Last day in Bournemouth: good to sew sew

Today was my last full day in Bournemouth.  I gave my talk and had some good discussions.  I forget to mention yesterday of the talks involving shape-memory alloy (SMA) wire.  This is a cool material that undergoes a phase transition when heated.  Nitinol is an example of a SMA.  There were two talks from a research group using SMA devices for hinges and springs to create dynamic objects.  The advantage of SMA devices is that because the movement is at the chemical bond level, there is no material fatigue as there is in a normal spring.  Today there was also a talk by someone who made an interesting artwork based on locations of bigfoot sightings in the USA.  The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization keeps track of such things in case you wondered.  FYI, there have been two sightings in both Calhoun county and Pennington county.  Based on the dates it seems Bigfoot has moved to the Black Hills.

My backpack strap has been suffering from a stitching failure.  I purchased a some needles and thread to do a little repair work from a shop on the way from the conference back to my hotel.  I needed a thimble, but the only one I could find came with a free bottle of beer.

Sewing kit.

 Before.

After.  I hope this lasts until I at least get home.

Went to a local pub for dinner.  Had mussels and chips washed down with a pint of Guiness.  After dinner took a long walk back to the hotel through the central part of town, along the beach, and then up the Toft zig zag and back to the hotel.  The weather is cool (high 60s), but is sunny and still very pleasant for walking.  It stays light pretty late here.  At 10 pm the night sky is still bright.

Tomorrow I leave for London on the 9 am bus.  My destination will be Victoria Station.  From there I can take the subway to a stop within a couple blocks of the hotel.  I am looking forward to visiting some of the world's greatest museums!