not many Dohertys left in NZ

The much threatened "coldest winter in 40 years" has arrived. I arrived back in Edinburgh from Brussels last week, wee brother in tow, to sub-zero temperatures. The sun has been shining (between the hours of sunrise and sunset anyway - 8.09am-3.50pm today!), but without any warmth in it. And today, as I walked up the hill to work, it snowed. By the time I arrived my black coat was white and I sported a grin from ear to ear. Snow just has that effect.

Brussels was an EU conference on Communicating European Research - where I had a booth screening the rough cut of our "stem cell movie" as the scientists like to call it. The funky booth design involving a wall of rolled-up posters didn't quite work out, as the couriers lost our posters for a few days. People seemed to like the film, though.

I picked Kev & Emma up in Amsterdam (much to their surprise) on the way back from Brussels. They've had a whirlwind Scottish trip, taking in the sights of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dollar, Bellshill and Lewis in little over a week, and are now somewhere in northern Holland (I hope it's snowing there too, they were hanging out for it here and left just before it arrived in full force).

Meanwhile, my dad arrived in Scotland on Monday, much to the surprise of the rest of his family and especially the brother he's staying with. Apart from his brother's wife, Kevin, Emma, Andrew and I, no-one knew he was coming. The family party the next day was quite an event (much shrieking and wailing).

Tomorrow we're off to Murrayfield with Dad, to see how the ABs cope with a bit of snow.