Blog in France

Tiger mosquitoes are the latest nasty to have invaded France, hot on the heels of Asian ladybirds and hornets. These particular critters can carry dengue fever and chikungunya. I’m not entirely sure what those are, but they sound very unpleasant and can apparently leave you with aches and pains that...

It’s good to be back. Apologies for the long absence but my old laptop died, the replacement was delayed and it took a day or so to get the new one up and running. I’m struggling with Windows 8, to put it mildly. I’ll be happily working away on a...

Here’s a pic I found on the Net of a bike the same as Caiti’s. Not hers though – we never let ours in the house! Poor Caiti has become a statistic. To be precise her bike has. She went to the locked bike shed on campus (accessible with the...

It’s been animal heavy morning. First up, we had a chicken invasion. OK, there’s only two of them and they’re generally very well behaved but for some reason they wandered into the kitchen this morning when our backs were turned. (Actually, the reason was probably the open container of cat...

Exactly a year ago, 20th April 2012, I blogged about mutant dandelions. They’re actually fasciated (crested) as a result of being attacked by something such as a virus or insect or even machinery, although genetics and even radiation can possibly play a part. We’re testing the genetic theory. Rors and...