Conway Hall

Having been pleased by the New Scientist effort noticed at reference 1, thought to try one of their lectures, charged at approximately the same hourly rate, but held in the comparatively dowdy Conway Hall, first seen for the very hopeful, but ultimately unfulfilled meeting of  'Dignity in Dying' noticed at reference 2.

So out at Waterloo and scratched around for a bus to Holborn. Do a walk pass of Red Lion Square for orientation, then head north for refreshment. I stop on the way to buy a sandwich from a convenience store on Southampton Row, just by the exit from Cosmo Place (which, oddly, has not been the subject of google's streetview camera's attentions. Not a proper road I suppose).  A large and reasonably priced roll, one of those more or less tasteless sausage shaped rolls you get from freezers, full of a tasty but strange confection described as cheese and spring onion but which I might have described as chopped egg on a blind trial. Whatever it was, the result, 24 hours later, was a sev.3 gastric disturbance. That, however, was in the future, and oblivious we headed into the Swan, a quiet old fashioned boozer, which did, bending to the winds of time, sell food but which, at this time of day, was given over to booze. Tired but pleasant barmaid, then not half way through her six hour shift.

Suitably refreshed, back to the full Conway Hall, to seats in the rear gallery. Hard seats, but there were even harder seats at the very back, just behind us. A rather bigger hall from this position than it had seemed on the previous occasion, from the nave. A rather mixed audience, by no means all pensioners.

The subject matter was the rather improbable feat of landing a space craft on a comet, a rather odd shaped lump of soft rock (illustrated). 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, maybe three miles long by two miles wide.

To entertain us we had the master of ceremonies from the New Scientist, a large chap of what I call faux-jovial manner, possibly the same chap who did the conference. Academic 1, who saw fit to appear in short sleeves and shorts, possibly to show off his extensive collection of tattoos. (I learned afterwards that he is a veteran of television shows, during which he is prone to boast about his bricklaying father). Academic 2, a large lady. Both academics thought it necessary to intersperse their talks with lots of rather silly asides. One of them observed that he had given the same talk to dozens of audiences, of all shapes and sizes, and the net result was that one learned little about the landing, rather less than one might have learned by reading the wikipedia entry. Rather cross, we left during the rather desultory questions. But I don't blame them for that, live questions at such an event are always going to be difficult. Perhaps the New Scientist got it right at the conference by taking questions in writing and sorting out something usable behind the scenes, although I had not been very pleased about that at the time. And not a wheeze which is going to work in the context of a one hour rather than a one day show.

Took a bus back to the 'Hole in the Wall' at Waterloo to take something to put us back together again. A bus which came with at least ten camera positions for its CCTV cameras and which had sensors in the upstairs seats so that a display downstairs could tell you where the vacant seats, if any, were. I think the real point of the display was to remind you, without making a parade of it, that the bus was fully tooled up and that any misbehaviour was going to be recorded on camera, ten positions of which were revealed by the display when it was not telling you about the upstairs seats.

Hole in the Wall, very much its old self, with the front bar quiet, but not empty, and comfortable.

But it did not quite do the trick, as I found it necessary on the way home to bang on about how awful it was that we had to do business with the Saudis and their friends in the Gulf. Roll on the day when we had got fusion to work and could manage without them. See reference 4.

PS 1: I wondered afterwards whether the lady was a fair sample of an OU scientist, thinking of their recent announcement of the closure of most of their regional centres. Will they survive the advent of the high quality, online stuff being put out by the likes of MIT? See reference 3.

PS 2: wikipedia tells me the the 'Queen's Larder' of Cosmo Place, which we did not try on this occasion, was named for the stash of grub kept there by the wife of George III when the latter was being treated nearby. But I do remember using the place many years ago, when it used to be full of medicos in the evening and when I used to work nearby.

Reference 1: http://www.psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/new-scientist.html.

Reference 2: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/bloomsbury.html.

Reference 3: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/.

Reference 4: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/big-doughnuts.html.