Moving like the wind
On the move again - just over a month back from the big OE and I'm heading for 'youkay' and the Association of Learning Technology Conference in the red brick environs of the industrial north (or is it midlands?). Anyway, to Manchester. The usual hectic pre-departure routine applies. Finishing conference presentations, dealing with work 'matters arising' and meetings, plans, publications etc. A brief pub stop with the guys from the end office and Adam, who is heading off for his own big OE on the same day I get back, marks almost the end of the working day before I head off to my 'second home and staging post' at Auckland International Airport.
Departure is easy, dinner ok, and the Ata Rangi red blend excellent. I even manage to get a decent amount of sleep. One of the more welcome changes that comes with the years is that now I CAN sleep on planes. Journeys seem shorter as well. Maybe its just a factor of being exhausted by the time I get on board.
I've only reviewed two case studies and three pages of the chapter I'm writing before work has to be packed away for landing in transit in LA. It looks the same, only maybe the dull dirty orange blanket of haze is a shade or two darker because of bush fires in the area. The incredibly 'tall skinny poppy' palm trees stick up through the haze like strands of hair through a foil cap in a colour salon. Immigration is slightly tedious but that's to be expected. I am fascinated by the finger printing and eye scanning technology that knows I couldn't give a decent print last time. High tech failure? Nah, it was just my hand cream blurring the screen!
Its good to be on the move again - it feels natural - as if I was born to a species that is permanently on the move. Moving like the sea, but without the water, and at 37,000 feet.
No pictures from this trip - nothing would show through the haze. The shot of an Air NZ Jumbo tail topped by a dense whipped cream mushroom cloud is still in the camera. I never have been able to find words to describe fascinating cloud formations. A wee flashback to the last return journey through Hong Kong where I sighted my first Airbus 380. Watched it land, taxi, fill up and take off again. So elegant for such a big lumbering bird.
The 'dwarf' 747 Jumbo jet in the background adds perspective. Its time to board my one again - on to London and a brief overnighter in Shoreham.
Departure is easy, dinner ok, and the Ata Rangi red blend excellent. I even manage to get a decent amount of sleep. One of the more welcome changes that comes with the years is that now I CAN sleep on planes. Journeys seem shorter as well. Maybe its just a factor of being exhausted by the time I get on board.
I've only reviewed two case studies and three pages of the chapter I'm writing before work has to be packed away for landing in transit in LA. It looks the same, only maybe the dull dirty orange blanket of haze is a shade or two darker because of bush fires in the area. The incredibly 'tall skinny poppy' palm trees stick up through the haze like strands of hair through a foil cap in a colour salon. Immigration is slightly tedious but that's to be expected. I am fascinated by the finger printing and eye scanning technology that knows I couldn't give a decent print last time. High tech failure? Nah, it was just my hand cream blurring the screen!
Its good to be on the move again - it feels natural - as if I was born to a species that is permanently on the move. Moving like the sea, but without the water, and at 37,000 feet.
No pictures from this trip - nothing would show through the haze. The shot of an Air NZ Jumbo tail topped by a dense whipped cream mushroom cloud is still in the camera. I never have been able to find words to describe fascinating cloud formations. A wee flashback to the last return journey through Hong Kong where I sighted my first Airbus 380. Watched it land, taxi, fill up and take off again. So elegant for such a big lumbering bird.
The 'dwarf' 747 Jumbo jet in the background adds perspective. Its time to board my one again - on to London and a brief overnighter in Shoreham.
posted by Cathy Gunn at
September 05, 2009
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