After last night's thunderstorm, today promises to be an unbelievably warm and sunny second May Bank Holiday in England. There's a specialist plant fair being held just down the road so that'll need checking out.

In other news, chairing some licence reviews for the Science Council at the Association for Science Education, the British Society of Soil Science, the Royal Society of Biology, the Institution of Environmental Sciences and the all-embracing Institute of Mathematics and its Applications has kept me busy over recent months. Committee meetings at the Royal Society of Chemistry for the Environmental Chemistry Group and the Water Science Forum filled in a few of the other blank days. I also fitted in a site visit to Swanage - the last time I was rhere was with my mum and dad about 55 years ago. I bet it hasn’t changed much although, these days, I can barely remember places that I went to last week let alone when I was a kid.

Attending a meeting in Exeter gave me the perfect excuse for a long train journey and a first visit to the city centre. The area around the cathedral is very pretty.

There was also a really nice Moroccan restaurant there too...well, in Exeter what else would you eat?

I splurged on a trip to Copenhagen to catch up with two old friends and listen to Kenny Barron play the piano. Always a pleasure - here's a picture of his feet - 2 belong to Kenny and 1 belongs to a friend.

This year I managed to time a very long weekend in the S. Tyrol so I hit the fruit trees at peak blossom.

Just wonderful.