Biographical | In the Dark

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Flying visit to Cardiff

Posted in Biographical, Cardiff, Open Access with tags Bristol Airport, Bristol Temple Meads, Cardiff, Open Access, The Open Journal of Astrophysics on November 1, 2023 by telescoper

I got up at 3am this morning to take a bus to an airport, then a flight to Bristol Airport, then another bus to Bristol Temple Meads, and then a train to Cardiff in order to give a seminar. Now I’m in the middle of the reverse process, having a pint in Bristol Airport.

In case you’re thinking of using Bristol Airport at any time in the next 8 weeks, then please bear in mind that there are major roadworks on the approach road, so be sure to allow extra time. It took over an hour from Bristol Temple Meads this evening, more than double the usual time, and it’s only 8 miles…

I’m more than a little tired after all that, but it was still very nice to meet up with friends and former colleagues again. I was particularly delighted to learn that Professor Haley Gomez has been appointed Head of the School of Physics and Astronomy. Congratulations to Haley!

I’ll upload the slides from my talk when I get back to base. For the time being, however, I’m just going to chill in the departure lounge before my return flight.

Update: the return leg ran to schedule so here, as promised, are the slides for the talk I was invited to give:

OA and OJA_cardiff.pptx from Peter Coles

P.S. I’ll be giving two talks on the same theme later this month in different institutes in France.

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On Samhain

Posted in Biographical with tags El Espectro, Samhain on October 31, 2023 by telescoper

So we have arrived at October 31st, Hallowe’en or, in pagan terms, Samhain. This, a cross-quarter day – roughly halfway between the Autumnal Equinox and the Winter Solstice – represents the start of winter (“the dark half of the year“) in the Celtic calendar. Technically, Samhain is tomorrow, 1st November, but the Celtic practice of reckoning days from sunset to sunset makes this a moot point.

Samhain is pronounced something like “sowin”. The h after the m denotes lenition of the consonant (which in older forms of Irish would have been denoted by a dot on top of the m) so when followed by a broad vowel the m is pronounced like the English “w”; when followed by a slender vowel or none “mh” is pronounced “v” or in other words like the German “w” (which makes it easier to remember). The phrase Oíche Shamhna (the Eve of Samhain) is used for Hallowe’en; it contains the genitive form of Samhain.

Anyway, as it was foretold, I am not in Barcelona and will continue to be not-in-Barcelona for a few days. Indeed, tomorrow, if all goes to plan, I’ll be in a different part of non-Barcelona. With all that running about I’m a bit busy for a proper blog post so I’ll just take the opportunity to point out that yet another anagram of my name is El Espectro…

Oíche Shamhna shona daoibh go léir!

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Another Country

Posted in Barcelona, Biographical, Maynooth with tags Governing Authority, Maynooth University, Staff Climate and Culture Survey on October 25, 2023 by telescoper

It was only when I looked at my calendar this morning, and saw the reminder that my rent is due shortly, that I realized that I have now been in Barcelona for a whole month (plus one day). Lacking the usual cycle of lectures and other teaching sessions, I’ve still had regular telecons and other virtual discussions through which to reckon the passage of time, but these are different. When I’m teaching I always number my lectures consecutively so it’s easy for me to look at my notes and see that we’re, say, approaching half-term. That gives me a sense of progress which I must admit I don’t feel with scheduled telecons, which seem more cyclic – i.e. going around in circles most of the time.

Other than that, I’ve settled in here better than I expected. I’ve even managed to memorize the codes needed to get into my flat – no mean feat given my fading powers of recollection. Progress on the research has been a bit slower than expected, but I hope to finish the paper I’m working on by the weekend.

Next week is Study Week in Maynooth, including a public holiday on Monday 30th October to mark Samhain. Wednesday November 1st is a (national) public holiday in Spain too, Tots Sants (“All Saints” in Catalan). That would be the third public holiday since I arrived in Barcelona, but I won’t be here for it, as I have to make a flying visit to another country to give a talk, and do a few other things.

This reminds me that I should send an update on the affair of Maynooth University’s Governing Authority. As you may recall, the Powers That Be initially decided to scrap elections to the Governing Authority of the University in favour of selection. There was a protest at this authoritarian plan and a petition was raised. After initially proposing a mixture of election and selection, The Management finally backtracked and agreed to elections for all five internal representatives. Although the elections happened after I moved to Barcelona, they were held online so I was able to vote. The process is now complete, and I send congratulations to the five duly elected representatives!

One thing I hope the new members of Governing Authority will do concerns the outcomes of Maynooth University’s “Staff Climate and Culture Survey” which was carried out in 2022 with the promise made to participants that results would be published in early 2023. No such results have ever communicated to staff (or anyone else that I am aware of) and all mention of this survey has been wiped off the University’s web pages. Perhaps the new members of GA can push for the long overdue publication of this information?

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The Rain in Spain

Posted in Barcelona, Biographical with tags Barcelona, Eduroam on October 16, 2023 by telescoper

It started raining yesterday and has carried on today. Yes, water is falling from the sky. It’s not raining heavily, but it has noticeably reduced the number of pedestrians visible. It’s a lot cooler today, too. Not exactly cold, at 21°C, but there’s definitely been a change. Whenever it’s been overcast previously in my stay here it has been very humid but not cooler, especially overnight when the cloud cover keeps the temperature high. Now it’s actually rather refreshing. We’re in for a bit more rain over the next few days too. Nice.

It seems more than a little overdue:

Today hasn’t been a great day so far. I was thinking of doing this morning’s scheduled Zoom call from home using the Wifi connection there. Unfortunately, there was quite a bit of construction noise from elsewhere in the building so I decided to come into the Department and do it here instead. When I got here Eduroam decided not to work for me, so I had no internet connection and consequently had to postpone the Zoom call altogether. I may have to miss a telecon this afternoon for the same reason.

Now there are intolerable levels of construction noise outside my office window too. Sigh.

On top of all that, my phone is refusing to send SMS messages. “Error 0” it says. I’m not sure how to fix that, so I’ll probably just wait for it to fix itself. My mobile data connection is working fine, so I have no idea what the problem is. I shall adopt my usual strategy in such situations of waiting for the issue to correct itself.

Annoying, though. It never rains but it pours…

Come in, Barcelona…

Posted in Architecture, Barcelona, Biographical, Books with tags Barcelona, Books, Casa Milà, Come In on October 14, 2023 by telescoper

I think I’ve settled in pretty well now. I went for a longish walk this morning and didn’t once have to use Google Maps to find out where I was! It’s a bit cooler today (although still 25°C) so a bit more comfortable walking around. Temperatures are forecast to drop to about 21°C tomorrow, and there’s even a forecast for rain. I might even change out of my shorts!

I’ve been here almost three weeks now, and in my apartment for one. It does feel like I’ve been here longer, actually, but I suppose that’s because so many nice and interesting things have happened.

Anyway, on my way around I dropped in at Come In, a very good English-language bookshop. You can see how good it is by the quality of the books it sells…

It has a very wide range: new books and classics, fiction and non-fiction, and books for children. I suspect quite a few of its sales are to students of English, as well as tourists and migrants such as myself. It’s definitely worth a visit if you’re here. The staff are very friendly and helpful too. I bought a couple of items there, of which more anon.

Oh, and I also passed by La Casa Milà, which is quite close to my place of residence…

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Día de la Hispanidad

Posted in Barcelona, Biographical with tags Día de la Hispanidad, National Holiday, Spain on October 12, 2023 by telescoper

Today (12th October) is a national holiday in Spain, Hispanic Day (Día de la Hispanidad) or National Day (Fiesta Nacional de España). The date commemorates when Christopher Columbus first set foot in the Americas in 1492, and its colonial overtones make it a bit controversial. I only found out about this holiday yesterday so I had to do a quick dash to the shops last night because the vast majority are closed today (as they are every Sunday, incidentally).

The Department being closed today, I pottered around the apartment this morning. Late on in the morning I heard an unusual amount of beeping of car horns from the street and, when I looked out, there was quite a bit of traffic congestion going. The Gran Via de les Cortes Catalanes is a busy main road but usually the traffic keeps moving. Looking more closely I noticed that there was no traffic at all going along the Gran Via and all the congestion was in the orthogonal direction. I surmised that some diversion was in place.

I went out for a walk and established that I was correct. A very large parade was heading towards Plaça de Catalunya a few blocks down and the Gran Via was closed there to allow it to pass. The congestion was caused by cars trying to find alternative routes.

Anyway, I walked down towards Plaça de Catalunya and found the parade. I only caught a small part of it, but it was fun. Lots of different groups from different Latin American countries dressed in colourful traditional costumes were dancing their way through the city. My favourites, from Bolivia, are featured in the last two pictures. They had brought their own brass band along, which made a change from the recorded music accompanying most of the other sections of the parade, and made it feel much more authentic.

Anyway, it is another warm day (27° C) so after walking around for a couple of hours, I beat a retreat to my flat to cool off and have a short siesta. Bona tarda!

Cold Turkey Twitter

Posted in Biographical with tags BlueSky, Mastodon, social media, Twitter, X on October 8, 2023 by telescoper

I’ve seen quite a few articles (such as this one on LinkedIn) by academics lamenting the terminal decline of the website formerly known as Twitter, so I thought I’d add my thoughts. I come to bury Twitter, not to praise it.

I joined Twitter in 2009 or thereabouts. Over the years, I accumulated around 7300 followers. Not an enormous number by any standards, but a reasonable one. I used the platform only partly for academic matters. I found it in turns amusing and annoying. I dealt with the latter aspect largely through liberal use of the block facility. I admit I found the recreational aspect mildly addictive.

In recent times, however, Twitter (or X as we’re now supposed to call it) has turned to shit. Since Elon Musk took over, users are basically silenced unless they pay for a blue tick, the social media equivalent of buying a megaphone for use in a library. The API that allowed me to post there from WordPress was axed, which was an additional pain. Add the constant stream of promoted tweets and other ads to the deluge of unmoderated bigotry, and the result is unbearable.

I deleted my Twitter account completely at the end of August and haven’t looked back. Since I’d spent a lot of time there, a number of friends expressed scepticism that I’d manage to do it cold turkey like that, but it was no problem, and I have no withdrawal symptoms.

I now much prefer Mastodon, where I’ve had an account for about a year. I have just over a thousand followers there, just one seventh of the number I had on Twitter, but much higher levels of engagement. More importantly, it’s far more civilized. I’ve only had to block one person. WordPress has also introduced an autopost to Mastodon, so every blog post I write appears there automatically.

I have also joined BlueSky. This site is still in development and, for the time being, is by invitation only, so is rather quiet. In recent weeks, however, I’ve noticed quite a large number of astronomers arriving there, so it is an interesting place to be. I have some spare invites, actually…

Just say no to Twitter. It’s not worth it.

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Apartament Nou

Posted in Barcelona, Biographical with tags Barcelona, Eixample on October 6, 2023 by telescoper

Much to my surprise, my plan for relocating to Barcelona seems to be working out nicely. I booked a hotel initially while I looked around for an apartment for the bulk of my stay. I had a few disappointments with possible properties, and feared I might have to extend the hotel reservation, but then happened to be looking on one of the letting agency websites just as an ideal place in la Dreta de l’Eixample appeared. I got in touch with the agent straight away and had the chance to see the landlord the same day. We did the deal and so I have a place.

I had paid for 12 nights in the hotel (due to check out today), but my apartment was empty yesterday. The landlord was kind enough to allow me to leave some things there yesterday evening, before I returned to the hotel for my last night there. I checked out of the hotel and took the rest of my luggage to the apartment this morning. The apartment is only about 20 minutes away from the hotel, so it was easy to move my stuff.

I did enjoy staying at the hotel -in particular it’s nice not having to get your own breakfast in the mornings – but it would be way to expensive there in the long term. Moreover, I like cooking and one can’t do that in a hotel room. The kitchen in my new place is small but fully equipped. The only problem is that the shelves are bare, for now, and I’ll need to buy quite a lot of ingredients before I can do anything complicated. My plan for the rest of today, therefore, is to cook something simple and relax with a bottle of the local wine to celebrate a mission accomplished.

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The Week in Barcelona

Posted in Barcelona, Biographical on October 1, 2023 by telescoper

The Arc de Triomf which can be loosely translated as “Arc de Triomphe”…

I was doing another tour of Barcelona today in the blazing sunshine, when it suddenly struck me that (a) I’ve been here for a week already and (b) it’s October! It certainly doesn’t feel like a normal October with not a cloud in the sky and the temperature at 27°C.

The tourist crowds were out in force. I always find it quite interesting listening for different languages as I go around. There are a few British and American, and of course Spanish, but the language I’ve come across most often among the tourists is French. That’s not surprising, of course, given the proximity to the border and, e.g., train services to and from France.

A bit of advice for people visiting. Many of the interesting locations (museums and art galleries, for example) are very busy and one can’t just turn up, buy a ticket and go in without a very long wait. The best way to do it is to buy a ticket online with a specific time on it, then you can bypass the queues and go straight in at the appointed hour.

The main that to have struck me while I’ve been here is that the cost of living is so much lower than Ireland. The grocery stores and supermarkets are stocked with a huge range of fresh food at prices much lower than back home. The choice of good quality wines for less than €10 per bottle is astonishing.

Eating in restaurants – even in the touristic areas – is generally inexpensive (although there are of course expensive places). In the area I am living in, every street corner seems to have a place where you can get something to eat and/or drink. I’ve sampled a few in my neighbourhood, and most have been very good indeed. There are, of course, some that aren’t so good.

Actually, I’m eating rather a lot less these days. I have a hearty breakfast but usually skip lunch and often only have a light snack or tapas in the evening. I think the temperature has reduced by appetite (at least for food….). That’s not bad, actually, because I could do with losing a bit of weight.

I’m still in my (very pleasant) hotel but will be moving to an apartment later next week, assuming nothing goes wrong with the contract.

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Gaudí and a Shorts Story

Posted in Architecture, Barcelona, Biographical with tags Antoni Gaudí, Casa Bottla, Sagrada Familia on September 30, 2023 by telescoper

It being a Saturday, and the weather forecast suggesting a temperature of around 30° C, I made an early start this morning to beat the tourist crowds and the heat as I walked around. I managed the latter but not the former. My aim was to visit the famous landmarks associated with architect Antoni Gaudí, the Casa Botlla and the still unfinished Sagrada Familia. Here are some pics I took on the way there and back.

I didn’t actually go in either establishment because of the cost and the crowds. I’m told things will get a bit quieter later in the year so I might try again in November or so. Incidentally, if you’re interested in visiting the Sagrada Familia then be careful as it is quite difficult to get to: there are a lot of roadworks nearby associated with a new tram track so it’s best to walk there than try to get near it by car. It’s also quite expensive to get in – €34, no less. The other church (in the 6th pic) I passed on the way is, I think, this one.

The approach to the Sagrada Familia triggered some memories of my last visit there 30 years ago but the surrounding area has changed quite a bit. The fifth picture, entitled ‘Entrance’, was the best attempt I could make at recapturing an old view:

There is a busy main road now where there was a dirt track back in 1993 and I didn’t want to get run over by bus taking my picture so I couldn’t get close enough to reproduce the angle. Note also that the tower to the left in the old picture now has a new structure in front of it.

Anyway, I had a nice walk around, ending up by the harbour where there was a jazz-and-cocktails event going on but it was getting too hot by then so I went and ate an indoor pizza then retreated to my hotel for a siesta.

Last week, discovering how warm it is here, I decided to buy a new pair of shorts (Bermudas). That turned out to be trickier than expected. Many stores here are selling their autumn range rather than summer gear, but when I tried a nearby El Corte Inglés I found the remnants of the summer short range were on sale at half price. Sadly I was then flummoxed by the sizes and confounded by the lack of a signal so I could check using my phone. When I did find a conversion table from UK to Spanish sizes I found it was wildly inaccurate and had to try on three pairs of increasing size until I found a pair that fit.

Fancy that. Inaccurate information on the internet! Who would have though it?

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In the Dark