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I have a terrible habit of eavesdropping. On Saturday ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
j4 and I went to a climate change protest at Kingsnorth power station. The demonstration was good-humoured and peaceful, so The Times had to raid their picture library for a stock photo of riot police in action.
We took the hired coach back to Oxford and overheard two young men behind us, fresh from the protest, discussing how to find cheap flights to Las Vegas and the cost of internal flights once they'd got there. FAIL. So how did I challenge them? I didn't say a word. I concentrated on devising excuses: it's rude to eavesdrop, I was missing the joke, choose the bigger battles.
In the interests of Parliamentary full disclosure, here are my CO2 emissions for the last twelve months. This doesn't take into account the computer in my office, or the trains we took on honeymoon, or anything other than the energy we use in our flat.
Even if all of that were added to my account, my carbon footprint would still be smaller than Bono's. So will he single-handedly replace China as an excuse for inaction?
Look inside our cupboards!
As j4 has explained, there was some, ah, miscommunication about the emptying of our new house. Fortunately, we weren't moving in on the day of completion, so I was able to take lots of photographs and we invited the Internet to help us clear up. (In fact, the seller has now removed the larger items from the garden.) The Internet arrived in the form of damiancugley, truecatachresis and bluedevi, who gave both practical and moral support. Then we went for a pint at the Rusty Bicycle.
We'll soon be moving out of our flat, with fingers crossed, and as it's been such a good place to live we thought we should ask on behalf of our landlady whether anyone was interested in a large, cheap, shabby flat in west Oxford. Details here.
Some people feel superior for knowing when to use its and when to use it's (the possessive takes an apostrophe, of course). I feel superior to those people for knowing when it doesn't matter.
Recently I heard a strong opinion about the misuse of lol in place of a smiley. "It stands for 'laughing out loud'! You can't use it for your own jokes. That doesn't make any sense unless you're enormously arrogant!" Yeah, that was me. Next I'll find myself complaining about incorrect use of @ on Twitter.
People think that scientists are "always changing their minds" on cancer: "27 per cent said that because health advice always seems to be changing, the best approach is to ignore it all and eat what you want."
As eating what you want does increase your risk of cancer, one conclusion has to be that news about cancer causes cancer.
Sadder still, rhodri could make the same point four years ago [locked post].
We didn't make it to the bicycle bell concert after our birthday party. Other things I didn't see last week were Dawkins, Death and Dissection - don't get your hopes up, that's two events, not one - and Dr Ben. As hatmandu observed, 'Someone ought to open a university round here!'
But we did have a party, so thank you to all who came. juggzy bought Maltesers to teach division to a small child; hairyears started work on a cycle of seventy-five limericks; fivemack supplied superb wedding photos and a fry-up, though separately; and at least one person demonstrated the self-referential cake. We missed some of our guests leaving in the morning, then failed to get anything done with taimatsu for the rest of the day. All in all, a marvellous time.
Our birthday party is still on for Saturday.
Do bring yourselves; do please take away from our decluttering box some clothes and old books and bike bits and craft stuff...
For those of you who'll be in Oxford on Sunday, we're planning to join the bike bell orchestra (rain permitting).
I took j4 on a badger watch for her birthday.
The University owns ancient woodland at Wytham on the outskirts of Oxford. The woods are intensively studied but they are open to walkers (after obtaining a free permit). They are also open to badgers, and each spring, the public is invited to take part in a badger census.
OX2 8QQ should get you there but you have to cycle past the sign reading, accurately but unhelpfully, "PRIVATE ROAD NO THOROUGHFARE". Tetchy and sweating, we pushed our bikes up Keeper's Hill into the car park and a crowd of at least 50 people.
We stood and listened to a brief talk about The Badger. Nearly 300 badgers live in Wytham Woods, making it one of the densest populations of badgers anywhere. This is partly because British badgers are more sociable than badgers on the continent, which I attribute to a common language.
Then we were divided into groups and taken to a nearby sett. The guide explained that we should find a spot about ten metres away with a tree behind us to break up our silhouette. Janet and I took up position next to a man with stars and crescent moons painted on his jeans.
Noting cheerily that we should find our own way back when darkness fell, the guide left us to our own devices. These devices included an iPhone for j4 to update Twitter and binoculars and picnic chairs for the regulars.
It was odd standing in total silence for two hours in a group of strangers. It must have been positively unsettling for the occasional stroller who saw us staring back at them. Our tree creaked. Birds called. Sheep baaed. Bluebells pealed. Finally, a badger appeared.
We left when it got dark at 9 o'clock, before any more emerged in search of snacky worms, but at least we'd seen one badger.
Another two badger counts will take place this week: just turn up in warm clothing at 6.30 p.m. on Thursday (7 May) or Friday (8 May). Email wytham.woods@admin.ox.ac.uk for more information.
This year's birthday party: our house, Oxford, Saturday 9 May. I can't do better than repeat j4's invitation from last year:
When: Tea/cake/faff from 3pm, proper party from party o'clock. [Last year we wrapped up at 2am.]
Where: HERE. If you don't have our address and/or you want directions, email/comment.
RSVP: would be helpful so we know vaguely how many people we're expecting.
Partners/children/friends: welcome, unless they are likely to start arguments or try to molest my badgers.
Pets: just not practical, sorry. Unless you have some very very tiny kittens.
Drinks: there will be some (including weird shit from the depths of the booze-cabinet), but more is always welcome! :-)
Eats: there will be nibbles and (if I have time to bake it) cake, and there are various vendors of munchies within spitting distance.
Spitting: not allowed, especially at our local munchies-vendors.
Smoking: also not allowed! Not even on the balcony (my birthday, my rules).
Badgers: positively encouraged (they don't count as pets).
Any other questions that I've failed to pre-empt, please ask!
Owen McKnight. Except for a stage whisper of "Is that legal?" when the registrar announced us, no one has expressed that much surprise at my taking j4's name. A chap might almost be disappointed!
I'm Owen Massey McKnight in full. Instead of a double surname as rmc28 chose, I've made my old surname my new middle name. The idea was to keep my professional reputation (watch it) and search engine optimisation, but I'm tending to use the simpler, shorter form. Thus my email is now owen.mcknight@gmail.com (I'll deal with the old vanity domain later).
( How do you change your name? )
To reverse the usual justification for Ms, it seemed only fair that if j4 was changing from Miss to Mrs then I should have some sign of my new status, too. Does it feel different? It's a lovely reminder and will be till I get used to it. I think it made my mum a little sad; but that's what you get for raising your son a feminist.