At the beginning of July, Jan and I went up to Wellington to attend a leadership lecture at Victoria Uni from a set of Fullbright scholars and Sir Peter Blake Leadership trust award recipients. It was very interesting, and hosted by my old Master's supervisor, Brad Jackson.
Jan had to come with me to be my left-hand man, as I would have been unable to have gone without his assistance :-)
We got picked up by Brigitte & John, with Otto, and had a cup of coffee and a chat at the Ibis. We walked from there down to Vic law school for the lecture (and they gave us lots of canapes).
After the lecture we got picked up by
Jeremy, and taken to see his new place. We met DeAnne, and got a chance to catch up with Lara. All in all we had a very tight schedule, but we managed to fit in lots of visits.
It was great to go to the lecture, but my arm was jangling fit to bust by the time I got back to the hotel, and by the time I got home again after the trip.
A pity we couldn't see Tina, Hartmut and Uta as well, but there was such a short time. We could perhaps have caught up with Tina for breakfast, except I had already arranged to meet Brad at Astoria for breakfast, to talk about PhD options.
Brad thought that I should try Griffith University in Brisbane, and that I should continue to pursue the idea that I worked up for AUT, rather than undertaking my original career leadership idea. Griffith apparently has a good - and growing - global reputation. As I had not considered Griffith before, this will take some investigation.
Brad was quite dismissive of my original career focused PhD: and I think he has a point. This is a "safe" idea that won't rattle any cages, nor will provide the amount of challenge that my sports governance one will.
After breakfast, Jan went to meet one of the HR people at WorkSafe (New Zealand's health and safety government watchdog). He wanted to find out more about the organisation, and DeAnne had put him in touch with someone to talk to.
Despite the Wellington trip away, I have been taking things very quietly. I have read a book a day since my surgery, which has been really wonderful.
Jan has decided to take the opportunity to become a certified electrician, and is starting his coursework this month, with his final exam being in November, and a practicum in the first week of December. He is also hopeful of getting into a health and safety certification course, NEBOSH (and I've no idea what it stands for), which will be held in September and October. He is currently on the waiting list for that.
The Nelson Symphony Orchestra had their mid-year concert: America, held in the Nelson Cathedral. This was a very interesting programme, with music that was quite expansive and sweeping. Jan has also volunteered to play in the Nelson Choir's production of Stabat Mater, and in Nayland College's school production of Annie get your Gun (with performances in the first week of August).
We caught up with Glenys & Kevin for an afternoon of eating, drinking and talking (surprise, surprise) which was very entertaining. We also had dinner with Jenny, Tracey and Erica.
We also had a mid-winter Christmas at the Hofman's which was great: we had "three lights"; three light courses - nibbles, soup, and cake for dessert. I had made a Nigella Lawson Christmas cake last year, but the recipe makes two, so I had put one in the freezer. I pulled that out and defrosted it. We took a sugar cone, and brandy, and turned the 'bladder' of Peckhams mulled cider into a burnt caramel, clove and cinnamon heaven. The nibbles were just fantastic: all the things we don't usually eat.
And no-one was too full. It was a really good night, with lots of laughs.
However, despite the driving, I got a good report from the physiotherapist. I have good mobility and had no pain at all from the session - she was very conservative, and focused on only what I could do until I started feeling a small amount of resistance. She was very happy with my mobility and movement, and gave me three small exercises to do five times a day each. My challenge was that they all needed to be done v-e-r-y slowly! She only wants to see me once my surgeon has signed me off, which will be next month.
After I saw the hand physiotherapist, I went to catch up with an old friend, Di, who was able to drive us around that day, while we had a good gossip, drink coffee, and acted like we were ladies of leisure.
So once more, Jan had to drive me into work, as I started teaching on the 18th. At least in the first week, I only had two lectures, as one of my other classes didn't start until week six, and the other was online.
By the last week of the month it was six weeks after surgery, and although I hadn't seen the specialist (because he was too busy off skiing and swanning around the world to conferences), I started driving again. Much easier.
We went to Alex and Caroline's Wassail celebrations this month, pulling in all manner of English traditions including the Black Morris to bring on the fruit for the coming year. Kev the Farmer sang a couple of songs again (he has such a good voice). Glenys and Kevin came along too, and we had a good chat about our planned weekend at McLaren's Bay next month.
We caught a movie at the Gecko Theatre in Motueka - Our Kind of Traitor - which was quite good. No major twists, but a good movie. We realised that we don't go to the pictures often enough, so have made a resolution to try to get there at least once a month.
I did a bit of digging and found that
Griffiths was 39th in the world for sports management, so figured they could be
really worth a look. I also realised that Graham Cuskelly was a
professor in the business school at Griffith, and so I emailed him, and, despite being overseas, he replied straight away. So it
appears that I may have my supervisor.
Just like that. A new home across the Tassie for my project too.
Sam (and Jan)
