McChris :: weblog of Chris Arthur

Happy valentines to everyone’s having a lovely time with the one that you love - and if your not then lets be honest its a silly hallmark holiday.

xxx

As some of you may know I visited Andalusia in Spain towards the end of 2006 and I thought I should put a few thoughts down on paper about it.

Staying at a campsite in the city of Granada to save a bit of cash - silly silly silly - Spain =dry, dry=no grass, no grass=gravel, gravel = 4 nights of trying to sleep with rocks sticking in your back, unable to set on the ground in shorts, and dust getting everywhere…

Visiting the Alhambra - This is stunningly beautiful and well worth a visit. It appears in the Book 20 Things to See before you Die and its well worth it. Its so calming and tranquil - do book your tickets well in advance though - we were there in the off season but it still sold out within 5minutes of opening.

Granada city New town - This is possibly one of the most horrible places on earth Not only is it dry and very hot at street level but the amount of traffic pollution is unbearable and quite frankly appalling.

Albaicín - Granada city old town - This to give it its due is a lovely warren of little side streets and beautiful white washed houses - its how you imagine granada should be. Make a special point of visiting the church of San Cristóbal - its beautiful like a little mini Alhambra, the guides are very friendly and its lovely.

Serra Nevada - We climbed the Mulhacén the highest peak in the Seirra Nevada National Park which is meant to be a beautiful snow capped mountain (it is after all the largest spanish Ski resort). The truth however was incredibly depressing and proof for me that global warming IS happening. Here we found a dry inhospitable rock - with ski lifts dotted around the mountain as if to taunt you of what the place used to be like (or is like during one month of the year nowadays). And then the final abomination - theres a bloody road going right to the top - yes you can actually drive to the top of a 3500meter high mountain in your car (or on the silly mini bus which goes up and down at regular intervals). Here the Spanish have ruined one of natures most beautiful places.

Tapas - Its sad to say that the worst Tapas I have had in my life is in a little restaurant over looking the Alhambra - incredibly salty and looked like shit

In conclusion, go and visit the Alhambra, stay in the Albaicín and visit the church of San Cristóbal.

Well I have to apologise - 2006 didn’t really happen as far as posts were concerned - a few new things did happen in chris’ life…women…job…holidays…stuff which kind of made my updating non-existant.

2006 saw me lose alot of weight - this year will try to continue with the same vein and i hope will turn me into a skinny sex god by December.

2006 also saw me sort out my finances. I am now debt free entirely; including my student loan which I know a lot of people think is silly ‘cos its such a low rate of interest - but i worked out if I paid it back at the same rate as I was doing I would be adding another £400 to the Student Loans Agencies coffers - and well thats money I can spend better on MEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. Money’s become a bit of an obsession for me - I keep reading the financial pages and stuff trying to learn how to become a millionaire.

The other thing for me to see to this year is my career - so far I’ve continued the floaty indiscriminate approach to it, but towards th end of the year I was making a concerted effort to apply for a number of fellowships and grants - so we’ll see how they go. If I’m not succesful then I will really need to decide what I do career wise - do I want to stay in Bristol?

So roll on 2007 and I’ll try to write a bit more often the year…maybe.

As a scientist, its always of intrest how the general public percieve science and scientists and quite how much knowledge the general public has about scientific discoveries.

It was therefore interested when i stumbled on an article in an american newspaper “the Star Tribune” where they asked 10 leading scientists for the question that they thought everyone should be able to answer. Its quite interesting, and theres only one i thought really wasn’t to applicable (its also the one i didn’t know the answer to - concerning the age of the earliest fossil) - but have a read and see what you think…Why is the sky blue? and other things you should know

What do you think the chances are of a 33year bloke of little sporting ability partaking in the 2012 olympics?

Well thats exactly what Jon Phillips (beloved husband of Hazel “the Geochemist” Mottram) is attempting to do. In the name of charity (and for the fun of it) he plans to…Find a sport, gain Olympic qualifying standard, convince a country to give him nationality and a place on their Olympic team for the 2012 olympics in london and in the process raise £1m for charity.

You can find out all about it 2012 Olympic competitor. Please pop across and show your support both morally and financially.

All the best Jon.