Anne Green

Nigel knee’s first trip to the gym. He has the personality of a sulky teenage boy and would far rather stay at home and watch TV, but he has the misfortune of being attached to me.

Shoutout (derogatory) to local authorities who still want students to get paperwork marked with "the official University stamp". I'm not sure I've ever seen this object, but if you give me twenty minutes, a sharp knife, and half a potato I'll see what I can do.

Today there has been an epic 'reply all' event, including: i) multiple 'don't reply all's, ii) multiple 'please remove me's (even after it was explained that's not possible), iii) a cat photo, iv) emojis in response to cat photo, v) a long 'joke' reply, vi) conspiracy theories.

Today I ran. For thirty seconds. Twice! Next step: over the next four weeks, build up to ninety seconds, five times.

A Sunday afternoon stroll on the moors triggered a relapse of my Levellers earworm (“this is where I come when I want to be free… …there’s only one way of life and that’s your own”).

Kicking myself that I spent the one sunny day of the weekend tidying up the garden.

We didn’t manage to get tickets to watch the basho itself this trip, so instead we watched the rikishi arriving and leaving.

While the OH went to a J-metal gig (on a Sunday morning!) I had fun at the Olympic museum and set the day’s record on the interactive shooting exhibit (thanks to being the first person to do it).

A day of Tokyo favourites: micro pigs, another garden and TeamLab Borderless.

A varied day in Tokyo: sumo training at Isegahama stable, Kiyosumi gardens and the museum of contemporary art.

Day trip to Naoshima for pumpkins (and other art).

Ritsurin garden, Takamatsu.

Took the ropeway to Tairyuji, temple number 21. Saw some henro who were walking all 88 temples (and 1200 km). Was only a little bit jealous.

Left the Iya Valley and headed to Naruto for whirlpools and Ryozenji (temple number one on the Shikoku 88 temple pilgrimage).

Feeding birds in the rain after an ‘interesting’ drive along single track mountain roads with blind bends to scarecrow village.

The Ioki cave and the Iya valley.

Daihoji temple and Nakatsu gorge:

Ishiteji temple, Matsuyama.

Day 1 of our Shikoku road trip and we’ve accidentally booked a night in a love hotel, in a somewhat chintzy room with a cosplay rental menu…

Made it out onto the moors to talk to sheep for the first time in 3 months.

Nigel the knee was up to some alpaca feeding:

The women's TDF was more exciting than the men's (in terms of the overall winner at least). And next year it's coming to the UK, including the Peak District.

My first solo trip out in 2 months: a gong bath at a sunflower field.

Freedom! I’m cleared to wean myself off the crutches, and drive. Not wearing the most stylish or flattering t-shirt. But was seeing a different physio than usual and wanted to demonstrate that I’m (in the words of another physio) ‘not an average 50-something woman’.

The 'education gap' being a known thing in much of rural or semi-rural Britain, of course. True in Somerset, Dorset, Norfolk, Suffolk (hence UEA exisiting), mid-Wales (Aberystwyth), east Kent (hence University of Kent, CCCU), Cumbria/NW north of Manchester...

"Turns out that the people who design and run assessments are quite good at their jobs and also care deeply about not disadvantaging candidates" makes for a very boring story compared with "TEENS IN TEARS", but it has the merit of being true.

'There has been a 12 percentage point leap in the number of UK universities reporting cutbacks to research, according to a survey carried out this year by Universities UK.' Being a global research power when you're reducing research by 12% in a year may prove a wee bit of a challenge.

So it's farewell to the History subject area at the University of Hertfordshire, not the first nor the last to go. One of the best departments in the country, just extinguished like a snap of the fingers. Think of the waste. (1/2)

Enjoying an interesting book (‘Inside the box’ by David Epstein) while enjoying the Sun. But it’s amazing how much the garden has returned to the wild in the last 2 months (and it’s taking a lot of self restraint not to try and sort it out).

Me (while watching Commonwealth games track cycling on the TV): “we should try tandem track cycling”. OH (who hasn’t ridden a bike since childhood): raises both eyebrows. Me: “asking that during a slow-mo replay of a crash was bad timing.”

This week has been a Week. And unfortunately I disposed of my unused morphine (joke), so instead I’m eating a very sickly dessert.

arXiv has spun out as an independent non-profit like openRxiv. Today they announce their new CEO and founding Board blog.arxiv.org/2026/07/30/a...

Happy to finally get my birthday present (a Grotta Sonora sound plate) set up so I can sort of play it (sat on the floor with my right leg locked flat and straight in front of me).

There was a line in UKRI's strategy on Monday that was easily missed, and sounds somewhat innocuous, but I think signals quite a shift for UK research funding By 2030, the funder expects to have completed reform of Research England's quality-related research funding formula 🧵