Huuoowge!

Ready for a big 'un?!?

I entered this year's New Scientist Essay Competition and received the dubious honour of being a "runner up" *proud grin nonetheless*. Although I missed out on the juicy wad of prizemoney and the media placement with New Scientist, I did receive a year's free subscription (whoop) and my name got mentioned in the "winners" column two weeks ago (li'l hop & bow). The REAL prize, however, was an invite to the award ceremony down in London, as it was set up as a networking event for the winners & runners up. So... I spent the last two days down in London :-)

I have to confess... I've pretty much loathed London with a passion ever since I first visited it 12 years ago. Three further visits failed to improve that opinion. Until now. I retract it all. It might have something to do with the fact that I was a "free agent" this time around, setting my own pace and direction without deadlines to reach. It was a total headrush. I managed to squeeze in the Natural History Museum as well as the Science Museum, and I have decided to become really rich and buy them both. Museumshops included. Satisfied the non-geeky side of me with a wicked night in Soho, went for a long stroll round Kensington & Hyde Park for some light relief from the traffic&exhaust fumes, and rounded off the touristy stuff with a visit to the Edvard Munch Exhibition.

I'm not very good with art. I fail to grasp artsy concepts and rarely have the patience to read what the actual piece is about. I guess I'm just a very self-centered art-observer in that I mainly care about what it means to ME. I love strolling around a gallery on my tod in a pretty random fashion. To be honest... I wasn't expecting much of the Munch expo. Only sculptures and abstracts knock me for six normally and Munch, well, he's very much the "in-your-face" expressionist who couldn't be further removed from abstract if he tried :-) But several of his paintings left me utterly mesmerised and for the first time I actually wanted to know what the painter was thinking when he painted. I'm surprised The Scream is his most famous piece. Funny world we live in.

The "moment supreme" of course, was the New Scientist event. The invite said: "dresscode: smart/casual", possibly the most obtuse guideline I have ever read. So I decided to play it safe, dressed up nicely and shivered all my way to the CC Club where the event was held :-). It turned out to be a rather informal night and the organisers had kept their promise in terms of networking opportunities. We were graced by the likes of Jeremy Webb (New Scientist editor), Roger Highfield (Daily Telegraph science editor & Radio 4 Science... erm... person), Professor Richard Wiseman, Sue Nielsen (Science journalist), Barry Gardner (Wellcome Trust press officer) and on and on it went. Equally humbling was the list of people that had acted as judges for this competition, ranging from playwrights to BBC program makers. It was rather easy to spot us dazzled students in the crowd, nervous twitches and spilled cocktails abundant ;-)

It was a fantastic night. However, I did have the most bizarre dinner experience. The girl next to me was rather... let's say... "loopy". Absolutely hilarious and lovely. But loopy. She'd finished her meal in no time and when someone jokingly asked her if she wanted half of his, she instantly replied: "Yes please", upon which the joker in question handed her his plate in a rather dumbstruck fashion. Whilst she was nibbling away at his half-a-chicken, she turned to me and said: "are you done with that rice?" and subsequently started to eat it off my plate. It's the first time in my life I've snorted my drink back out laughing. Painful.

So... would I move to London ever? I'm coming around to the idea. I'd simply have to dislodge the scottish scenery and drag it over. AAAAANDDD... I'd want to live in a permanent mooring boathouse on the Thames. Christmas wishlist. You write that down!