Either my grip on reality is diminishing, or every year since 2003 has gone quicker than the last. Logic dictates that the fastest year so far has been this last one. Australia seems to have occurred just six months ago, when in fact I was there this time last year. Scary.
Because everyone who took a placement year on my course is now being spat out from the far end of the machinery of academia, I found myself in Loughborough over this last weekend.
Mike greeted me on Friday, along with Waddy and their Grantham friend, Chris. We headed over to Mike’s degree show and spent the next couple of hours exploring the illustration exhibits. The work was mixed, but mainly very good and Mike had managed to produce his best work to date (money please). Everything was made more enjoyable by how well oiled we were by the time we left, so I think it’s only fair to thank the university for the free wine.
After a quick trip to The Griffin, we spent the night at FND. I ran into a number of old faces and bar a fire alarm which left us all outside for an hour, it was good night.
On Saturday I went to check out the furniture and textiles exhibits with Nature and Cat, and once again was blown away by the quality of both the printed and woven work (last year too). It sounds really odd, even to me, as I’m not one of those people particularly interested in textiles normally, but honestly, the work was stunning.
In the evening Sean, Laura, Corrie and I went for Pizza Hut and several hours of (very funny) quality catch up time. Afterwards I met up with Mike in Echos, took him for a curry and went to sleep.
Sunday was back up and at ‘em. Over at Hollywell, the venue for the Industrial Design show I spent a couple of hours catching up with yet more people and viewing the 2006/7 output from my old course. Once again, standards were high and there were some nice products.
My bag is stuffed with business cards.
Anna gave me a lift back up onto campus for a mid-afternoon meeting with the boys from RMP and it was only then I had to get myself home.
Public transport was a bit hit and miss all weekend though and with the rain on Friday, I very nearly got stranded at Derby. On the way back I ended up on a bus from Leicester to Brum too. Oh well, I’m back up there on Wednesday, but this time I’m going to drive it.
There were a few people I didn’t manage to catch all weekend, which was a bit of a shame, but otherwise, a enjoyable little time was had. I also seem to remember promising someone I’d mention them in this entry, but I really can’t remember who it was. If you know who you are and are gutted by my black hole of a memory, let me know I will make amends…
Oh yeh, get well soon Deakin. And try not to fall over again.