if you're Irish, come into the parlour!

Not the most inventive of song titles, I know, dear reader, but with it bein' Saint Padraig's day and all, it was the first one to come into my mind.

I'm not bothering to apologise for my absence (the best part of two months), meaning only to get on with some observations.

My sojourns since I last checked in have taken me to London for a higher education conference and the heaviest snowfalls for 18 years and then back to Nottingham where the snow followed me and, yes, you guessed it, Nottingham had the heaviest snowfalls for 18 years I Have some pictures and must remember to come back and load them up for general viewing - geez I'm getting slack at this, ah well). Not having to put up with the snow and its incoveniences for long periods of time, I satisfied myself that the fresh fallen snow was a "winter wonderland" and enjoyed the experience for as long as it lasted.

A later trip to Brussels to chair a stream of a European HR summit added to the network I have been building here, and I was able to catch up with my friends from EFMD in the process. I'm back in London on Thursday for a CK Prahalad/Marshall Goldsmith extravanganza, and that might be worth reflecting on when I return.

It's hard to think that it was only a number of weeks ago that there was snow on the ground when the daffodils are now out in bloom, although today's weather has turned suitably "Irish" (ie cold and miserable) but at least it's not raining. I've got an addition to the apartment recently in the form of "Biggles", a young bear whose naming (and donations for Red Nose Day) won him for me. He has settled in nicely - photos also of him to come.

Not very exciting all this dear reader, but at least it's a contribution and so I move on to the next thing and try and reduce the times in between.

hands up all those who had lunch in Vienna today!

Hello dear reader, happy new year and the, by now, usual apologies for my absence .... now

well I can put up my hand (*grins*).

I'm moved to return to the blog and use the shameless title because that's exactly what I did today.  But it's better than that; let me explain.

This morning, I woke up in Brno (home of Gregor Mendel, he of genetics fame) where I had, the afternoon before, delivered two graduation speeches on the importance of being a responsible, reflective practitioner.  Picked up my colleagues from the Brno International Business School (BIBS), we drove to Bratislava, in Slovakia, to view the BIBS teaching facilities there.  We then drove on to Vienna for lunch (as you do; *grins* again) in a delightful Italian restaurant opposite the Opera House, walked through the city centre to Kathedrale St. Stephan Haus (the Cathedral of St Stephan), took a carriage ride around the centre, then retraced some of the route on foot for a closer look.  

After an expresso to fortify us for the return trip, we drove back to Brno in time for dinner in a restaurant on the 15th floor of a building that gives a wonderful, almost 360 degree, view of the city, with special emphasis on the Spilberk Castle and Augustinian Abbey and Church of St Thomas (spiritual and physical home of the aforesaid Mendel).

Okay, so that tells the story about the last 12 hours or so, but there is the little matter of the last 5 months, you say.  I'm not going to try and capture that in the context of this blog (or, in all probability) any succeeding blog, but I will say that the last 5 months have been a happy and fulfilling, albeit intensely busy, time for me.

I think the best way to sum up my reaction to my time in Nottingham, is to recount events at the airport in Sydney, on my way back to Nottingham after visiting family over Christmas.  As I was walking through the airport, it occurred to me that I could, if I wanted, simply walk back out of the airport and get a taxi back to Carlingford, home and family.  My response to that thought, though, was to affirm to myself my excitement about and commitment to the work I am doing at Nottingham Business School, affirm my enthusiasm for and enjoyment of working with the folks at the School (and in the University more generally) and, therefore, affirm my decision to take on the role in the first place by getting on the plane.   However that sounds written in and read from a blog, it makes sense to me and I'm getting on with it! :-)

So dear reader, this post comes to an end, with greetings for 2009 and the year of the Ox, as well as a happy Australia Day for Monday.

I will be back; how regularly that occurs, I'm not sure but Macarthuresque, I will return.