People

My mum and aunt finished their spectacular train journey in LA last Friday. Starting in Denver they took in mountain scenery all the way to San Francisco before travelling down the coast. Expecting 3 days of glorious sunshine and progeny/relation-guided tours what they got was 2 inches of rain and a sick person. Everything started ok with a 'lovely walk' by the Venice Canals and beach in the sun.

Ajay pointed out that as President of SoPS I could officially take a guilt free holiday this President's Day Monday. Unfortunately, it was my turn to give lab meeting on Tuesday morning so the end of last week was a little frantic. Amy, Greg and I drove up with Riley and arrived at about 2:30am Saturday in an chalet complete with portraits. On arrival Riley immediately ran to the TV and waited expectantly until it was turned on. He clearly enjoys TV and unlike most dogs actually watches things on the screen move around and gets very excited when animals appear. After a slightly lazy start we hit the slopes with fresh powder and more snow falling. Powder, although much more tiring, is great on a snowboard and you really feel like you are floating along. Steep runs are also less intimidating without the scraping sound of the ice and I was much more comfortable on the harder black runs. The double black diamonds at Mammoth (ratings are relative to the rest of the mountain) are still far too steep for my liking and quite frankly give me the heebie-jeebies.

The Mother popped round on Saturday afternoon for a light stroll along Santa Monica beach in the evening sun. The weather in England has not been great of late and so she decided the 6,000 mile journey was worth it. On the was back on Sunday morning she decided to stop off in New Mexico to visit her sister and family for a couple of weeks. If by some random chance she returns to LA in two weeks by train from SF we may take a day trip to the Channel Islands.

In other news, Wendy got engaged to her boyfriend Dave - and in doing so drew attention to my lack of news in this matter. Talking of which - Catherine and I will hit the 8 year mark next week and so far we haven't needed the help of an invisible dog. Since I recently found out that I am Myers-Briggs type ENTP, I will blame the absence of left-hand-bling on my tendency to be 'deceptively offhand with their nearest and dearest'.

Jeremy's house and extensive garden, located just outside Thousand Oaks, played host to a Superbowl party with a twist yesterday. Guests where treated to the normal delights of delicious food and beverages but where also invited to place an illicit wager on the game and to join in on a round of croquet. Of course, as with the 'football', the Americans always have to do things a little differently.

Well in my case it turns out he was Thomas John Davies - a Welsh coal miner from The Rhonnda Valley. If you think this is obscure you ain't seen nothing. I am now the proud owner of the knowledge that I am a direct descendant of Thomas Titt who was born in 1527! Yes, you guessed it I have been struck by the affliction that is genealogy. But don't panic just yet - ok maybe panic now before it is too late.

Pictured right is John Wallis Titt, my 2nd great grandfather, who is mildly famous (among windmill historians) for inventing a wind engine. More fame comes from Richard Gush, a close relative of my great grandmother Lily Eliza Hammett Gush. He went to South Africa with the 1820 settlers in the ship Brilliant (nice) and subsequently became The Hero of Salem when he 'saved the village of Salem, showing great courage and faith, when he rode unarmed to negotiate with 500 Xhosa warriors who had surrounded it'.

I am still in Brisbane. Malcolm and I have bought a house together. All is well, we are enjoying the Aussie lifestyle, although it is very laid back. Went back to Blighty for Christmas, which was great, and followed that up with a mini-tour of Europe. Caught up with Dr Wren in Verona, but I haven't heard from him since.... I have just got back from a conference in Sydney which was great. Not your usual academic conference. Only 50 attendees, mainly industry types, lots of great food and entertainment!

Well we've finally done it - managed to escape the ICMB.... arrrhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh !!! Jen and I are now living is Adelaide, Australia where the weather is better that Edinburgh but the beer is worse. You win some and you lose some !

Adam just e-mailed me with a photo of his and Ali's protochild (his word not mine) Megan but I'm only posting a thumbnail in the interests of the child's privacy! Or until Adam posts something himself. I am in the process of setting up user accounts for people in each section with the hope that people will add their own stuff.

Maria goes to Death Valley for the weekend... comes back married. The first we heard about this was a group e-mail to the lab members from Siavash which read:

Maria and Mayo got married just after sunrise on the morning of Saturday March 6, 2004 at a drive-through chapel in their silver truck in Las Vegas. After exchanging rings, they spent a short honeymoon in the Death Valley. She'll be back tomorrow.

In celebration we all went to Michael's house for lunch and Champagne...

Living... near or in Cardiff with husband, as of 2002... can't remember his name... but did meet him on a drunken Christmas Eve in the White Rose... which sadly shall never be again sold as it was last year.

Working... as a Doctor most likely as that is what she was trained to do... despite doing Religious Studies and English A Levels...