Going out

I have been getting out the house a bit, lately.  On Sunday, I took my elder (6yo) daughter to the Guildford Spectrum to see an ice hockey match.  It was a first for both of us.  For an event with a considerable amount of sitting around, watching a sport that she didn't entirely understand, things went very well.  She was really excited, and though I was prepared to leave in one of the intervals, was determined to stay to the end.  She really loved chanting "Guildford! Guildford!" (which was done in a fairly genteel Surrey sort of way by all concerned) and was super-excited by the goals when Guildford scored them, and rather despondent when Swindon did.  Thankfully the Guildford Flames won 6-3.  It was pretty exciting, and for the money, beats paying the prices that football costs these days.  Guildford, having one of the handful of the UK's ice rinks also naturally has one of the handful of league ice hockey teams.

On Monday, I went with my fellow nuclear physicist Wilton Catford to Brighton, home of a University which performs leading nuclear physics research. There is also another University near Brighton, which I should mention for balance.  We were not there for anything physics-related, though.  Except that we talked about physics a bit on the journey there and back.  We were there to see Laura Veirs, a folky American singer that we both like.  I've been listening to her recent album in anticipation of the gig, and really liked her previous one.  The gig didn't disappoint.  She gives a great live performance, and has started her dylanesque judas period in which she picks up an electric guitar and rocks out.  I thoroughly approve, and enjoyed both the noisier and the folkier parts of her set.  It was good stuff.  Above is one of the more gentle songs from her previous album that I like.  It's set to a fan video which is kind of cool, but doesn't seem to fit the lyrics well.  

Tonight I am out gigging again.  This time to accompany my brother, whose birthday it is today, and we're going to see The Wave Pictures at the Jazz Café in London.  This is followed by a couple of days of respite, but then I'll be spending all day at the nuclear documentary film festival that I posted about recently.