Germany = cheaper

Since the last post a full weekend plus some has passed! I have been to Germany and back (for a food shopping trip) and within Switzerland I've been to Baden (twice) where I did a little sightseeing with Bennie and enjoyed a celebratory evening with my colleagues.

I'm thinking of making a website that will be a self-contained introduction to the physics I'm working on. I'm aware it won't interest everyone, but that way at least it won't (hopefully) put what readers I do have off reading my blog. It'll be helpful for me to write it and even if I feel it should have an audience of 5000 rather than the 5 I am more likely to get (if that!), well it might be worth it. It'll be better to make a whole website dedicated to it really, because there's way too much information to fit into blog pots in a coherent fashion. (Aaahhahaha, coherent!!!) A couple of extra clicks on your part, but what price to keep the internet tidy, hmmm?

The SLS has been having a few problems recently. Not massive problems, but little incidents nonetheless. We think it could just be because the weather is now so hot. At some point last night the SLS ran out of liquid nitrogen so we lost the monochromator halfway through a scan. It's above 30C every day right now. Inside the SLS is kept at a constant temperature so it's nice to sit at the beamline all day in a cool 23-odd degrees, then of course when you leave the building and take a gasp of air that's ten degrees warmer you forget how hot it's been and start getting sticky again.

Germany was exciting! We only went across the border to do some cheap food shopping, but still, I found it a bit of a novelty to be in Switzerland one minute and Germany the next. Didn't even have to show my passport. There is a checkpoint for cars, and the control officers only check randomly or if they're suspicious of you I guess. There are limits on how much fresh meat, alcohol, dairy etc you can take across the border, so we were calculating our purchaii carefully! With one gram more than our designated meat quota (which probably wouldn't have been a problem anyway), the control officer just waved us past, taking a look at the bumper as we passed. We had to laugh when we got back.. you see, some friends played a prank a few days ago, flouring the car in good spirits. Only, the bumper wasn't cleaned too well and there was this powdery residue all over the back in the cracks of the lights surrounding the number plate (Dutch, no less). What the control man must've thought, hehehe...!

Saturday - Baden. I uploaded some photos, after a really hot, sticky hike. We visited an old castle ruin, there were some really nice views. Later that day I was in Baden again (after a shower!) as I was invited to dinner with my work colleagues to celebrate a recent acceptance of a publication and a birthday. It was a really nice gesture and I had a super evening with lovely people and great food - especially the homemade traditional Canadian maple syrup profiterolls!

Sunday - another hot, sticky hike. Well worth it though. I'm enjoying all the activity here! After enjoying the wind at the top of the hill and a pretty nice view of Villigen (even spotting the Alps in the distance), there was a great gathering of friends in the forest for a barbecue by the river. It was a humid afternoon so I enjoyed stepping up to the dry heat of the fire then back again to cool off every so often. Again, I uploaded photos of the day. A couple of people enjoyed the water - I just dipped my legs in. Maybe after ten more hiking trips I'll consider getting into a swimming costume. Unless it gets much hotter, in which case I'll just jump in as is!