I sued NatWest bank for unlawful penalty charges, and they paid me nearly £4000.

You can do it too, join the Consumer Action Group here.

My host has moved systems and this caused a few problems. 90% of the site is up and running now. Pete is going to Poland for 2 weeks for the CERN Accelerator School, but when he’s back there will be updates.

I’ve not posted for a while as we’ve been moving house and lost our internet for a few weeks. We’ve settled into our new house and had a visit from some friends from Oklahoma. Neil, Kerry, Reed and Cole came to Britain for a week. After picking them up from Manchester Airport we all went to Edinburgh. It was great to see them after so long. Pictures will follow.

OK, now Kate has given her notice here in Rotherham, I can spill the beans. I’ve accepted a position as an Accelerator Physicist at Daresbury Laboratory, one of the two labs operated by CCLRC. My research group is the Accelerator Science and Technology Centre. Over the next couple of months we are going to move to Warrington. The lab is three miles west of Warrington on the oldest canal in Britain, the Bridgewater Canal, built in 1761.

I have some good news on the job front, but I can’t divulge quite yet. Watch this space!

To continue my recent music theme, one of my favourite bands, Boards of Canada, have released their first video to promote the release of Dayvan Cowboy from their recent album, The Campfire Headphase. The first half of the video is real footage of the highest descent ever recorded, Joseph Kittinger’s skydive from the edge of space (102.800 feet) in 1960.
With complications on the way down, he was convinced he had not survived the jump and hallucinated falling through hell. The second half of the video is of surfer Laird Hamilton riding giant waves in Hawaii. I think it’s quite an effective video. You can watch it here.

Went to see Mogwai at The Plug in Sheffield last night. Certainly the best gig I’ve been to. They’re playing the Albert Hall in September so I think I’ll get some tickets. Took some pics on the phone, but I don’t have a bluetooth adapter for my computer as yet, so the pics may have to wait.

Well, we had a fantastic time in Rome. Our hotel was close to the Roman Forum, Capitoline hill and the Colosseum.
The Fori of Augustus and Triani have recently emerged from extensive archeological work and the Commune di Roma is now considering whether to dig up the Via dei Fori Imperiale (which Mussolini drove through the middle of the site) and see what lies beneath.
St. Peters Basilica and the Vatican museum are truly breathtaking, you really get a sense of how powerful the papacy was in the Renaissance period.
A small selection of the many photos I took are taking shape in the Gallery.

Kate and I are going to the Eternal City for our tenth wedding anniversary this Monday. Kate went to Rome as a child, but I have never been and am looking forward to it immensely. We’re flying from Heathrow, so have a day to spend in London on the way. Kate wants to go to Fortnum’s or Selfridge’s and I would like to go to either the Tower of London or the Cabinet War Rooms. The kids are staying with my mum.

When we return I have a number of job interviews lined up, so fingers crossed.

Stuart is 4 today. His birthday was on a pirate theme. He got a playmobil pirate ship and a pirate game. Kate made a cake in the form of a treasure chest. Photos are now up.

We visited the YSP at the weekend. Pictures are in the gallery. I’ve also added some more in the Rotherham album.