out and surprise N and T. And M and E. All found! Good, back for food, sitting on blankets. Splendid. Then a tug of war, with various groupings, mostly unfair to me. And so it goes.

MfdJF take D with them, and we get back home late.

Tues 13th

Wed 14th

Thurs 15th

Town after work: cb1 for fill in a pile of electoral forms and get them sent off to people. All the reminding people will have to be after I get back from EGU.

MfdJD turn up at some point. D has hada good but quiet time.

Fri 16th

Finish EGU presentation OK, somewhat to my surprise, it got to a natural state. That leaves me with an unexpectedly free week next week. I feel a bit at a loose end. So play a little at setting up model on opteron's. Need a/c setup from Jeremy. This gets done and I play a bit over the weekend.

Back 1:30, lunch.

To allotment for 2 hours: lots of stuff in. Near end of what needs to go in and be dug over.

M+J leave 7 ish.

Sat 17th

8:30: To Beryl to talk over PP questions on env and dev. Largely taken from Barton version. House next to her is up for sale. Tell M who finds it on rha.co.uk.

Sun 18th

Rain rain all the day, or much of it: april showers. So we stay in, and are happy. I can't remember what we did but does it matter?

Mon 19th

Last day of hols for D. Since I have a meeting pm I do first half of day. When I get back home M tells me proudly that she has done some gardening! She has dug over the front "herb" bed. Sadly she has dug out all the foxgloves :-( and I tell her so. Still her interest is welcome and I look forward to more!

7:30 to PP meeting. Discuss budget etc. Till 9. BL not keen on Barton q: too intrusive: and indeed it is hard to strike a balance between too many qus and not enough. And what about business's?

Tues 20th

[And today the record recovers]

Back to school! By dint of not dawdling to much in bed, and by forgetting D's PE kit and water bottle, I get him to school in time and E to M'a. Hurrah: now off to work.

Organise session at 11 to hear my, Nicoles and JCK's egu talks. All goes well, and mine works rather well I think even if Howard offers some comments. At least no-one says "you can't compare ULS to SSMI" which is what I was afraid of.

Home, recover some foxgloves from trug and replant a few. Sit with coffee and finish Madouc - something of a disappointment over what I remembered, vol 2 is much better - just in time to go collect DE. Rescue sign by climing school tree. IMcG says he has sent me a mail but I didn't get it. Will see plans tomorrow. School pond needs finishing: BM looking at it.

Home: after finding D's PE kit and boots he rushes off to play with Jesse - he promised them he would, he says, and must keep his promises. E and I bumble - I restore palm :-(

Wed 21st

Smoko with E, then pool (quiet); arj/cb1. Slightly short to get back by 2 for N to take EP dancing.

Talk IMcG re house: roof design: scale him back, sigh.

Home free: game a bit.

Notice boards as D invites J&E round. M & I conflict as I try to suggest to D he should play with them, since they are here, & not make lego for E.

Soir: M book club I game: guardians of king Stromb. Also JPO proofread.

Thurs 22nd

W. Y now on wed so I miss it.

Back 1; misc till 2. Then 1 1/2 allot (Mrs Spencers charlottes at front, & transplant poppies). Hello E at BW but leave her with M'a. Brief tidy before Mr RHA comes round to value house & then we go see #81 Whitwell. M is too late, still working. Irritating (to her too) but not surprising.

D's piano: he misbehaves & M gives up on him so he becomes sad: what does he want? Or expect?

Soir: I play to 9; then M works till v late: 2 :-(.

Fri 23rd

Bask in sun in bed.

E is drawing on chalk board. But what? "i'm drawing a daddy-i-come-from-space".

Get wild garden key from school. Work as usual; home 2.

Pick up happy E after school and see D off with D (no multi-sports this term: not sure why not).

Dusk: finish off last couple of rejuventated frames from J+J's hive and put them in: a complete set. All ready for when/if they swarm.

Soir: more BG ii sadly, in the planar sphere, now we're strong enough.

Sat 24th

School pond 10. Unplanned: I had expected Barbara to have plans better in order. Nettles have grown up wonderfully in a month, oops. Still we set to, edging, cutting nettles, and filling pond. M drops off D when she and E are off to w/rose, and he stays with us rather than playing football with other kids - its almost to hot to play, anyway. Its certainly hot digging. Break to see Caroline P's solar installation which she seems happy with - but it was £5k.

Bees swarm at 2.30. Its hot: sit in shade. J&E around. Leadership fights, perhaps.

They end up in the tree house, with D hanging off the rope ladder displaying his bottom and doing something I shall not relate in this place.

Bees settle in spare hive: kind of them. & well done me. Put out spare super with floor and roof in case the other hive does the same. Hopefully the first lot *will* settle - there is nothing I can do if they don't since I'm off early tomorrow.

Show M (and D) around the plants that she needs to know about watering.

Soir: start packing etc. Realise (oops) that BAs networks are down this weekend so I can't burn my talk (I so nearly did it yesterday; and so nearly asked JCK to take a copy). Argh. It *should* be OK in that its downloadable, I hope. Also I can't get my easyjet booking ref but in theory I don't need that. Or the hotel... Anyway, pack, trying to stick inside 5kg hand luggage, tricky with 1 1/2 kg of portege. Decide on old camera: more portable.

Finish planar sphere, a good place to plause for a while. 23:30: I must go finish packing!

Sun 25th

Come down 8:30: D playing spider on comp. E l'room has pyg round neck.

I try to open rice crispies from u/neath. E: no! You're opening from wrong end. ED amused.

To jck's to catch flight taxi. D unkeen: why? But ok when there.

Flight ok. Views of alps: Mt Blanc? There 4:30. Sun. Decide to walk. Navette t1, then walk. Suisse 6, a few stops along way. Beachlife. Boules at far end, trad fr dusty court. Algerians too.

Suisse. View & room superb.

With John & Nicole. Claire Fontaine. Pizza excellent, coffee slow: they are too popular! egu #1

Mon 26th

Up 7:15, bfast 7:30 (with N) to be in at 8:30 for Earth Stimulator talk. Impressive! Grotesque! T1200 L96 sims. Cost €300m (for 8k nodes, ie €30k/node). Beautiful results (coffee-table) but no science. Thence to epica/dome-c for general interest stuff - miss EW's talk. 8 glacial cycles (740kyr).

2.5myr - long term v slow cooling. Since 1my 100kyr (prev 40kyr); since 500kyr greater amplitude. Merge or jump? Mis 11 'best' analogue - burckle '93 - prev thought 20m+ sl rise - hence wais collapse? He argues now for only 3m (d q bowen) because stg 12 was a super-glacial.

Dome-c: Co2 min at 8kyr bp at 260 ppmv; methane min 550 ppbv at 5kyr (sig diffs to grip) to 700 now.

Light lunch with jck/mai, who convinces me to go for a walk this pm: there's not much on. So it would have been better to not lunch, & to have a map... hey ho. Anyway, back to acrop to make wireless work (after 10 mins it does; ch ssid & dhcp server & then it reports "punching through firewall". Train st (riquier) but next in 1h (4:02) so wander off looking for decent map & discover good route up Chemin avenue banco then steep steps to crest: mt alban. Views Nice. & sign for sentier to villefranche: why not. Pinewoods, small flowers, red dust track, steep down. Views Cap Ferrat. March through town in hope of 4:02 but miss by 10 mins so await :40 & rest & write. A drop rain. Beach villef under stat better - coarse sand.

Trains back at: 17:17, :47, 18:33, 19:35, 20:06, :52.

Half hour up to Eze village, but I was steaming. Its steep! (& I have abs vol & portege in pack). Winds past spiffy limestone cliffs. Lots pics. 'village' tres cute, old stone & plaster, footways only: modern bit is behind. Bier on terasse with view down down to sea, if you perch on the wall. Kids play chevaux in street but stop at sight of me.

Decide to be bold: up Mt Bastide & then we shall see. Sun. Over canyon-spanning bridge & up path. Big blue flowers with yellow centers on bushes. Limestone. Half h to top. Views back to Eze on way up. Race down far side to col. Various options (copy N?) but its 6:45 now. Go down to la trinitie & gare. Pleasant: greener. Orchids. Motorway :-( leaps. Cement usine. Single track, train 8:12, so go for a bier.

Resto indian in port 9 thanks to lift (& we talk! In fr!) from helpful fr/asian chap after train fails me (dim & feries). Walk part by river.

Tues 27th

B'fast with N again. In for 8:20, another pure morning. Quick mail check - wireless still works.

Mann is in expo - irritating. Go to ocean stuff but its dull. Download piccies - wireless ok after 3 tries. Odd.

Fronts: orsi ''95.

Over to expo: posters: GyroScope floats: Böme (lboehme@ifm-geomar.de) & Send. AJen's autosub swell poster.

Last 1kry talks: Goosse: deforestation a negative & inc so forcing over last 1kyr. Orbital ch too, seasonally but not annually.

Fans of award-winning talk tedium packing hall for P Jones but were disappointed: material & presentation good. Strongly emphasises need for proxies that actually correlate to (instrumental) t data. & check corrs given in papers. Models greater var than obs. Why? Which at fault? Notes that a large t shift mwp/lia implies greater clim sensitivity... Etc & le roy Ladurie: harvest date since 1370. Heuristic t relation but much non-climate var: needs historian. Calib 1957-2001 r2=.7 ish. "a quantification of le roy's pioneering work". Moberg: 2kyr nh recon. Avg via wavelets cutting tree rings off at ?80y? More lia that jones+mann - why?

Lunch: turkish: mezze then baklava: good.

Cliwoc: winds from ships logs 1750-1850. D Parker takes up the Phil Jones challenge. PJ in hist talks notes that digitising logbooks is much cheaper for getting nao than icecores or treerings.

Ox chap: Bayesianism: some people thought you should vary pi! What about freezing pt of water? Lsecats.org. LA Smith, 2002, pnas 99: 2487-92. Mwr 130 2002. Qump talk: well resourced. Qump is "well ahead" of climpred.net.


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