Miss Cranky Pants

I'm tired, so tired. Every time someone says something I disagree with, I get snappy. Partly because I'm too tired to think rationally about my arguments. Today at lunch we had a discussion about Dawkins "the god delusion" and "is there any proof of god". I tried to point them just in the direction of Marco's blog and Dr Clams' blog directly, but no-one seemed that interested in actually reading something someone else had written that I found interesting and relevant. They just wanted my opinion...and I'm tired, cranky and not able to string two thoughts together.
I also get cranky when my argument for not reading something (which is as follows) "I've read for and against reviews that indicate I won't enjoy it and I have limited time and very limited energy for things I know I won't enjoy, so i choose not to read them" is answered by "you can't make a judgement without reading the book".

Yes actually, I can. And its something we all do every day when making choices about what we believe or decisions we are going to make. In an information age, it is not possible to examine every piece of information about every factor in our lives before making choices. Our time is not infinite. Even in science we usually start with reviews to get a big picture before deciding on how much detail to examine. And as Marco said "I'm not Dawkins target audience"

Ooh, that vent felt gooood.

the rest of the day seven pics

York Baptist Church


The view from the wheel


me on the wall - the slightly pained look is me trying to smile while figuring out whether I have the camera far enough away and pointed in the right direction


a view of the wall


remains of a roman tower from the original roman fort as viewed from the wall

heh

Middle ages tech support

Some day people may look at computer training videos and find them just as rediculous

Day seven: sunday

I went to church this morning at York Baptist. Good service and the light streamed in through coloured glass windows. Afterwards I rode the Yorkshire wheel and then walked the walls. There was a brief sunshower so I pulled out my umbrella. A gust of wind promptly broke it. Then the sun came out again. After the walls I went to Bettys, hoping for a late lunch, but it was very, very full. So I went to Marks and spencers and shopped for a while. when I came out, the roads weren't packed and were very wet so there was either a rainstorm or a flash flood to clear the streets while I'd been in Marks & sparks. Still trying to find a meal, I was caught in another rainstorm and took shelter in the roman museum. I finally had coffee and a giant cookie at Starbucks. I do believe it was the first starbucks coffee of my life. Nice but no better than Gloria Jeans.
After this, I climbed the minster tower (276 steps). I also found out I have developed a fear of spiral staircases. Going up was scary as I was thinking the whole way that I'd have to come down again and there was no hand rail at some points. There were times going down that I sat on the stairs and used hands, feet and butt to work my way down. I never used to be afraid of spiral staircases. perhaps I'm developing a sense of my own mortality (or morality as one of my students wrote).
Dinner was a leek and cheese pasty with an apple and rasberry pasty for dessert. I walked home in rain so heavy that in spite of a roughly fixed umbrella, my shoes squelched and my jeans were wet to the knee. Thunder and lightning even!
Much walking today. There'll be pics once blogger fixes the glitch.

climbing the minster - in sheer terror

The view from the top of the minster

marking pracs

is a tedious job, but every now and then someone brightens up your day.

Person 1
When writing about the result of a disease: morbidity and morality (mortality)
person 2
when writing about insect cell lines: Incest cell line

all in one afternoon

broadband

I have broadband at home...finally. I had it about 5 days before being sucked into playing LOTRO.
Its also handy for looking things up quickly on the net. before it was quicker to pull out a reference book and flip though it (or go out to Uni). I have calculated my download speed is now 50x what it was before.

Day 6: saturday the 30th of June

Back to the trip - its been so long now, I'm glad i kept a diary.
Saturday was drizzly on and off and I did a lot of walking.
Went to King Richard III museum at Monk gate and then got a quick personal tour of St Marys hospital Ruins (by a tour guide who was waiting for his tour group to turn up). The hospital has roman sarcophagi just sitting around - they were dug up when the railway station was upgraded and they were moved to the ruins since there was space there. Anyone could just wander in and take one...assuming they had superhero strength and could disguise the 6 foot sarcophagus under their coat.
Then I went on a 2 1/2 hour walking tour of the city walk which was entertaining and informative. I ate lunch and took a river cruise (freezing and drizzling but the next day the river cruises were shut down because the river rose so much, so its good i went when I did). I went to the Yorkshire museum to get out of the cold and then to the model train museum. Then I had coffee at the train station and walked to betty's where i had carrot and coriander soup, rasberry lemonade and a marzipan cake in the shape of a cabbage. Thoroughly fed and damp, i went back to my B&B, had a hot shower and washed all my dirty clothes by stomping on them in the shower and squeezing them out. They dried remarkably quickly when hung in the cupboard.