Odd Bob visits Chelsea...

Yes, yesterday I went to Chelsea!! Although, when I got off the underground and had to ask for directions, I realised that I should probably add the ‘Flower Show’ to the end of that.
Chelsea = part of London.
Chelsea Flower Show = big plants and gardening event which happens in Chelsea each year.
Therefore asking for directs to ‘Chelsea’ when in Chelsea is not useful!


But I did eventually find my way (mostly be just following the crowds) and then the real fun started.

Yes Chelsea itself was fun. I was completely overwhelmed by the variety of plants and displays and general oddness... But I was actually there for another reason.


You see the place I work had a garden with the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) which was supposed to be promoting biodiversity in gardens. My supervisor was meant to be there yesterday to fill people in on the science behind the exhibit. But having just got married and what with the open weekend and all last weekend she had way too much work to do...so she sent me instead!


So, plus side, free trip to Chelsea!! Down side...I spend the whole afternoon having to explain to people that I didn’t actually know what the majority of the plants on our stand were, or whether they were perennial, or how long they flowered for, or...you know, anything else these keen gardeners actually wanted to know...


I could tell them all about bumble bees and how there are far more nesting and living in people’s gardens than out in the country side! Not really what they wanted to hear about but some people showed genuine (or well feigned) interest. And by the end of the afternoon I could name maybe 50% of the plants in our display! So not all bad.


And I got to have a look around the show in general and take some photos...unfortunately my camera spent the whole day flashing its red ‘I’m hungry’ please charge me light! So I had to be a bit fugal...but hopefully some of the ones I got were ok...I really like the giant snails, just a little bigger than mine!!

Snail update #2...

The snails are still alive!! Woo hoo!! I haven’t killed them yet!!


However, they still have not moved to their new digs :( Things have been so hectic here I haven’t had time to steal them some compost!! Hopefully by next week Nicky and Dovitz should be in their giant tank (180L for 2 snails!!)

For now though they are still pottering about in their small home and seem happy enough. I was worried that the weather over the weekend might bake them. Yes I know ‘giant AFRICAN land snails’ so they should be used to a little heat, but I still worry about them. For no reason apparently. They have been out happily wandering their tank again and munching their way through much cucumber, cabbage, lettuce, tomato, apple, courgette, banana, pine apple, peach, strawberry, melon…

I’m told I’m spoiling them! But it’s fun finding out what they like to eat and what they turn their noses up at (or would turn their noses up at; if they had noses). For instance banana they just left alone (so I was going to make banana bread out of it until some helpful person threw them away! Yes they were a little brown, but that’s perfect for making banana bread!) Cucumber however they love. Or at least they love the softer middle bit and tend to leave rings of cucumber skin.

And just for you Ro I’ll take a break from fitties, just snail pictures today. (And I’d find it really disturbing if anyone thinks they’re fit!)

Odd Socks for Odd Bob...

I have finally finished knitting my first sock!! So more accurately this should probably be odd sock for Odd Bob…but anyway. I am so proud. You see my creative talents are rather minimal (surprising given that I come from a family of graphic designers, carving experts and fashion designers - ok so my sister isn’t exactly a fashion designer right now…but one dress she designed was made and sold so I’m using only a little creative licence.) But now I can officially knit socks (or sock…)


Admittedly there were a few teething troubles, for instance I started with way too many stitches which then had to be sneakily decreased (you can’t really tell…except that it’s very loose at the top) and then I decreased too much after the heel (so it’s rather tight at the bottom) o and then I finished the toe a little bit early (so it’s a little on the small side).

But hopefully I’ll learn from these mistakes and the second one will be even better, although at the moment it’s less than an inch and a half long.


But soon I will have 2 (slightly mismatched, far from perfect) socks!! Woo hoo! And if you think knitting is something that should be reserved for little old ladies rather than fitties obsessed, snail wrangling, bee tamers…you are wrong. Knitting is fun for all the family, even kick ass world saving cops (see demolition man!)


So I’ve mastered scarfs, getting the hang of socks…what next? Maybe gloves, hats, jumpers…the possibilities are endless!

Today socks, tomorrow the world!!

Odd Bob and the anti-virus fiasco...

I’m not sure I’ve been doing this long enough for anyone to notice if I don’t post in a while…but I have been missing for almost a week!!

I’d like to say that that was because Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki turned up on my door step and kidnapped me to go fight ghosts and demons, stop Lucifer and generally prevent Armageddon…unfortunately this was not the case (but is a good excuse for more fitties pics…)


Instead I’ve sort of accidentally on purpose deleted the anti-virus software from my laptop!! (O no!) and to make matters worse things have been majorly hectic at work (Open weekend, we only do 1 every 4 years…I now know why. No one would be able to survive doing this more often!!) So no time for blogging:(

But how, I hear you ask, did I manage to accidentally on purpose delete my anti-virus software? Well it all started pretty simply by locking the annoying little pop up telling me it was time to update my software (seemed like a good idea at the time) only it turns out my anti-virus software was…um not quite legal shall we say…So Now it wants me to pay for it!

Instead I decide to be sneaky, delete the current version (now on a 30 day trial until I decide to pay for it) and reupload the version I have on a disc somewhere. (Yes I know I should have just paid for it! But I didn’t…don’t worry I’m paying for it now, literally and figuratively) see the disc I had turned out to be blank! So now I’ve deleted the trial version nd don’t have anything to replace it with!

I’ve decided this time I’d better choose the legal (and expensive) option. Hopefully this will all be in place in the next couple of days and I can get back to blogging normally again…until then I’d best get back to work before anyone notices…

An odd mini fitties board...

I should probably start by explaining what a fitties board actually is…but I won’t. I’m going to start with the revamp of our toilets. (Don’t worry it will all make sense eventually). It all started before Christmas last year when the men’s toilets were closed off for several weeks for refurbishments. I didn’t think much of it (not being a man I had no cause to) until a couple of month ago when the same thing happened to the lady’s. Good news: we would have shiny new toilets…bad news; whilst the refurbishments took place we’d have to walk across the road to find alternative toilets.



A few weeks later the new toilets reopened with a very pink ceremony (yes things get a little dull around here so even the smallest things like new toilets become a major event, complete with photos!) Unfortunately I was away and missed all the fun (how sad). When I finally returned and had my first chance to check out the new facilities, the first thing I noticed (after the streamers and pink balloons still hanging from the ceiling) was the picture on each toilet door. A mini ‘fitties board’!



Now I’d better explain what that is. When I was at school (an all girls affair full of teenagers and raging hormones) someone (I still have no idea who) set up the first fittie’s board. A collection of photos of ‘fitties’ (hot guys) that anyone could add to (and then get teased or congratulated depending on your choice-aren’t teenage girls lovely?)




So I’m sat on the loo staring at this thing and torn between happy nostalgia and mild confusion that anyone would set up such a thing in the toilets. Then I noticed something else. Along with the usual Hollywood hotties (Pitt, Clooney & Depp) and a smattering of Bonds, there were also a rather large number of cowboys with black and white images less chosen to save on coloured ink and more because that was all that was available. It suddenly struck me that this mini fitties board had to have been compiled by someone at least a generation ahead of me. These were the sort of people who would interest my mother or (if she would ever admit to it) my grandmother (but she was raised much better than that!)



It does rather get me thinking, if I were to go back to school and see the next incarnation of fitties board would it have changed. Would our fav tennis starts (Roddick sadly missing but that’s another story) and actors have been replaced by the latest teen icons? Would there now be space for Jonas Brothers or Twilight stars? Would this next group of teenagers, had they looked on our board, be questioning just who some of our choices even were? And on a more personal notes…why did I never have the courage to put up my own fitties pictures to be ogled or ridiculed?



You may be thinking that this whole post is just an excuse to have a go now, to fill a blog with photos of random hot actors…you may be right, but it certainly brightened up my day:)

Kris update #2

Kris has found some fun cartoons, all rather geeky sci fi/fantasy but I love them:)

Camera Shy Wildlife and a forgetful bob...

So I was walking home a few weeks back and a little late in the day (when all the busy scientists had scampered off home for the night) when I happened to pass our fish pond and there on the side was a heron! I’m stood watching the thing not 4m away and am torn between thinking:

Wow that is amazing! And he’s not even scared of me! Why don’t I have my camera with me?

And

Hang on a second…he’s going to eat my fish!!

(and our fish can't fight back like this one photographed by 'Mike Atkinson' 2004...yes I'm a scientist, must cite sources!!)



So I quickly make up my mind and take a few quick snaps on my phone then chase the bird away before it can catch any of our lovely coy.

The next day; same time, same place, there he is again. Obviously just taunting me now with his ‘I’m not scared of you’ act and I still don’t have a camera! That is incredibly annoying because I’m sure I could get brilliant photos…so I chase him off again (must save fish!) and head on my way home and immediately put my camera in my bag so I’ll have it with me next time.

The next day; same time, same place, but this time with my camera, there is predictably…no heron! And in fact every time I have my camera now there bird is nowhere to be seen.

Then Yesterday, in the middle of the day now (he’s getting bold!) he’s back! And predictably…I have no camera!

I’m sure however that the story is not yet over. One day (maybe tomorrow, maybe next year…but one day) I will remember my camera when that heron is around and I will get an amazingly stunning photo! Watch this space…

In the mean time...how about a photo of some swans which seem to be glowing...

Where are all the bees going…?

~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~


I thought it was about time to get on to my serious interest. I mean I have several other potentially less serious interests like:

How much chocolate can one person eat at time? (I’d say lots…mmmmm :) )

Can Matt Smith make it as the new Doc Who? (Jury still out on that one…)

Can I finish editing the 80 000 words of novel I have sitting on my computer in time to get a free paperback copy? (Wish me luck!)

Will Nicky or Dovitz ever win a GP whilst I am watching?
(Yes Nicky won MotoGP in 06, but since I started following him things have gone a little bit FUBAR. I do worry that I may be to blame. I do tend to curse my puppies…)

And many more things besides…but my serious interest at the moment, the one that actually leads to me being paid, involves bees. Anyone who has seen the news recently, or watched Doctor Who for that matter, will know that honeybees are vanishing! Last winter saw honeybee losses of almost 30% in the UK! In the USA things are even worse!

The big question now is; Where are the bees going?

In Doctor Who the answer was simple. Many honeybees aren’t actually Earth Natives. They’re aliens from another planet and when they realised that Earth was in peril they did the only sensible thing and bailed. (Which makes me wonder…now that the Daleks have been defeated yet again, will they come back? The bees not the Daleks, we know the Daleks will be back!)


In the real world however things are not so simple. Which is actually a good thing for me! You see I get funding from various people who want the answer to that question. If it was a simple answer (O you know, they just don’t like us any more so they’ve moved out) then I’d have to find another research topic and more funding. As it is…(Well you see it’s a complicated combination of various potential causes all acting in synergy to lead to the gradual decline of several pollinator species, most importantly the honey bee…) I get lots of money to explore honeybee behaviour!
And what have I learned so far…

Well, quite a bit actually but here’s just 3 simple facts:
1. Bees don’t like being squeezed, caught in hair or having anything stolen from their hives when you aren’t covering them liberally in smoke…any of these offences will lead to stinging. (Ow!)
2. Putting bees in the fridge for about half an hour will make them dopey so that you can handle them! (which is cool-no pun intended-and useful for setting up various experiments).
3. Putting bees in the fridge for too long will kill them (which is not so cool and means you need to start the experiment again).

And the point of this post…where are all the bees going? Well that one we’re still working on. We’re pretty sure by now that bees aren’t heading back to their home planet, nor are they just moving out to better accommodation elsewhere. In fact large numbers of them are dying. The big question now is why? And as predicted the answer is not at all simple with causes including; disease, pesticides, bad husbandry, lack of a balanced diet, bad weather, decreased gene pool and many others besides…Which means I’m set for the next couple of years.

Don’t worry though, there is a silver lining. Whilst bee numbers in various places (including the US and the UK) are tumbling fast with no simple combatable cause, honeybee numbers elsewhere (like Scandinavia) are actually on the increase! In fact many scientists now are saying that the mass hysteria surrounding disappearing honeybees and CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) has all been taken way out proportion. Don’t get me wrong, there is still a problem (don’t stop funding bee research!) but the problem may not be as drastic as it’s been made out to be.
Which means that we can get back to worrying about a million and one other problems like; invasive alien species are taking over the world! GM crops are the work of the devil! Living causes cancer! Prophets predict end of world next year! …

Meet the odd fish...

So I've noticed that quite a few people have fish on their blogs. It is a featured gadget so I guess that's not surprising. They are also strangely hypnotic and oddly fun to play with despite not actually doing much (simple things please simple minds me thinks...)

So I decided to adopt some fish of my own. Yes I am a sheep...In my defence I did go looking for bees or snails I could add, but didn't find any. So Blue and Black fish it was...but there's a small twist. There are 10 fish!

This might not seem like that big a twist but have a look at them, go on...they're right there at the top of the page...

How many fish do you see?

4 black, 4 blue, but can you see the other 2? They are there! I promise.

Having played around with the colours I've found that 'light blue fish', surprisingly, are invisible against a 'light blue background'. I didn't get any light blue fish, that would be stupid. Instead I have 2 white fish which are...next to invisible. My own little ghost fish...

Now they just need names...

Kris Update #1

Kris is currenlt exploring Sylum Manor the multi fandom home of vampiric fanfiction...or 'we didn't want Speed to die...so we made him a vamp instead'.

Snail Update #1

Nicky and Dovitz have been living in their tank with me now for just under a month. Their normal daily activity comprises of: lying burried in their compost and not moving. Not the most exciting of pets...

However today both snails decided to go for a wander.



Dovitz (usually the more timid of the two) did a full floor to ceiling to floor again loop before eating some tomato and doing a good impression of a head stand! (unfortunately no pics)

Nicky briefly wandered over to the tomato...then burried himself again (see the pic of Nicky going all stretchy stretchy to reach his meal)

A few explanations...

I thought it best to start with a few quick explanations...

Who is Odd Bob?

Well that's me. Obviously Bob is not my real name and no I won't tell you what my real name is!! All I will tell you is that Bob is a nick name I picked up after watching far too much Blackadder...

Blackadder: "What is your name, boy ?"
'Boy': "Kate."
Blackadder: "Kate, that's an unusual name for a boy."
'Boy': "It's short for ... Bob."

No my name isn't Kate either... I am a girl though. And that's about all I'm going to tell you about me now...

Who is Kris?

Kris is an odd character that hopped into my mind a few years back. He goes wander off through fiction and fantasy to find me things of interest. Occasionally I may add 'Kris updates' with where he's been and what new fandoms he's found for me to wander in...

Who are the snails?

The snails are...well they're snails. Nicky and Dovitz (if you watch motoGP you may recognise the names...if not...o well)



Nicky and Dovitz are Giant African Land Snails. Although being only a few short months old they aren't so much giant as just big at the moment.

((Just a quick note for any law abiding zoologists out there, Giant African Land Snails or GALS are a dangerously invasive species which are illegal to keep as pets in some countries!! Fortunately I live in the UK where it is perfectly fine...so long as I don't let them free!))

There will be occasional updates on the life and times of my little GALS because...well mostly just because. There's bound to be someone bored enough out there who'll read it!!

I think that just about brings you up to date...