Life on board ESS

Tomorrow is the friendly race around Lund called Lundaloppet. For the non-Swedes, this word has the same root as "Loppa" or "Loppis" meaning a flea market (fleas also jump around the place).  A number of healthy superfit athletes from the ESS Secretariat at Stora Algatan will be wearing the ESS colours at Lundaloppet. I myself have decided, this year, not to compete. If you wish to cheer for these worthy people tomorrow we will gather at the LU tent on the sports field behind Bollhuset (Trollebergsvägen 26) at about 14:00. Then we will warm up together and start our run at 15:00! Please show solidarity with our team by bringing umbrellas (and bananas). Come in your hundreds to cheer!

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Being born and brought up in the north of England, Scandinavian words were part of the local dialect which I was familiar with, and town names such as Derby and Grimsby reflected that our Scandinavian neighbours had left their mark, not least on the gene pool. The slowly changing seasons and the quickly changing weather patterns were familiar to me and the language is lovely to hear spoken. I have to admit however that the significantly different variants of Swedish spoken in the Skåne and in the Stockholm are a barrier - it´s never clear how much you should be blowing out when you talk of Sjöbo or Växjö. But these are mysteries to be conquered.

As for Lund it is so human in scale, the height of the buildings, the distance from one side of the town to the other, the winding streets have evolved to allow people to move around rather than internal combustion engines. I am losing the ability to drive a car! And then there´s the AF Student building, the hearty lunches, the students working together but above all the Spex musicals which are a total delight. I´ve been to them all inthe past three years. People ask me which I like best - well I have to admit if you randomly chopped scenes and mixed them up from one Spex to another then I wouldn´t notice! It´s just sheer enjoyment for the cast and the audience alike.

My favourite place? Well I can´t claim to have explored much, but the little art gallery in Mårtenstorget is a jewel, the craft shop Skånekraft in Östra Mårtensgatan is quality, the "alternative" restaurants Clemens and Govinda, the tiny stationery shop LEXIS and the Gleerup & Pocket! bookshops as well as the little gift shop Lilla Boden in S:t Petri Kyrkogata all provide a warm welcome. But pride of place is taken by the Långa Bryggan in Bjärred - the same length as the accelerator for ESS! And as the old guy said at the Spex " I swam all the way from Lomma to Bjärred ...against the tide!"

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Today was the warmest day of the year in southern Sweden with temperatures reaching 26ºC. It was the day to drop everything (well almost everything!) and head to the coast. And why should the ESSS Secretariat be any different? So off we went to Lillgrund - not for ice-cream and sunshine - but instead for windmills and... yes, wind. And although there was plenty of sunshine, there was plenty of wind also. A day to get sunburned if you had a mind to do such a thing.

In fact we were signing an agreement with Vattenfall, the big Swedish energy company, at their coastal maintenance station for the 48 windmill wind park newly installed just south of the communications artery - the Öresund Bridge, or the Øresund bridge if you're from the west - connecting Sweden and Denmark. This wind park is rated at 110 MW. ESS Scandinavia's energy strategy features the use (and indeed ownership) of 35 MW of renewable energy production and the recycling of cooling water from ESS into the Lund District Heating and Cooling system to render ESS climate neutral. We have the wind at our back that's for sure.

Traditional Irish Blessing
May the road rise to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
The sun shine warm upon your face
The rains fall soft upon your fields
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.

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36 years ago today we were watching Jackie Stewart winning the Monaco Grand prix. Not on TV but at the trackside itself. I was doing a post-doc at the EU laboratory at Ispra on the shores of Lago di Maggiore. Neutron scattering with a view of the Monte Rosa. It was a defining year for me in many ways. We had headed down to the coast on Friday night and found ourselves a hotel in Ventimiglia, which is certainly twenty miles away from somewhere, but I'm not too sure where. Someone will know. Tickets on Saturday morning were not difficult to come by at 90 Francs a time - about 15 € - "did they let you keep the seat" exclaimed my Father, who was somewhat allergic to spending money, and so we headed off to the famous swimming pool with grand prix cars roaring around the track during the practice session. The next day was all noise and excitement, smells and glamour mixed together, and a Scottish winner. Quite an event.

As we look forward, with a certain anticipation, to the dinner of Research Ministers in Brussels on Thursday night where our fate (well, that of the ESS) might well be decided we can reflect on the risks and uncertainties of the Monaco Grand Prix. It is not won until the chequered flag is frantically waved as the winning car passes by in a flash. A lot can happen in a Grand Prix even on the final lap. We have to keep our eyes on the road as we negotiate that final lap for ESS. And we do well to remember that once that flag is waved, then the real work begins !

Happy motoring!!

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Ten years ago I came across a book called "Envisioning Information" by Edward Tufte. It's a lovely book and in there I discovered the ingenious train graphs from Indonesia which visually display train timetables. These train graphs, perhaps surprisingly, can be used to demonstrate how neutron time of flight spectrometers function.

However I found it rather difficult to pronounce the title without tripping over my tongue, and I suspect I am not alone. But, not long afterwards I heard the first use of the word "envision" to mean "envisage." It really grated with me I admit. And now at the two conferences I have been to this week I find this usage becoming more and more the norm with our North American colleagues. Why has this happened when a perfectly good word already exists ? Is it an example of political utterances where extra (and redundant) syllables are added to words, perhaps to make them sound more dazzling ? It's a mystery.

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