university of warwick locals

Hello again!

Thought I should provide a sporadic Warwick update. Mostly it has been work (very fruitful I must say… it would be awesome to be able to focus on research this much all the time), but there has been some time for minor shenanigans now Kate has arrived.

my funky comfy digs

Oh, I don’t think I have mentioned my flat on campus. It is owned by the Maths Research Centre. It sure it distinctive! Nice and comfy though which is important.

out on the canal

Anyway, first up, my Warwick host Jane and her husband treated Kate and I to an evening trip on their canal boat. The canal system in the UK is quite extensive, and with a long canal boat you can travel much of the country (in a very leisurely fashion). So after work one evening, we headed for Stoke Bruerne were her husband Ian and daughter Helen were waiting. With that it was a couple of hours of leisurely boating along the Grand union canal. I say leisurely but I was put to work helping out with some of the lochs. By the end I was quite the expert (well, maybe not).

past the point of no return

Part of the trip involved a 3km trip through a very dark tunnel. It was quite eerie in a way, especially when another boat would be coming at you in canal just wide enough to fit the two boats. Thankfully Ian is quite the experienced skipper so all was fine.

The end rewards for our boating was some good pub food. Not a bad life.

The next night we had the opportunity to catch up with Kate’s uncle and aunt. Awesomely, they live only 20 minutes from the Uni of Warwick, so it means that we have the opportunity to spend quite a bit of time with them. Kate spent the day while I was at work, and after job done I was picked up for a good catch up dinner. It was great to catch up with a side of the family we don’t often get to see.

Canal boats… pubs… catching up with family… not a bad side benefit to this trip to Warwick.