swans vs. crows, apparently
well, here in melbourne business school, things are going swimmingly. at least, my vision is after however many drinks i hav had this fine evening. which i think is three, but may be four. anyway.
so we're here to run the second pilot program through with iag, which is exciting, and which in a few months i may well be running myself, since shayne and bob won't have the time to spend 60+ days teaching on the ALL program, and do all the XP teaching and academic stuff they're meant to do, let alone fly to melbourne all the time. i myself, on the other hand, would quite enjoy it.
has been an interesting day though. dan was slightly late (which freaked me out), and when he did show up, was driving his own car, which i was completely taken aback by. the plan was that they would book a cab for 8.20 and come by my place and get me, but dan and ang decided instead to come in their own car and park in the long stay carpark at the airport. which turns out to be $63 for four days, which is incredibly ripoffish, but what can you do. although, as i pointed out to dan, mac bank who own sydney airport are one of our IPs, so we should ask for some in-kind payment. anyway.
so nice drive there, tho i admit to thinking that dan was on autopilot some of the time and vaguely heading towards the uni instead of the airport (which i think he was, but anyway). then a misjudgement of where the long-stay carpark was (near the airport!? pah! in another postcode to the airport, more like!!), then the long stay carpark itself. which i have to say is one of the more soul-destroying places i have ever been. a giant, flat field of concrete and asphalt and painted ywllow lines, filled with cars that look like mechanical corpses, all lined up for burial in one mass grave. all under lights. with the fairly hellish view of the airport behind, but mostly the landscape was pure awful.
anyway, the 'every fifteen minute' bus arrived 10 mins late, and took a grand tour of the Purgatory Carpark before taking us on to Terminal Three.
we walked in the door (having been dropped off at arrivals, as clearly all people WHO HAVE JUST PARKED THEIR CARS IN THE CARPARK ARE ARRIVING, NOT DEPARTING AT ALL) and up the escalators, to discover the kind of milling confusion normally only found in student union protests and cattle auctions. listening eagerly for any kind of instruction, and joining a queue in the hopes that the people at the front would have our best interests at heart, we waited. turns out, the airport was experiencing a power failure.
one word was on everybody's minds.
that's right. and i said it.
the t-word.
terrorists.
clearly they had a vested interest in creating the kind of low-level, attritive unhappiness in the large group of 10am till 11am flight catchers that only airport lounges are capable of inspiring.
eventually we got through. i swapped seats with ang (who had booked separately) so she could sit with dan, and sat next to Len, the Most Boring Man in the Cosmos, for the hour and a half flight. he started giving me relationship advice as though i were a jaded and lovelorn 50 something, as opposed to a married and spunky 20something, which i found disconcerting to say the least.
anyway, over soon enough, but not before i
a) didnt take the fruit and biscuits on offer because i thought they would ask me for gelt, so used am i to only budget travel, but thoughtfully did drink two cups of tea, only to discover that
b) i couldn't figure out which cupboard housed the toilet facilities, and only figured it out through careful observation of my fellow passengers. i assure you this observation was highly discreet, and in no way involved me swivelling round 180 degrees in my chair to view was what happening behind me, while casually leaning my book on the back of my chair with feigned nonchalance.
after all, i am far more worldly and knowing than that.
as always takeoff and landing where the highlights, along with the occasional burst of stomach-lifting turbulence.
then we got here. meetings, setting up of computers, some tetchiness, far too many coffees, some prescription medication, an italian dinner-plus-booze later, and i am reclining on my single (!) bed in the melbourne business school, thinking dreamily of a shower and my lovely husband back in sydney, and thinking this just wont do at all.
on the upside, tomorrow night i WILL be able to watch house, which is wonderful, since they have tvs in the rooms here.
the MBS is lovely, far nicer than the AGSM, and the city is within walking distance. i am totally going to put my hand up to be chief facilitator on the melbourne courses. it's gorgeous.
anyway. more of my adventures anon.
ciao bella bellissima! *airkisses to all*
so we're here to run the second pilot program through with iag, which is exciting, and which in a few months i may well be running myself, since shayne and bob won't have the time to spend 60+ days teaching on the ALL program, and do all the XP teaching and academic stuff they're meant to do, let alone fly to melbourne all the time. i myself, on the other hand, would quite enjoy it.
has been an interesting day though. dan was slightly late (which freaked me out), and when he did show up, was driving his own car, which i was completely taken aback by. the plan was that they would book a cab for 8.20 and come by my place and get me, but dan and ang decided instead to come in their own car and park in the long stay carpark at the airport. which turns out to be $63 for four days, which is incredibly ripoffish, but what can you do. although, as i pointed out to dan, mac bank who own sydney airport are one of our IPs, so we should ask for some in-kind payment. anyway.
so nice drive there, tho i admit to thinking that dan was on autopilot some of the time and vaguely heading towards the uni instead of the airport (which i think he was, but anyway). then a misjudgement of where the long-stay carpark was (near the airport!? pah! in another postcode to the airport, more like!!), then the long stay carpark itself. which i have to say is one of the more soul-destroying places i have ever been. a giant, flat field of concrete and asphalt and painted ywllow lines, filled with cars that look like mechanical corpses, all lined up for burial in one mass grave. all under lights. with the fairly hellish view of the airport behind, but mostly the landscape was pure awful.
anyway, the 'every fifteen minute' bus arrived 10 mins late, and took a grand tour of the Purgatory Carpark before taking us on to Terminal Three.
we walked in the door (having been dropped off at arrivals, as clearly all people WHO HAVE JUST PARKED THEIR CARS IN THE CARPARK ARE ARRIVING, NOT DEPARTING AT ALL) and up the escalators, to discover the kind of milling confusion normally only found in student union protests and cattle auctions. listening eagerly for any kind of instruction, and joining a queue in the hopes that the people at the front would have our best interests at heart, we waited. turns out, the airport was experiencing a power failure.
one word was on everybody's minds.
that's right. and i said it.
the t-word.
terrorists.
clearly they had a vested interest in creating the kind of low-level, attritive unhappiness in the large group of 10am till 11am flight catchers that only airport lounges are capable of inspiring.
eventually we got through. i swapped seats with ang (who had booked separately) so she could sit with dan, and sat next to Len, the Most Boring Man in the Cosmos, for the hour and a half flight. he started giving me relationship advice as though i were a jaded and lovelorn 50 something, as opposed to a married and spunky 20something, which i found disconcerting to say the least.
anyway, over soon enough, but not before i
a) didnt take the fruit and biscuits on offer because i thought they would ask me for gelt, so used am i to only budget travel, but thoughtfully did drink two cups of tea, only to discover that
b) i couldn't figure out which cupboard housed the toilet facilities, and only figured it out through careful observation of my fellow passengers. i assure you this observation was highly discreet, and in no way involved me swivelling round 180 degrees in my chair to view was what happening behind me, while casually leaning my book on the back of my chair with feigned nonchalance.
after all, i am far more worldly and knowing than that.
as always takeoff and landing where the highlights, along with the occasional burst of stomach-lifting turbulence.
then we got here. meetings, setting up of computers, some tetchiness, far too many coffees, some prescription medication, an italian dinner-plus-booze later, and i am reclining on my single (!) bed in the melbourne business school, thinking dreamily of a shower and my lovely husband back in sydney, and thinking this just wont do at all.
on the upside, tomorrow night i WILL be able to watch house, which is wonderful, since they have tvs in the rooms here.
the MBS is lovely, far nicer than the AGSM, and the city is within walking distance. i am totally going to put my hand up to be chief facilitator on the melbourne courses. it's gorgeous.
anyway. more of my adventures anon.
ciao bella bellissima! *airkisses to all*
posted by sayfin at 10:18 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home