two weeks later!

mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa dear reader!

The last two weeks have passed in a blur as I have been to Harrogate for the BAM (British Academy of Management) conference; moved from the Welbeck Hotel to a serviced apartment about a 5 minute walk from the Welbeck in one direction and our offices in Park Row in the other; wandered through the Newton and Arkwright buildings that will be the NBS home in another 12 months or so; been back to London for a CBI conference; found what could become my local (The Hand and Heart); and shared a pint with friends Sarah and Murray at The Playhouse.  All the while, I have been on a steep learning curve as I come to grips with the School and its denizens, as well as the wider context within which we operate.  Throughout, Sue and Barry have been a great presence and support, both at work and at play (and at laundry for that matter).

What follows are the notes I wrote on the first night in Harrogate (the reason for it not being 'blogged' appears at the end):

Tuesday 9^th September

Amy, David, Betty and Nancy – the last 90 years of Lamond history summarised in these four names, as my Aunty Nancy (the youngest of the four at 81) recounted my grandmother Cathy Lamond’s offspring.  I’m not sure when I’ll get this information on facebook, but after an emotional evening of regular cups of tea from Uncle Joe (Nancy’s husband) “watering” Nancy’s recounting of so many different experiences, I wanted to get some of the details down in this Word document while they were still fresh and remembered.  But I get ahead of myself in my diary.

Monday had been a busy day of pushing the feet further under the table as I picked up on a number of issues with which my Dean had entrusted me.  I was even late for tacos at Sue and Barry’s place at 7.30pm, as I finally extracted myself from the office and the seemingly endless stream of emails.  We continued the Park Gate possibilities at Sue’s and Barry’s place, while we munched our way through some quite delicious tacos and a couple of glasses of Australian red (which is ubiquitous in Nottingham, thank goodness J).  This also provided some relief from the issues I was requested to explore at work (positively and successfully I hope, but time will tell).

So, after a restless night looking towards the trip to Harrogate for the BAM conference and my visit to Aunty Nancy, I put in a full morning’s work first before a visit to one of the Park Gate properties I had arranged to view with Denise.  While the viewing went well beyond the time I had anticipated, it was well worth the extra investment and I think there may well be a result to come from that one.  Back to the hotel for a quick pack that wasn’t managed in the morning before heading to the office, and then I was confronted by the need to extend the rental period for the car I had picked up at Heathrow (and which, dear reader, has sat in the garage next door to the Welbeck for the last week or so as I have walked from one end of Nottingham to the other to meet my work meeting commitments).

You might remember the fun and games I had trying to get the car I had reserved and paid for in the first place (albeit the windfall of the Toyota Prius as a result).  I spoke (eventually) to the folks at Heathrow, then at Nottingham, but it was all too hard because the original booking was through an agent in Australia. “So”, I finally said to the young lass in Nottingham in conclusion, “I guess what I do is just turn up a day late and pay the 30 quid” (because the system wouldn’t let her add it to the booking in real time).  “Yeah, well, I guess that would work”, was her reply.

So this combination of an extended viewing, the silliness of failed technologies (and, I guess, a degree of procrastination on my part), I left for Harrogate about an hour and a half later than the original plan.  Add the rain and traffic problems along the way and it was more like 6pm than 4pm when I arrived at Aunt Nancy’s place (the sat-nav had taken me to Harrogate from an unexpected direction, and so I pulled in to her place before I got to check in at the Old Swan Hotel, my “home” for the next couple of nights (and the site of Agatha Christie’s missing two days in 1926, as Joe was quick to remind me and as I read further about later in the hotel services directory, which was long on history but not exactly discursive on services – no internet connection for example J).

and so I pick up the story with another visit to Nancy and Joe on the Wednesday night and a meeting with my 2nd (?) cousin Daniel, son of Nancy and Joe's daughter, Joy, whom I had met the previous evening.  After a good day's conferencing, I was ready for another raft of Nancy's stories and left not only with knowing more about my family but also with a very special reminder, thanks to Nancy's generosity.

The little bear in the picture to the right is a white chocolate bear from "Betty's", a famous Harrogate tea spot.  More important are the two jugs/vases you see facing each other.  These were a gift from my Dad to his mother more than 60 years ago, when he was home on leave from (I think) his military service in the middle east.  Cathy had passed them on to Nancy and now they have come full circle to another David.

That's probably enough for this contribution.