York

I had been cornered in the corridors of the university by two men who said that York was beautiful, that history had shown I don’t get there very often, and that given that I now had to go there for a conference I really HAD to run away for half a day and explore the shameless beauty of the old centre. And there sure was something to say for that. However, I have already pointed out what the temporal and personal dimensions of this conference were. You can’t run away for half a day if that is 25% of the conference. And part of the use of a conference is also the networking, and that costs time as well. I would just see if I would get any opportunity to see any of it...

Networking!

The first night of the conference wasn't even spent anywhere near York. Antony, our co-PI and a co-organiser of the conference, had invited the whole Plymouth and Durham contingent to his place for dinner. He lived in some village where it still really gets dark at night. So the conference started with beer, wine, chilli and networking in a beautiful old house in the Yorkshire countryside. A great start! And he even put all that had accepted the invitation up for the night.

The next day there was just time for checking into the hotel between the last talk and the conference dinner... The next day wouldn’t be much better. After the last talk we would have our project meeting. And then we would be hungry and need food. And then we would have to be in bed at a reasonable time in order to be fresh enough to drive the whole way back the next day, without incidents.

These pictures were all taken while I walked to the conference in the morning. York is beautiful!

The York idea of a pavement

The most exposure to the city I got was after dinner the second day. I decided I was too tired to go to the pub, so I just took the long way home. Around the cathedral, through two city gates, and through the shambles; some very charming medieval streets. I can’t say I’ve seen much of York. But what I saw I liked! And who knows, maybe I will be back one day, with more time...

And some pictures of York by night

The Shambles