Waterloo

Every so often the great battle at Waterloo is commemorated by a large re-enactment. This draws in folk from all over Europe who enjoy living the life of period soldiers and acting out great battles. We went on a tour organised by Great Rail Journeys and were based in nearby Brussels with coaches to the battlefield.

A few words of historical context are needed. After the excesses of the French Revolution Napoleon became dictator in France in 1799. He was a great general and under his leadership French armies captured and occupied many European countries. His main opponent was Britain who successfully ruled the seas winning some great sea battles most notably Trafalgar. The main British land campaign was in the Spanish Peninsula where a small force under Wellington eventually became successful. Napoleon was defeated and exiled but escaped back to France. Napoleon was successful in both raising anew several armies and deposing the restored monarchy. Napoleon was marching on Belgium and Europe was convulsed by fear. An allied army was formed under Wellington to meet Napoleon.

After preliminary skirmishes the French army was confronted at Waterloo which is maybe 20 miles south of Brussels which was the French objective. The battle was decided in a single day which comprised Wellington doggedly defending against French attacks until late in the afternoon when a Prussian army arrived swinging the balance decisively so the French were defeated. Napoleon was exiled this time to St Helena where he later died.

This period is known as the Napoleonic wars and there were great fears of an invasion of England. Many defensive measures such as Martello towers still remain today. In many ways the period resembled the Hitler invasion threat of 1940-41. The battle at Waterloo was in 1815.

The first evening  we saw a son et lumiere production projected onto the Lion mound. This huge mound topped by a Lion statue commemorates a Dutch royal who was killed in the battle. We were able to sit in one of the stands erected for the occasion

The day before the main re-enactment we visited the allied army encampment. The actors take great pains to be historically accurate. It was fascinating to see great lines of tents where the actors would represent particular regiments. We also saw the cavalry riding by the main centre. The camp life was also authentic to an extent with cooking on open fires. We were able to talk with some of the actors..

Although it was getting into the evening we set off to walk to the French camp imagining it was quite near. We hadn’t got any map and followed a stream of visitors walking both ways. We walked for a long distance, at least a mile and a half but then gave up and turned back concerned not to miss our return coach. Also dusk was descending and we were just a little concerned about finding our way. The nearest public road was still some distance beyond the main venue. We walked back with some people from our party to find others waiting at the rendezvous point. By now it was dark and rather cold. Our coach eventually arrived about 2 hours after the agreed time. About half the party had gone on to the French camp with the coach. I was disgusted with the complete lack of organisation but so very pleased not to be stranded in the wilds of Belgium.

The following day was the main re-enactment of the battle. Because the actual battle was fought over a large area the re-enactment was contained in a large area surrounded  on two sides by temporary stands and the Lion mound on the third.. The coach was late, held up in traffic so we didn’t get the promised seat in the stands which were packed. To add to our misery it was raining. We got access to a stand so we could stand at height. It was very hard to make out what was happening. The public address was in French of course.

I was most surprised at the end when the actor playing Napoleon rode in front of the stands to a huge cheer. Clearly still well regarded although I saw it as more similar to a crowd applauding Hitler at a WW11 re-enactment. I couldn’t help but think that the blood and misery of the French revolution and Napoleonic wars are seen as glorious in France. While they had positive sides the misery inflicted on Europe surely outweighed any benefit. I suppose nationalism blinkers people to the real facts.

The day cleared up and we did visit the diorama of the battle and climbed the Lion mound. The main venue was more like a giant fair with all kinds of stalls.

For all those who remember “Blackadder back and forth” there is a humorous stab at a future where the French are victorious. As a character says” Waterloo didn’t change things, now who has the francs to pay for our meal”.

In reality Waterloo did decisively change things. Europe had essentially avoided totalitarian rule and enjoyed a century of peace until 1914. 

The battle with the Lion mound in the background as impromptu stand( yes it is in standing corn )

The British camp

Oxford

In 1988 I went to work at the Castrol Technology Centre near the small town of Pangbourne. The Centre was in a beautiful situation looking down on the Thames and in the grounds of a large house. After a short spell renting I bought a house in Oxford. The intention was to move eventually as a family but Annette was established in a job and Martin and Alison in school so we put our move off until circumstances changed, and we never did move,

Frances at 13 came to live with me. We decided that my house in Littlemore was rather close to Blackbird Leys a suburb which was notorious for crime and vandalism. The secondary school there we wished to avoid so she went to Cheney which was next door to Brookes University, the second University in the city and quite central. The big attraction when she first came were 2 comic shops near her school route She was an avid collector of graphic novel series..

Although I was some 20 miles from Castrol it was a very easy journey. With nary a traffic light along the route it was a stress free half hour drive.. My office on the upper floor of he Production Engineering building looked out onto the gardens and over the valley of the Thames. It was common for muntjack deer to graze on the lawns. My group was in the lab next door, with offices along the corridor  while the departmental secretaries were just along the corridor in the other direction. The Production Engineering Manager ( my boss ) had a large office overlooking the quadrangle formed by a series of labs and test houses..

Oxford was a delightful place to live. Thanks to its large student population and its tourist trade it has far more than usual plays, concerts and the like. It also has good bookshops which I appreciate. Blackwells is probably the most famous. From the street it appears quite small but it is like a Tardis with a vast underground area. As might be expected in this academic city the range of subjects is enormous..

Although we didn’t see too much of her Alison was a student at the university at University College. When I had many months off work following a stroke Frances would live with her ( very unofficially ) in her rooms. Our routine then was to spend Friday to Monday at my house with Frances staying with Alison Tuesday through Thursday. This imposed a great strain as I was an outpatient two days a week and Annette was doing a part time job.

In altogether happier times we alternated between the Midlands and Oxford for weekends before I was ill. Martin was able to work at the Technology Centre during his long vacations. Annette had the school French exchange students as lodgers and companions. These were final year university students of English who were polishing their skills while also acting as French assistants at school.   As might be imagined these charming young girls attracted a variety of young men which was sometimes a problem.

Oxford isn’t all dreaming spires as depicted in Morse, and all its spin offs, on TV. It is also an industrial city with a big car factory. This was formerly Morris but now BMW Mini in the Cowley area. It also has its rougher parts. However in general it is delightful. The river Isis ( as the upper reach of the Thames is known ) flows through the city. It provides for all sorts of water sports particularly rowing. All the University Colleges have rowing teams. My house was fairly near Sandford where the river widens after a lock  and is very picturesque.

A section of the river called Parsons Pleasure was set aside for nude bathing. There is a story of three men bathing there when inadvertently a punt containing young ladies comes past. On the bank two of the men cover their genitals while the third covers his face. When questioned his reply was “ I don’t know how you are known in this city but for myself ….”

My boss was not above the occasional practical joke. Once I was away on April Fools Day and I returned to find a card wishing me well on leaving, signed by all my staff,  plus a pile of rubbish bags and a terse note from him saying “ tidy up before you leave”.  This was slightly barbed as his complaint against me was that I was untidy.

Generally I had a fairly good relationship with my boss. His pet peeves were marketing, people with higher degrees and women at work. I once hired a lady with a doctorate from marketing. He remarked “ I hope this works out OK”  It did.

The Sheldonian theatre illustrated isn’t a theatre in the modern sense at all but the university meeting hall where for example award ceremonies take place. It has ( very uncomfortable ) tiered seating inside.

Periodic table !!

The periodic table

I start this post with a warning and a plea. It introduces a fundamental concept of science and it is absolutely fundamental to chemistry. My plea is that you don’t stop at this point but persevere as I promise you’ll be better informed than many scientific types at the end. I was inspired to write this after buying a book( yes a book ) which promised a guide to the periodic table. After reading it I ended up more confused than I started and I’m supposed to know about this stuff. I also felt I could do a lot better and this is my attempt.

First of all you need a couple of basic ideas. All matter is made up of 92 naturally occurring elements. An element is a type of matter which is unique. These elements are agglomerations of atoms. Crudely speaking an atom can be thought of as a miniature solar system. The nucleus ( or sun in our analogy ) consists of a fixed number of protons ( with a positive electric charge ) and a slightly variable number of neutrons( having no electric charge ). The number of neutrons is usually similar to, or more than, the number of protons. In orbit around the nucleus are electrons ( like planets in our analogy ). Electrons have a negative electric charge and are precisely the same number as protons. Elements start with one proton ( hydrogen ) and go up to 92. Elements with more than 92 protons can be made artificially.

Now electrons are precisely ordered in their orbits. There are 2 electrons in the outermost orbit, 8 in the next going inwards, then 16 then 32 proceeding inwards.

Now properties of elements depend heavily on the outermost electrons. In fact their chemistry is effectively decided by them. So we have a situation where the outermost repeat as the electron orbits progressively fill. This means that the chemical properties which heavily depend on the outermost electrons also repeat. This repetition isn’t precise as the inner electrons play a small part.as does the overall atomic size.

What this does mean is that the 92 natural elements fall fairly naturally into groups thus for example all inert gases are rather similar although they are very different in number of protons in the nucleus.

This means the most usual way of setting out the periodic table is to  set out the elements in rows of ascending number of protons with columns indicating the number of outermost electrons. Thus for example all the elements with one outermost electron are in a column and all have a similar chemistry. In the same way all who have the maximum number of electrons ( permitted under complex rules ) in the outermost layer are also similar.

Some elements known as the lanthanides and actinides fill their inner electrons  ( again under complex rules ) while keeping their outer electrons the same. These all have similar chemistry because it is the outermost that are important. Because their properties therefore don’t vary in any systematic way it is conventional to list them separately to the main periodic table.

There are several ways of arranging the periodic table. One possible is illustrated. The elements are identified by their chemical symbol but what matters is to see that this is a table of systematic changes. When I was at school the chemistry of elements seemed a unstructured mass of facts. The periodic table reduces them to a reasonably rational order.

I’ve deliberately taken the simple examples of columns with one and full outer electrons. When there are intermediate numbers the situation is a bit more complex and the variation within a column is greater.

Incidentally the element carbon occupies a rather unique and important position.  It has 4 outer electrons and can readily form 4 strong bonds.. Two or more carbon atoms can link in a chain. Carbon chains can combine with other elements ( mainly oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur ) to form very many molecules. I’m talking millions and this chemistry, known as organic chemistry, is the foundation of all life.

When I was a trainee scientist I vividly recall that a lecturer was appalled that we students hadn’t memorised the periodic table. We had exams approaching and he said one question will be to write out the table and woe betide anyone who couldn’t. Memorising the 92 is a bit of a strain and mnemonics were brought into play. The main bones are fairly easy but the lanthanides and actinides were difficult. I have a memory of students walking round campus muttering things like Ceasar Proudly Nods ( for Cerium, Praseodymium and Neodymium, early lanthanides) there was much more which I now forget. Strange looks were given. I can honestly say I have never ever needed to memorise anything other than the first couple of rows but even now I recall that strange Russian gentleman Helibebcnof ( look at the first full row but starting with Heliium from the top row ) 

Whitby daily living

I recently talked about our daily routine in the Midlands. We have rather less of a routine at Whitby. Visiting is still novel enough that it feels like a holiday. We tend to set out on our 160 mile journey just after breakfast and arrive just after lunch. This assumes our journey is uneventful with no traffic delays.  Our first task is to stock up with food and drink for the week going to the nearest supermarket. We go to Lidl which is the nearest and avoids us crossing the river which is sometimes a bottleneck. The main alternative Co-op supermarket is clearly visible from our window about 200 yards away but down a steep hill and with awkward parking.

A fairly common small expedition is to the Pavilion. This is an all purpose theatre, cinema, exhibition with a small café. As this is by the coast it is pleasant to sit and watch the hypnotic arrival of waves. This is dependent on the state of the tide; if it is low then there is an expanse of sand. We have been to the cinema which is pleasantly old fashioned

Our flat on the first floor of a Georgian building has a gorgeous view over west Whitby, the Esk river moorings and up onto the moors. The downside is that the location on the brow of a hill means steep walks to Whitby shops. In fact the shops start about a hundred yards away but descend rapidly down to the river.

We look out our window to bus and rail stations but they are a steep walk away. We have so far used the Scarborough to Teeside service to visit both Scarborough, Middlesbrough and Guisborough. Guisborough is a little market town about 10 miles south of Teeside. I lived and worked on Teeside for a year, travelling back to the Wirral at weekends, and I’m not in any great hurry to revisit Darlington and Stockton.

Immediately opposite us is Pannett park which contains a small arboretum, a play area and the town museum and art gallery. The play area is in demand by Alex and Ellen. The museum is packed with interest including the rather gruesome “Hand of Glory”. This mummified hand cut from someone executed as a criminal was thought to contain supernatural powers. There are also a wealth of other exhibits including much on James Cook. There is a model of the town as it was in the 19^th century; very different to today. Technically where we live wasn’t even part of Whitby town then.

I often think that Whitby majors on James Cook and Bram Stoker author of Dracula. The town has a dedicated James Cook museum . There is the Dracula Experience which I have no intention of visiting. There are various artefacts from the past of Whitby. The most famous are two whale bones forming an arch at one end of West Cliff, the main road above the beach. The beach is reached down a steep cliff; so steep there is a lift from beach level to road level. The Pavilion is tucked under the cliff with only its roof visible from road level.

Whitby is also famous for Jet, a semi precious stone, formed of fossilised wood of the monkey puzzle tree. There is a street dominated by Jet jewellers and their workshops on the far side of the river. I personally find Jet rather sombre. Apparently it was very popular in the Victorian era. Being fairly soft Jet is fairly easily worked and our daughter-in-law, Lindsey has made some jewellery from Jet she found on the beach. Jet is found washed up on the beach all along this coast. The problem is that it looks a lot like coal and needs experience and expertise to identify.

There is a long beach stretching for several miles north to the aptly named Sandsend. However the beach is covered at high tide. This means that the beach recreation is limited.

I mentioned the railway station. The national network runs north westward to Teeside.  More interestingly it connects to the North York Moors heritage railway at Grosmont with the line then running to the south side of the National Park at Pickering. Steam hauled trains do run into Whitby off this line during the summer season

Car parking is a big problem in Whitby where there are many visitors. A Park and Ride system helps.

A rather strange pyramid dominates part of the moor. This is Fylingdales radar station, the ballistic missile early warning station. The radar scans both for missiles coming direct from the east but also for missiles coming around the earth the other way. Although the radar identifies satellites in low earth orbit it hasn’t got the range to look out to geostationary orbit some 22000 miles out.

There are many special events to encourage tourism. Perhaps because of a vague connection via Dracula there are two Goth weekends plus attempts to widen to other distinctly offbeat categories such as Steampunk

Genetic Food Modification

There is such a morass of misinformation about Genetic Modification ( GM ) that I’m giving my take on the situation. Firstly I have to say I have no special training to bring. I hope I have a reasonable grasp of the physical sciences but I have never studied biology. I regret this as it would have been very useful at times. In my first undergraduate year I had a choice of either microbiology or metallurgy. I chose metallurgy and regretted it in later jobs.

Before looking at genetic modification specifically there are some things I’ve only started to appreciate over the past twenty years or so. Fundamentally all life on earth is the same. While there are a bewildering number of plants, insects and animals we all use the same basic biochemistry. All cells whether they be in plants or whatever contain a genetic code. This is the famous DNA; the double helix of paired bases . Code is a poor word because it is more like a recipe. The outcome depends partly on the circumstances of growth..

The genetic code of all the food we eat has been modified often over thousands of years. Essentially the process first used was selection. That is a large number of variants are observed and the desirable ones selected and others discarded. Almost all life is genetically varied ( if it isn’t it is known as clone ) and foodstuffs can be bred by simply continuously selecting over perhaps many thousands of generations. This process relies on the inherent genetic variability perhaps assisted by chance mutations. A mutation is a an altered genome by perhaps cosmic rays or other natural event.

This process of breeding can be extended by crossing, that is taking a variety with a desirable characteristic , say a mildew resistant pea and crossing with a high yield pea. In a proportion of the descendants both mildew resistance and high yield will appear. This is a highly simplified description but the essential point is that the daughter will have its genome changed from the parent species by introduction of a new piece of DNA code.

Now this is genetic modification however the term has come to mean genetic change by some engineering process. The overwhelming advantage is that is relatively quick, a few years as opposed to many. The original objection seems to have been based on some spurious work suggesting modified potatoes were bad for you as a food. A vigorous anti GM lobby grew up with the brilliant slogan “Frankenstein Food “ That original work has been shown to be quite false. GM foods are basically closely similar to “ordinary” foods.

Curiously the anti GM claque sees no problem with interbreeding provided it is done the old fashioned way. Another objection to GM in its early form was that it was usually done for the benefit of farmers not consumers. For example maize ( corn ) was modified to be resistant to a particular herbicide. Typically this was done by the herbicide maker to enhance sales of the herbicide. The resulting maize was, from the consumers perspective, identical to non GM maize. Most GM to date is used to benefit the grower not the consumer. The massive scale of this is surprising eg 96% of all soybean in reckoned to be GM.

Although there are GM labelling rules these only apply if more than 0.9% is GM. Given the high usage by growers of GM plants it is highly likely that you have eaten GM food. However the focus of GM is changing to the provision of consumer benefits There are a variety of products designed and in various stages of introduction such as the non browning apple, safer ( lower acrylamide ) potatoes, gluten free wheat ( and hence bread )

Perhaps the most important development is GM modified soybean oil. At present for frying soybean oil is chemically modified by hydrogenation. However this is now seen to be a problem because it produces trans fats which increase the risk of stroke or heart attack. The solution is to produce a GM modified soybean which no longer produces these fats, in fact they become similar to the much  more expensive but much healthier olive oil. This is good news because changing from chemically modified to GM will result in a healthier product.

The really sick part of the anti GM lobby is their opposition to GM modified rice. Golden rice is GM rice changed to add Vitamin A. Deficiency in Vitamin A condemns millions to malnutrition. Anti GM lobbying is making generations of children undernourished when a cost effective ,safe and realistic answer is to hand. This is quite simply immoral.  

It is perhaps hard to see some of the objections to GM. The newer consumer varieties should be clearly labelled. One suggestion for anti GM is the “ yuck” factor based on the feeling that somehow transferring DNA  from one species to another is somehow wrong. ignoring the fact it happens anyway. An example is the monarch butterfly with some wasp DNA in its genome. The human genome contains a lot which we have picked up from other species over the billions of years of evolution.