Carnegie Centenary Lecture

Lloyd has now delivered his final presentation for his visit to the University of St Andrews. He presented the Carnegie Centenary Lecture at the Conference on Foundations of Logical Consequence. This was quite a big deal and some of the people from yesterday's lunch were in the audience. The glossy posters for the conference itself and the Carnegie Centenary Lecture are included below.

All in all the lecture seems to have gone well and represents the final of 15 different talks Lloyd was contracted to deliver during his appointment to the University of St Andrews. Given that Lloyd does not like to present 'old' material, but always works up something new for each talk, this has been quite a feat.

The conference itself continues for the next two days over the weekend, and there are still other seminars Lloyd will be attending during the remaining two weeks here before we head off to the Lake District and London.

Lunch in Honour of Carnegie Centenary Professorship

This week has generally been devoted to Judi working on University of Melbourne administration, and Lloyd both presenting his final seminar on Monday June 4 and preparing to deliver the Carnegie Centenary Lecture at the Conference on the Foundations of Logical Consequence (FLC) this weekend (starting today - Friday). Lloyd's visit to St Andrews was principally organised so that he could participate in, and contribute to, the AHRC-funded FLC project.

However, yesterday (Thursday) we both took a break from our work to attend a lunch at which Lloyd (in his capacity as Carnegie Centenary Professor) was the guest of honour. We were to meet Professor Peter Clark from the 'Principal's Office' at 12.15pm to be walked over to the Regent's Room in St Salvator's College at 12.30pm for lunch. It turns out that the Principal is in fact the Vice Chancellor of the University of St Andrews. Lloyd found himself sitting next to the Principal - Professor Louise Richardson. I was seated opposite Lloyd, and was flanked by the Deputy Principal (Professor Chris Hawkesworth) and the Chairman of the Carnegie Trust - Professor Sir David Edward.

There were a total of 18 guests at the lunch and we sat at an enormous long wooden table alongside a fireplace with Latin inscriptions. Some of the period between courses was spent by us all having a go at translating the inscriptions. The other guests were various dignitaries from around the University; but Lloyd was pleased to see that a number of the graduate and post-doc students he has been interacting with at meetings and at Ardtornish were also invited.

Despite the fact that we were in such esteemed company, the lunch was very enjoyable, and we were both pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to interact with the VC and others. The food was also very good. I cannot give a completely accurate account of what we ate as there was no menu provided. The entree consisted of a sort of cheese soufflé, although Lloyd thought that it might have been a little too dense to be categorised as a soufflé. It was nevertheless tasty and served with watercress and a few slices of mushrooms. I had Scottish salmon for main course and Lloyd had a chicken breast wrapped round some filling and served with a sauce. Dessert was crème brulée served with a small portion of fruit compote and ice cream, followed by coffee. The whole event concluded at 2.00pm after some brief speeches.

I am afraid that there are no photos to attach to this post. It would have been nice if someone had taken a photo of Lloyd and me yesterday as we were all dressed up in our finery for the lunch, but no one did. Never mind.

Back in St Andrews

On Saturday morning we went to the St Andrews Farmers' Market. There is a local Farmers' Market on every Saturday, but the first Saturday in the month is the turn of St Andrews. We walked down to it and immediately became aware of the presence of one of the delicacies Judi intended to sample - Arbroath Smokies. We had been made aware of this dish from a couple of television programs we had watched back in Melbourne. Arbroath smokies are a type of smoked haddock – a speciality of the town of Arbroath which is just beyond Dundee (about 45 minutes away).

The fish are gutted and salted before a smokie pit is prepared. A hole is dug in the ground, and a half whisky barrel is set into it. The base of the barrel is lined with slates to protect it, and a hardwood fire of beech and oak is lit inside. The sticks of fish are then placed over the pit and the hessian cover allows the fire to breathe and maintain the required heat. The number of layers and dampening of the ‘cloots’ depends on the weather, and may be adjusted throughout the smoking to prevent the fish either smoking too quickly and burning, or smoking too slowly and drying out. More details and some pictures can be found at: http://www.arbroathsmokies.net/

Judi bought one of the Arbroath Smokies and some home-baked bread to enjoy for lunch a little later. It was truly delicious and lived up to all expectations.

On Sunday Judi decided to see if she could locate the place that St Andrews Baptist Church meets for their Sunday morning services. The church itself is in South Street, but there is a notice outside to say that the 10.30am Sunday service meets at Madras College. There is a rather complicated map that had deterred Judi in the past, but this week, she decided to investigate. Google maps were particularly helpful, and showed a walking route that took about 15 minutes to complete.

Judi left the house at 10.00am, map in hand, and successfully negotiated the route to the meeting place. It turns out that the church needs to meet at this hall because the congregation no longer fits into the church building in south street. It is rather gratifying in this day and age that there are still churches as active as this one, especially as the Church of England congregations are aging and shrinking.

The service was somewhere between St Jude's and Syndal in style. For example, there were hymns and songs like both St Jude's and Syndal, but we also joined together in the Confession of Sins, the Lord's Prayer and the Grace at the conclusion of the service. None of these more formal parts of Sunday services are included at Syndal, although I am aware that they form part of morning worship at St Jude's.

Judi very much enjoyed the service, which included familiar hymns and songs. There was a pianist, saxophonist and singer providing the music, and there was an advert in the newsletter for people to join the music team. If Judi had been staying longer, she would have offered her services. Also like St Jude's and Syndal, Judi was made very welcome and several people approached her - one even suggesting a coffee catch-up in the week. This was in stark contrast to Judi's experience of the local Episcopalian church on Palm Sunday. She will definitely making the journey to return for next week's service.

Botanical Gardens

In the afternoon, we both went walking to the Botanical Gardens. These are quite extensive and very beautiful. Lloyd had visited them while Judi was back in Melbourne, but the weather had been cold and rather unpleasant. Today in contrast it was bright and sunny.

Botanical Gardens

 One interesting aspect of St Andrews Botanical Gardens is that there are a number of greenhouses, each of which has a different climate and vegetation. It is possible to walk between them without going outside at all. The Alpine one for example was cool and arid, but the tropical ones were exceptionally hot and humid. One of the hothouses caused Lloyd's glasses to completely mist over, and he could not see anything!

On the way to the gardens, we passed a street party for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee which is being celebrated this weekend. Unlike London where it poured with rain for the celebrations, St Andrews had lovely weather for their festivities.

A Walk in the Grounds of Ardtornish

Ardtornish Gardens

On Thursday, the conference program was pretty continuous, but there was an hour or so after the official lunch break during which we went for a walk in the Ardtornish gardens/grounds themselves. The grounds are vast and extend right along the side of Loch Aline (seen from our loungeroom window) to the village of Lochaline. There are a number of cottages for rent in the grounds of the main house, one of which was called Rose Cottage (pictured).

Rose Cottage

There is also an extensive grid of rivers and brooks, the most impressive of which (Gear Abhain) runs alongside Kinlochaline castle. The castle is a strange looking structure, rather higher than it is wide.

Gear Abhain

Kinlochaline Castle

Trip to the Isle of Mull

The conference program for Wednesday, May 30 included free time from after lunch for the remainder of the day. This was particularly convenient as Lloyd had his presentation before lunch, so he did not need to any more spend time thinking about what he intended to say.

Car Ferry Lochaline to Mull

We decided to take advantage of this block of spare time to make a trip on the car ferry to the Isle of Mull. Our original plan had been to drive down to the sounthernmost tip of the island to see the Isle of Iona, and then drive back to Tobermory (the capital) before returning to the ferry which comes into a small village called Fishnish.

Leaving Lochaline

Arriving Fishnish

Luckily, we had been warned that driving on the island was extremely slow, as the roads are only wide enough for one car. This was exactly the same sort of road that led into Ardtornish. We had driven 12 miles on it on Monday, and alhtough there are passing places, it is very tiring driving estimating whether one can get to the next passing place to give way to the oncoming traffic, or whether they are going to stop to allow us to come through.

The trip down to see the Isle of Iona (we would not have been able to actually go to the island as it was another car ferry and there would have not been sufficient time) was about 28 miles, so we quickly decided to just visit Tobermory.

The Sound of Mull

Lloyd and the Sound of Mull

The road took us along the side of the Sound of Mull, which was particularly pretty.







Even this trip took much longer than we expected, and in the end, just looking around the harbour at Tobermory took up all the time we had before needing to return to catch the second last ferry of the day. We didn't want to aim for the last ferry of the day in case things went wrong.

Tobermory Harbour

Judi at Tobermory

Tobermory is a very pretty harbour town, a little reminiscent of Cornwall. What was particularly striking was that all the shops and houses along the water were different (and very bright colours).

Tobermory

Visit to Ardtornish House

On Monday morning, we set off for Ardtornish House. The journey was predicted to take about 4 and a half hours, with a stop at the two-hour mark in Tyndrum. Tyndrum, on the edge of Loch Lomond and the Trussocks National Park is the last view of civilisation before heading into the highlands. The views en route were spectacular. The road often cut along a valley between craggy peaks on both sides, and then we would be running along the edge of a loch with mountain peaks (covered with snow) in the distance.

We arrived at Tyndrum after 2 hours and 15 minutes of driving, and took a welcome break of a little over an hour. There was a shop and gift shop, as well as a restaurant, all called 'The Green Welly'. In fact they stocked a large range of wellington boots (including green ones), and extensive set of waterproof garments of one sort and another. We had been warned that this area of the world is very cold and wet pretty much all year round. However, it was hot and sunny at the time, and in fact the temperature was about 29 degrees.

It was good to feel a bit more refreshed before setting off on the second leg. The distances were not equal, and the latter part of the journey was on very narrow roads. The final hour involved a car ferry and then a single track road with occasional passing places. Unfortunately for us, they were surfacing the road at one spot and we were held up for 20 minutes while they did a section and arrived at the next passing place. It was a lovely feeling to finally arrive at Ardtornish House. The flat we rented is much bigger than we imagined and there is a long hall between the bedrooms and the bathroom. In addition there is a huge kitchen and very cosy lounge with open fire, complete with a view of Loch Aline. I will leave the rest of this post to speak for itself.

Ardtornish House

Main Staircase

Nursery Flat Two Dormer Windows on Second Floor

 

View from Lounge

Window Seat in Lounge

Judi back at St Andrews

Saturday and Sunday

Today Judi arrived back in St Andrews after 5 weeks in Australia. The weather had been fine and sunny for a few days prior to the weekend, but on Saturday it was 27 degrees.

All the travel arrangements for the return to St Andrews had gone perfectly according to plan in terms of car pick-ups, takeoffs, landings etc, and Judi was back at our house half an hour before what she thought could be the earliest time for her arrival. The plane had landed at Glasgow on schedule,  passport control had been very quick, and the cases were some of the first to appear.


Judi proceeded through Customs and was in the car heading to St Andrews within 40 minutes of landing. Lloyd was lying in the garden in the sun (it was 25 degrees here), so was ready to greet her as she came through the gate.

St Andrews Harbour

 We decided to take advantage of the sunshine to walk down to the harbour and along East Sands beach before any unpacking was undertaken. Once home, we enjoyed afternoon tea together on the patio in the sunshine.

East Sands Beach

East Sands Beach

On Sunday, we had to assemble things (packing again!!) to head off to the Ardtornish Estate on Monday morning. The website link for this house (in particular, the Nursery Flat that we are renting) is: http://www.ardtornish.co.uk/Pages/NURSERY_FLAT.asp

Edgecliffe Building Front

In the afternoon, we walked again - this time to West Sands beach. On the way we passed Edgecliffe, the building that houses the Philosophy department, and where Lloyd has been delivering his weekly seminar.

Edgecliffe Building Rear

West Sands

West Sands