The Man with No Time

Bond is back! Hurrah! I’ve been a fan of the series for a long time, and have really enjoyed the two most recent films starring Daniel Craig. These were something of a ‘reboot’ for the series, and were clearly influenced by the gritty and realistic Bourne films. Craig’s third outing as the eponymous secret agent marks the 50 th anniversary for the franchise, but is it up to scratch? Skyfall marks the 50th anniversary of James Bond. (Credit: facebook fan page)

I’ve just got home after the first of two weekends that I’m spending in North Wales this semester.  In a few weeks I’ll be traveling back down for the wedding of my friends Jon and Jenny from Warwick, which is taking place at RAF Valley on Anglesey. This weekend was the accompanying stag do for Jon, and it’s been good fun. Beautiful Snowdonia (Credit: David Brown)

I write this from my room in the ESO guesthouse in Santiago, having finished my observing run and made my way down from the mountain. The last two weeks have passed surprisingly quickly, and what seemed to be turning into a repeat of my lame duck observing run from last time ended up as a very successful trip to La Silla.

Today has been my first day at the top of the mountain, at La Silla observatory. It's as beautiful as I remember it, in its own rather desolate way. The dome of the ESO 3.6m telescope that I'll be observing with. In front of it is the shelter for the NTT. (Credit: David Brown)

My (2nd) grand adventure in Chile has commenced! I'm writing this from the ESO guesthouse in Santiago, after a rather eventful journey that didn't exactly set the kind of tone that I was hoping for for this trip. Still, after 36 hours of travelling I have at least arrived in one piece and with all of my luggage, which is a bonus. Expected, given that I only brought hand luggage, but still a bonus. The ESO guesthouse in Santiago is a place of peace and tranquility. Just what you need after travelling around the world to get there! (Credit: David Brown)

Something that I've not blogged about, but am very much looking forward to, is an upcoming trip for work. On Monday I'm leaving on my third observing run, and my second to La Silla in Chile. I'm going out there to use the HARPS spectrograph on the ESO 3.6m telescope. Last time I was at La Silla to use HARPS I was with my supervisor, but I did a lot of the target selection and list preparation, so I'm not too worried about being on my own this time. La Silla is an interesting place, and I'm hoping to actually get a look at the telescope this time around - it's at one end of the site, and I'm going to be working down in the control room at the other end! The dome of the ESO 3.6m telescope. Hopefully this time I can peek inside. (Credit: David Brown) I've got a pretty hectic travel schedule, and I'm going to be confused as hell about which sleep pattern I'm on, but it should be good. My only regret is that, with teaching having starte...

Last weekend I took a big step on my lifesaving journey. After 9 years of being involved in RLSS awards as a candidate, I took the Survive and Save assessors course to become an official trainer/assessor. It's a fairly big step, but one that I'm pleased to have taken. With lifesaving having been such a big part of my life, I feel that it's time I put something back into it. I've already done that at the local level, but now it's time to expand that. The Survive and Save program was introduced last September by the RLSS (Credit: rlssonline.com)