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Ghent – The Low Countries Part 2, Even Lower
After a few days in The Hague, we leisurely made our way to Ghent in Belgium for the second conference on the books. We spent another night in The Hague after a packed day of post-conference social events. The plan had been to take the train down to Ghent in Belgium but that was a…
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Den Haag, The Low Countries Part 1 (Part 2 gets even Lower)
To say a lot has happened since the last post would be something of an understatement. I better get writing! I have attended two conferences. Presented two posters. Travelled to four countries (Scotland, Netherlands, Belgium, USA). Taken six flights. Five rail trips. Countless bus journeys. Traversed two states by long distance rail (California to Oregon).…
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Changing (Bath)Rooms
This past week included a partial bathroom demolition, all part of the legacy of a the previous owner of our house. When replacing your bathroom flooring is like running an archaeological dig, you know something has gone wrong. You can date the flooring by the layers. Plywood, followed by tile adhesive, followed by tiles. Yup,…
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ABBQ
The extra “A” stands for the Aldi Kamado BBBQ. The extra “B”? That’s a typo… (Is that an esoteric reference? Real Simpsons fans think otherwise) Kamado Karl? Like pretty much everything we use in day to day life (paper, printing, gunpowder…) the kamado ceramic BBQ has its origin in ancient China. That stove eventually made…
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The Curse is Broken (Diving into Sicilian Life)
Three times attempted. Three times thwarted. Fourth time’s a charm. I have been involved in diving death investigation for going on three years, and in that time, I have tried to arrange an introductory session in Albufeira (Portugal), Okinawa (Japan), and Plymouth (UK). Illness and poor weather conditions have stopped me from diving in the…
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Reaching New Heights (Climbing that Ladder?)
A few short weeks ago I was looking out at a rain-drenched hodge-podge. Things have changed a tad. It has been weeks in the making and there’s still some landscaping work to do on the patio, but the frame is finally ready to use. The woodchips are laid to a depth of about 20cm providing…
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Building Frames, Breaking Earth, and Barbecue
The last couple of weeks have been dominated by the delivery of our Growplay climbing frame. Building it was easy. Sorting the play area is another matter… My plan to have all the ground work done before building the frame didn’t quite happen. The frame components arrived last Friday, but the sleepers and stones were…
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Garden Clearing and Good Food
The weather has been…interesting, as of late. Getting stuff done outside has been a challenge but thankfully the weekend brought sunshine. The latest project involves building a big play area which will replace most of the old patio. If you remember from last year, I lifted a lot of the slabs to build the base…
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Gardening and Virtual Reality
This year I end up doing so much outside that I barely leave myself any time to write about it. I’m going to cover everything from the great outdoors to the confines of a headset… Gardening One job that has been on the cards since shed clearing last year was manhole cover replacement. The old…
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Sun, Bagels, and Soil
Plymouth has had some stunning weather recently, almost making up for the wet week in Barcelona. That means plenty of time to get the garden organised. No Knead Bagels (Again!) I’ve cracked the no-knead bagel approach which is fairly hands off, adapting a recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction. The only slightly fiddly bit is the…
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Ordinary Decent Gamer 