A date with an astrophysicist

Some time ago Mr hazelh and I signed up to attend an evening lecture on the Higgs Boson at the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Given that it was a public event, and that the person speaking is known for his public engagement work, I thought I would have a chance of understanding the content of tonight's lecture. Unfortunately it was not to be. Indeed, Mr hazelh (even with a first degree in astrophysics and an enduring passion for the subject) struggled to make sense of the whole talk.

However, our evening was not without amusement. For me it was quite a thrill to be in an audience sandwiched between Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, who was sitting directly in front of me, and Professor Peter Higgs, who was just behind me. (I was also accidentally called 'Sir' by the first member of staff who spoke to me directly after we arrived at RSE. This incident may be useful in future talks of my own on gender equality in science!)

Afterwards we had supper at Yes Sushi, then came home to watch a children's television programme on YouTube that had been lost to me for decades until I found it again this morning.

For years I had been hunting for someone (anyone!) who could remember an ITV children's series from the 1970s called Marianne Dreams. At breakfast-time I stumbled across a video clip of a programme called Children of the stones. The reason why I couldn't find anyone who remembered a television series called Marianne Dreams was that I was giving the name of the book on which Children of the stones was based.

We very much enjoyed the first episode of Children of the stones and will watch the rest of the series over the next few days.

Exercise today: short run along the cycle paths at lunchtime.