kt846

I have two "members" on this site.
One of them - GC - is a good friend; I know him well.
The other is kt846.  I have no idea who this is!
Very exciting.

Oregon

This week my job takes me to Oregon.  I've never been before so all the pastures are new.  It also marks the greatest dispersion of my family at any one time.  With my wife and older daughter in the UK, my younger daughter in Melbourne and me in Oregon, I think the average distance between the four of us has never been greater.  If we each took a letter (A,B,C,D) then, I believe, the average of A-B, A-C, A-D, B-C, B-D, C-D is at a maximum.  I am going to have quite a bit of dull time between Newcastle and Corvallis.  I just might work that distance out.

China

I have just returned from China. The plan went so smoothly you might be deceived into thinking it was planned. Fly from Newcastle to Dubai (16/2/12) and connect with a flight to Hong Kong (17/2/12) to stay in the beautiful Marco Polo Hotel overlooking Kowloon Harbour. Lots of meetings with the parents of my students (all went very well) then [after three nights] off to Guangzhou on the train for one night in the Holiday Inn Guangzhou. Same deal, parents and agents. Then a flight from Guangzhou to Shanghai. Two nights in Shanghai then on to another aeroplane bound for Beijing. Three nights here. Busy on two days. Sightseeing the third with an old friend. Then, final leg, a big Airbus 380 to Dubai and a much smaller Airbus 330 to Newcastle.

Back here at my desk it doesn't seem possible that it all went so smoothly. But it did.

Thanks to all my colleagues in HK and mainland China. I am so impressed!

Back again...

I'm really sorry that this blog has sort of lapsed. It wasn't a conscious thing; I used to use this blog as a vehicle for ideas and feeling that meant a lot to me. Perhaps I don't feel things quite so strongly these days. Perhaps I don't have any feelings.

Anyway, enough of the talking utter bollocks. Let's get on with the blog.

My feet hurt. My fault. Brand new shoes plus good long walk equals blistered heels. So far so obvious. What does surprise me is how different the blistered areas are. On my left foot I have a region of pulped flesh directly outside my Achilles tendon. On my right foot it is lower, to the left and augmented by a blister on the side of my big toe.

Now, this is odd. I don't walk that asymmetrically. My feet are not that dissimilar. The shoes are enantiomorphs. Very odd indeed. If anyone has any suggestions I am happy to hear them.