Sheffield Shenanigans

This weekend I went to Sheffield and stayed with one of my best friends from high school and sixth form. She's in her second year at Sheffield Hallam university and seeing as Lancaster is a heck of a lot closer to Sheffield than Aberystwyth this was the best opportunity I am going to get to go see her at university.

So many tickets!

Even though I had to leave super early in the morning (for a Saturday; I never tend to stick my head out from under my duvet before 11 am on the weekend just because I can), I was feeling good and excited,  enjoying the train journey...until I got on the wrong connection at Manchester Piccadilly and had to fork out for another train ticket. And then spent the rest of the journey freaking out about how much money I've spent recently.

Still, I got to Sheffield in one piece and wandered into town to meet my friend Bryony, glancing in a few shops on my way (all money worries now forgotten, naturally). I chose the risque option following the crowd from the train station in an attempt to find the centre of town in a cool, calm and collected fashion without running around like a crazy tourist. Luckily this gamble paid off and I found Bryony. Cue hugging - we hadn't seen each other properly in over a year.

New skirt ♥

We did loads on Saturday. Went for a stroll in the Peak District, made cupcakes, went shopping in all the cool charity shops and awesomely quirky shops on Eccleston Road. I bought a beautiful floral pencil skirt which I probably will hardly ever wear but was too pretty to leave behind when it was in the sale. Then we got in pyjamas, ate pizza out the box and watched the movie Love and Other Drugs in which both Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal are equally gorgeous. And of course there was hours of gossiping and giggling and general girly behaviour which my life has definitely been deficient in lately. Sunday was less hectic with an amazing lie-in until 12 pm. Breakfast was cold pizza and cupcakes, which tasted of cake smothered in lard because we'd failed at making butter icing. I ate 4 cakes anyway. Then a quick tea and juice pit-stop at Bryony's friends' house before heading back to the station to get my train back to Lancaster. 

Walking in the Peak District

Wish it hadn't been over so quickly but it was a wonderful weekend. Hopefully won't be as long before I see that amazing girl again. Thanks for having me Bry!
H x

Bry and moi

Moor House

Rough Sike frozen over in the snow

Today was round two of Moor House fieldwork this week. This time we did manage to get there despite the snow and even drove most of the way (when the snow is bad we usually abandon the car at a suitable place and walk the 4 miles there and then back). It was an amazingly beautiful day to be out there; not too windy (miracle!) and sunny with a covering of snow about a foot deep. Obviously that high up and with that much snow, it was cold though. The dry air temperature was 0.6 degrees C today so not too bad compared to other weeks we've been (one time it was -4.5 at about 11am) but the river was -0.6 degrees C.

Trout Beck and view towards the TSS

Walking up to the meteorological area in the snow

Moor House, by the way, is a National Nature Reserve (NNR) in the North Pennine uplands. Most of the area is peatland which is broken up by the occasional grassland, hay meadow and deciduous woodland. The source of the river Tees is at the head of the Trout Beck catchment, the river which runs through the NNR. My work involves collecting meteorological data as well as surface water and soil solution samples from Moor House on a weekly basis. Additional data are collected on vertebrate and invertebrate populations, though this begins later in the spring. I am also conducting my own research project on dissolved organic carbon in the Trout Beck river which will become my dissertation when I return to university next academic year.

Walking up to the old site of the Moor House

The snow creature I made

Moor House is undeniably one of the most beautiful places I've ever been; the fact that it's so cold and a bitch to travel to just makes me forget it sometimes.

H x

Snow Days and Seminars

We had a snow day at work yesterday. The plan was to do the usual weekly environmental monitoring fieldwork at Moor House National Nature Reserve, the primary site of peatland research for the department I work in. However Mother Nature, bless her, had other plans.

This was the snow at the road to Moor House. Our tyre tracks were the only snow disturbance for miles around. It was breathtakingly beautiful; a completely different world. Especially as Lancaster didn't have a single flake of snow all day! Anyway, the snow was so deep and drifting so much that we abandoned all fieldwork plans and came back again because the risk of getting stuck up there was too great. Which would not be the best idea; it's too remote for any phone signal, we were three hours walk from any kind of help and I'd got peckish on the car journey there and eaten half my lunch already.

And I'm very glad we did turn around in hindsight because as soon as we started driving home the heavens opened again and the heaviest snow storm I think I've ever seen started. The flakes were so giant and dense that the world was white in a matter of minutes.

Heading back south along the motorway was a bit scary; we could barely see because the snow was so thick and only the inside lane was safe to drive on. Still, we made it back to Lancaster in one piece where everyone seemed a bit doubtful as to how much so there was a mere few miles northwards. I spend the afternoon database inputting and then rewarded myself with the best thing ever after a morning battling the elements on a remote, windswept moor...a Starbucks signature hot chocolate.

I met my ex-housemate from my previous (and disastrous) Lancaster house-share and we caught up on what we'd been up to over Christmas and how our respective jobs/university courses are going (she's training to be a mid-wife, way too much contact with other people's bodily fluids for my liking but I guess someone's got to do it!) whilst attempting (and largely failing) to drink hot chocolate in a respectable way i.e. without getting whipped cream all over our noses.

Then I had to run home and meet Kasia, a girl I met through work who is studying for her PhD on a very similar topic to what I am currently researching for my dissertation. She recently moved to Reading but was back in Lancaster to attend the Moor House seminar today. I offered her a sofa to stay on so she could arrive in Lancaster a day earlier than the seminar for a catch-up and a drink. Except this drink was of the alcoholic variety and involved the pub quiz. A group of us from work always got to the pub quiz at The Sun every week in an attempt to usurp the team of elderly know-it-alls from the top spot. They always still win but we do get a selection of free cheese (Lancaster is seriously obsessed with cheese I have found) and bread half way through the evening.

The seminar was quite good today, though it's a bit of a surreal feeling to be chatting to someone who you've admired from afar for their views on dissolved organic carbon trends published in Nature journal articles over the provided lunch of steak pie and some sort of strange looking vegetable paste. My dad was there too because he works for an environmental management company and I had all his colleagues coming up to me and saying "Ooooh, I haven't seen you since were THIS big!" They seemed to find it surprising that I had somewhat matured in the last 10 years. Still, I suspect I too will be guilty of exclaiming "My, how you've grown!" at such events in the future to some little toerag out there who is currently unable to eat solids but will blog about how annoying it is that old people can't believe child do, in fact, grow up.

I'm blabbing now. Goodnight.

H x

Monday Night Mong

Tonight I've had a total mong session of doing absolutely nothing worth while and just chilling. After having a weekend of non-stop socialising and house chores it was just what I needed.

Recipe for my Monday night mong:

1) Skype. 

I had a long over due Skype date with my best friend Mike whose still back at university in Aberystwyth.  We caught up on all the gossip, had a good natured moan about our lives and somehow got round to attempting to do press-ups. I am ashamed to admit that I could barely manage one..

2) Something girly.

I painted my nails with this awesome moustache design that I simply found bu googling 'quirky nail polish desgins' or something to that effect. Agreed its not the neatest but I did do it with half a cocktail stick I stole from a New Years Eve party last month just for such occasions which didn't turn out to be the easiest of tools to weald. 

3) Pigging out.

My parental department brought me these when they stopped by over the weekend and I can't stop eating them. They're sweet chili flavoured crackers in the shape of llama for crying out loud, what's not to love?! Seriously, I'm addicted! Every time I go into the kitchen I find myself sneakily shoveling another handful of llamas into my mouth. I've literally munched my way through half a packet in the last few hours. Still every good mong session needs some nibbles.

4) Sex and the City

The TV programme, not the physical act itself. Sadly I have just finished the last episode of series 4 and the next series doesn't appear to be on Netflix which is annoying as I've loved coming home this last week, throwing on my pyjamas and curling up in the corner of our L-shaped sofa to agonize over Carrie Grant's men and fashion dramas. Will have to find a new TV programme to obsess over asap. 

5) A shower and sleep

Getting into a just-changed bed when you're squeaky clean is a beautiful feeling. It feels like all is right in the world. Goodnight folks!

H x