Sauntering Vaguely Downward

[Breakfast terrace view. Hire cars have red number plates.]

I didn't have much of an opportunity to research Cyprus before I arrived. Nicosia, the host city of the conference I just attended, is divided between Greek and Turkish Cyprus. The hotel I booked - and all I did was select the cheapest one on the conference accommodation list because it’s close to the venue - is only a couple of blocks from the Green Zone, the UN policed buffer that separates the two halves of the island. It is clear to see as soon as you go around the side of the hotel. Many shops are boarded up (though the flats above them are still occupied), their gates rusted and facades crumbling.


[Crumbling gracefully.]


[Crumbling less gracefully.]

A few stalwart businesses keep their doors open.


[Bold claim: “Cyprus: Irresistible for 9000 years”]

Just a couple of blocks away are shiny new high rise buildings and attractive public spaces. You could, as a tourist, choose never to stray from the wide boulevards and safe pavements.


[Eleftheria Square by day.]


[Walking below Eleftheria Square at night.]

Google maps certainly didn't believe I should do that, taking me on a different path to the conference venue every day, past an entirely new set of cats.


[Noble guardian.]

There are cats *everywhere*. Food and water are left out for them on the street corners and in vacant lots. They are even more prevalent at night.


[The Gang.]

I must have spoken to 15 different people after arriving before I encountered a Nicosian Cypriot. The first Cypriot I met was giving a talk in the firzt session I attended who of course lives in London, not Cyprus. He recommended the meze restaurant (see below). The food here is incredible. I've tried something new every day.

Georgian food.


[All of these bean paste / beetroot things are nice, but the ones in the middle are fried aubergine wrapped around walnut paste and I could have eaten about thirty of those alone and been very happy.]

Meze.


[This was about a quarter of the way through the meal, and they kept bringing dishes. Far too much food for two people, although PhD student and I made a heroic effort. Those little fried courgette strips on the far right were my undoing.]


[Dessert.]

“Healthy eating” restaurant.


[This may look heavy / oily but it was not. The pastry was delicate and crisp and the feta inside was like a little fluffy cloud. Amazing.]

Even the breakfast at my otherwise average hotel was delicious.


[The little roll covered in sesame seeds has a sort of olive pate in it which is *chef's kiss*. I had one every morning.]

In summary, 10/10, would come back to Cyprus to Eat All The Things.

[Epic god-light over the Pacific]

I returned to the UK last Thursday evening. I went to work and had a hectic day on Friday, greeting the returning students and my tutees. This weekend we got the suitcase turned around and at midday today, the bloke left for Uganda. At some point our kids will remember what it's like regularly having two parents at home, but apparently that is not this year.

I have to give three presentations tomorrow, one of which is a two-hour lecture, so I shall leave this photo here and go do some deep breathing.

Bookended by new whiskies. Plenty of cats, food, and family in between.

Happy New Year!

1. Are you happy with your current line of work? What do you like/don't like about it?

Ha. Hahaha. I mean, that is a hell of a question. My line of work is the main subject of my locked entries, which are basically a long paean of the many and varied feelings I have about it. The architecture of academia is hugely problematic. I have never been so taxed, drained, and overwhelmed by any other job. At the same time, I have never been so utterly absorbed and satisfied by my work in my life.

2. Do you see yourself doing the same type of work in 5 years? What about 10?

I’m going to be infuriatingly non-committal here and say that only time will tell.

3. Did you see yourself doing this type of work 5 years ago? What about 10?

Absolutely and unequivocally not. I had no intention of becoming an academic, nor any sense that this was a realistic prospect.

4. Did you have a dream job as a child? What was it?

I can remember wanting to be a lot of things. A veterinarian. A medical doctor. (Both of these ended abruptly when I eventually worked out how squidgy medicine is.) An Olympic dressage competitor. (Our neighbours had horses. I have only ever ridden a horse a handful of times. But I liked the dream.) A writer. A Nobel-prize-winning chemist. An inventor. An astronaut. I’m not sure how pleased six-year-old me would be if they could see me now.

5. If you had to pick a radically different job from what you have now, regardless of whether you'd realistically be able to do it given your skillset, what would you pick and why?

Wealthy philanthropist, photographer, and dilettante artist living in an airy flat with my family and cats in a vibrant city. That would be quite nice.

I went to Kenya!

My first (and only) trip to Kenya was in 2010, so I was glued to the window of the taxi for the entire journey from the airport to Kenyatta University campus. The amount of development that's taken place in those 13 years is astonishing. A forest of tall modern buildings sprouted downtown. The roads (thank goodness) now have central reservations, pavements, and pedestrian bridges so there were no repeats of the tragic accidents we witnessed on the roads during the previous trip. I was dreading those in the days preceding the trip, as I had lingering nightmares about them after returning home in 2010. There are safe, wide-laned elevated highways (toll roads) crossing the city, which afford fast passage through congested areas and excellent views of said development.


[Leaving Dubai]


[First glimpses of downtown Nairobi]

The campus was new to both the bloke and me. He has been to Nairobi on numerous occasions for his work on East African air quality, but usually goes to Nairobi University. The conference centre, which included our accommodation block, was located at the edge of the campus' vast acreage. Other than the distant roar of traffic, it didn't feel as if it were in the city. Around 70,000 students attend each year. Most live on campus. Since it was still the summer break and the students weren't there, it felt even more remote. We could see the marabou storks roosting atop the acacia trees outside our windows, and were awakened by the dawn chorus of weaverbirds and flycatchers.


[Marabou storks roosting]


[Yellow flycatchers and their nests]

We arrived in time to catch the last session of the first day of the training workshop we were there to help deliver. Afterwards we went to dinner with the organisers. The dining area was all of about 20 metres from the conference hall. We noshed on tasty Kenyan fare (for me, ugali, lentils and spinach), washed down with, successively, sugary tea, Tusker (Kenyan lager) and Jack Daniels gold label whisky that the main American organiser had procured from duty free (whattaguy).

I was a little stressed about delivering my session on space-based datasets since it was at 8 AM the next morning so partook only lightly of the booze. Thankfully I needn't have worried too much as it went well and I got good engagement in the room and online. It segued nicely into the bloke's and Robin's sessions. They brought things back to the ground (fnarr) and into the room, as Robin did a demo of his awesome light painting technique, which visualises the particulate matter in the room (PM2.5). I later got to help him make some paintings at dusk, with the storks in the background.


[Light painting prep]


[Livestream of light painting from the conference room]


[Light painting at dusk]

Demob happy, we enjoyed the afternoon session and a rerun of the Kenyan food, Tusker and whisky. Having sleep very little the previous two nights due to flying and then anxiety, I turned in hours before the lads did. Unfortunately, most of them were struck down by food poisoning the next day. I congratulated myself on avoiding it, having eschewed all meat and dairy since arriving. This would later turn out to be hubristic.

After Wednesday morning's sessions, those of us from US and UK universities were swept onto a bus and carted to the Administration Complex to have a formal meeting, and tea, with members of the University executive board. We caught the tail end of the afternoon sessions, and turned in early after a quiet meal.

Thursday was our final day. Unfortunately for me, it was also A-level results day, and as I am still nominally the admissions tutor for my department, my attention was divided between C&C activities and the workshop. Nevertheless I enjoyed the pre-lunch sessions, which were to be our last at the workshop.

Word had got round that we were leaving that evening, so the bloke and I had a very busy networking lunch while everyone got a last word in with us. Once that was finished, we hopped in a Uber with Robin to visit the giraffe sanctuary. Unfortunately we managed to get the slowest driver in the world. He was in a battered Nissan leaf and clearly trying to eke the last bit of life out of the thing. A journey that should have been a little over an hour was dragged out into almost two, not least because he got lost. That left us about 40 minutes to feed the giraffes. We opted to skip all the informative plaques and videos and go straight to them. It was worth it.


[Beware giraffe headbutts]


[Giraffes loitering]


[Snooty giraffe was my favourite]


The bloke and I hopped into what turned out to be a much newer Uber piloted by a satisfyingly kamikaze driver who got us back to campus far more efficiently, despite the traffic and missing the exit first time round.

We showered, packed, and checked out. Our third Uber driver arrived to cart us to the airport, which happily transpired without incident or deviation. At the airport, I made my fatal mistake and ate a non vegetarian samosa, thus ensuring a very uncomfortable journey home, from which I have now recovered. Huzzah. Also, the end.


[I’m standing at a lectern, woo]