Number 4

WP_001226, a photo by Dr Yool on Flickr.

My post-Christmas stash ... every last calorie must go!

Biomodelling

Finally got around to sorting out the photographs from 2010's Biomodelling Christmas Lunch. Unfortunately, an inexplicably low ISO setting left quite a few heavily blurred, and this was followed by the camera's flash bulb giving up the ghost while the night was still young. So something of slim pickings this year, though there were a few good ones along the way ...






More photos over at Flickr.

Anyway, the meal went pretty well again this year. Better, in fact, than other years I'd say. So we might well wind up back at the RSYC later this year. That said, I think I may try to delegate organising to someone else next time though. It's not exactly a big deal to sort out, but I've probably served my time by now - not least because I've been conservatively sticking to the same formula for years.

In other news, and cf. an earlier posting, we did shamble onto the usual territory when we were all slightly the worse for wear. Not my doing this time, but APM and BS were keen to rabble-rouse for their side of the argument. I don't think that they won many converts, in fact if anything they seemed to stir natural allies against them, but critical thinking skills were probably not at their sharpest then.

I wound up at the periphery of the discussion debating (with the BAG man) whether the "free will" I'm interested in is more or less important than a sociological definition concerning the opportunities available to less fortunate members of society. That was fun, though I seem to recall that we drifted markedly, and that I wound up in full misanthrope mode and bemoaning the fate of the environment. Fun, fun, fun.

Christmas in Carnoustie

Now that we're effectively "snowed-in" in Soton, I can catch-up on the blogging I've been putting off for the past couple of weeks ...

• 22 December: Bit of a disrupted journey up. Snow on the east coast made my parents wary of coming to get me from the airport, so I prebooked a bus ticket for this leg instead. Not that this helped me: delays elsewhere in the UK stalled my flight 2 hours, causing me to miss my ride. These were then compounded by the world's slowest carousel-loading service at Edinburgh - a record-breaking 65 minutes after touchdown. Anyway, after ditching the idea of making an alternative bus connection (Megabus being pants), a short bus hop (with a young Australian climate skeptic; Tate/Nate) followed by a train ride got me to Dundee. The roads to Carnoustie from there were sufficiently clear for a parental rescue.
  
  
• 23 December: Overnight, a further few cm of snow fell making ideal conditions for me to waste time taking faux arty photographs. Walked through the woods and along the High Street to the Flats, where Caitlin and I made a snowman. In the PM there was the ritual fixing of the parents computer to attend to.
  
  
• 24 December: No new snow, but I disastrously postponed my walk until the afternoon, whereupon it started instead to rain. So this turned into a stay-at-home day whose primary achievement was present wrapping. Despite the rain, the snow persisted, turning instead into snowman-useless ice.
  
  
• 25 December: Christmas Day had the usual shape of a walk (this time along Carnoustie beach at sunrise), followed by a family get-together. I caught up with both brothers, their partners and both of my (new-ish) nieces.
  
  
• 26 December: Though now suffering from the traditional CCC (Carnoustie Christmas Cold), in the PM I took a walk out along the beach between East Haven and Arbroath. Cue panorama beach photographs. Despite said cold, I was still able to be appalled by the sewage farm section of the walk. Out to see Jennifer et al. in the evening.
  
  
• 27 December: Spent the morning playing with Caitlin on her Wii, largely on the game that I bought her for Christmas. We also tried out some of the Wii fitness stuff - actually a lot more arduous than I figured it would be. The games aren't quite what I'm used to (less headshots, for instance), but playing alongside someone in the same room, and doing so via a quite physical interface, is a lot of fun. In the PM I carefully ventured across the snowy roads to neighbouring Monifieth to catch up with Phil's parents. The evening saw me round at the Bickerton's, catching up with the family and finally passing along much-belated birthday presents.
  
  
• 28 December: After being unable to resuscitate my parents' aged printer (a decade-old Epson), it was off to the town of my birth to secure a replacement. The shining newcomer impressively doubled as a scanner, but curiously managed (and manages - I never got to the bottom of this) to interfere with the wireless broadband whenever it was switched on. Out in the PM for a walk around Craigmill Den with Dave, Suze and Harry. The evening was a great get-together with the full gang, though alarmingly high in nostalgia index.
  
  
• 29 December: More mucking about on the parental PC, and an effort to spreadsheet Dad's blood sugar data. No interesting long-term trends, but I did find out how alarmingly early he gets up in the morning. Round to Colin and Catherine in the PM. Sounds like they had an interesting cruise-based trip around Norway and Iceland since my last visit. Spent my last Carnoustie evening down with brothers and family. Much shooting of the breeze followed, plus some shooting of airport hostages. Reminded me that consoles really aren't as good as PCs.
  
  
• 30 December: Packing and photographing Ava. She accompanied me to the airport in the PM, but in distracting her with my (new) phone, I managed to leave it behind in Scotland (it finally made its way to me on the 3rd January). The return journey was a nice contrast in timeliness to the upward leg. Home.
  

Christmas creativity

I'm completely useless at making anything myself by hand. Fortunately, the magic of the internet means that, as long as I can turn something into a digital file, someone else can turn it into a physical item for me. So, this year I've tried to knock up a couple of presents for C this way.

First up, her favourite novel as a Penguin-style mug ...



Next, ripping off the local artist Tina Bird Wallbridge to make a stylised map of our local neighbourhood ...

Biomodelling Christmas Lunch 2008

Yesterday was the annual "Biomodellers and friends" Christmas Lunch over at the Royal Southampton Yacht Club.

While they're not the cheapest Christmas lunch option, we've gone there for the previous two lunches on account of the location and quality, and yesterday didn't disappoint. For once we were just one of several parties, but that didn't affect the experience at all. If anything, it created a nice background Christmas bustle.

Post-meal saw us (briefly) in what used to be the Cork and Bottle pub, before we finally ensconced ourselves in our traditional bolt-hole, The Platform. Packed as usual, but a good venue. Even if they did, latterly, have some live jazz.

A photographic record of the event can be found over at Flickr.

What happened to December?

The usual run up to Christmas and New Year is what happened. Still, that only really applies to the tail end of December - prior to that simple laziness conspired to leave my blog vacuous (well, vacuous-in-the-lack-of-words sense).

Sticking to tradition, my birthday involved a trip up to London for various art exhibitions and get-togethers with friends. The big one was "Pop Art Portraits" at the National Portrait Gallery. Although it wasn't particularly large, it covered a good range of artists (including favourite Warhol), and also afforded a chance to see 2007's Photographic Portrait Prize. We also took in the Millais exhibition at Tate Britain. Although I tend to write-off artists from his era as typically "chocolate-boxy", this was really enjoyable. Finished the day off with dinner with C's friend A, and with Dr. M. Good to see both as ever. I've promised to do more evening trips up to London to see Dr. M - they're always a lot of fun, but I so rarely make the effort. I'd make it a "New Year's Resolution" if I weren't so likely to break it.

Christmas was also preceded by the so-called "Biomodellers Lunch" ...
... which went pretty well again. Better, I'd say, than last year's. This time round we managed to persuade more of the attendees to visiting drinking establishments post-meal. Then again, this time round we stacked the deck with "biomodellers and friends" who were much easier to persuade.

Christmas was the traditional jet-ride home to Scotland. Begun, this time, with a non-traditional rental car puncture just outside Perth (which, annoyingly, I'm going to have to pay for). Anyway, got to see my parents, brothers and friends as per usual. Managed to squeeze a hike in with G ...
... and finally met brother S's new girlfriend. The latter experience is now somewhat less clear on account of alcohol consumption. Also caught up with the various offspring of my friends. Everything seems to be going in the right direction there - not least in the toilet-training department (after 2006's debacle). G's daughter has come on hugely since my last visit - I was particularly impressed with her training in politeness. Spectacular for one only 18 months old.

New Year (back down south) afforded an evening with A, J and my god-daughter. It was nice, though things will be better once said god-daughter's a bit more settled. Only rarely did we get A and J at the same time.