We were listening to PM on Radio 4 last week when they did an obituary piece on Steve Jobs.  Not being an Apple-head I listened with interest, but was really impressed by an extract of a speech he did to  Stamford students back in 2005.  I found it very moving, very powerful and very impressive.  Click here to see the text and a video.   

Rita and Roger came for the weekend and it was good to see them. They came bearing gifts, some erigeron for the garden (a plant I love) and lots and lots of apples from their trees.  These will be turned into apple and rosemary jelly, though I'm also thinking apple and sage might be a good combination. 

On Saturday we went for a wonderful guided walk, with a guide called Jim (see his website here).  We did the Parkland and Palaces walk and it was fascinating.  I knew bits of it, but Jim really wove the whole thing together to make a coherent narrative.  We started at the Hayes, and as we walked Jim pointed out the Roman, medieval and Victorian elements of the city before we hit the Edwardian developments round City Hall.  We were lucky with the weather, as it stayed dry and sunny and it passed very quickly.  Jim also does ghost walks over at Llandaff - these look great and perfect for a blustery autumn evening.  Rita and Roger really enjoyed it too, so all in all a great day.  

On Sunday I was working so Andrew took the dogs with R&R over to the greyhound field.  They had a great time and when I came home I was faced by three greyhounds in a state of contented collapse after running round happily.  Had a lovely beef casserole on Sunday night (cooked with Old Speckled Hen ale) and a mixed berry crumble - perfect for what had turned into windy, wet weather.  The sloe gin is coming along nicely - bottles are being turned regularly and the liquid is a magnificent purple colour.  

Last night we went out to the National Museum of Wales (ironically, one of the buildings Jim had been telling us about) for a science cabaret, entitled Pythagoras' Trousers (website here).  It was a real mix of scientists, doctors, engineers and educators doing a kind of variety show of science - a bit of a mixed bag but very good in parts, and an idea I really like.  I especially liked the systems engineer who demonstrated safety critical system thinking by wriggling out of a straitjacket and a short piece on the Hershel telescope and radio wave astronomy.  As a result of the evening, we've also discovered that Cardiff has a Science Cafe with monthly talks/discussions on scientific subjects so will be going along to these.