new additions to the aquarium

hey all, hope you are living out the COVID wave well. Thankfully, the UK has lifted the next set of restrictions today and non-essential shops, gyms and outdoor steating areas are open....yay! 

Unfortunately I can not get a haitcut until Wednesday so I still have this huge mop of hair. Life is too boring to really write a worthwhile blog at the moment but today, I went to get some new fish that I would like to share with everyone.

 

Say hello to the 3 new Panda Coryodoras (Coryodoras panda) that will keep my guppies happy and the bottom of the tank clean :)

proud to serve

 “Before I begin I do have to beg to differ with the comments regarding the armed forces… yes the armed forces make a vital contribution, but any recruits of young people must be managed carefully and it must be an informed choice for young people… a lot of young people enter the armed forces not through choice but through lack of opportunities in the community so I do beg to differ on that point”

These are the words of Labour MP Beth Winter during a recent Welsh Affairs Select Committee meeting after members of the committee and the minister offered their thanks to the efforts of military personnel during COVID vaccine role outs. I'm not really big on writing about politics but when I saw this as a tweet from Guido Fawkes (a conservative commentary twitter account that I mostly disagree with) I had to do some more digging. Unfortunately, that was it. The story does not seem to appear anywhere else in the mainstream media but it really hit a nerve, enough so that I wanted to talk about it.

I left school with relatively poor grades and no real chance of getting into a decent university and with no real plan. What I had done was excelled at being an Army Cadet and so naturally, I decided to join the Army. I can say right now that if I had not joined the Army, I probably would not be in the position that I am today. It built me up as a person. There were of course low points to counter the good times along with very stressful times to counter the drunken times. It is true for sure that many people who do poorly at school or come from more deprived areas are drawn to military service. I think it is safe to say that this has been the case in the UK for many hundreds of years. The problem is, being poor or disadvantaged does not mean you can not become a bloody good soldier and a credit to this nation. As we have seen from COVID, from the military involvement in Ebola, Anti-poaching in Africa and from pulling old ladies out of their homes during (the many many) floods (yes surprise surprise, the Army does much more than just fight in the Middle East), the Army does great things.

FOB Shawqat, 2009

For those that do join the Army with low skills, the Army helps you improve. There are many stories of people entering service with no GCSEs and then leaving with high level technical qualifications. I myself have never been disadvantaged by military service, I am now doing a PhD at a top 10 international university.

Military culture is very particular and if you know, you know. That said, most members of our armed services are average people who want to do their part for society and their nation regardless of background. The idea that a Member of Parliament would tout the idea that the Army takes advantage of the poor and the deprived is insulting and inherently wrong. I am proud of my service in both the Regular Army and in the Reserves and despite sometimes having to deal with the odd 'muppet' or over zealous NCO, it made me who I am and Beth Winter MP should take her head out of her 'far left' box and apologise.

 Feel free to comment and tell me what you think.

(Link to original (and only) story)

2020.......

I think everybody can agree that 2020 has been a very miserable year. It was supposed to be the main chunk of the first year of my PhD but like the rest of the UK, it was basically spent locked up. It's pointless really venting over how problematic multiple lockdowns have been so I am not planning on dwelling on COVID. The vaccine is here, let's hope it work and soon so we can all go back to normal. 

Instead, what are the positives? I passed the first year review for my PhD. This is quite a big deal for me. I left school with massively sub-standard GCSEs and A Levels and ending up at University College London - a top 10 university in the world (only a slight brag - it's a big deal for me) still leaves me with massive imposter syndrome. Being in the Army definitely helped develop me but I am really taking to the academic life. So yeah, 1st year review done and pretty successful. The next step is called the Upgrade. This is the penultimate milestone before completing my PhD and is currently the reason I am in a constant state of stress. COVID (sorry!) means that I have not done any fieldwork, not had any conferences, not sat in any classes etc etc etc so yeah, writing 15,000 words and a 30 min presentation showing my progress is probably not as far ahead as I expected. Fingers crossed.

2020 is also the year of no international travel. On a plus side though, I reconnected with my love for hiking and being outdoors. A long weekend in the Lake District and another weekend in the Cotswolds might seem quite ordinary to most but it actually made me realise that I have probably visited more places abroad than in the UK. The last time I was in the Lake District was when I was 16 which really isn't acceptable. When COVID goes back into its hole, I think spending some weekends doing trails like the Pennine Way and the Carlisle Way. In terms of international travel, I told my supervisor that I am going to China in the summer to do some fieldwork regardless - he completely agreed.

 New Year is also about resolutions and promises to oneself that really won't be kept. I definitely want to go to the gym more but I hate the gym so I have to find a way to congratulate myself every time I go. Instead I will be more realistic - 

- go for a walk in Regents park more
- schedule my week better (already been doing this so can't fail)
- stick it out with my 中文 classes.

all realistic, all doable :)

For those that read my 'back to being an aquarist' post, the tank is now nicely cycled with a few more plants added. The shrimp are happy but the snails keep breeding. In the new year I will add some fish. Undecided yet but watch this space for another blog post on fish.

So for everyone that reads my highly summarised blog posts, thank you. I hope you all had as unstressful a 2020 as possible, had a very awesome xmas and is excited for a prosperous (COVID-free) new year.

  

back to being an 'aquarist'

So, a few years ago, I developed a fascination with keeping fish in a tank thinking it would be quite cute and something nice to look at. Not long after I invested in a Fluval Edge tank aimed at beginners which had a……in summary, it was much more hard work than you think albeit super enjoyable. I’ll skip most of the story as it was several years ago and no longer relevant.

 

The interest has never really gone away but it never really seemed practical (or fair?) to keep fish anymore especially with moving into central London student accommodation to do my master’s degree and later PhD. Well that all changed very quickly over the last few months. Firstly, my PhD supervisor is an archaeobotanist who also happens to enjoy growing his own aquatic plants in tanks along with fish and shrimp. Secondly, a friend of mine has jumped over years of practice and gone straight for a marine tank in his student accommodation. This was all too much for me and the itch culminated in me taking advantage of black Friday sales. So now I am the proud owner of a 34L Fluval Flex. The problem was that I got the tank but was determined not to go rushing into it and so to date, I have probably consumed over 50 hours of YouTube videos and blogs about freshwater fish, aqua scaping, aquatic plants etc etc (I promise I put an equal amount of effort into my PhD). I’m also a big fan of supporting local business so after some advice, I headed down to an aquatics store in Balham, London and started the process of building up my tank.

 

First things, first. I needed a good substrate on the base of my tank in order to provide somewhere for the plants to hold onto. The guy at the store (who is super helpful) also advised some fertile soils to make a thin base at the bottom of my tank so that future rooted plants can have something to get a bit of extra food from. On top that, I went for a relatively light coarse sand. This is good because it has more surface area than sand for ‘good bacteria’ to stick too (for the Nitrogen Cycle – will talk about this next time) and still provides something stable for plant roots to take hold in. Next, I got a couple of dragon rocks to help build up my new aqua scape. Finally, I got myself a couple of Java Ferns – they are supposed to be super easy plants that can tolerate beginners a wide change in water conditions. Add the water a there we go (Photo 1).

I am actually missing an entire of week of allowing my tank to cycle so will skip forward to today. I received a text from my PhD supervisor saying he will harvest me some plants.....then he asked if I want some shrimp. I will do some posts later on about the types of plants and other things inside my aquarium but as of today, I have a nice little aquascape going on with a few different species of plant and some gorgeous cherry shrimp. Originally, I counted 7 of them in bag but of the course of the evening, I have only been able to find 4. I'm not too concerned though because they are tiny, and I have a nice little underwater forest going on.  

 

So yeah. This just a very quick zoom through of the where I am at with my new tank. I will let it sit for about month and give the plants a chance to get comfortable and start to grow before I consider adding any fish. In the meantime, though I will write a little but more about this hobby. Hope you enjoy.

 

 

 

back to blogging

2020 has definitely been an awful year for many thanks to COVID-19 currently running wild. For me, most of the first year of my PhD was spent locked up in my room not being entirely productive. Instead of writing paragraphs of regrets though, I have decided I want to get back into blogging with the intention of talking about my travels again but also my PhD and (hopeful) future academic research. I have also got back into my fish keeping hobby (yes..I have a fish keeping hobby) and am going to blog about my experiences and share with you the progress I am making etc (keep reading for more).

 

I have been thinking about this for a while but the sudden burst of energy I felt pushing me to write this small update is quickly fading. Stay tuned then for some updates and thanks to anyone who reads what I have to say 

tel aviv, 2018

Coming soon...... (promise)

san francisco (part 2)

One of the main reasons for visiting the US was to visit my friend Kush, he looked after me over the time I was there. He showed me the fancy cafes, the famous gay bars. Most of the time he did have to work and so I had to fend for myself but luckily (and £50 bill later ---- oops) he was available to call. Note to self, read the rules on international sims.

He took me wine tasting in Napa, which was a very fun drive into the countryside to see where they make all the famous Napa wine. He got me tickets to go to the California Academy of Sciences for an over 21s evening. It was a fantastic experience filled with albino crocodiles (see the photos album) and an exploration of space in the planetarium. I was even encouraged by buy a CAS mug and t-shirt (which I unashamedly wear most places).

I was very fortunate to meet his friends who are all very fun loving and welcoming people. It was however, strange to be around so many Americans at once. In London, you can usually hear an American voice from a mile away allowing you ample time to steer clear. It was even stranger that, people in San Francisco also really do have their own little micro-identity, even more particular than just being 'Californian'. One taxi driver told me that in SF, being 2 hours late does not even count as late. San Franciscans seem to reject chain stores. I counted 1 McDonalds, 1 KFC and 1 burger chain (that I can not remember) that is popular on the east coast of the USA. Everywhere else, the cafes and restaurants are independent or from very small 'local' chains. It was nice to see in comparison to London where everything tastes the same but with a different big corporation name on it (generalisation perhaps but pretty accurate too).

I don't think I can talk about San Francisco without mentioning in more detail the gay village, the Castro. You know it straight away by the flag, who's size could match the Royal Standard flown from buildings occupied by HMQE2. It is huge!

The Castro itself is like another little self sufficient city within the walls of SF. You see same sex couples walking around everywhere all well dressed,  with immaculately kept facial hair and all, yes, I mean all, walking small dogs. The streets are clean (compared to the neighbouring Mission district). It is quite a polar opposite to our well loved, grimy streets of Soho. The area does not really seem to reflect that once upon a time, most things homosexual were illegal. The only reminders are the occasional wonderfully drawn murals of prominent patrons of the LGBT cause. The night life was different to what I expected too. Most people there are settled and in couples (or so it seemed to me) and although the bars were full...well...it just wasn't London.

I think that going to SF was a good first choice for breaking into America for the first time.  I would be wrong to say it was one of my favourite places to visit but I met nice people and they made it worth while. Maybe New York is next?

san francisco (part 1)

I am sat in Heathrow Terminal 2 about to jet off on my second holiday of the year (check me out) when I notice that actually I have not finished writing the blog for the first big holiday of the year - San Francisco. I have never actually been to the US of A and so what better place to start than one of the worlds most important gay holy cities. Famed for its rainbow crossing, Alcatraz (did not visit - sorry) and the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco was definitely a place to visit. 

Travelling from Termnial 2 with United Airlines, I have to say, I half expected to get dragged off the flight for double booking - the media scares you like that. In reality, it was one of the most comfortable flights I have ever had. An entire row to myself, no children and very friendly air hosts. I was even offered (and gladly accepted) second meals. Speaking of food, SF was not good for my average body mass. The food was just exceptional. Mexican, Korean, Chinese, American, Italian, Japanese, anything you can think of, they had it there and it tasted amazing - albeit a little expensive compared to lots of other places I’ve been. That is to be expected I guess considering people like Mark Zuckerberg and other tech nerds with big salaries live there. One Mexican place in particular sticks out, if you walked in to the same place in the UK then even if you are not a snob about the state of restaurants etc, you would probably have raised an eyebrow. This place was well and truly local and you could see that although very friendly, they clearly didn’t worry much about losing business from snooty tourists. They didn’t have to worry though, the burrito I got was the size of my head and (unlike the UK) actually packed with stuff that tasted heavenly - you didn’t even have to pay 80p extra for guacamole!!

Aside from the food, San Francisco has a very split personality. It is a city famed for being close to Silicon Valley, the 5 sisters and its ‘caring’ attitude towards the homeless and lost. In fact, as you walked around the city, there are homeless people literally everywhere. You can at one moment be walked through very very fancy looking houses and apartments but around the corner a totally different picture. On one occasion, I was walking down a road and there was a guy sat there injecting himself with some amber looking stuff. That said, walking around these sorts of areas should seem threatening and indeed, if I was in the same sort of area of London then I would feel threatened. But in SF, these two worlds just sort of rub against each other but do not mix or bother each other. Nobody tried to ask for money, nobody even looked your way, they just went about their own business, chatting with each other etc. I suppose if the wealthy were being harassed on a regular basis then something would be done.

It is nearly time to board so I think part 1 will end there. Part two very soon, with photos I hope if this iPad does as I want.

what's sort of travelling is not fun...

... Commuting!!!

Most of my blog page is about travel but unfortunately, I am not loaded with spare cash so it's not always possible to jet off randomly. I do however suffer everyday from a very un-fun sort of travelling, one that is common knowledge to many people living and working in London....the morning commute.

I think I want to dedicate this little piece to what is probably the most stressful part of any day.

My shift patterns are pretty strict and I either start at 8, 9 or 10. This means that I can catch fixed trains and you'd think would have a pretty robust routine that would lead me walking into work smack on time if not before. Wrong! Unfortunately, my area is covered by Great Western Railway. Anybody who speaks to me knows the of the utter contempt in my voice whenever I mention that company. There is a reason of course, mainly the £3550 they charge for an annual season ticket from my home to London Paddington. From July 2017 till January 2018, the trains were old, cramped and delayed. From January 2018 they are new, cramped and delayed.

It actually baffles belief but since the start of the new year, my trains have been on time 6 times only. The rest have been cancelled or delayed from 5 mins to 1hr 30 mins. As I have an annual ticket, I am not entitled to compensation. Instead, they assume that I want to renew my annual pass and will make it a bit cheaper for me to do so if the punctuality % is below a certain amount however, the 3.4% increase in January will likely cancel any savings I make out so either way, I am stuck.

 On what planet can a company have such poor performance yet continue to increase charges? SO why post this rant? Is it important? Yes! The UK has some of the worst performing yet most expensive railways in Europe (opinion based on experience). It is maddening that rail users have to continue to pay too large a chunk of their monthly salary (https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/jan/03/rail-fares-cost-commuters-up-to-14-of-their-income-says-study) to private companies for such a shitty service. End of rant.

travel update

Trip Advisor - 13% so far.

Result - much more to go!

gran canaria (winter pride) 2017

It has taken me some time to write this blog as I have been unsure how to approach it. I don't think there is any point in recalling the details of exactly what I did as to be honest, 80% of it consisted of early mornings for travel, tourist food and alcohol. After all, it was Winter Pride and I had been attempting to get to Pride in Gran Canaria at least once before turning 30. That said, I am sure that if I was writing this at 19, it would probably include many more redactions than this one does.

What  I will say is that it was a great little break where there was no rush or requirement to go and see interesting things (even though walking up the volcano would have been very interesting), it was just the opportunity to sit around with some good friends and...well....drink. The Yumbo Centre is certainly something of a Mecca for the gays but it was nothing like what I expected. On the Friday night, we walked past a restaurant that we had seen the previous day, tonight it was full of German pensioners all listening to folk music and dancing. As you walk literally 10 seconds around the corner and see the main stage for the pride event with guys walking around wearing thongs. In some cases, these older pensioners were sat outside the gay bars and watching what was going on around them with a drink. I guess you had to be there but I was shocked.

The last point I think is the visit to the gay beach. Everybody watches porn and everybody has a stereotype of what an ideal body looks like. Lets not lie, in the gay community this is amplified 10 fold and if you do go by most mainstream 'adult viewing' then all gays are sculpted out of the very best marble (obviously this is not the case for everyone nor is it everyones view but let us be honest, it is a gay problem). Anyway, being on this beach could not have been further from the stereotype. The marble adonis was actually non-existent instead being replaced by guys from all the extremes of age, body type etc. It was an eye opener. I sound very naive here I know but it was a first for me.

Either way, a good time had by all and we didn't even need to mention me drunkenly climbing a fence a causing a gash in my arm and leg that is still visible now 4 weeks later. Fun times!

naples and pompeii 2017 (part 2)

I think that most people would have gotten the impression that I was not blown away by Naples. I am not sure that Johnny would agree mind, don't get me wrong, it is so worth the visit just to say you have experienced it but yeah, it's just dirty. That said, for me, the highlight of the trip came on the Sunday when we made our way to the ancient Roman town/city of Pompeii. 

Pompeii was established sometime between the 7th and 6th century BCE in the south of Italy and became a colony of the Roman Republic in around 80 BCE. In 79 AD, the volcano Mt Vesuvius erupted and gradually buried the town in metres of mud, ash and pyroclastic debris where is remained perfectly preserved until about 200 years ago. You can access the whole archaeological site for about €13 however, on Sunday, it is free (bonus!). It's important for those of you who want to visit here ensure you have a whole day. You also need to know that in order to get to Pompeii, you have to ride what has to be the most dodgy train I have ever been on. There are some photos in my shared Google Images folder so I won't add another here however, that isn't the worst part. It takes about 40 mins to get from Naples central station to Pompeii and on the way there, you pass through several very sad looking stations, some of which you don't know the name as the signs have been covered in...yes you guessed it....graffiti.

So back to the city. Inside some of the ruins are museums where they have kept casts of some of the ancient inhabitants of the city who were not lucky enough to escape (a note that I read in Pompeii says that actually only around 200 people perished, the rest managed to escape). It isn't how some people think where you can go and stand next to the dead humans, they have all been moved. Those in the museum are casts that have been filled with plaster due to all the biological material rotting away. It makes sense anyway, like they would let tourists (with all their bad habits) stand next to actual people. Pretty disrespectful if they did. 

The town/city is just so well preserved, you can not help but feel you are walking through the ancient place itself. Everywhere you look there are temples to all the important gods, temples to the emperor (Vespasian). The bank, shops and villas are all available to visit where you can sometimes see preserved mosaic floors and even political slogans on the walls. There is plenty for all to see so don't worry if you get irritated with tourists, you can avoid them and come back later. Due to the fact that it is also an active archaeological dig site, not everywhere was available, including the very sizeable amphitheatre. The tour guides are quite useful, they break the city up into poor area, rich areas, the forum etc. Surprisingly, information signs are available in English if you can not be bothered to spend €5 on an audio guide. Tour guides are also available for €25 but nah, not for me.

The final thing to say on Pompeii. In the distance, you can see Mt Vesuvius casting its shadow over the whole landscape from the distance. It is said that the eruption was so powerful, it blew a large chunk of the top of the volcano off leaving behind that caldera that exists today (and that you can go and visit). All in all, a very successful and fun trip. I returned on Tuesday ready for a quick turn around on Wednesday. Thursday then leads to another 4am start as I head to Gran Canaria for Winter Pride 2017.

For more photos of Naples and Pompeii, feel free to view my Google Photos album. here.

naples and pompeii 2017 (part 1)

Yay to the return of my travel blog, mainly because it means yay to being able to go and explore somewhere new. This time I had a travel buddy in the form of Johnny. He's an academic at the University of Reading and like me, just enjoys getting away for a little bit of exploration. Naples was the place of choice mainly because it such a cheap ticket and accommodation was decent. The added attraction was the chance to (finally) go and see Pompeii. Those of you who know how much I love Roman / Classical history, in fact anyone who loves classical history in general, know how important a trip to Pompeii is. 

Before this trip though, another very important occasion occurred. My (not so) little brother, Joseph, finished his basic training and joined my old regiment, the Grenadier Guards. Needless to say I am so so proud of him and seeing him 'pass off' the square was well worth the 4am start to drive from my dads house up to (not so) sunny Catterick. I have to say, the place has not changed one bit since I was there 10 years ago. It was an intimate family affair and only my military friends would really understand any information about it so I will just leave it there by saying I wish him all the best in his future career. Mandatory photo was also needed.

So after a great day in Catterick, I had to return home, finish packing and get ready for another 4am start to get to London Gatwick on a 6am easyJet flight. I had been warned by a few people that Naples was not the nicest place in the world but I always like to made those sort of judgements myself. Naples airport is fairly small and border security is not that tight so we were waiting for the bus into town within 30 minutes of landing. Driving into the town centre was a typical Italian experience. Horns blaring, the bus swerving in and out of traffic but i'd never experienced a time when the driver had to slam on his breaks hard causing smacked heads and one poor lady (who's husband told me had recently had a hip replacement) to fly and land on her bum. As I was gazing out the window nursing my mild whiplash, you could not but help notice the shear amount of graffiti and litter everywhere. One Italian guy on the bus who noticed me looking at it even said 'welcome to Naples'. I have to say that this was a common theme in Naples. I have mentioned in earlier posts about how the Italians seem to have a really lax approach to graffiti but Naples was on another level entirely.

We were fortunate that Johnny found a really nice apartment right off the main high street where we were met by the very chirpy Neapolitan landlord who told us all the good spots to visit, the best places to eat and how to get around etc. Despite a 4am start, we did decide to go for a wander and see what the city had to offer. As usual, I'm always interested in the history of a city I visit, especially those in Italy that have millennia worth of it. Founded roughly in the second millennium BCE by Greek sailors, allied to the Roman Republic during the wars against Carthage and eventually a Roman colony. Now though, the city really did just look like a mess. Churches had their doors covered up with green boarding, presumably to stop the graffiti that decorated the rest of the outside from ruining the probable decorations they had. Even buildings such as the main post office had giant penis pictures on them.

One thing Naples did have (aside from Churches) was Castles - quite a few actually all within the central area. Unfortunately though, they did not seem to get much for the money they wanted for entry. In the one castle we did go to - Castel dell'Ovo - was in such a great position for views up into Naples and around the coastal area. Most of the castles and even the Royal Palace again just seemed to have works going on, litter everywhere and generally not much information for those who are interested in learning things.

So for the food. Naples is the birth place of Pizza (apparently) so of course, that is something we had to go for. I like to try and stay positive but I have to say that it was just disappointment after disappointment. I got the feeling that even if we avoided the traditional tourist trap restaurant, due to the fact we were not locals, there was very little interest in anything. It was a regular occurrence to just be sat down and wait for quite a while just to get a menu. Waiters just seemed to look impatient when talking to you and most importantly, the pizza was crap. Maybe i'm just used to dominoes and what we did have was traditional but the food was just bland, watery and basically, very meh! Such a shame. One perk though was learning what a Connolo was (thank you to the Great British Bake Off) and yeah, very unhealthy so obviously yummy.

In Naples, you do get a very local feeling. It is quite hard to explain or I am not eloquent enough to explain but when walking around, you would not think you are in a particularly tourist attractive place. The main roads are all connected by tight alley ways with very local shops, people just stood around smoking and drinking. Mopeheads wizzing past people and past all the washing that you see randomly hanging out of windows. It was a much more closed environment than some of the other Italian cities I have visited.

For more photos of Naples and Pompeii, feel free to view my Google Photos album. here.

city breaks 2017

Unfortunately I have not had the opportunity to write in a little while for a few reasons. Firstly, I decided to move my writing to paper in this beautiful new diary I purchased in Venice recently. Secondly, I may have mentioned before that I failed to get a scholarship for my masters degree and I failed to get the free accommodation that comes with being a senior student in halls. All of this added together means that I had to pause my studies and return to being an adult. So I got a job. I am, however, not going to speak out my job because..well....it's just a job. It pays the bills and allows me to save for future studies. 

One perk is that I have a little bit of extra cash to pursue a favourite past time of mine...travelling :D. A very dear friend of mine had to return to his own country recently (lets not even start discussing about how much I dislike UK immigration laws) so we made some plans together to visit some places in Europe.

Venice, Bologna, Rome and Vienna were on the menu and below are some photos for you to enjoy however, due to my pause in writing, I don't think I can go into as much depth as I usually like to. Italy is fairly easy to sum up though as overall very beautiful with on the whole, great food. The people are mixed, most are just indifferent towards tourists, some are irritated by tourists and a few are genuinely friendly. 

The most annoying is the Italian lack of action against graffiti, in fact, they seem to like it. It is something of a painful experience seeing ruins that are 2000 years old with some random pray canned characters written across the sides. The most important reason for these visits though was for my friend Emrys. I really hope he took away some great memories despite the heat, the smell of car induced pollution and his (blasphemous) lack of interest in classical antiquity. 

After Italy we went onto Vienna, a place I had never been so was quite excited for. Alas, Vienna is beautiful and clean but relatively dull. The museum of natural history has some great exhibits and the royal residence is very grand but 4 days is probably enough for anyone. Sorry for anyone that may have been excited to visit some day. Even the food is just standard Northern European and was quite expensive. Maybe the fact that it rained for 3 our of four days subconsciously damaged my opinion. 

A few weeks later, we jetted off on a weekend trip to Cologne, Germany. A small, Roman built town that again has the typical Germanic clean and tidy atmosphere. For my, the main attraction was just to see what the Romans built. Cologne is also a one-visit place for me. You can do most things in a weekend including a visit to the chocolate factory (yummy and cheap chocolate). Again, the main effort was for Emrys to enjoy himself and unfortunately the mists of time and my indifference to the place is making it hard for me to say much more.

So with that said, I will use this blog post as a 'get back into it' and I promise that my next one (Naples and Pompeii) will be much more of a fun read.

time for a detour

Well firstly happy days that exams are finally over for most people. I have one more left which is just a viva (a sit down with an external examiner so he can quiz me on my thesis) then all done. It would have then been nice to have another summer of travelling before starting the masters course I have mentioned earlier in September. Unfortunately, I did not get the student warden position in halls so I will have to commute again AND even if I am lucky enough to get the scholarship that I applied for (still waiting), after travel and rent I would be poorer than a super poor person having a really poor year. So I decided to put out the feelers for a job and luckily thanks to a friends LinkedIn page, I was able to see something that suited by experiences as a communications person in the Army.

So I applied, got shortlisted and then surprisingly got the job the next day. The pay is good and the other perks are good so I would have been stupid not to accept. So here is the detour. With any luck I get a 1st in my degree and then I will defer it for one year. Do this job and replenish the savings then do the masters part time. Hopefully within 3 years I will have done the masters (part time) and saved enough money to be comfortable to apply for PhD and hopefully move into London. 

......

I have sort of just come back to this blog after 2 weeks. I am now in Venice so I think I will have more to write for the next one...

scholarship madness

I am coming to the end of my time as an undergraduate (thankfully). Not that I did not enjoy every moment of it but I am getting to stage where my interests are lying in specific areas. This is the main reason I am excited about the prospect of starting a masters degree in Palaeoanthropology and Palaeolithic Archaeology. Unfortunately, London is bloody expensive and living there is not going to be easy so I have taken some steps by applying for scholarships.

One is for £10k only and is based on financial need - basically I have to formally admit how poor I am. One is for £1k which is based on academic merit (and I assume, potential). I also applied to be a senior member living in University of London halls. This is a pastoral role being a responsible older student with a number of duties. Bonus comes with a free room, which would save me travel costs, and free food, I like food.

But here is the point of this blog post. After being spammed with emails at least twice a day by FindAMasters.com, I finally got what I was waiting for, the email saying that their scholarship process was now open. This consists of me submitting a photo that describes why I like to study. For me, it was an easy choice as if you look at the picture I submitted and do not immediately think 'how did that happen' (and 'wow' of course) then you might not be human.

30 people are shortlisted, 20 of those are based on social media popularity i.e. you have to vote so here is my plea...

Please follow this link (below) and vote for me and if you can, share with your friends. It would be greatly appreciated. Thank You :D

http://woobox.com/iezhej/gallery/4hpv9YQ8QRY

morocco 2017 (part 2)

So I was initially not going to talk much about actual geology stuff but was advised that I was being silly as actually, who wouldn't find geology interesting! I also need to point out that I tried to grow a beard and you might see it in some of the photos. Please forgive me, I looked like a complete hobo!

For me, Morocco is something new. For a start due to the completely different character of the geology in the first place. For example, some of the limestones (rocks formed in shallow water environments) are the exact same age as those that I observed in Spain however, as they were created in totally different ways, they have none of the same fossils etc present. The Atlas Mountains are also not typical of mountain ranges. Most people will probably remember from GCSE Geography (or GCSE Geology if you were lucky) that mountains form when two bits of continent collide into each other and them upwards. That does not happen here, in summary they are basically being pushed up and being kept there by hot mantle flowing underneath down from a large 'mantle plume' underneath the Canary Islands.

I have added some photos to my albums and you will see that most things appear brown. These are various types of mudstones and sandstones and conglomerates. The lack of vegetation was due to the fact that we were on the drier side of the mountains that has less exposure to the sun. This was hard to believe as my lips cracked within about half a day and despite covering myself in suncream, my nose was a vibrant red colour throughout. The area was also covered in evaporites such as gypsum (sediments chemically precipitated due to evaporation of an aqueous solution). It is always a funny sight watching geology students licking rock faces to see what time of evaporite you have (e.g. halite tastes very strong). I even managed to pick myself out a nice pink gypsum for my collection.

During out trip there, we were looked after by Moha and his team of drivers. He is a good guy who made the whole trip very easy so I have to add a cheeky plug for him and you can see his website here. I have to add though, that one of his drivers did like to put his foot down and due to the terrain in Morocco, the roads are quite curvy. Doing 120 knots around these bends whilst at the back of the mini bus was not a pleasant feeling and the subsequent g-force (yes, it felt that way to me) meant I had to steal a front seat for the long journey home or risk vomiting over everything.

Some of the highlights then. Firstly and most importantly came on the last day of fieldwork when our professor (Charlie Bristow) took us on a secret trek to see something secret. Luckily I also study palaeoecology at uni and the lecturer there told me that we would go and see some relatively newly discovered dinosaur footprints. As you can imagine, I was in complete 10 year old mode as seeing actual dinosaur stuff in 'real life' as opposed to a museum was a completely surreal experience for me and one of the main reasons I got into Earth Sciences in the first place. A few kilometres walk up a dried riverbed and through a hive of bees (one of which stung a friend of mine - I laughed and carried on - dinosaurs much more important than helping with stings and risk getting attacked too) and there they were.

There were two locations, at the first was 2 or 3 sets (hard to distinguish) of adult prosauropod footprints. One of my friends was able to fit his head in the space. At the second, there were 3 sets of adults and one set of juvenile prints in between. I held back a little wee and just imagine these huge pre-cursers to the even larger sauropods walking around in herds. What a great day (not even the threat of bee stings on the way back bothered me).

Another highlight had to be (most of) the food. Mornings consisted of bread, pancakes and fruit etc. Lunch times consisted of tinned fish, bread, olives, fruit and veg etc except for one day when we had these vegetable naan breads. The only way that I can describe these accurately is by saying that I could not physically eat anymore and had no pockets to take more. It was absolutely amazing food! Every evening meal was a Tagine. As a rule, I don't like meat off the bone and most of the Tagines were lamb, chicken or beef that was on the bone. Luckily, the starter was a really good traditional soup (don't ask what was in it) made even better with hot sauce. One Tagine however consisted of meatballs and egg, it was just the best. Overall, it was a good detox which unfortunately had to be ruined by a KFC upon my return to the UK.

I think this is all I have to say other than this was my very last bit of geological fieldwork as from September I start a different type of masters degree that will see me do different sorts of fieldwork. I'll always have my geology routes though and I do look forward to the alumni field trips that my university do.

morocco 2017 (part 1)

It has been a little while since I wrote my blog, mainly due to the fact that I have been busy trying to complete my Map and Thesis (dissertation for geology students) and other assignments.

Every Easter I have to go on to an assessed field techniques class. The first was in the Isle of Skye (Scotland), the second was in Scourie (Scotland) and the third was to Morocco. Unfortunately, I could have done with the training we got whilst in Morocco for Spain as it was geared for to the advanced level fieldwork required to complete the Map and Thesis. No worries though, learning via shear panic is always more helpful in the long term...

Morocco started off as most of my travels do, with delays and frustrations at the airport. After finally changing planes due to technical reasons we shot off to Marrakesh and from there a 6 hour journey through the Atlas Mountains to a place called Ouarzazate. Here we stayed in an ok hotel just to break the journey up to the place we actually needed to be, a place called Bou Tharar. This was a small village in the middle of nowhere but with fascinating geology, of course this had to be the place where we did our first bit of assessed work. This training ground would have been useful before going on my trip to Spain but hey ho. I won't talk much about the geology but the area was beautiful (some photos here) and had children everywhere. We were warned early on about the kids asking for 'stilo' or pens but nobody was prepared for the swarms of kids that seemed to come out of nowhere. Despite being told not too, I could not help but give a pencil to this one kid who followed me around for most of the morning, didn't beg and, along with a few others, was interested in what I was doing. They wanted to look through my hand lens and read my book which was actually really cute. Anyway, when I gave him the pen (thinking there was only 3 kids here) another few climbed from out of this ditch and came running over. It was weird and the pens had to go away.

I normally would not like to be rude about hotels and stuff but when we first walked into this hotel, in the downstairs dining area, there was a squatting toilet. As you can imagine, the first thing that I needed to do was check the toilet in the room and to my relief, it was a normal toilet. I like to think of myself as someone who doesn't mind roughing it, but squatting toilets is a no no.

From Bou Tharar, we moved into the Dades Valley for a bit more hiking and a sedimentary log assessment (one of the most boring bits of field work). The hotel in Dades was much nicer and with a pool, a freezing cold pool. Food was not as nice mind. Some more geo touring and writing notes about all the interesting regional scale geology that was taking place in Morocco followed up until ready to travel back to Marrakesh.

The journey back was not as painful as I first though, only 7 hours and the hotel at the end was a nice 4 star hotel. I won't talk much about it here as will write a part 2 with all the good highlights etc.

2017 - delayed new year message

Happy New Year to all of my readers.

I think I may start to blog a little bit more than just travel stuff. I delved into some non-travel writing whilst I was bored here and there but it seems that people do want me to write more things so I will give it a go.

2017 sees me enter my final term of the final undergraduate year. Luckily, I have secured a conditional offer to study at University College London in September, all eyes are on me getting at least 65% for that dream to be achieved. Hopefully I will then be starting an MSc in Palaeoanthropology and Palaeolithic Archaeology - a mouthful I know, i'm not even sure what it all entails but what I do know is that it will help hugely with my application for PhD funding.

So, I will try and write more and please feel free to comment

Tom

lyon 2016 - #PalAss16

It has been quite some time since I wrote anything, in fact..not since my asian trip. This month though, I was able to combine a little getaway to another new place along with my very first academic conference. The conference and therefore main effort of the trip was the Palaeontological Associations 60th Annual Meeting and took place at the Universite Claude Bernard Lyon 1. My initial thoughts on attending were purely based on attempting to learn new things first hand from researchers in the field, make some contacts which would help with future studies and of course, enjoy the sites of what is an old, French city.

So for the conference itself, I thought I would be clever and book early to save on costs of flights and accommodation. I decided to book an air bnb closest to the university Lyon campus BUT of course, a week or so before the conference took place, I decided to read the information guide that was probably emailed several months earlier and the conference itself was in a different campus about 30 mins away...sigh! It wasn't an issue in the end mind as the couple I stayed with were super friendly, the bed was super comfy and the metro journey was not too taxing. This was good news as it took about two days to de-stress from the outward journey. Let me explain...

The plan was to get a train from my house into Reading where I would have a 15 minute wait for a direct train to Gatwick. Easy! But as usual, my favourite, local train company (Great Western Railway) that are the cause for 70% of my stress levels was 15 mins late meaning that I missed my connection meaning that I would not make my flight to Lyon. No matter you say, I can go via London you say. This is true and that was the only option for me BUT thankfully, Southern Rail was on strike so Gatwick Express was not running properly and I would have missed my flight. Instead, I had to take the Thameslink from London Bridge and it all started out so well. I got to the station 20 mins before the train was due to leave and I would have got to Gatwick with just a smudge of time to get my luggage dropped off. As you can imagine, I was fairly tense at this point but the train came and left on time so I was much calmer. That is until we stopped for 10 minutes outside one station and a further 5 mins outside another meaning that after the whole rush, I missed the flight anyway. Luckily, EasyJet were acting like human beings that day and because they know of the train issues they swapped me on to a later flight for free. All i had to do was sit in the airport for 7 hours. Joy! So as you can see, my day was shit but O2 did cheer me up by telling me that the guy who sold me the upgrade actually lied to me and I was not entitled to some of the things he said I was. I shall stop there though due to the fear of a rant coming along.

The conference was good. It started early and finished quite late and on more than one occasion I got back and fell asleep in my clothes. I learned a lot about new pioneering techniques and research into the world of Palaeontology and Palaeobiology which I probably won't go into here. I even made a few friends which was nice.

Lyon itself can only really be described as French. It was not as dirty as Paris I must admit but it does seem to be a French problem when nobody cleans up litter. I think my phone thermometer was broken also daily it would tell me that it was only 5 or 7 degrees but in reality, it was much more of a bitter cold than London. Maybe the pollution here helps, who knows. Some of the sites were very beautiful, like the Basilica and various Cathedrals. Even the view of the city was beautiful but vert foggy. I have to say, the city seems to pride itself as a 'capital of gastronomy' but without going on and on, it really isn't haha. Most of the places I found were tourist traps but because I am now an experienced traveller, I avoided them. 

As with my usual visits to other cities, I had to visit the natural history museum. This was supposed to happen as part of the conference but I forgot to book my ticket so had to go a different day. Either way, it is called the Musée des Confluences, is quite new and has very weird architecture but had very fascinating exhibitions including one on species that has a really amazing, complete skeleton of my favourite species (Megaloceros giganteus - in the photo). Apart from some of the religious buildings, the museum and the odd other site, Lyon, despite being France's third largest city, was pretty small with no much to do.

So after conference and walking around for a bit, it was time to leave. As usual, my luck came to haunt me and the fog lurking over London delayed me for an hour but I suppose it could have been worse. My favourite train company also decided to not run trains from Gatwick to Reading due to staff shortage so once again had to go via London during Southern Train strikes. A fun trip all around and a useful experience but I think in summary, I am quite happy not to visit France on holiday as actually it is a pretty boring, underwhelming experience. 

As for the next blog, who knows where I am going next...