a world before our world

The Lady Professor spends her life
working with the fossil bones of animals
and using them to reconstruct past climates:
wolves roaming the Somerset hills,
hippos swimming where Trafalgar Square is now,
woolly rhinoceros grazing in Staffordshire.

After she has been to the exhibition of Ice Age Art
at the British Museum
she shows me a replica carving,
small enough to hold in the palm of your hand,
and we wonder at it together.

It is an adult woolly mammoth
carved by someone who saw them wild,
who knew what colour they were,
how they moved, what they smelt like,
recognised the sounds of their calls.

We cannot know why the statue was carved
or much about the person who carved it
but it is the briefest glimpse, a pinpoint beam of light,
into a world before our world.

the world comes to me

The Young Academic and the relatively Young Professor
have been in the Falkland Islands
acting as official academic observers
for the referendum which took place last week.

My tiny role in this diplomatic mission
was to assist in the purchase
of high specification technical clothing
and in return they agreed to send me pictures
of aforementioned clothing in situ.

So here are two pictures of penguins
for the next edition of the Goretex catalogue.

Read about their role in the referendum here:
Geopolitics & Security

that was the night that was

On the last night
 it is time to go out and relax,

a drink in an Irish bar,
a game of pool

then off to the clubs,
raucous and full of life

where there is dancing
until late, late, late

followed by a quiet stroll home
through palm-lined streets.

5am and all's well.

A Brilliance of Professors

Christmas Lunch - December 2011

I think that this is one of the pictures
that I would put in my desert island photo album...
I know that whenever I looked at it
I would still hear the faint sound of laughter
and it would be impossible to feel lonely.

Graduation Day

On Graduation Day
there is a reception in the Department
for the graduands and their guests.

Everybody has a job to do:

there is someone to polish glasses
and wash them up afterwards

someone to lay out the envelopes
and welcome the guests

someone to make the labels
and the fabulous poster display

someone to unwrap the catering
and someone to open the bottles of bubbly

someone to address the graduands
and present the prizes

someone to play the trumpets
(that is a specialist job)

someone to organise the procession
and someone to take the photographs.

It is a pleasure and a privilege every year
because it is such a special day.


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The Finalists' Barbecue

1.
The students are in limbo
between exams and results
and their laughter has an anxious edge.

2.
Long tables are covered with white lab roll
and bowls of food beautifully prepared
by the Operations Manager and her Crew.

3.
The student tells me
of his trip to Vietnam.
"It will be the last holiday
I spend with my family."
I think of his mother and I say
"Don't say that - perhaps it won't be."

4.
The academic tells me
of the overnight train journey.
I imagine his two little children
wide awake with excitement
in the sleeper compartment and smile.


5.
The sausages and burgers
are ordered from a local butcher
and are really delicious.

6.
And the team of Physical Geographers
show off their crazy BBQ skillz
and cook everything to perfection.

7.
The Young Academic is recounting
the tale of the Tie of Shame
to the Head of Department elect
who is looking faintly appalled
and wondering what lies ahead in his new role.

8.
The new GeogSoc committee
have contacted me to discuss
the Freshers reception in September.
I tell the ex-President of the GeogSoc
and she laughs
"That's a bit keen -
I didn't think about it until the week before."

9.
Everyone clusters at the top of the Quad
for the traditional photograph.
It will be given to all finalists
on Graduation Day.

10.
The Head of Department
thanks the students
for making it such a good evening
and tells them they are a vintage year.

11.
As I leave the Department
the foyer is still full of students
chatting, laughing,
reluctant to leave.

12.
It is another happy memory,
to take away into the world outside
and keep for a lifetime.


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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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