How many dancing Princesses?

I'm coming home tomorrow! For a dose of the Fringe. I am not planning on sleeping at all, but on seeing Rich during the day and then heading off to the Gilded Balloon at night. This plan has rather put me in mind of a book my Dad used to read to me - did anyone else ever read 'The Twelve Dancing Princesses'? I had the version illustrated by Errol de Cain and it was so beautiful. I think I wanted all the dresses. And the boats.

The premise, as far as I remember it, was that these twelve princesses were locked into their room each night, but each morning they had worn away another pair of shoes, and nobody could understand it. I could keep going like that for a while before anyone noticed a dent in my shoe hoard, but evidently the king was very attentive to his daughters footwear. Of course, what no-one realised was that they were traversing gold, silver and diamond forests, and sailing across a lake, to get to the Gilded Balloon and go to Late'n'Live or Hot Dub Time Machine every night. In the end they were busted, but I'm going to be keeping a sharp watch out for Princes in invisibility cloaks, so we should be fine.

See you tomorrow chums, I am so excited!
x

Off to GB...

Shameless plug post

Hello dear ones!

This is a shameless plug post. I have started a science blog. Apparently it's what all the cool kids do these days. It can be found by clicking right here. There's not much on it yet, but I am hoping to iron out some copyright confusion on my part soon and then there will be an avalanche of glorious pictures of neurons.

Also, if you are someone who takes pretty neuroscience pictures (Chantal and Rochey, I am looking at you) and you want them on a pretty neuroscience picture blog then send them to me!

Happy Friday one and all,
I am off to see some Rumba and Swing in an outdoor square, nice!
x

Word for the day - röstat bröd

Toast! May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil realises you are dead!*

What kind of chump doesn't keep any bread in the house? All I want in the world is some toast, and yet my dinner options are baked salmon (a bit much at 10.30pm) or muesli and yogurt (deeply uninspiring but the winner by default). Ahh, the minutiae of life!

Hope your evenings have been less lacking in baked goods, 

x

* This is a saying that Bam, Fran, Kate, Morven and I found on a wooden plaque when we were young and carefree and travelling round America. It took us a full week to realise it meant 'toast' in the raising a glass sense. Not in the warming of bread sense. Until this epiphany we were deeply confused by the juxtaposition but bought the plaque anyway. I think it is in the cupboard in Kirk Street these days.

Sigh

I just thought to myself that I'd do a bit more work, and then head off at 6pm. Then I looked at the clock and realised that it is already 6.22pm. Sigh. It's going to be another late night. On the plus side, Susanne has joined the lab. She's great, and she bought me a plant to keep my grant writing spirits up. And my files look awesome, so it is in no way all bad news.

Have a good evening all,
x

What a day in history!

Hej chums,

I know I have disappeared for a while (one word - grants), but today is a double celebration so I though I should say...

 and...

I hope you are both having days as splendid as you are. That could be a really backhanded hope, but luckily for you two, I think you are really splendid.

Much birthday love!
xxx

Nosh and Elp’s day of fun

I’ve been home this week! For a conference of motor neurons and ceilidhing, which was both enlightening and exhausting.

Today, however, was a day off, so last night I drank a few delicious cocktails in delightful company and then sauntered off to Kirk Street to flea-treat the beasties and stay with JH. Nosh promised to be round at 9am so I got up and started annoying Jen early, only to leave at 11am, after she had already been awake for three hours.

First we headed to Kilimanjaro (on the bridges, not in Tanzania, for any non-Edinburgh folk) for one heck of a brunch. I should have taken a photo, but we ate it too fast to get one.

This photo is a copy of one my Mum took TEN YEARS ago, I look older now. If you look closely, Nosh is in this one too.

Then on down the Royal Mile for some culture at Holyrood Palace, where Nosh had never been. Hilarity started when our audio tour told us to exit the quadrangle via a door on our right. “If the door is closed,” it advised us, “please turn the handle, and go through.”

Cove with an audio-guide.

Would you trust a guard who looked this cheeky?

Just in case the audio-guide hadn't given enough instruction on how to get through a door.

Not snapdragons, but very pretty foxgloves. 

I think the audio-lady was telling him he could come back for free all year.

We saw some good portraits and learnt some gory history before heading to the photo exhibition in the parliament building, for some much more contemporary and thereby more disturbing history. After that we had some bracing fresh air on a walk round Arthur's Seat (where we saw a stoat! They are stoatally tiny!), and an earthy coffee before heading home and getting ready for holiday!

Off to Brittany at 4am, so it's maybe time to go to sleep. Happy Friday 13th one and all!

Au revoir!

x

Specially for Bambridge.

Guest Blog - Duffers and JH (staying above the law...)

First of all, let's make it perfectly clear that we're not here to make friends.
We're just trying to stay above the law and make it to our next birthdays...

The City of ENTERTAINMENT

We kicked off the trip by visiting the largest Ikea in the world, where we befriended a shark and cockatoo. We also indulged in some delicious pizza and weinerkorvs (that's hot dogs, to the non-Swedes out there).

Entertainment in Stockholm is fruitful and varied. For example, of an evening, we have known to find ourselves swing dancing in a converted cinema, gallivanting in a theme park, and loitering fruitlessly outside a club, at the mercy of Stockholm's rude bouncers and non-existent queuing etiquette. The latter evening was salvaged by personalised cocktails in a much kinder establishment.

No entertainment section would be complete without bridge. Needless to say, we have whiled away many a happy hour playing three-person. Our hearts ache for the absent Bam. But luckily, we have coordinated our nail polish, our pajamas and our cards, so all is well.

The city of HISTORY
"DO NOT TOUCH THE CANNONS."
Brush with the law number one occured at the palace, home of the Swedish Royal Family (God bless 'em). Foolhardedly, we thought it acceptable to have a photo with a cannon. How wrong we were. The booming tones of the palace guard still resonate today. For future reference, when in Stockholm, as a general rule we would recommend staying well clear of cannons.

This is not the offending photo, which has been burnt from the camera.

History in Stockholm isn't always dangerous. We also spent a lovely evening in the Nobel Museum, seeking inspiration from wonderful, artistic scientists who had sketched their discoveries. We also enjoyed reading about and watching short films about the incredible historical figures who have won the Nobel prizes over the years; truly an inspiring museum and well worth a visit.

The short film about the achievements of Dr Duffin is under construction.

The city of GEOGRAPHY

Stockholmers love a boat; they literally can't get enough of them. And what better way to learn about the geography of the city than to ride one?! Our boat expeditions have been numerous. We sailed the seven seas of the greater Stockholm area, nourished only by macaroons and diet coke. Scurvy was rife, but luckily we pulled through. Our destinations included Djurgarden (home of the theme park, see above, and nordic animals, see below) and the Archipeligo, consisting of shedloads of islands.  "It is pretty spectacular; it can have a capital if it wants one" - LH Comley, 2012.

Jen left us for dead on Lizard Rock.

Survivor of the Lizard Rock Disaster, 2012.

The city of SCIENCE AND NATURE
Nordic animals have played an integral part in this trip, most notably the moz (moose). On Laura's day off (huzzah!) we took a day trip to Skansen, a lovely big open air museum full of animals and very old Scandinavian buildings. We frolicked with the likes of otters, seals, goats, bears, rabbits, bison, hogs, wolves, reindeer, and a cheeky lone fox. Obviously this frolicking occurred on the other side of the appropriate glass/fencing provided for safety; we are staying above the law, after all.

Such is the magic of Skansen that houses grow out of the ground. Perfect for grazing goats.

We have been fortunate enough to observe the most ferocious of the nordic animals in its native environment at close proximity....MISCHA. Laura is sharing her flat with the most delightful, hard-of-hearing, up-in-your-grill cat. We are big fans of her work, except when she is all up in our grills and/or drinking our water straight from the glass.

The city of ARTS AND LITERATURE
We spent a lot of time reading our books, but this was too boring to photograph.

The city of SPORTS AND LEISURE (including FOOD AND DRINK)

Sushi. Macaroons. Diet Coke. Pimms. You get the picture. It's been delicious.

We ate sushi literally every other day; Laura had it twice on Friday. Other delicious meals/snacks have included a lovely vegetarian meal (spice for some, hammocks for all), a delightful cafe overlooking the water (an ideal setting for bridge), and a spectrum of ice creams. Travellers among you, take note - when buying ice cream in Stockholm, do not yield to the pressure of Jen's bladder and be tricked into paying 590 SEK for ice cream. Turns out, this is a total rip-off. We would suggest that 350 SEK for 2 scoops (400 with sprinkles) is a reasonable price.

Happy 4th of July, chums! Gnocchi and the Union Jack...as American as apple pie.

"But isn't it almost Jen's birthday?!" I hear you cry. Don't worry, we've got it covered...

Laura, like the team player she is, covered the sports category by cycling to work. Jen has pitched in with some successful sprinting up to catch the T-Bana at short notice. Duffers does not excel at sports; this shouldn't come as a surprise. However, we were all enticed into some energetic swing dancing. Jen was amazing, whilst Kathleen struggles to walk without falling over, so you can imagine how that went.

The city of WHIMSY
Fans of the blog will be wondering, where are the pictures of people emulating statues?! Don't worry friends, here they are, Pimms and all!

Stockholm, we salute you!