On television

More than a year ago I was asked to collaborate on a television programme about sea level change and Wales. It had been an interesting morning! But then, of course, it ends up in the editing studio, and you never know when it will actually be broadcast. If you are interviewed for the news the turnaround time is quick, of course, but this wasn't. But they hadn't forgotten about me. I got an email to tell me this week, it will actually be broadcast! I was glad they had thought of me. I won't watch, of course, given that I don't have a TV licence, but I hope other people will see it and hopefully enjoy it. Did I make sense at the time? I hope so!

Droste effect podcast

On a Wednesday late afternoon I received an email from a student. She said she was making a podcast. She wanted to interview people in the School about their science. Was I willing to be one of the subjects? And I was. I had had quite a lot to do with this student, and I trusted her. We agreed on the next Monday morning. Over the weekend she sent me a list of questions she would want to ask.

She first briefly talked me through the technology. And then we started! And the first question resulted in more dialogue than I had expected. She just asked me my full name, which I gave. And she then confessed that she had no idea how to pronounce my last name. And that everyone she had asked had given her a different answer. She also said that other staff seem to actively avoid trying to pronounce it! I wasn't aware of that. I thought they would just settle on some Anglicised version.

From that question, things became a bit more scientific. She asked me my job title, which was easy, but also what I call myself. That varies greatly! I tend to call myself a palaeoclimatologist. It's also sometimes marine micropalaeontologist. It depends on the context. 

We also discussed things such as my last paper, and what it is like to work in a big research project. And how I had ended up in Wales. She also wanted to know about gender issues. She had been to Yueng’s inaugural lecture! And she also asked about how I managed to combine an academic career with things such as cave rescue.

Why does she know about cave rescue? It turns out that my blog these days is quite a hit with the students. I think I mentioned before that they seem to have discovered it, but I can't find where. And it's OK they have. I don’t really write it with them in mind, but I know it is a public blog, so anyone can read it. I have been aware from the beginning that if there are things I don't want the entire world to know, I should just not put them there. And in a way, I find that there is something about living your life in public; it makes you extra conscious of your decisions. And I am careful with privacy.

It is a bit weird to talk about my blog in a podcast and about a podcast on my blog! It is starting to sound a bit like an echo chamber. But it was fun to do.

We spoke for an hour, and then I went back to my office. It turned out I was her first interviewee. And she gave me the names of some of the people that had already agreed. I think this might be an interesting series. She will let me know when she is finished editing, and makes it public. I will provide a link when it is!

Back to the radio

Today, COP28 starts. In Dubai, of all places. We are hurtling towards the climate apocalypse, and the only way of dealing with that is with combined forces. So these COP meetings are important! Even if they also have proven to sometimes be very ineffective.

The media recognises its duty to report on this event. And one radio station cluster, LBC/Heart/Capital FM/Smooth Radio (no, I had no idea they were in it together) wanted a climate scientist to comment on it, and contacted me. I'm not quite sure why they chose me, but I'll have it! They asked if they could briefly interview me before the start of the event, and I said yes. The communications were entirely in English, so I expected the interview would be too.

I saw the interviewer on Zoom. I appreciated that; I had done two radio interviews (this and this) before where I couldn't see my interviewer, and I don't like that at all. I was a lot happier when I  later was asked for comment by the media, but the person interviewing actually showed up in person. I could look at him talking to me! That made it a lot easier.

We had a little chat, and the said that he assumed I didn't speak Welsh. I said I did. Then he said we could do the interview bilingually! He himself did not speak Welsh, but he could just ask me questions in English, and I could answer in Welsh. I did say I hadn't prepared for doing this in Welsh. But it wasn't live, so if I stumbled over a word, I could just look it up and say the sentence again.

So then we were off! First in English. He asked me whether I was optimistic about the COP meeting. I wasn't. Did I think it was important to show up? I said yes, because these meetings are the best available platform for making changes, and if you're not there, then you have guaranteed that you are not making a positive change. Wasn't in the UK doing really well anyway? And I admitted that the UK is doing a lot better than quite some other countries, including the Netherlands (check the emissions per capita), but that only means it is pushing us in the direction of climate apocalypse a bit slower than other countries. That's not really a reason to be proud. 

When we had gone through that in English we just did it again in Welsh. I had to stop twice to look something up. But I think I got my point across. 

I might have a look online today if I can find their news bulletins. I should be in it with some soundbites! Will it make a difference? Probably not. But one tries!

The COP28 venue. Pic by Alan Santos

Project Strava

I Strava all my exercise. Most of my exercise is my commute. And I think Strava gave it something extra: now that I can see how fast I have done all sections, it’s tempting to do it a little bit faster the next time. I do think my recent medal success is largely thanks to that competition with myself. And that’s good! But it does mean that any Strava followers get to see roughly the same route, over and over again. 

My commute is very beautiful. So I try to make all my recorded sessions a bit less dull by having nice pictures. I want to have at least one every day! And I almost always manage. And I love how I haven’t run out of inspiration yet. 

I have been doing this for months, and am not sure how long I can keep this up. Maybe forever! There is no rule, after all, against photographing the same location more than once. After all, camera angle matters, and the changing of the seasons, and the changing of the weather. I quite enjoy trying to produce something beautiful every day, that is quite unlike what I have produced recently. Not many people have such a gorgeous commute!

A selection of recently used pictures: 

60 seconds with me

The University issues a weekly online staff bulletin. And one of the standard items in it is "60 seconds with…" Every week, someone is featured who answers a number of standard questions.

The chair of the Athena Swan committee wanted as many Committee members as possible to feature in that. So she asked me if I was willing to join in. And I was. 

I had a look at the questions, and had a stab at them. The first questions were about Athena Swan. And there was one about the three priorities in my job. I skipped that one! Was I supposed to talk about my lecturing or Athena Swan? Would I not descend into platitudes? You're not expected to answer all of them, anyway. After all, it is called "60 seconds with" so you have to be brief. And then later there are some less applied questions.

I filled it all out, I'm got feedback; I was writing too much! Sixty seconds, after all. So I made my text a bit more concise, and booted another question out entirely. One question I really wanted to keep was the question about what I wanted to put in room 101. I really wanted to bring up climate somewhere! And that's where it fit.

I was also asked to explain a bit more about my dream dinner companion. I suppose not everybody keeps track of all the Vikings that have roamed the Earth. But with some extra explanation there, and the cutting out text elsewhere, it was good to go. And I used a cropped version of a race picture to go with it.

The day it would come out I received a message from a colleague. She said the mini interview had made her laugh! That was a bit unexpected; was it out yet? The next email I received was the actual Staff Bulletin. My colleague must have had that one a few minutes before me, for some reason. I wasn't quite sure what was so funny about it.

Marjan also commented on it. She said she was glad to see someone featured that she actually knew! But later, after a meeting, another colleague commended; he said that he had chuckled at the fact I had to put the actual government in room 101, and got away with that. I had to admit I hadn't considered the possibility that the University might want to censor something like that! But yes, they sure might. Maybe that was also my other colleague’s cause for amusement!

Altogether it was alright! I'm always happy to make people smile by dissing the Tories. Even more so when the whole purpose of doing so is to draw attention to the fight for gender equality, what was what this all started with. A successful mission, I would say…

The earlier questions (that didn't fit in the screenshot) were about Athena Swan

Not the Middle East as well

I must admit that when I saw the first headlines appear about the situation in an around Gaza, I looked away. I clearly had a case of news fatigue. But the news doesn't go away if you don't look at it, so soon I did read up on the situation.

We already have too many wars! Every war is one war too many. And given that none of the wars we had at the beginning of the month have ended, the situation is now one war worse than it was, and it was already so bad. 

The film ‘The Old Oak’ already emphasised that the war in Syria just isn't news anymore. And that has also been the case for Yemen and Ethiopia for a while. And I think the Ukraine has now joined that undesirable list. Slovakia has already officially turned it back on it, and how many countries will follow? The situation in the Middle East will have everybody talking now, but it won't stay that way. At some point the media can't be bothered anymore, and I think quite a lot of people in the street then just stop thinking about the situation. I myself am one. What was the last time I thought about the war in Yemen before writing this post? And even if I read about Gaza in the morning, the rest of the day I am probably just thinking about the geology of Anglesey or what MSc thesis I have to mark or whether I have uploaded the recordings of my lectures. As cruel as it is, life just goes on.

And this blog just keeps talking about the small things in my life. Like it has done through countless many wars by now…

Flyering in the local paper

After the citizen’s assemblies for sustainability had come to an end, it was not the end for sustainability in the valley. There was another meeting coming up, and the organising body wanted to draw attention to that. And they had been given the offer to put a flyer in the valley’s local paper: Llais Ogwan. (The voice of the Ogwen, but in the local accent a lot of vowels turn into a’s…) and sort it happens that Chris, the organiser, sent out an email asking for people to help. And I was available, and it would take place in Canolfan Cefnfaes, which just around the corner for me. So I volunteered.

Canolfan Cefnfaes

The venue is an old school, where renovations are taking place, after which it's going to get a wider use for the community. It had already been in use as a sort of food bank earlier on. And when there are elections on, it is the local polling station.

When I got in they were already quite some people, who were associated with Llais Ogwan. Shortly afterwards, Chris walked in, with his flyers. Each newspaper should get two flyers; the other one was encouraging people to read books in Welsh. And we set to work!

We were so efficient that half an hour later it was all done. I was glad I could have been of help! And in about a minute I walked back home. It was interesting to see that Chris and I single-handedly lowered the average age in that room considerably. Sustainability is for younger people than local papers, clearly! But I hope the flyers work, and that the upcoming meeting, which will also be in Canolfan Cefnfaes, is well-attended…

The paper! With Ras y Mynydd on the front cover…

Another dog rescued, but without me

After I came home from my latest mining trip, I wanted to put my helmet in the charger. I always charge it immediately afterwards. You never know when a call-out comes, and your light needs to have a full charge if it does. I noticed a crucial wire of the charger had become disconnected (again). I couldn't charge it! And I was very tired, but I decided to solder it back together straight away. And with my usual lack of skill, I did. And charged the helmet overnight. 

The next day I went for a run. And when I was on a lonely hilltop kilometres away from the nearest road, I saw a message come in on my smart watch. It was our alert system! There was mention of a possible imminent callout. Something was wrong in the east, but it wasn't quite clear what.

I was so glad I had charged my lamp! Not that it would've made a big difference; I was quite some distance away from my car, and my car was a reasonable distance away from my house. And my house is not in the east. So it would literally take me hours to get to the site. This situation might not end up being a call-out after all, but even if it would be, they would probably be looking for people who could get there a bit quicker. But it did illustrate it is good to keep your lamp charged. You never know when you might next need it!

The run was good; by the way! I had decided to go to Abergwyngregyn, and go all the way to the far parking lot by Foel Dduarth. And then do as much of the horseshoe (towards Drum) there as I either felt like, or would be comfortable doing knowing there was thunder forecast for the early afternoon.

I made my way to the ridge, and then followed it until it crosses the Roman Road. And then followed that for a bit further. On the way back I followed the Roman road all the way. It was a really lovely run! It was a bit sticky, but there was a good breeze. And the views were lovely.

In the end we weren't called out. The situation was sorted by a few individuals of our team who had been directly contacted by the incident coordinator (I think), and other emergency responders who had already been on site. It was another case of a dog down at mine, but this was a rather innocuous mine, and the dog was absolutely fine. And very cute! I suppose that counts as a happy ending. Useful reminder, lovely run, and healthy dog. I think this counts as a good day.

Sea level for Welsh television

A while ago I got an email from some television production company. They were looking at doing a programme about sea level for the Welsh language TV channel S4C. Was I interested in collaborating? And of course I was! I love talking about sea level. And I love an opportunity to use my Welsh. So if I can do both at the same time I'm happy! They were also suggesting filming on location, which is nicer than filming in a lab or something. I had enjoyed it the previous time I had done that.

Their idea was that we would go somewhere where we could get hands-on and talk about sea level records. I am used to getting my sealevel records from salt marshes, but I also knew that that Newborough Marsh isn't very suitable for sea level studies. I didn't really know any North Welsh saltmarshes that were.

Then I thought about the work one of my colleagues, Mike Roberts, has done in the Menai Strait. He had a drill rig, and managed to retrieve a load of cores. These are basically grey sands and silts with sometimes a black layer in between: peat! Not only does peat indicate that the location was above sea level at the time of deposition, but you can also radiocarbon date it, so you know when exactly it was deposited. Lots of peat layers in your sediment core means you can build up a picture of sea level change through time. And an additional advantage is, that these peat layers stand out like sore thumbs, so it is easily explained to someone who is not used to looking at sediment cores. 

I don't know what happened to Mike’s cores, but I do know something else; every year, when I am on the beach with Lynda, the students spend the half day they are not spending with us with several of my colleagues on the tidal flat by Gallows Point, just outside Beaumaris. And there they sometimes take a core, with our percussion drill. This is not far from where Mike had been busy, and they do get beautiful peat layers in their sediment cores as well. 

I asked Martin, who is one of the staff members running the activities at Gallows Point, if that core would be available for this purpose. And he said yes! So that was the location and the material sorted. I had to go into the cold store and check, because I need to know what it is I will be showing a camera crew, but it all looked good. It was a five meter core with a beautiful peat layer at about 4 1/2 m deep. And from Mike's work I could have a reasonable guess at how old the layer would be.

We would meet on a Monday morning 7AM at Gallows Point. The Friday before I loaded up a hand corer, and the core, into one of the School vehicles I had borrowed for the occasion. At home I had a brilliant idea; I have a foldable table in the garage, that I had inherited from Rose; I should bring that! I wanted to show them the core in the field, but the field is a mud flat. You don't want to lay your beautiful cores down in the mud, and you don't want to have to crouch down to look at it with a TV presenter. If we would have it on the table, that would be way better for both the people and the core! So I stuck that in the School vehicle as well. And my rubber boots. I was ready to roll. Bring on the cameras! 

Ready to check the core!

Watching yourself on TV

I was on Welsh television in October, talking about the fascinating sediments on a beach on Anglesey and what they tell us about the end of the last ice age. I was asked to do that as the owner of a nearby house wanted bigger sea defences, and the question was whether that would damage the geological significance of the beach.

I don't have a TV licence, so I didn't watch myself. Jaco and Marjan had recorded it, but I haven't been to their place very much recently, and I only got to see it in December. And just after I seen it at theirs, I was contacted by the bloke who had recorded the interview. He sent me the recording! So I could watch it again.

As I expected, only a very small part of the interview was broadcast. But I think I did an okay job. The one thing I noticed was my accent; I already noticed, through having to record all my lectures and live sessions and whatnot, that I don't really hear my accent when speaking English very much when speaking, but I sure hear it when I hear myself back. And that clearly also holds when I'm speaking Welsh! And this was the first time I heard myself recorded speaking that language. Crikey I really sound like I am about the milk the cows. Oh well. I am easy to follow! So even though it doesn't sound elegant, it works well for communication…

Finally: interview in Welsh I thought went OK

It is not unusual that BBC or other broadcasters contact University ask for a specialist to comment on something in the news. Most of the time, it has something to do with biology and I don't respond. And if it is in English language medium, the pool of people they can fish from is, of course, rather big. When it is a Welsh medium broadcaster, the pool becomes a lot smaller. Within Ocean Sciences we have, as far as I know, just Dei and me in the academic staff, an ocean modeller and a geophysics-focussed man in the research staff, and a lady specialising in marine plastics among the PhD students. And then a lot of support staff, but the media tend to want a scientist. So marine biology is not very well covered in the Welsh media.

I had been roped in by BBC Cymru twice before; once because I was a European citizen and they expected me to be able to say something useful about Brexit, so that had nothing to do with Ocean Sciences. The second I was quite recent; that had something to do with a book published by my colleagues, and which for some reason had been linked with outrages sealevel rises in the popular media. And now had that gone? What can I say! Not so well. The first interview was five years ago, so after only a few years of learning Welsh. And the interview was done through a wire. If you're not quite confident in a language, you really don't want to have to respond to it if it comes into your head through headphones, and you can't see the person speaking. And the second time was this year, so after many years of Welsh practice, but still through headphones, talking to an invisible person. I wasn't particularly satisfied with that interview either. I didn't hear it back, though; I don't remember why not.

And then there was a request about the beach where I go every year with the first-year students. Dei initially took that on; he had already answered by the time I came out of the lecture and noticed I had lots of emails about the situation. But later he emailed me to ask if I would be willing to take over. And I was okay with that; not only do I know about this beach because of the trip with the students we do there, but also because this beach actually plays a role in the BRITICE-CHRONO project I worked on. So I know about the location and about why it is so important.

And why did the Welsh broadcaster, S4C, want to  talk about this beach? Is it so happens, there is a house just north-east of it, and it is perilously close to the sea. And now the owner had unsuccessfully applied for permission to improve the sea defences. There were lots of people who were worried about what damage the work would do to the amazing glacial sediments on the beach. And now they wanted someone to talk about why these glacial sediments were so amazing. I was glad to hear they would have someone else entirely to talk about the actual work on the sea defences, as I had no idea about these.

Dei was very happy I was willing to take over, and soon I was on the phone with S4C. And we agreed to meet on the beach. It was a beautiful day! And we had made the appointment based entirely on availability, and not on the tides. And so I found myself looking at the high tide. There wasn't much beach to walk around on, admiring the sediments! But it would have to make do. And soon my contact, Dafydd, appeared and introduced himself. While he was assembling his equipment had a small chat about what exactly he wanted to talk about, and how. I was hoping it would be willing to get wet feet (he said he had wellies in the boot of his car) so we could actually get onto the interesting part of the beach. He didn't seem keen! And in the end we settled for him just filming me with the interesting outcrops in the distance behind me. The unfortunate thing with that was that the sun was also in that direction, so I probably just looked like a black silhouette, but it would be silly to film in the other direction as then I would just have been talking in front of some fields and a parking lot.`

The beach seen from the parking lot

And then it started. He just put up a tripod with a camera, and a tripod with a microphone, and from behind the camera ask me questions. And I try to answer as best as I could in Welsh. I sometimes hesitated to search for words, but I wasn't self-conscious about that. And I think I got the message across. I felt good about it! It was great that I could look at him and watch him speak. A slight complicating factor was the sound of the waves, but I could hear him well enough, and it is just a lot nicer to talk to someone who is physically present. If Welsh interviews are like this then they're okay!

When we were done he asked me to do the same thing again but now in English. I was happy with that. I turned out to have said something I had omitted in Welsh, so then he asked me to say it in Welsh as well. Some editing would have to glue all of that together!

When we were done and got back to the cars he asked me if I was willing to do some of the interview again, but now with the sun on my face rather than in my back, and I was happy with that too. And then it was a wrap!

I wasn't gonna see my own interview, of course, not having a TV licence, but I was happy with how things had gone and went back to the office. Given that this actually went quite well they might ask me back… Watch this space!

Dig with film crew

We haven't dug much for a while. But that didn't mean interest had faded. And to put it stronger: the dig had attracted external attention. Miles often had camera crews in his mine; Bear Grylls had scampered around in it, and Javier Botet had been scary in it, and God knows who else. And he had had the crew of the TV series 'Hidden Wales' in there too. That programme sounded cool! But not watching TV I had only heard of it.

It was that crew that wanted to see our dig. And he had agreed. And he had asked if I was willing to help. As there are two digs there, or three if you count our horizontal and vertical bit separately, and he didn't quite know what exactly they wanted, he had enlisted the ThursdayNighters altogether. So we gathered at the parking lot. I expected to meet Miles and the crew there, but nobody appeared. We just went up; they might be at the Manager's office. They weren't, so we went in. And found them in the adit. It turned out they had done a recce and were on the way to meet us on the parking lot after all, but were a bit late! Now we would just go ahead while they went out to get harnesses.

It took a while to get all these ThursdayNighters down the pitch. The easiest thing is just walk down the steps, secured to the handline, but several overly safety-conscious people abseiled the whole thing. Oh well. Then I showed Don and David how far we had progressed since the last time they had seen the dig. The others weren't keen! And when we were down again Don and David vanished into Dig 1, but I decided to see if the crew was imminent. And they were. But it took a while to get them down too! And without any further introduction the filming started. I mean, the filming started at the top, but the filming of us started. The presenter, Will Millard, came down and introduced himself to us on camera. And then the 'can you do that again?' 'can you stand here?' 'can you guys walk down when I say so?' started. But it wasn't too bad! Rarely more than two takes. I had seen much worse when I had been part of a crew looking after the presenter of a similar programme in Cornwall. And Will seemed to know how to keep non-professionals at ease.

The whole crew was quite small: James the producer, Nathan the cameraman, and Will the presenter. Nathan had one big camera that was only marginally bigger than the SLR David sometimes brings down, and then there were two GoPros. That was it! Oh and James had an additional big microphone in a bag. We went into Generator chamber and had a chat there, over the map, about where we were, what we had been doing, and where we were trying to go. That was a bit more talking on camera than I had anticipated. But I think it went OK! And then the men took their harnesses off as I warned their cowstails would snag, and we were off. We would first go through first squeeze of the the horizontal part of the dig; we would go into the first level, just talk about how many more squeezes there were, and then go back. The we would do the vertical dig all the way to the end. And so we did! I thought it was a pity we didn't do this part of the dig all the way to the end; I could easily see a double speed take of squeezing through all squeezes! But no.

When we were doing the vertical bit, which isn't overly spacious, it was decided Nathan would hide in a dead end we had dug and film Will scrambling past with me in tow; then I would take over the camera (one of the GoPros) and follow him all the way up. I was confident I could climb up one-handed. I've practiced! What I hadn't practiced was filming but they said anything I would get was bonus. And they would put me in the credits as a camerawoman!

We slithered back down. Nathan and Will did a few more takes at the bottom while James, Miles and I ate chocolate. I also scampered off to see how the ThursdayNighters were who I could hear in Generator Chamber. They were done in Dig 1 (which hadn't changed! Great! And maybe we'll even have a last stab at it) and were now pretty much waiting for us.

I went back; they were almost done! It turned out that Will had slipped while I had been in Generator Chamber. Oh dear! I felt guilty. He was our guest after all!

When we were done I asked for a group photo, but my camera wasn't collaborating so James took one on his phone for me, and then we put our harnesses/cowstails back on and headed out. It was a bit of a queue (Miles and I are up there in seconds but we've practiced a lot more than any of the others) but in the end we got up. And out. It was later than normal! I was getting yawny.

At the parking lot everyone said goodbye to everyone. The film crew hoped to be in Croesor the next day. I hope that will happen! And we will have to wait to see the results of our labours. It will be broadcast some time in 2020! Watch this space...

Crew pic! From right to left Nathan, Will, Miles and me. Pic by James.

Me too

Sometimes, a social media hype touches you. Sometimes, they make a difference. The ice bucket challenge, which I didn't join, actually did raise so much money it made a significant contribution to research on the disease. When I started to see people post 'me too' on Facebook, I felt I should join. Started by actress Alyssa Milano (for the rare people who didn't know that already) it was clearly meant to give sexual violence/intimidation/harassment a face. Statistics are one thing, and probably wildly unreliable anyway in this context as people are notoriously reluctant to talk about this, but if you hear it from people you know, very many people you know, the message might hit home. I think women in general know how widespread this sort of thing is, but do all the men know? I think not. I posted as well.

So what was I posting about? Do I want to talk about it? Well, not all of it. But I can mention the men hitting on me in public transport, and who wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. And when I was relieved to reach my stop I found they get out too and followed me. I'm not defenseless, but that's just scary! There is no guarantee at all I could keep a man like that off me.

I can mention the bunch of young men on a deserted railway station, one of which pissing on the rails. When he saw me he addressed me without putting his cock back first, and that seemed quite on purpose. I don't remember what he said but I do remember I was trying to look cool and un-intimidated while quickly assessing which direction I could run in.

Or shall I mention the man masturbating in the park?

Or the men who wrapped an 'amicable' arm around my shoulders, to try to feel my breast from the side? Or those that slapped me on the bum?

Or the men that sat next to me, unnecessarily close, in (again) public transport, especially when you consider the carriage was otherwise empty? Or those that moved their hand over mine when I was holding on to the vertical bar so as not to fall over when the carriage decelerates?

What about the man at the bus stop (public transport again!) who said he would come with me, and yelled all kinds of rather unfriendly things at me when I said he certainly was not, and stuck to my opinion? And who passed me several times more in the months to follow, clearly recognised me, and grinned menacingly?

Or maybe the man who suddenly lowered his head to kiss me straight on (or probably, rather in) the mouth at a party, and who I only managed to stop before it was too late because I didn't trust him at all? And why did I not trust him? Gut feeling. Never ignore your gut feeling!

Or that bloke who said I wanted to have sex with him, and that if I erroneously thought I did not, that  that was irrelevant; he knew best. He had made sure to point out his muscular physique first.

A man who grabbed my head and pulled it towards his crotch. Just banter, of course.

So many of the male cleaners at university who immediately got too keen if you greeted them. It was so common I turned rude and ignored them altogether. I hate the snootiness of pretending cleaners aren't people! But I'd had enough. Luckily there were some female cleaners too; I could greet them all I wanted without any of them then getting unpleasant.

A man who threatened to pull my breast out of my clothes in public as revenge for me having slightly mocked him.

A creepy GP that was a bit too keen pointing out that some of his patients fall in love with him. Luckily there were more GPs available in the area.

Need more? I hope not. There's more of course. Among other things, I've left out all the men shouting things on the street, but in more fleeting circumstances. Men you can get away from quite easily. Things like that blend into one amorphous blob over time.

What strikes me in that list is that most of this was in my time in the Netherlands. I don't know if it just happens less when you're older, or because I now live in countries with scarce public transport, or because I have got better at avoiding it. Maybe all of it. I'm glad with the change but I also know that it also means most happened when I was more vulnerable.

So now what? I think there are quite some men who indeed had underestimated the magnitude of the issue. Maybe they might think about it a bit more. Maybe even speak out. Maybe think twice before they made a questionable remark. I sincerely hope so!

On the radio, a woman called the whole episode mass hysteria, and women wallowing in victimship. I don't see that. Does worrying about this make anyone some trembling damsel in distress? Heck no. Anyone faced with a potentially outnumbering enemy is right to worry. (One person can already outnumber you if they are particularly big and/or competent in fighting.) And what I see is women making this personal for men. Do I normally tell the men around me about this? Well, not regularly, one prefers to talk about happier things. But maybe I should. I've started now. If I don't say anything, how can I expect wider society to know?

And what more do I want people to know? Parents, tell your children to trust their gut feeling. They'll need it! And every single time I was young and inexperienced and thought to myself 'why shouldn't I trust this person, I am just being silly' I regretted it. Tell your children to trust their gut feeling! (A lady in the Guardian said pretty much the same thing!) And speak out if you see or hear something like the above happening. If people feel like they won't get away with such behaviour, they might think twice! People used to smoke indoors everywhere all the time, and that's become unacceptable; change can and does happen.

I would also recommend everyone to watch the 'kjaere pappa' video... (linked here in the English translation). I think it says well why I think it is important to address the smaller things: the jokes, the casual remarks; I don't think they are separate from the bigger things...

Brexit on the radio

A long time ago I was asked by Radio Cymru to talk about Brexit. They regularly look for Welsh-speaking foreigners to talk about international issues. The interview never happened. Later they contacted me about the poem by Anne Frank; that interview never happened either.

When I came out of the field recently I found a lot of missed calls and a voicemail and an email. Radio Cymru again! They wanted me to talk about Brexit again, what with article 50 and such. They wanted me for the morning program the next day. I said that was OK but they didn't get back to me. Then they did; too late for the morning program, but would I be willing to swap to the afternoon program? I was. The day rolled on. No sound from Radio Cymru.

A week later they were back. They had a French woman lined up for a chat on yet another morning program; the one on the eve of the triggering of Article 50. Would I be willing to join? I figured they hardly deserved my efforts, but talking Welsh on the radio is just the kind of Welsh challenge I need. I agreed!

An early Tuesday morning I biked to the studio. The receptionist didn't expect me. Oh dear. Had something gone wrong anyway? But some asking around later I got a badge, and was ushered in to some office space with adjacent studios. A lady welcomed me, gave me a cup of coffee (yay!) and pointed to a man in one of the studio spaces: he was the presenter, and would talk to me. A real person! Instead of a disembodied voice coming in through headphones. That's nice.

 

The BBC building 

When it was time, I was shown in (with a second cup of coffee - yay!), and got introduced to the presenter. He practiced the pronunciation of my name (he didn't quite get it right; as most people do, he put the emphasis of my last name on the last syllable, even though almost all Welsh words have, like my last name, the emphasis on the second last), and said he's asked me about why I'd come to Wales and whether I thought too many immigrants came to Britain. Eh, OK! I had about two minutes to ponder that.

Then it started. The words just didn't come out. It was excruciating! Talking is hard when you're inside a studio. Oh well. The presenter didn't seem to mind. In minutes it was over. A new lady approached me when I stepped out of the studio door again; she was the lady who had asked me in the first place. We had a small chat about what the world was coming to. Then it was time to leave again!

So I've made my debut. I think it went disastrously. We'll see if they'll ask me again!

On the radio

I've done my first ever radio interview! I thought I would a while ago; Radio Cymru had been in touch twice about an interview, but neither of these actually happened. Last week I received an email from Radio Wales; they wanted someone from the BRITICE project to talk about it, and about other climate-related stuff. Other guests would be Profs Bryn Hubbard and Edward Thomas from Aberystwyth University, and Ian Hall from Cardiff University. Big cheeses! And they would record already on Monday.

On Monday I biked to the BBC building. The receptionist welcomed me and gave me a coffee. A good start! Later she lead me into a small studio; it would be me on my own. The producer and presenter were in Wrexham.

I put on the headphones and waited a bit. Soon I heard the producer; he was checking everybody was in place, and that we all came through alright. Then there was nothing for a while. Then I heard someone typing and muttering; soon after he started reading the 12 o'clock news. I heard only him; no leader tune or anything. When he was done he chatted a bit with the other people there. Weird!

Me in the BBC Wales radio studio

After a while the presenter appeared. He kept us talking for a bit while technicians perfected the sound balance, and then we were off. I had been told he would first ask all of us to react to the recent news on 2016 being the hottest year on record, and then talk about things such as BRITICE. The first question I got, though, was worded such I was a bit taken aback by it. Later he asked about how exactly one traces an ice sheet. He hadn't asked why one would do that! This wasn't going quite well. I suppose a trained media person crowbars the things in they want to say, rather than wait until one is asked. I had been warned by the press officer, but it's hard to do it on the spot! You don't get time to think. Oh well. One learns.

Then the presenter closed off. Then he asked if there was anything we thought had been missed out. I did! I told him we hadn't talked at all about the why of BRITICE, so I got an opportuinity to elaborate briefly on that. Good! It isn't live, so that will be cut and pasted a bit earlier into the conversation. 

Then it was over. I took off the headset, gave the mug back, and went back to the office. It would be broadcast the next day, but at a time I have Welsh class. I listened the day after, online; the bit where I explained BRITICE was not used! Actually, BRITICE was merely mentioned, not discussed. I'm not saying much of substance. Oh well. One has to start somewhere! It was a useful experience. And my distant colleagues did very well!

Four more years

I had the radio on this morning. And the TV. And I was online. That has never happened before. But I am glad! Romney was defeated! A happy day for the not-excessively rich, for women, and for the Earth! Go Obama!

Twitter - a revelation

There’s so much about modern life I don’t like that I often feel the need to hide underground in mud. But sometimes suddenly something modern is just what you had needed all that time. Cherry-picking is an awful thing to do in science, politics and several other disciplines, but in arranging your own life it’s just the thing to do. So I steer clear from R&B, reality TV, computer games, internet dating (to name a few things), but I do have and appreciate, for instance, an iPhone and iPod. An iPhone allows you to check your mail in otherwise lost time, such as waiting for the printer. And when Google Scholar and Google Maps came out I was instantly convinced. How easy that made things. And now there’s a new star in the firmament: Twitter.

Twitter is a brilliant way of staying up to date. For the non-Twitterers: you can choose to follow (almost) anyone who’s on Twitter too. Some people have locked accounts. But these are rare. So unlike at Facebook, where you can only see the updates of people who have acknowledged a connection with you, you can pick whoever you find interesting, regardless of whether this sentiment is reciprocal. I follow, in random order: people I know, news broadcasters such as newspapers, the BBC and Reuters, geo-bodies like AGU and EGU, climate people, science geeks, opinionated people like Stephen Fry and Michael Moore, and people in power. And that way I know many things that happen almost instantaneous. And yes, I get many messages more than once; if BBC world finds something worth mentioning, the generic BBC might think so too. But that’s a modest drawback. And yes, I have already found myself in the situation where I disagreed with someone, and instead of him offering any arguments he started hurling insults. Oh well. I can do with a thicker skin anyway. 

So what do I get to find out? What Curiosity is up to. What the latest science blogger has produced. That there’s a new, exciting article out in Nature. What the situation is with Assange. Which climate denier has tried to blacken Michael Mann’s name this time. That there is a new way of making scientific data public. If Arctic Sea Ice has reached a new minimum. The latest U-turnof Paul Ryan. And much more of that! I am hooked. And you can even use it as a helpdesk: it’s not unusual people just throw in questions they struggle with. If you have many followers, one of them might have an answer. And if they don’t, they may re-tweet, which makes you question reach an even wider audience. I got offer help when I tweeted about my age modelling frustration. It didn’t solve my issues, but it was heart-lifting anyway! I like Twitter!

Skeptical about converting skeptics

"The Conversion of a Climate-Change Skeptic - great example of science at work!" a friend twittered. And I do tend to see the sunny side of things! But this time I failed to share the enthusiasm. I had a look at what this converted skeptic had to say, and I emerged with a bad taste in my mouth. Is it just me? Judge for yourself! I wrote on my science blog what my issues are. Maybe I am a dug-in inflexible climate scientist who just can't accept anything from someone who is associated with the Koch brothers. (Or as the Anti Europa Partij calls it: a so-called scientist who has been lying, cheating and robbing!) Or maybe I have a point, and this man is a liar who has managed to convince the most intelligent and knowledgeable of people! Read for yourself...