From my hotel room....

Today I spent the day with colleagues at a meeting at IGER Aberystwyth in Wales. For once, after a wet winter, the sun is splitting the sky and here I show you a picture of Dr Kit Macleod in action in one of the IGER growth houses! Nice day.

Video of London trip

Click here for a 3 minute video summary of the trip.

And it was worth it!

The Eye at night
Originally uploaded by Phil Haygarth.

Just back form a terrific couple of days, filled the 1 GB memory card on my camera due to some fantastic subject matter and lighting! Here is a taster of the images I managed to collect - more blogging and pics to follow when I have time to unravel it all! Pip

We're so excited..........

I have to say that we are all so excited. Tomorrow morning we are leaving early for a 48 hour trip to London to see the sights. Train, open top bus, the Eye, natural History Museum....we're all losing it with anticipation......Look out for the photos next week. Dod

Doddy

Doddy
Originally uploaded by Deadbeat·Dad.

Helen is going through a phase of calling me 'Dod' at the moment, for some reason this tickles me no end. Occasionally it is 'Doddy'. It used to be 'Ad'. Sometimes, she actually does a real 'Dad', but in my opinion this is not match for a stodgy old Dod. Last night Anne syringed my right ear; it has been over due for 10 years and for the last 2 weeks my hearing on this side was almost non existent. Strewth, what an experience getting that lot purged. Now I must go and hear Helen call me Dod again. Dod.

Happy Birthday Brother

Dave Haygarth
Originally uploaded by Adeeh2.

Video of Christmas

I have put together this summary of our Christmas. Thanks to my brother Dave for his advice and mostly to the stars of the show - Matthew, Angus, Helen and Lily. Click here is you want to watch - it takes about 9 minutes to view it all. Irritatingly, I had to compress it quite a lot to upload it, so if you want a decent copy let me know and I will send you a CD. Comments welcome! Phil Spielberg

New years eve walk in the rain

Boys waiting outside
Originally uploaded by Phil Haygarth.

Yesterday we joined the Chadwicks and Bells for what has become our annual walk over the moor to the Tors at Belstone, for a bev and a bite. I cannot believe it is 12 months since I started this blog with the same event - have a look at the link to see back to the same event a year ago (you will need to scroll to the 01 Jan 06 entry at the bottom of the link). This year Matthew and Robbie got a bit lost, which caused a bit of alarm, but all ended ok. Angus seemed to relish the attention of Poppy and Molly - not a bad performance considering he is supposed to be off colour! All survived in good spirits despite the weather (or Sarah?) causing some instability on the steeper slopes.........Good friends, happy days.