Freecycle

I had my first freecycle experience today. I've been meaning to investigate how freecycle works and use it to get rid of a surplus bed for ages but simply haven't had the time. It turned out that it didn't take any time at all, just a quick google search, set up an account and post an e-mail on Thursday evening. As a freecycle newby my post had to be moderated so it didn't appear on the web site of the Selby freecycle group until Friday morning. By lunch time I had two takers and was able to amek arrangements by e-mail for someone to collect the bed on Saturday morning. Very easy and very quick. So much easier than trying to sell the bed via the local paper or postcards in local supermarkets.


Click to join freecycleselby

More Mitford stuff

There was a Channel 4 documentary about Unity Mitford on TV last night. It was part of the High Society season. I hadn't seen any trailers on the TV but spotted a posting on Facebook. I'm a member of a Facebook group called 'The Mitford Sisters Were Incredible'.

It was lovely to see the old news footage of Unity and her parents, Lord and Lady Redesdale, returning to the UK in 1939 after Unity's failed suicide attempt. The highlight for me was the interview with Diana Mosely filmed in 1999. Diana, like her younger sister Unity, was a friend and supporter of Hitler before and during the second world war. Diana died in 2003 and was 89 at the time of the interview. The main premise of the documentary, outlined by the presented Martin Bright in his New Statesman Blog, was that Unity was pregnant with Hitler's baby when she returned to the UK. Unfortunately for the documentary makers the only eye witness who consented to be interviewed said that Unity didn't have a baby.

You can view the complete documentary on 4 on Demand. It is free for 30 days after transmission but may well continue to be available for free after that. I have a copy on my Sky+.

Picture from the Daily Mail

Christmas at Chatsworth

Chatsworth House is open for Christmas from 3rd November to 23rd December with the rooms decorated for Christmas, a Christmas market and a great Christmas lunch in the restaurant. I was particularly keen to go before the house closed for the season (it re-opens in March 2008) because I wanted to see the exhibition about the 11th Duke of Devonshire 'An extraordinary 20th century life' . The 11th Duke was married to one of the Mitford sisters 'Debo' and I've been reading various Mitford biographies, autobiographies (Hons and Rebels) and letters (Decca) since reading a book review of 'Decca' in the Times last year.


When we arrived at Chatsworth the programme for the day had a photocopied insert saying that the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire would be signing books in the restaurant after lunch. It was the highlight of my day. I bought two copies of the most recent book of letters between the six sisters, one for myself and one for my Dad, and had them both dedicated and signed by the Dowager Duchess who is the only survivingMitford sister.


One of the most startling features of the house is the enormous Damien Hirst statue of the Virgin Mother which is over two storeys high and towers over the visitor entrance to the house. I'm not sure if it is a permanent or temporary feature but I'd like to go back to Chatsworth next summer when the weather is a bit more conducive to exploring the sculpures in the garden.

Chris courts controversy and posts his first blog comment

Chris had a book review 'A sixth mass extinction?' published in Nature last week. His review has been misquoted as 'Nature endorses human extinction' on a blog hosted by the Future of Humanity Institute at the University of Oxford. Only one of the many people have who have commented on the blog recognise the quoted text (see below) as dry wit.
"Humans will presumably be gone within a few million years, perhaps sooner. If the past that Novacek describes is a guide to the future, global ecosystem processes will be restored some tens of thousands to a million years after our demise, and new forms of life over the ensuing millions of years will exploit the denuded planet we leave behind. Thirty million years on, things will be back to normal, albeit a very different `normal' from before. It is good to be optimistic. The problem is living here in the meantime".
But then Chis is often the only one who laughs at his own jokes.

Cambridge Networking Lunch

I hadn't been back to Cambridge, the University or Newnham College since the day I graduated in June 82. Just over 25 years later very little had changed. Newnham has a new library, buttery and extra residential wing but the main victorian buildings and garden were unchanged except for some garden lighting and the loss of a few trees. The new wing is named after Rosalind Franklin and is one of the many examples of posthumous recognition awarded to Rosalind for her contribution to the discovery of the structure of DNA

Lucy, Alice, Hannah, Rose and Justine were suitably impressed and posed for this photo outside the room I had in Sidgewick Hall in my final year.

Whilst the girls went shopping, visited some of the other colleges and generally gained an impression of the University and town, I met up with Newnham Natural Scientists past and present over lunch. Although one of the main aims of the lunch was to enable current students to meet women scientists at a later stage in their careers very few current students attended. Despite that us 'old girls' enjoyed sharing memories of the college and catching up on what people were doing now.

Where are they now?

I've tried to remember, and track down, the other Biological Natural Science students who were in my year at Newnham

Helen Billington - University of Leeds

Fiona Catchpole

Anne Clift-Hill

Sarah Guthrie - Kings College, London

Kate Hardy - Imperial College, London

Anne-Marie Lloyd Williams

Sarah Millar - University of Pennsylvania

Dorothy Newsholme

Ros Sawyer - South Tyneside NHS Trust

Rebecca Short

Olivia Webley

Lucy Wedderburn - University College, London

Bonfire Party

We had a great bonfire party on Saturday with members of Chris' research group at York plus some of Rose and Alice's friends. Everyone was invited to bring old clothes to make a guy. This one was made from some of Chris' old decorating clothes and was an uncanny likeness.

The bonfire was spectacular. We had cut down some cuppressus trees and Chris had cleared the garage of all the pieces of wood he was keeping in case they came in useful. It was nice to meet so many of Chris' new research students and their families.