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Go Corcaigh!

Posted in Biographical with tags , , , on August 23, 2023 by telescoper

So here I am, on an intercity train to Cork from Dublin Heuston Station, en route to the 2023 Irish National Astronomy Meeting (INAM 2023).

I’ve never been to Cork before, so I’ve been looking forward to this trip. I’ve never even been in Heuston Station before, actually. A terminus that serves the West and South, it is rather like a smaller version of London Paddington. At any rate, it’s rather nicer than Connolly in that it is more spacious and has a far better selection of places to get something to eat and/or drink.

I got to Heuston on the 115 bus from Maynooth. It’s the first time I’ve been on that bus too. I’m sure to be using that service much more in the future as it’s very convenient. It’s also very quick – just 25 minutes – and the bus I got was brand new. It was full of kids when I got on, but they all got off at Liffey Valley.

Anyway, it’s not a long journey and the train, though full, is very comfortable, so I think I’ll chill and read my book and refrain from updating until we get to our destination.

UPDATE: I arrived in Cork on time and found my hotel without difficulty. It’s sunnier and warmer here than Maynooth was this morning, so I think I’ll take a walk before finding a bite to eat.

My hotel is not as awful as its name might suggest:

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Maynooth University Library Cat Update

Posted in Maynooth with tags , on August 23, 2023 by telescoper
Catatonic

A few people have asked me about Maynooth University Library Cat (or Séamus as some people call him). I paid said feline a visit just yesterday, actually, but I could see he was busy, so I didn’t disturb him.

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A Dublin Metro?

Posted in Biographical, Maynooth with tags , , on August 21, 2023 by telescoper

I have to do a bit of travelling in the second half of this week so I spent a bit of time today planning the trip, the easiest and quickest route seeming to be a bus from Maynooth to Heuston Station in Dublin and then a train from there. The only alternative, given that I don’t have a car, would have been a train to Connolly and a coach from Busáras, which would be cheaper but far slower.

Thinking about travelling it occurred to me that if I’d still been living in Cardiff I would have qualified for a free bus pass by now. I’ll have to wait until I’m 66 to get one here.

Coincidentally, when I got home I saw a news item that a team had been assembled to oversee the construction of the Dublin Metrolink. There’s nothing to get too excited about this news, as the project hasn’t yet got planning permission, and will take “6-8 years” to complete if and when it does. I’d be surprised if it’s done by 2035, actually. The question is whether it will really be a useful complement to the Irish Rail, DART, LUAS and bus services that exist already.

However, this is what it will look like:

As you can see, it’s basically North-South. The one obvious advantage is that it will at last provide a proper public transport link from the city to the airport, the lack of which is a national embarrassment.

Another thing of personal interest is the proposed new Glasnevin Station:

The Glasnevin MetroLink station is one of the most significant stations on the route. It is situated beside Cross Gunns Bridge and the Royal Canal, with a new Irish Rail station serving the Maynooth, Sligo and Kildare lines and BusConnects will also have stops close by.The complexity of the construction of this station is formidable as the aim will be to minimise the impact on Irish Rail services which is a vital part of the national rail network.

Oh dear. I sense years of rail replacement bus services and/or other disruptions if it goes ahead, and that there will be many planning objections before it even starts. If it does come to construction work, I suppose it will be easier for me to get the bus into Dublin while all that is going on. On the other hand, a link from the Maynooth line via MetroLink to St Stephen’s Green will be handy for concerts at the National Concert Hall. All of which assumes that I’m still around when this is finished, of course.

This reminds me of my trip to Copenhagen earlier this year, where I found their much more complex Metro system finished. I don’t remember how long I’ve been visiting that city and see extensive building work to do with the Metro, especially at Kongens Nytorv.

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Winding Up

Posted in Biographical, Education, Maynooth with tags , , , on August 16, 2023 by telescoper

This morning, we held the last meeting this academic year of the Departmental Examination Board to look over the results of the recent repeat examinations ahead of the final upload this afternoon. That having been satisfactorily completed, I have now finished my teaching-related duties for this academic year. I start a year’s sabbatical on 1st September, so I won’t be attending more Exam Boards for a while!

Another loose end to be dealt with was the Departmental Twitter account, which I have been running. Twitter is really terrible these days and I have decided to deactivate my own personal account entirely on 31st August. The departmental account probably should stay open, so this afternoon I transferred its controls to our Departmental Adminstrator. Just before doing so, I realised that the password was a bit rude, so I quickly changed it to something more presentable before handing it over to avoid embarrassment.

If you want to follow that account, by the way, you can!

All I have left to do now is remove a few personal things from my office for whoever uses it next academic year. I’ve got plenty of time to do that, although I will be away for part of next week (way down South, in Cork).

Tonight, however, although it’s a school night, I think I’ll celebrate by having a little drink and watching the Super Cup Final between Man City and Sevilla the telly box. Cheers!

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An Garda Síochána

Posted in Biographical, Maynooth with tags , , on August 4, 2023 by telescoper

I’m a bit late getting around to posting today as I’ve been busy all day sending off for documents and filling in forms connected with my forthcoming sabbatical. My relocation is a little more complicated than I initially thought as although Ireland is in the European Union, it is not in the Schengen area, so a visit for longer than 90 days requires a bit of paperwork. In fact I am applying for what is called a “non-lucrative residence permit”. It seems to be strange to be applying for non-lucrative status, as that’s what I seem to have had all my life, but there you go.

Anyway, as part of the bureaucratic process I have to acquire a Police Certificate, a document that states that I have no criminal record over the last five years. To get this in Ireland one has to visit a Garda station. There is one in Maynooth, but unfortunately there is rarely anyone staffing it, so I decided to go instead to Leixlip, where the station is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It’s also just a short bus trip from Maynooth.

So this morning I downloaded the requisite form from the Garda website, collected the documents listed there, and off I went to Leixlip. I had to wait a little bit of time because there were a couple of people needing things. One was inquiring about a court summons for something he claimed he had paid already but didn’t have a receipt. Eventually he left, though he wasn’t happy about having to attend court. The next chap just had to sign some sort of register. He might have been on probation or had to check in with the Gardaí to fulfil some other conditions.

I always feel a bit sorry for people working at the front desk in a place like a Garda station. They must often be confronted by people who are not having a very good day, and probably have to deal with a bit of aggravation from time to time.

Then it was my turn. The officer at the desk was very friendly but when I explained what I needed he produced a form that stated I needed additional documents not listed on the website, including a copy of my birth certificate, a document explaining what I needed the certificate for, and a stamped addressed envelope to receive the certificate. I was a bit annoyed, but had no alternative but to go back to Maynooth and collect the missing papers. Bureaucracy is bureaucracy and there’s no point letting it get to you.

After returning in due course with the gaps in my documents filled, I found the waiting area at Garda station empty and I was able to hand over my documents which I was assured were now sufficient. I just have to wait a bit to get the certificate in the post.

On the bus home after the second trip to Leixlip it struck me that today was the first time I’ve been in a Garda station, and the second time…

Now that’s out of the way, it’s wine o’clock and the bank holiday weekend beckons.

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Defend Democracy at Maynooth University

Posted in Education, Maynooth with tags , on August 3, 2023 by telescoper

A few weeks ago I mentioned on this blog the appalling decision by the President to scrap elections to the Governing Authority of the University in favour of having representatives chosen only by The Management. This contempt for democratic processes is just one example of the increasingly authoritarian administration of the University. Can anyone justify the complete disenfranchisement of the staff of the University from the governance of the University? Or that an executive body should itself select the board to which it is supposed to be accountable?

Within the last week, an article appeared in the Independent that contained the following:

A university spokeswoman said the governing authority “is reflecting on the recent feedback from some staff about the process for establishing a new governing authority”. The new governing body was to be put in place later this year. “The governing authority is scheduled to meet on August 22 to consider the most appropriate way forward on this issue,” she added.​

Independent, Sunday 30th July.

Note the use of an “anonymous spokeswoman”. I have no idea who this person is, nor who gives her authority to speak on behalf of the governing authority. This state of affairs is symptomatic of the complete detachment of The Management from the rest of us at the University. The story suggests that the University is going to consider different options for appointments to the new Governing Authority. Perhaps it should have considered a bit more before trying to ram through a massively unpopular process that has brought the management into such disrepute that its poor governance is now appearing regularly in the news media?

Anyway, in my opinion the only sensible approach is to restore elections to the Governing Authority. I’m not the only one to think this. In fact there is a petition raised by the Union IFUT:

We call on Maynooth University to reverse their decision to instigate selection and to restore the democratic election process for all five staff representatives on the Governing Authority.

It goes on to say

The decision by MU’s Governing Authority and senior management to replace democratic elections with a selection process, whereby they assume, with the assistance of a private recruitment firm, the responsibility of handpicking staff representatives, is an attack on basic principles of democracy and good governance.

I agree with this wholeheartedly, and have signed the petition. I encourage you to do likewise. You can sign it here. And please spread the news of the petition as widely as you can. This is a battle we can’t afford to lose, as experience suggests it is the thin end of a very sinister wedge.

I’ll just add a more general point. If The Management thinks that the deliberate alienation of its staff is a recipe for a successful high education institution then it has another think coming. Perhaps it should consider working with its academics rather than against them?

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Swan Update

Posted in Maynooth with tags , , on July 24, 2023 by telescoper

It has been not quite three months since I posted about the swans at Maynooth and, since I passed the family on the way in to work today I thought I’d give an update. Here they are on the left, compared with what they looked like in May.

July, at the harbour
May, at the harbour

You’ll notice two main differences.

One is that the cygnets are so much bigger, almost full size, although they still have their brownish colouring. They grow very quickly!

The other difference is that there are only six cygnets in the recent picture, while there were seven originally. It’s not unusual for one or two to fall by the wayside, but what happened in this case is that one of them had a damaged tail, and the others seemed to be bullying it. The wildlife people therefore decided that it was best to take it away, fix its injuries, and find it a home elsewhere. That was a few weeks ago. As far as I know, it survived.

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Back to Maynooth

Posted in Biographical, Cardiff, GAA, Maynooth with tags , , , on July 8, 2023 by telescoper

I made it back to Maynooth from Cardiff last night after a relatively uneventful journey, although sitting next to a hen party on a RyanAir flight en route to Dublin wasn’t exactly the most peaceful experience and I was quite tired when I got home.

Among the many things that have changed over the last few years is how much quieter Cardiff Airport is. When I arrived there at about 6pm yesterday there were only two flights on the departure screen. One of them (a KLM flight to Amsterdam) was then cancelled, so all the intending passengers had to leave the departure lounge and collect their checked luggage. My flight was on time, however, and was very full.

In a previous pre-pandemic existence I spent half my time in Cardiff and half in Maynooth so had to cross the Irish Sea twice a week. The airline I used in those days, FlyBe, went bust just before the pandemic. RyanAir has taken the Cardiff-Dublin route, deploying a Boeing which is much bigger than the Embraer used by FlyBe, but there is only one flight a day. The other routes previously operated by FlyBe from Cardiff (e.g. to Edinburgh) no longer exist. Bristol is relatively easy to get to from Cardiff so I suppose people go that way nowadays if they have to fly.

A consequence of the small number of flights from Cardiff Airport is that the shuttle bus to Cardiff City Centre no longer runs. That was the method I used to get to and from the airport in my previous existence when I had to cross the Irish Sea twice a week. That no longer being available, I travelled to the airport by train and bus transfer. It’s a lot less convenient than the old bus, and a bit more expensive, but went off without any hitches.

Anyway, it’s nice to be home. I plan to spend the day chilling and watching the hurling semi-final between Limerick and Galway. UPDATE: Defending Champions Limerick beat Galway by 2-24 to 1-18 and thus get to the final yet again. The other semi-final, between Clare and Kilkenny, is tomorrow.

P.S. I forgot to mention that the good folk of Cardiff gave me a mug advertising CHART – Cardiff Hub for Astrophysics Research and Technology – which is new since my day.

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Swan Update

Posted in Maynooth with tags , , on May 4, 2023 by telescoper

Not long ago I posted an item about the swans of Maynooth, expressing anticipation of the forthcoming cygnets. Well, they have arrived at last; seven in total. Here’s a picture I took this morning near the harbour and one a couple of days ago further along the Royal Canal.

near the harbour
in midstream

The family probably won’t go far from their nest while the cygnets are very small, and the adults will stay very close to their little ones for quite a while, but soon they’ll be taking longer journeys and the youngsters will roam a little on their own. I spoke to two guys who work by the canal who have a little shed next to the harbour on the Royal Canal. They told me that when they’ve grown up a bit the cygnets regularly knock on the door of the shed to ask for food. They also warned me not to make any sudden movements near the Swan family, as Mr Swan can be very aggressive. All of them were very relaxed when I saw them, however.

P.S. It is interesting that the word “swan” is Germanic (cf. Schwann) while the word “cygnet” is via French cygne (cf. Latin cygnus, Greek κύκνος); the Irish word for “swan” is “eala”.

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The Swans of Maynooth

Posted in Maynooth with tags , on April 25, 2023 by telescoper
The Royal Canal near Maynooth, with Maynooth railway station in the background to the left.

Most mornings I walk to work at Maynooth University along a route that includes a short section of the towpath of the Royal Canal, roughly from the Mullen Bridge to Maynooth Harbour. There is a small island there which plays home to a pair of mute swans who have been nesting there at least as long as I’ve lived in Maynooth (more than five years). Swans mate for life and they’ve found a great spot there on the little island and have no reason to move.

I took the above picture as I walked in this morning. In the foreground, you can see the male swan (the cob) who is on patrol. If you look carefully you can see a splash of white on the island which is his partner, the pen, sitting on their nest. As you can see, the water in the canal is very clear, which made for an interesting combination of reflection and transmission. I don’t know the name of the plants that grow on the bottom of the canal, and would be grateful if anyone could enlighten me.

This time of year is particularly interesting on the canal because it is about now that the annual brood of cygnets will appear. The young will stay with their parents for the best part of a year then, suddenly, around March, they’re off to find their own way in the world and make room for the next generation.

Swans are bad-tempered at the best of times but when the eggs hatch and the chicks appear, the pen will become extremely aggressive. For most of the year, the swans tolerate other birds on their island, but when they have very young cygnets they are very protective, and regularly have a go at the other birds. Crows, herons and seagulls are a particular danger.

Anyway, they should hatch very soon now, and there’s always an overload of cuteness when they go for their first trip on the water on their mother’s back, like passengers on a stately galleon.

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