robyn hode in scherewode stod

According to Wikipedia, 'robyn hode in scherewode stod' is the first literary reference (in the 15th century) to Robin Hood's presence in Sherwood Forest. In popular tellings, Robin Hood was a savior of the serfs and stole from the rich (to the annoyance of the villainous Sheriff of Nottingham) to give the poor serfs their due. Now, he is a tourist attraction for Nottingham and Sherwood Forest, areas that my tour guide correctly notes are not particularly well set up for tourists, especially not those without cars, because attractions are widely spaced.

Nonetheless, I made my own journey to Robin Hood's stomping grounds--Nottingham--in the middle of December. Thankfully, I was not traveling to to find the aforementioned Robin. Rather, I went to Nottingham for a three day winter school hosted at the University of Nottingham where I sought to be a bit like Robin and learn ('take') as much as I could from our lecturers, new faculty at Nottingham and Birmingham.

While I won't dwell on the serious lectures, the lab tours and most of the conference activities, it's worth mentioning (at least in passing) our opening lecture entitled 'the Physics of Play.' What better way to start a conference than by giving physicists toys to play with? Prof. Ted Forgan started the conference out with questions about falling slinkies, bouncy balls (marketed as AstroBlasters), spinning magnetic tops, a magnetic Newton's Cradle, a Harry Potter magic wand, levitating graphite and more. After the talk, the open invitation to play left the conference organizers in the awkward position of taking away our toys so that we would eat dinner before it got cold!

When the lectures were over on Tuesday, Henrik (my office mate) and I spent a bit of time taking in Nottingham's Christmas Market before heading back to Cambridge. We finished the day in a typical Robin Hood way--with a drink.

Hendrik, my office mate at Cambridge, enjoying his first Glühwein
of the Christmas season in the market square in Nottingham