Welcome to Bradford

It's that time of year when the undergraduates return to campus, and those of us that work here all year round grumble a little and then remember that's why we're here.

Unwittingly, I'll be shaping their experiences a bit more than usual this year, as a bunch of my photos have been used in the new student handbook (see page 12 in particular). This may well be the first student handbook to include pictures of fire hydrant covers and blue plaques, but that's Bradford for you.

I worked out that it's my twenty eighth consecutive fresher's week, across four different universities in the north of England, having never escaped the powerful grip of higher education.

This sign emerged over the weekend, a temporary decoration of some of our construction hoardings. It seem's the idea is that the young people from all of the world that come and join us will add to the panel by writing "Welcome to Bradford" in their own languages. At least that's what the group at W end were doing.

Perhaps I should go and add "Croeso i Bradford" tomorrow, if it's not there already.