C-Day

The Chocolate Cake has landed!
Here it is with my accomplice,
Jenny the Cartographer.
(she reads this blog so do say hi!)

I walked into the Exams Office later in the morning
to find four examiners having a cake-break
and looking very chilled.
(I hope that the Examinations Officer
has not noticed the frivolous silver balls)

There is a cheerful atmosphere in the Department
because the marking has been completed.
(summer fieldwork and conferences seem closer)

This evening 150 students and staff
will be partying on a river boat.
I have given strict instructions
to the GeogSoc Committee
to be careful with the staff.
(I need them all back for the Sub Board meetings)

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Lunch Hour

:: sunshine ::
:: daffodils ::
:: students ::

if you look carefully
you will see the big group of
first year Geographers
who waved to me
and called out my name
as I walked through the quad
and made me smile

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the world comes to me

Mark Edwards
Man Watching Crows

The Professor sits down in my chair
with a grateful sigh.

"We were just about to land in Tromsø
when the snow started
and we were diverted to a tiny airport
in the middle of nowhere.
As we approached the runway
the snow was really heavy
and I don't know how the pilot landed the plane.
There was hardly enough room for us all
in the terminal building and no sign of buses.
Eventually, a bus came to take us to Tromsø
and we set off through the forests.
Of course, it was really beautiful...
all those pine trees covered in snow...
but all I could think was that
there were no chains on the wheels,
the road was icy, the snow was still falling
and the bus was sliding on every corner.
My heart was in my mouth for the next five hours
and I have never been so glad to get home safely."

Souvenirs of Nerja

I fell in love with the Costa del Sol...

I thought it was just
sun, sand and flamenco

but I discovered
dramatic mountain scenery,

Moorish history

and orange groves.

You can sit in the sunshine in Granada at lunchtime

and then drive across the hills

back to the sea

and the bustle of the promenade.

Nerja, I'm missing you already.

Roll on next year.

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Friday Night in Tutti-Frutti

Errr...

Help me out, folks...

What shall we call this...

'Social Geography'?


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Another Intense Day

Up early because we are off
to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada...

to study Geomorphology
with our fearless leader.

This required us to spend the morning
in an almond grove
surrounded by sugar pink blossom,

a brief stop for lunch
breathing in the smell of wild thyme,
admiring the white-washed buildings,

and then it is off
down the hill through the orange trees
to the river bed.

Chemical Analysis

Measuring Flow Rate

Observing Sediment Deposition

Taking Photos

Well...somebody has to do it.

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Physical Geography

This is the Geography
of hard hats and rock hammers

of observation,

of landscape.

This is the Geography
of schist, silt and scree

of river, mountain,
coastline and desert.

It can only be done outside
wearing trousers with pockets
on the side of your legs.

I'm coping.

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