My life as a book

I've just carried out the 'which book are you' quiz and this is the result:

You're To Kill a Mockingbird!

by Harper Lee

Perceived as a revolutionary and groundbreaking person, you have
changed the minds of many people. While questioning the authority around you, you've
also taken a significant amount of flack. But you've had the admirable guts to
persevere. There's a weird guy in the neighborhood using dubious means to protect you,
but you're pretty sure it's worth it in the end. In the end, it remains unclear to you
whether finches and mockingbirds get along in real life.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Hmmm. Interestingly, I did study this book at school so I know it quite well. I'm a bit worried about the 'wierd guy in the neighbourhood' though! And since when have I been known as a revolutionary?

A weekend away

This weekend we went back to our favourite campsite, Pencelli Castle near Brecon. We met up with the usual crowd - see above - and spent our time drinking tea/beer (see above), gossiping, playing with Isabella (see below) and playing cricket (also below). We went for a Wet Walk on Saturday to see the waterfalls, but I'm afraid it was too wet to get the camera out - shame, as the waterfalls were looking rather impressive due to all the rain!



Tim and I are now counting down to our holiday - two whole weeks off work, the longest since our honeymoon! We're planning on spending some time in the Lake District, then we're off to Malta for a week for some relaxation and sunshine. Only four more days of work to go...



Anyway, back to the weekend just gone. Tim tries out his cricket stance, while Sam is wicket keeper:
Tim entertains Isabella - or should that be the other way round?
And Chris parties with the burgers:

Good things come in threes

I've just received my exam results for CFA level III which I took in June, and I have passed! I am really pleased to have passed each of the three levels at the first attempt, as it validates the amount of work that I've put in for the exams, and as it means that for the first time in a long time I have no exams on the horizon.

It feels fantastic.

oom-pa in the park

Brass bands do not travel light! Tim's band played in the bandstand in Bedford Park on Sunday, and while I could post a picture of Tim and his Tuba, this shot is more fun. That's not Tim's tuba case in the photo - his is slightly smaller than that, but we do have two of them in the house...

Mum and Dad came down to visit this weekend, so sat in the park with me and enjoyed the music. It was good to see them both again and borrow all their lake district maps for our forthcoming holiday. They also turned up with my old SEGA master system games console - I hadn't realised they still had it! The games look top class, so we're looking forward to dusting them off and seeing if they still work. I'll let you know how it goes...

Training

I'm spending a few days in Bristol, attending a training course for a change, rather than running one! Interestingly, Tim is running a training course on Friday, which will be a new experience for him. I wonder how he'll find it? I really enjoy giving training courses, but they are tiring - you end up talking a lot, which is hard work even for a chatterbox like me!

Of course, Bristol means aerospace, and an A380 landed on the runway next to the canteen at lunchtime. I saw them taking off when I was in Toulouse, but I was much closer to it this time. I drove right past it on the way off site as well - I didn't have the camera with me, but I suspect you're probably not supposed to take photos on site anyway...

Bristol also means family, and I'll be popping in to see the Spencer clan tomorrow evening. Again, bringing the camera would have been a good idea... my excuse is that I left the house at 5:30 this morning, and you can't expect me to remember anything at that time!

A nice weekend

While half of the UK is under a large amount of water, we had a very nice weekend in Bedford. Well, Tim got wet on Saturday but he was in Hitchin, so it doesn't count. Anyway, on Sunday morning we decided it was too nice to stay indoors and set off on a Walk from the front door. One of the nice things about our house is that the river is only 2 minutes walk away, and you soon get away from the houses and out into the countryside (see above). I should point out that I took this photograph - apparently if you ar Tim's height you can see houses and power lines above the crops!

Through the wonders of google, you can see our route here.

It may have been a short walk, but we enjoyed spending some time together, talking about all sorts of things, and admiring the wildlife, including lots of butterflies:



Now this one is a Tim-photo!

Then and now

Over on Facebook, Chris has been asking about the garden. So here is an update!

The garden has suffered from a bit of neglect this year, so it's not looking as good as I would like. But then Tim pointed out that it's looking a lot better than it did two years ago:

Meanwhile, parthenocissus henryana is doing its best to colonise the fence:


The bed on the left is supposed to be our vegetable patch, but not very much happened there this year. I'm considering buying fruit bushes for it instead. The rest of the garden is now starting to fill up with plants, as you can see - most of them are perennials, the idea being that we won't need to do much to the garden each year. Last year the central bed was filled with wild flowers (hence the state of the 'vegetable patch' this year), but this year we added the grasses instead. Overall, I'm pleased with how it looks - considering there was nothing there when we moved it it's now a lovely place to sit out in for breakfasts and dinners.

That's if it ever stops raining...!

Not so successful...

This afternoon Tim and I decided to try out the permanent orienteering course in the local forest - we've had the map for a while and wanted some fresh air and a bit of exercise. Two things hampered this plan slightly:

1. For an allegedly permanent course, there were no posts/markers to be seen. Tim and I are both proficient enough at reading a map to be sure we were at the correct locations, but nowhere did we see any sign of a letter to fill in on our sheet.

2. It rained. Heavily. Only once we were far enough away from the car that we got very wet on the way back. Did I mention that we didn't bother to take any waterproofs? This did curtail our search for markers, so perhaps point number 1 is not comlpetely correct!

So not quite as active an afternoon as we had hoped for. Never mind - there's always next weekend. If anyone knows any other permanent courses then let us know as we'd love to try again some time!

Badminton

After a few re-writes, this post is about badminton. Yesterday I went to Bedford & County Badminton Club for the first time. Having not played badminton, or indeed any concerted sport, for over a year, I’ve been overdue a return. They’ve even gone and changed the rules since last time I played!

I played very poorly. There’ are so many aspects of the game which seem to fall away, or at least go into hiding, when you’re away from it for so long. Positioning, shot selection, timing, power, agility, technical shot making: it was all missing last night. I have a long way to go before I’m back up to par, let alone competing with some of the better players at the club. I trust that the basics will continue to come back quickly so that I can begin to improve on the harder stuff.

So, this post could have been about competitiveness, drive, disappointment, new environments. Instead I’ll keep those thoughts to myself, and look forward to telling you how great it all is once I’ve remembered how to play the game. Besides, all this typing really isn’t doing my aching shoulder any good…

This weekend the Tour de France came to London. This was a perfect excuse for Trish, Cory & Duncan to visit us for a weekend - another set of friends who have realised we live a nice distance away from the capital! We spent Saturday relaxing in Hyde Park, soaking up the atmosphere with the rest of the crowds and watching the cyclists zip by. Sunday and Monday were spent relaxing at home and playing with Duncan, who is officially cute. We managed a trip to the local park as well, as shown above - much fun was had by all!

While tidying the house today I came across several business cards - both mine and Tim's. I've been thinking about work quite a lot recently: it's almost a year since I moved jobs and looking back it was definitely the right decision. Yes, the commuting is a pain and I'm very tired in the evenings. Yes, I've lost a lot of free time and had to give up one choir because of it. Yes, the house is never quite as tidy as I'd like, and the weeds are taking over the garden. BUT, I'm much happier now and enjoying both my day to day work and the challenges that lie ahead. I've had fun trips abroad, worked on some challenging cases and taken on more responsibility as the year has gone on. I work with a great bunch of people and have plenty of time to indulge my reading habit on the train to/from work! This job and this lifestyle suits me at the moment, and I know I'm lucky to be able to say that.

Tim's work is also going well - there have been changes in his team so the future could be different, and he's also just been promoted so there are new challenges ahead for him as well. We're both the kind of people who like working hard and want to do good work, and we're both in jobs that enable us to do that. not bad considering neither of us knew what we wanted to do after PhD's!

Next post on something non-work/study related, I promise...

Chartered Financial Analyst

I have spent much of the time since last posting here studying for my level III CFA exam, which I took 2 weeks ago. I'm reasonably confident of the result, as I was more comfortable with the questions than in either of the previous levels, but these things can be deceptive. It'll be a couple of months before I get the results, and then that'll be that. If I pass then I only need work another year or so in a job that relates to a part of the investment process, and I'll have earned my CFA charter and the right to put 3 more letters after my name.

It's been quite a journey, from a position two years ago where I had little knowledge and less experience of how the world of finance and investment worked, to now where I have a broad base of understanding and am confident in my ability to learn more.

The only question now is whether it was worth the effort. The material I have learned is only tangentially relevant to the work I'm doing now, and I'm not sure that my future career path lies any more closely aligned with investment management. On the other hand, completion of a big professional qualification like this can only work in my favour in showing ability and eagerness to learn quickly in new environments, commercial aptitude, and discipline in fitting in around 1000 hours of study around work and play over the last two years.

Time will tell I suppose. In any case, if you hear me talking about doing any more study over the next couple of years, remind me that after a dozen years of studying for exams: GCSEs, A-levels, Degree PhD, CFA, that it's really time for a rest.

And we're back

Tim and I have been discussing recently what to do with our blog: we've not posted for rather a long time, but it would be a shame to let it go completely. We've always enjoyed posting photos and blogging our adventures, and maybe keeping up the blog will spur us on to enjoy even more adventures over the summer! So I've refreshed the look of the blog and here's a photo of us, in case you'd forgotten what we look like!

If anyone out there is still reading this blog, then do leave us a comment - and if anyone knows how to edit the template to remove the wasted space on the left hand side of the page then do let me know!

Christmas is coming...

On my way home from work today there were Carol singers at Hammersmith station. Just a small group, singing beautiful four part harmony, complete with descants! The station has a high roof with tiled walls, so the sound echoed round beautifully. I couldn't resist stopping to listen, putting some money in the collection bucket, and ringing Tim so he could hear them too.

We're well on the countdown to Christmas now - I had my first Christmas concert on Saturday, and next weekend I'm singing and Tim has two band events. This year, for some reason, I'm really looking forward to Christmas and feeling very festive already. Long may that feeling continue!

A Bracing Walk

Yestereday, on the spur of the moment, we drove up to Castleton in Derbyshire to go for a walk with Chris, Sian and a couple of their friends. It was quite windy... apologies for the blurriness of the photo, but the wind was blowing/gusting so much I couldn't hold the camera still - and no one was too keen to stand on the hill top any longer and try again!

It was lovely to get out on the hill tops again, though, and we finished up the day in a tea shop eating home made cakes. We really should be spontaneous more often!

(Seen on the way down the hill back into Castleton...)

One man and his tuba

On Friday night Tim played in a concert with his brass band. This wasn't just any old playing though - he got to do a solo! And very good it was too. He got the biggest round of applause of the evening, and all the practice he's been putting in really paid off. I don't have any recent photos of Tim + tuba, so I've put this one up again. Well, the outfit and the tuba haven't changed...

Tim's friend Emily, an Australian, came along to the concert and enjoyed what must be one of the most British things she's ever seen. The evening ended with us all standing while the band played the National Anthem - she loved every minute of it!

Musical miscellany

Much excitiement in the Mosedale household this weekend, as a trip into town revealed that Fopp will soon be opening its doors in Bedford! Not very good for our bank balance, admittedly, but very good for our music collection. One of the things we have in common is a taste for slightly unusual music (latest purchase is the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain), and Fopp has always been a good place to browse. Seeing as most CD's cost 3 or 5 pounds, you feel you can justify buying slightly more unusual items!

Mind you, this weekend I popped into (currently) the only CD store in town and bought the best of Girls Aloud (for Tim) and the best of Aerosmith (for me). So we go for cheesy music as well sometimes!

Let's go fly a kite

For my birthday a couple of weeks ago, Tim bought me a flexifoil kite - either he loves me and is hoping we'll spend lots of lovely days outside flying kites, or he's hoping I'll be carried away and never seen again. I'm assuming the former...

Anyway, this weekend we headed off to Brancaster to have a lovely day flying kites. I'd had a power kite lesson a couple of years ago, so it wasn't an entirely new experience, and I remembered what to do very quickly. The wind was strong enough to almost pull me along and I managed some good loops and glides along close to the beach. We took some videos which we can't put up here, so you'll just have to make do with some photos:
Our Flilckr site
(If it doesn't work, look for ElmBed on Flickr!)

The day also included a very nice picnic on the beach, and some Kubb playing (in which Tim beat me as always). All in all, very good fun and we're hoping to repeat it all soon!

Not impressed

My evening started out quite well, with a hard work but satisfying choir practice. We've got a concert in a few weeks time and I really don't know the music yet! Mind you, I was quite impressed with my sight reading. James once asked me how I knew which notes to sing when I looked at a piece of music - I don't have perfect pitch, but I can get the intervals right. I was thinking about it this evening, and I don't really know how I do it - somehow I just know the right amount to change pitch by. I do get caught out by wierd flats and sharps, though...

Unfortunately, my evening went somwhat downhill when I left choir and discovered that some s*d had stolen my bike - hefty chain and all. Thankfully, Richard came to my rescue and gave me a lift home. But it now means I am bike-less for the foreseeable future. Not good.

No Cheese Gromit!

As some of you will know, Tim and I had been looking forward to this weekend for quite a while - the Great British Cheese Festival was on in Cheltenham, and we'd booked tickets! We spent the weekend at Tim's parent's house in Stow - the weekend started well on Saturday with a nice Walk to a pub and back. Unfortunately, we didn't bother to wear our nice new gaiters, which turned out to be a slight mistake:



On Sunday, after a light breakfast (leaving plenty of room for cheese tasting), we headed off to Cheltenham - through the heaviest rainstorm I have ever driven in! Thunder, lightning, hail, flooded roads... all rather scary. It cleared up a bit as we reached Cheltenham, and actually stopped raining as we walked through the town to the festival - only to find it had been flooded out and the electricity had gone, so thay'd had to cancel it. Sigh...

So our fridge is looking rather empty now, not stuffed with cheese as we had hoped.
Chris, who is in Amsterdam for the weekend, has offered to post us an Edam. Not quite the same somehow...