City University New academic building

I have two reasons for taking this blip today. Firstly I spent the entire day there today enrolling students and introducing them to our online learning environment called Blackboard! We did four sessions, fifty students in each and I was pretty punch drunk by the end.

The second and far better reason for showing this relates back to my sabbatical in 2010-11. I stayed at CityU in their staff quarters during this wonderful and memorable period of my life. So much happened and I really wanted to come back permanently. However that was not to be. Whilst here I had an office, shared with some young researchers, who looked after me very well. I was given the only window seat in the room, finding out later the one who occupied it had given it up for me. I had the luxury never before in my 30+ years in academic life of sitting back, reading and writing without the day-to-day pressure of my normal day. It was magic and I often spent long hours there. Looking out of the window became a regular occurrence, to contemplate the deep thoughts I was thinking or maybe just to gaze at the world. The building in the blip was not there then but almost as I sat down for the first time I saw it being built, although I did not see it anywhere to completion, I saw the skeleton being erected with enormous cranes and each day progress was impressive. Now its built and occupied and today I passed through it for the first time. That is really why I blipped it as it reminds me of such a good time in my life.

I cannot think that anyone would want to do this but I wrote a blog on my stay in Hong Kong which is still online. It's called Yorkhull's blog (obviously) and you just want the Hong Kong threads though welcome to browse it otherwise too. I have been an occasional visitor to the blog since but irregular. It started here!