view from a London hotel window

I had a very productive and enjoyable time at the ALICE workshop in Copenhagen, working with a great team, modifying and using a system that modifies its own programming language.  We hope to get a paper out of it.  Watch this space!

Unfortunately, the last day of the Workshop clashed with a prior engagement in London: Astrofest 2026.  So I left Copenhagen on the last flight out on Thursday evening.  I knew this was a risky decision at the best of times, and then it started snowing...

The flight was delayed by two hours.

In the queue to board.  Brrr.

That meant I missed the last train from Stansted to London.  Saved by National Express!  I got a coach to Paddington.  I felt very 21st Century as I sat on the coach and used my Greater Anglia app on my phone to cancel my rail ticket and request a refund, for which I was charged £5.

I got to Paddington after 2am: the tube was shut, and there were no taxis.  I downloaded a taxi app (not Uber), and summoned a black cab.  That took me to my hotel off Kensington High Street (and cost more than my coach fare from Stansted).  

I arrived at 3am (4am Copenhagen time), but I arrived.  Five hours sleep, then breakfast (and a photo out of the window) ready for a day of astronomy talks.  

no snow!

The talks were very good, covering the JUICE mission, the Herschel telescope, the Square Kilometre Array (and its relationship to K-Pop; yes, really!), landscape astrophotography (marvellous photos), the history of Guillaume Le Gentil's tragi-comic failure to witness two transits of Venus, and galaxies in 3D (I thought the Hubble Deep field photos were mind-blowing enough; seeing them in 3D takes that experience to another level).

Well worth the travel hassle.  And more tomorrow!

view from a Copenhagen hotel window

I arrived in Copenhagen last night for the ALICE (Artificial Life, Intelligence, Complexity and Evolution) workshop. I'm staying in the same hotel I stayed in 18 months ago, for the Artificial Life conference.  This time, I asked for a room without a staircase up to the bed, since I did not enjoy descending it (particularly in the middle of the night, in the dark, half asleep).  I got a room without a staircase, but still with a slight obstacle course:

The bathroom door is where I am standing; the bed is up the step and round the corner.

I arrived last night an hour later than scheduled, as it is windy (and snowy, and cold) in Copenhagen, so my flight was delayed waiting for the one runway still in operation.

The view from my window this morning illustrates the cold.

Most of the snow has been cleared away, leaving a good walking surface, and it is only a 5 minute walk to the venue.  I have brought extra layers, a hat, scarf, and gloves.  I will survive.

sequestering carbon, several books at a time CLVII

The latest batch, including a few belated Christmas presents that were ordered well in advance, but delivered less so.

sunrise

 

7:46am GMT, looking west

pretty complex

It didn't snow again last night, but it did freeze.  Some rather pretty ice crystals formed on the (outside, fortunately) of our conservatory window.

 

on a technicality...

Today is Twelfth Night, or the twelfth day of Christmas, so it's still (just) Christmas season.  So does this mean it's technically a white Christmas?

8:08 GMT, looking north

9:29 GMT, looking west

Despite it now being clear sky and full (if low) sun, we have very little solar PV generation.  It has to get through an inch of snow covering the panels first!

Happy New Year

 Presumably, there are lots of delighted shepherds celebrating this New Year's sunset.

16:10 GMT, looking west