A quick catchup on various things

I'm horrified to see that I haven't blogged since July. I kept on meaning to but I've clearly been too busy.  Since July I've become head of department and it has all been a bit of a whirlwind. None the less there has been time for a few bits and  bobs of fun.

Kirsty and I were busy in September at Yornight, again telling anyone who would listen how wonderful earthworms are.

Then in October I got invited to a European Chemicals Agency workshop in Helsinki that was all to do with risk assessment. I'm still not entirely sure why I was invited but I'm very found of Helsinki and haven't been since that viva in 2013 so went along and chatted to various old friends from the UK and the Netherlands.

Here we are in a debating chamber discussing risk assessment

I love the view across Helsinki harbour to the islands

and here's Helsinki's cathedral

 The railway station at Helsinki is fine as railways go but I love the outside - these two stone figures holding the lights always remind me of The Pillars of the Kings from the Lord of the Rings

Then in October we were out at Leeds University farm looking at the SoilBioHedge project - it's come along a lot since we were sampling in April. Now in the arable fields the ley strips are well established, hopefully providing superhighways for earthworms to crawl through from the hedges into the arable soil.