Went for a swim at Newnham Riverbank Club this afternoon. The place was empty and the grass was damp.
The water was 62F (16.5°C) and I had a fantastic peaceful swim in the empty river. Made it up to the first willow past Dead Man’s Corner. The water was full of fish, feeding at the surface and breaking the water all around me. Very atmospheric. I tried to moblog from the river bank, but it didn’t work—so I’m posting now instead!
“Newnham Riverbank Club” by GrahamMcCannCAM
Technorati Tags: Newnham, River, Swimming
Michael was at a Chateau Musar wine tasting last night and I had an early night after my trip to Orlando. Slept amazingly well, aided by melatonin.
Bought some new organic, healthy, brown rice from Arjuna today. So, I was finishing off some old rice when I realised that I wasn’t alone. The rice had turned into a weevil farm. Damn organic grains! Rice Weevils don’t seem to be the best things to have around
The rice weevil is one of the most serious stored grain pests worldwide. This pest of whole grain originated in India and has been spread worldwide by commerce. It now has a cosmopolitan distribution. It is a serious pest in the southern United States. Both the adults and larvae feed on whole grains. They attack wheat, corn, oats, rye, barley, sorghum, buckwheat, dried beans, cashew nuts, wild bird seed, and cereal products, especially macaroni. The adult rice weevil can fly and is attracted to lights. When disturbed, adults pull in their legs, fall to the ground, and feign death. The larval rice weevil must complete its development inside a seed kernel or a man-made equivalent, like macaroni products. Larval rice weevils have been known to develop in hard caked flour. The adult female eats a cavity into a seed and then deposits a single egg in the cavity, sealing in the egg with secretions from her ovipositor. The larva develops within the seed, hollowing it out while feeding. The larva then pupates within the hollow husk of the grain kernel. (from University of Florida)
Weevil holes in our rice
Sadly the rice was in a dry store cupboard. Who knows what state our Macaroni’s in?
Technorati Tags: Organic, Rice, Weevil
Checked out of Disney Contemporary Resort at 8 and had a take-away breakfast at on the stand, reading e-mail. The last day of the exhibition wasn’t too busy, but I met a few useful contacts. Lunch with Claire and Rob at the usual Concourse Steakhouse then Claire and I left the conference to go home: Robert stayed behind for an extra night and had managed to get a reservation for the busy California Grill for tonight (apparently it’s booked up 4 months in advance).
The Magical Express airport transfer was pretty dissapointing: it was a normal coach that took an hour to get to the airport, weaving around the various Disney resorts. I thought this was going to be my best chance for a ‘Disney Experience“. The airport was quiet and the staff on a hair-trigger with boredom: the service was pretty intense, I bought lots of Clinique (almost half the price than in the UK) and the 
woman in duty free went a bit wild with the excitement too. She had me testing this and that. I did learn (usefully) that the men’s range is identical to the women’s, but in a different packaging, It’s much cheaper to buy the stuff packaged for women. Bought Michael an iDog as a gift which is better than any Disney merchandise that I saw (although I was tempted by a plush Eyore).
Flight back was only half full again and I managed 5 hours sleep lying across three seats, which was very pleasing. Brian picked us up from the airport as soon as we appeared in arrivals. From landing at 6am, I was home at 9.15.
Technorati Tags: Clinique, Disney, iDog
Woke up at 5.30 with a cracking headache, which I finally obliterated about 7 with ibuprofen. Put my head down for a ‘5 minute snooze’ and woke up at 8.30. Panick! Missed my breakfast rendezvous with Rob and almost missed breakfast in the rush to get to the exhibition for 9. The exhibition runs from 9 to 5 today.
The morning session was okay. The posters have been moved into the exhibition hall so there has been a good mingling of people around the exhibit. I think this works really well and uses the exhibition space well too. Had lunch with Gary Heiftje, Claire and Rob, back in the Concourse Steakhouse which was good. The waitresses there are good fun. We had Orlando tapwater, which tastes of sulfur and other minerals. The waitress described it as alligator swampwater, and served it with lemon. I don’t mind the taste, others hated it.
After lunch ice creams were served in the exhibition: I had a Mickey Mouse shaped (but not flavoured) icecream lolly, covered in dark chocolate.
Went to the Raman Reception at 6, for which we received a token each for one drink. There was a great fun show/quiz, which involved the Raman prize winner, Mike Morris, and two others playing Raman Wheel of Fortune. One of the PhD students was wonderful and Britney Spears, trying to buy a vowel (k) etc.
Met up with Graham Duncan, Roy, Detlef Günther and Volker Deckert for dinner in the evening. We took the monorail to Disney’s Polynesian Resort we had quite a few Mai Tai cocktails and ate in the Kona Cafe. Detleft brought us fake flower gaarlands and we celebrated Robert’s birthday one day early: the waitress brought out a single profiterole, with a plate iced up with “Happy Birthday” and a single candle: it was as a bit mean!
Headed back to my room to pack my bags and drop into bed while Robert, Roy and Duncan went to ‘Pleasure Island’ to go clubbing.
Technorati Tags: Disney, FACSS, Raman, Work
First day of the FACSS meeting in Orlando. Slept till after 6am, which I was pleased with (equated to midday UK time). Luke warm water in the shower: either it’s a child-safe temperature or all the kids nabbed the hot water early before going out to see Mickey Mouse for the day. Did some e-mailing and blogging before breakfast arrived, then headed down at 9 to register for the meeting. I’ve got an exhibitors’ badge so I can’t go to any of the lectures: still amanged to sneak into a Young Investigators session in the morning for a bit. Set up the RSC stand up in the morning and then got changed before meeting Claire and Rob for lunch, this time in the Concourse Steakhouse in the resort. We had to wait 20 mins for a tabel which wasn’t too bad.
Spent the afternoon e-mailing, sorting out taxis for our evening trip and trying to get Claire and I booked on the Magical Express to the airport on Wednesday. The exhibition opened at 4.30, with food a drinks (on tokens). There was a good atmosphere and the exhibition hall was buzzing.
Claire, Rob and I met a group of young investigors (about eight of them) for dinner in the evening. We took a couple of taxis out to the Flying Fish Cafe on the Boardwalk. It was a lovely place in a smart hotel. Our best Disney expereince yet. Had a great waitress for our table and lovely food. I was impressed.
The water was 62F (16.5°C) and I had a fantastic peaceful swim in the empty river. Made it up to the first willow past Dead Man’s Corner. The water was full of fish, feeding at the surface and breaking the water all around me. Very atmospheric. I tried to moblog from the river bank, but it didn’t work—so I’m posting now instead!
