Back in the home land

Oslo opera house

A couple of months has whizzed past since I last got around to updating this blog; I apologise for the lengthy delay! Over that time, I’ve only actually spent about 2 weeks in Sweden with trips to Oslo, Leeds, Edinburgh, Buckinghamshire and the French Alps filling up the rest.
Back at the beginning of January, I attended a 3-day conference at Oslo University where I presented a poster on my current work, looking at the application of geophysics to study proglacial sedimentary structures. It was a geological conference with about a thousand attendees discussing anything from landslip hazards in the Norwegian mountains to recently discovered oil and gas plays in the North Sea. Between the numerous academic talks, it was a good opportunity to catch up with a few friends from my Svalbard course last year and others in the Scandinavian geological field, over eye-wateringly expensive beer.

Back in Stockholm, between revising for a mind-boggling seismic reflectivity exam and writing up the first draft of my first paper, I didn’t have all that much time for exciting social occasions. There has been no snow or ice for cross country skiing or skating, so I just spent some time round at friends’ places before packing up again to return to the UK for just over a month. This trip home had an academic purpose as I was to spend 4 weeks working up at the University of Leeds, where 2 of my co-supervisors are based, so I could learn a bit about geotechnical site investigations and update some of my seismic and radar processing scripts.

Steph, Me, Mat and Rachael - The Lancaster Gang

During my time in Leeds I was staying in student accommodation, along with 2 first year students from England and China and one PhD student from Turkey, down by the canal (slightly concerning during the weekly storms that swept across the UK, flooding the tow path and my walk to work). As far as student accommodation goes this one wasn’t too bad, I even had my own bathroom, but it wasn’t quite roomy enough to have weekend guests come stay, so the Holiday Inn around the corner came in very handy. During my 4 weekends up north, I had visits from Mum and Dad, Lancaster University friends (Steph, Rachael and Mat) and Tom, Libby and Torrin. This provided ample opportunity to try out or return to some of Leeds’ great foodie spots (I’ve noted a few favourites below) and complete a couple of the city’s many escape rooms, while dodging the frequent downpours.  

Dinner in a tuk tuk at Zaap Thai

During the weeks, I was based at the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds, where I completed my master’s back in 2017, so it was good to see some old faces. People were welcoming and Adam (my co-supervisor) was great at helping me out on the coding side of things but I have to admit, I did miss some of my Swedish luxuries. My cosy, 2 person office was swapped for a table in a vast office along with about 40 other PhD students, milk and tea selection was greatly reduced and my Monday morning cheese sandwich was replaced by some broken biscuits; this definitely made me appreciate how PhD students are treated over in Stockholm. On the plus side, the trip was a great help for my PhD and I was able to return to Bakery 164, a fantastic spot opposite campus, which I remember from my master’s days for it’s £3.50 exceptional toasted sandwiches on freshly baked focaccia (sweet potato and chicken is a firm favourite for me).

Libby, Torrin, Tom and I: 4/7 cousins

Being a PhD student means I have the luxury of managing my own time, so one Wednesday I was able to pop across on the train to Hathersage in the Peak District. This is the village where Grandma used to live and a place that feels like a second (or third?) home to me.  Grandma and Mum were spending a couple of days there so I met up with them and visited a few of our old haunts, including a trip to Chatsworth farm shop where we were joined by Auntie Jane, Josh and Sam for classic Derbyshire oatcakes; I’m so glad that I was able to catch up with this gang, even if it was very fleeting!

Over my final weekend up north, I headed further up the country to Edinburgh to meet Katrina, my course and house mate during my master’s. We spent Saturday dodging hail and snow showers by bobbing into cafes and taking part in a gin and whisky distillery tour (Holyrood distillery – new and a great tour). After a night at Katrina’s friend’s place we took a stroll up a nearby hill to get a view across the city over to Arthur’s seat then bid each other farewell. Bliss, a friend from my high school days, now lives up in Edinburgh so I had a quick catch up with her while looking around the museum of childhood which incidentally contains a large collection of exceptionally creepy dolls.




Before returning to Stockholm and getting back to some proper work, I popped home for a few days. This gave me an opportunity to see Grandma Wendy and hear about her Indian adventures, catch up with Sam from the Grocer and her daughter Tilly and sort out a broken tooth (beware of popcorn!) without having to pay Swedish prices. Mum, Dad and Tom and I then fit in a week’s ski holiday over in Val D’Isere in the French Alps. While the skiing conditions were much better than expected, unfortunately only 3 of us got to appreciate the ample powder on the slopes. After one very murky day of skiing, Mum took a tumble on the way to the boot room down the chalet steps and managed to dislocate and break her ankle in 3 places resulting in a 2-night hospital stay and now 45 days in plaster. I sincerely hope she makes a very speedy recovery, although it sounds like she’s quite an adept wheelchair user already!




Finally, today I have returned to Sweden (via the quietest London-Stockholm flight I’ve ever experienced thanks to coronavirus) for a final couple of weeks in my little apartment before I move across the road to a student studio apartment where I should be able to stay for the rest of my time here in Stockholm. I’m looking forward to getting stuck back into things over here but it really has been great to spend some time back in the home land and to have the opportunity to catch up with friends and family while appreciating the joys of British life.




A few good food spots in Leeds:

Restaurants:

-      -  The Swine that Dines: Set-menu small plate dining using seasonal ingredients and unusual cuts of meat in a tiny restaurant at a very reasonable price (BYOB). My favourite spot;
-        - The Ox Club: Small plate dining with unusual dishes;
-        - Zaap Thai: Thai food done well; on my birthday we were seated in a tuk tuk;
-        - Sarto: Fresh pasta, scrummy arancini and top-notch tiramisu ;
-        - Street food in Kirkgate market (Manjit’s Kitchen: vegetarian Indian).

Cafes

-       -  North Star coffee house: Amazing coffee and great brunch selection;
-        - Fettle: Very good coffee;
-        - La Bottega Milanese: Delicious Italian style sandwiches;
-        - Bakery 164: Sandwich takeaway- see above, yum. Gets incredibly busy at lunch time;
-        - Grub and Glug Shop: Café with a good selection of board games.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

That's all Folks!

Image
Thank you for sticking with me over the past six years as I’ve wittered away about my Swedish adventures, aka my PhD. Little did I realise, as I sat in a traffic jam, Heathrow bound on the M25, on 20 th   April 2018, that this was not the just the beginning of a 4.5-year degree but one of those turning points, at which I reset my life’s trajectory. Six years on and I have finally completed that degree, fallen in love with a Swede, bought an apartment in Stockholm with that Swede, started a job in a Swedish state-owned company, and just four days ago, become a Swede (don’t worry, I’ll always be at true Brit at heart!).   The final three items in that list have all occurred since my last blog update, six months ago, along with my PhD defence, turning 30, completion of the 12 months of dips, and a few fun trips away. February was a particularly full-on month as I was working 50% at Vattenfall (in a role that I’m loving), I had my defence on the 2 nd , 30 th  birthday on 8 th...
Read more

Moving to Sweden

Image
The Iron Boy in Gamla Stan (Järnpojke) Hej! If you didn't know already, I've moved to Sweden to start a PhD at Stockholm Universitet, studying a Norwegian glacier using geophysics.  After years of swearing I'd never do a PhD, I was emailed about this opportunity to use my geophysics to study the geology around glaciers and I couldn't say no! Over the next 4-5 years I plan to keep you updated with what I'm up to as I explore Scandinavia and (hopefully!) gain a PhD while I'm at it. I'll try to post on a monthly basis to give an overview of what's been going on. Woods riddled with paths running down to the waterfront. On Friday 20th April, 2018, Mum and Tom dropped me at Heathrow (Dad was flying back from Singapore) to set off on my Swedish adventure.  For the first month I am staying in an AirBnB with a lovely couple, Annette (Swedish) and Antonio (Cuban), to the south of Stockholm in an area called  Årsta . This is until a little studi...
Read more

Expanding my carbon footprint

Image
  Nearly six months ago, I finished off my blog post with a nod to upcoming trips to Skellefte å and England. Since then, I’ve been on not just those two, but eleven trips around the Nordics, the UK and beyond, celebrating various birthdays, visiting family and friends, driving students around the Swedish countryside, and digging in plenty of dirt. A post about all of that could easily turn into a novel, so I’ll stick to the highlights and in many cases, let the photos speak for themselves. 2022 has been a year of big birthdays in the Watts and Burman families. In the space of one week at the end of June, we had two 60 th s and a 70 th to celebrate. First, it was the Watts’ turn with Uncle Simon and Mum’s 60 th s, so Emil and I popped across to England for five days to join in with the festivities. While over, we slotted in a foodie day in London before the full Watts gathering on Saturday at Simon and Lisa’s place. It was fantastic to see so much of the family in one place aft...
Read more