Royal Society

We were at the Royal Society of Edinburgh today for a lunch with 70 or so others for the significant birthday of a friend and former colleague, who has been a Fellow there since 2007.

It was a lovely event and I met up with some former colleagues, some of whom I’ve not seen in years. It was a mix of family, neighbours, academics, civil servants, church friends and others with some travelling from Ireland for the event. Tomorrow the family have another celebration as our friend’s mother in law marks her 102nd birthday!

Around the walls of the room was a fascinating exhibition of women of science in Scotland each photographed with an item displaying the field they were working in. It made a great counterpoint to all the old paintings of the great and the good men which hung in the reception entrance. Seemingly school trips call in to see what opportunities and achievements can be obtained in STEM fields.

On our way to the lunch we saw - see extra - an old style American car drive past. A Pontiac Bonneville. A unusual sight and very noisy compared to the EVs now cruising the streets.