I came up to Christchurch on Friday evening on a crowded plane - there are no trains to speak of so everyone either drives or flies. As the former would have taken up to 5 hours I took the one-hour flight instead. Last year on my trip here I spent the weekend with Alison Holmes, an ex-colleague from the UK, and I was to do the same again this year.
A long evening of talk and Central Otago Pinot Noir followed - those with good memories will remember that I acquired the taste for this last year and it hasn't gone away. Alison is Director of the University Centre for Teaching and Learning at the University of Canterbury.
No early start on Saturday but an 11.00am coffee meeting with Helen Matthews from Christchurch Polytechnic who has visited us at Sheffield Hallam and I've met her previously in NZ and at conferences. More catching up then Alison and I drove north for a wonderful walk along a river and then out onto the beach in very hot sun (oops, forgot the sunblock!). Socks and shoes off to cross a river and then a paddle in the Pacific Ocean.
Lunch at the Pukeko cafe and wine shop - the Kiwis do some wonderfully imaginative salads. Pukekos are attractive local birds but all I managed to capture were these artificial ones in the shop.
More wine and talking through the evening - the clocks went back an hour this evening.
Sunday started wet and windy so, after another leisurley breakfast, we decided to go to the cinema, though the weather improved significantly as we drove into the city. We chose the 11.00 am showing of The History Boys and the cinema was absolutely packed! Well, there were only 11 seats! Armchairs with cushions made for comfortable viewing. What a good film and it gave us plenty to discuss on the purposes of education - as only academic developers could do. It was soon obvious who the Brits were in the audience as only they would have got many of the comments about the relative merits of various universities and of the characteristics of Sheffield. If you haven't seen it, do.
We went for another excellent lunch (including a glass of Pinot Noir) at the Art Gallery across the road from the cinema and watched a spectacular lightening display, torrential rain and people scurrying madly for shelter.
Off to see a display of lounges around the world (!) at the Museum and a long coffee and carrott cake to further discuss a paper we are proposing to put in for a conference at Guildford in June.
Which leaves me in the Academic Motor Lodge as Alison went off for her plane to Wellington. We're hoping to meet up again at Lake Wanaka over Easter.
Caught up on the cricket, rugby, motor racing and football results - at least West Ham won at last, even though it's all too late and the ball didn't cross the line for the second goal.
Back to preparing for the session tomorrow ...
1 comment:
Give my very best wishes to Alison if you do see her again - and tell her she looks good in the photo! Keep the pictures coming!
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