Showing posts with label University of York. Show all posts
Showing posts with label University of York. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
On campus...
I paid a second visit to the University of York campus the other day. This time it was alive with students but even that couldn't save the sadly tired and surprisingly dated 70s (?) architecture. I loved watching and listening to the students as I waited for Wendy's friend Wayne in the library. Wayne and I spent a special hour sharing stories over a coffee and then I headed off to a public lecture given by Lord Nicholas Stern on climate change. This was the man who drove much of the British contribution at the recent Copenhagen summit on climate change. Economist, global mover and shaker and formidably impressive in his command of the topic. No powerpoint, little reference to notes, just a cogent call for global action based on evidence and suggestions as to what that action might constitute. I was very interested in his comments on first/third world tension over the climate change issue and his comparative optimism regarding the speed at which substitute technologies will emerge. He described Copenhagen as chaotic and disappointing but a springboard for further action.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Music and birds...
Often, when I travel, I find it is the little, serendipitous things that give great pleasure...
Yesterday I went to a concert at the University of York - part of their 'cello weekend'. The music (Beethoven, Faure, Saint-Saens) was wonderful and I enjoyed a lovely chat with an older lady sitting next to me who had bought a weekend ticket and was attending all the events (stamina!). She had also spent a month bed and breakfasting on her own around New Zealand last year...
Prior to the concert, as I was exploring the campus, a figure appeared close-by, on whom dozens of the water birds from the adjacent lake immediately converged. She led them away from the path (I learnt that all the paths around campus are adorned with piles of greenish bird poo) and began to feed them. I couldn't resist having a chat. She feeds them daily and the birds 'belong' to the university - they don't migrate. Amongst the many species there were snow geese (memories of Paul Gallico) and coots (the funniest little birds), neither of which I had seen before.
Events of different significance but equally great pleasure.
Yesterday I went to a concert at the University of York - part of their 'cello weekend'. The music (Beethoven, Faure, Saint-Saens) was wonderful and I enjoyed a lovely chat with an older lady sitting next to me who had bought a weekend ticket and was attending all the events (stamina!). She had also spent a month bed and breakfasting on her own around New Zealand last year...
Prior to the concert, as I was exploring the campus, a figure appeared close-by, on whom dozens of the water birds from the adjacent lake immediately converged. She led them away from the path (I learnt that all the paths around campus are adorned with piles of greenish bird poo) and began to feed them. I couldn't resist having a chat. She feeds them daily and the birds 'belong' to the university - they don't migrate. Amongst the many species there were snow geese (memories of Paul Gallico) and coots (the funniest little birds), neither of which I had seen before.
Events of different significance but equally great pleasure.
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