UN life

At the start of each working day at the UN the flags of all countries go up, delegates from some 190 nations go to work and at the end of the day the flags come down. The neighbourhood around the UN headquarters - with streets named after diplomats - is full of office buildings housing the "Missions" of each country. The new U.S. building is over 30 (?) stories tall, the UK mission has air lock doors to deter terrorists, and the Grenada Mission where I work, has...well it has a single suite on the 4th floor of a building shared with many other island countries that are part of the Commonwealth. The Israeli consulate is also in the same building, so we have significant police presence in the lobby and the occasional loud protest outside.

There is always something going on at the UN. The Queen came to the UN came a couple weeks ago to give brief remarks to the General Assembly of the UN. Her speech was quick (she is in her late 80s after all) and her hat was lovely, but mostly it was just a nice excuse to sit in the General Assembly hall of the UN which is soon closing due to renovations - it hasn't been updated since it was built and has asbestos. Reminiscent of the UN itself?

getting around town

I gave directions to somebody yesterday. I must be a local now. Not that it's that hard....Avenues run north-south, Streets run east-west. Apparently it's so ordered that there is a basic formula to find almost any Avenue address in Manhattan.

Example:

Let's say you want to go to 826 Lexington Avenue but don't know what the nearest cross Street is...

1. Drop the last digit from the address...so 826 becomes 82

2. Divide the remainder by 2.....so 82/2 = 41

3. then you need the magical key number (they are listed in tourist books), the key number for ddresses on Lexington Avenue is +22

4. add the numbers together....so 41+22 = 63

and presto! the nearest cross Street to 826 Lexington Ave. is 63rd Street.


...no wonder that guy asked me for directions! I think I'll stick to a map/a sense of direction.

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to the big apple we go...

This blog is back - on the other side of the Atlantic.


For the next 9 months or so I'll be reporting on the sights and sounds of New York city. As I've been reminded by an Oxford colleague, these concrete jungle streets can make one feel brand new, I hope the blog can keep up.

The (short) explanation for the switch to the USA is that I've taken up a post at the United Nations doing climate change related work with small island developing states. I've settled into a tiny apartment in Manhattan on the Upper East Side (surely a feature of future blog postings) and am looking forward to hosting friends and family over the course of summer - drop me a line!

..and we're back!

Well hello there....

It has been more than awhile since I've posted here....but hopefully my faithful (?) readers (hi mom!) will return to follow along once I start putting up more content.



Since I've last written I've competed in a rowing regatta at Oxford ('Torpids'), travelled to Brussels, Belgium and the Lake District in north-west England for class field trips (see photo below), participated in an expedition to Antarctica, and written exams.





Clearly I won't be able to sumerize all of the above in one post, so I'll have to tackle them one at a time....I'll get caught up eventually!





I'll keep this first post back short....suffice it to say that now that I've got a brief moment to take a breather and reflect its clear that the last couple of months have been a wild ride!

As a teazer for future posts regarding Antarctic adventures I attach this link to a short video compliation that I put together from my trip to the 'last continent', it truly was a once in a lifetime experience:

An Oxford visitor: Part II

And now a continuation of my previous post....

Melina's week long visit concluded with a fantastic (but short) trip to London. After I hurriedly finished some classwork that needed completing, we rushed off together from Oxford to meet our hosts Simon (from my course) and his girlfriend Maria (who had offered us a place at her London home for a night). In what was becoming par for the visit - we ate well, this time at a Chinese restaurant off London's famous Baker Street. The photos on the wall suggested that former PM Tony Blair frequented the location along with various other British politicians and notables. After dinner we searched for a nice place for some dessert, we were ultimately unsuccessful as we got distracted by the bright lights, crowds of people, and the impressive buildings of Picadilly, Leicester Sq. , and Trafalgar Square (the one with Admiral Nelson's column) by night.

Next day it was up bright and early...Melina and I caught a double-decker bus not far from Maria's place (in north London) into downtown and headed off for a full day of sightseeing. We started first with the British National (Art) Gallery, a locale high on Melina's (and my) priority/'must-see' list. Botticelli's 'Venus and Mars' (Melina's favourite), as well as some famous portraits and Van Gogh pieces were among the highlights of the gallery....there is more to see there than can be done justice in a single visit.

Afer the Gallery we walked down towards Westminister and the River Thames past several large imposing imperial looking buildings. Lunch was a quick bite to eat in the shadow of the Parliament buildings in a cafe named after Winston Churchill (of course!). The weather was perfect for our stroll, and we decided to take in the sights of London from the south bank of the river. Avoiding the large crowds of tourists queueing for the 'London Eye' attraction we opted instead to spend our time by taking in the sights on foot. Strolling along the Thames, we made it all the way to the Tower Bridge (and Tower of London opposite), seeing a replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre along the way, snapping photos of St. Paul's Cathedral on the opposite bank, watching the various street performers on the boardwalk, and generally enjoying the warm weather, views, and the good company. We also passed some interesting food markets, walked down cobble stoned passageways, and saw a model of Sir Francis Drake's (worldly explorer of the 16th century I'm told) sailing vessel moored in a slip by the river.

As darkness descended we crossed back over the Thames and met up again with Simon and Maria in the evening to take in a London show. Earlier in the day we had purchased same-day tickets for the Lion King musical and despite nose-bleed seats (literally at the back of the huge theatre) we enjoyed the spectacle very much. Given that Simon and Melina had not previously seen the show, it was a nice to see them excited about the music and the performance, especially the costumes which were fantastic. After the show (and some dessert which eluded us the night before) Melina and I caught a late night bus back to Oxford and completed what was a wonderful visit in London. We truly felt that we got as much possible out of our short time in the city - our sore feet from walking were proof.

On Melina's final full day in Oxford we attended brunch at the famous Christchurch College (complete with a live jazz band). Krishna, a student from my course and an accomplished Latin American guitar player, was our host this time. Having friends on 'the inside' makes visiting some of the more prestigious colleges easier. For Melina's last meal in Oxford we dined in the evening at Branca (serving amazing Italian styled food), my favourite restaurant (out of those I've tried in town thus far).....a great way to finish off a wonderful (but all together too short) visit.

Looking forward to the next time!

A visitor comes to call: Part 1

The 5th Week of Hilary Term (Feb. 16-22) was by far the best in Oxford thus far.....as you can tell from the photos a most welcome visitor from the University of Guelph came to call during her reading week. It was a wonderful mid-term adventure and the perfect opportunity to do all the tourist-type exploring that I had previously passed over knowing that Melina would be arriving for a visit this semester.

Arriving on Valentine's Day, I picked Melina up from the airport in London and we travelled back to Oxford in style on the vastly superior UK bus service (compared to the Greyhound service back home). The first night in town we dined at the famous 'Eagle & Child' pub where authors J.R.R. Tolkien (of Lord of the Rings fame) and C.S. Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia) were regular patrons during their time studying in Oxford.

Lovely early-spring weather accompanied Melina's arrival in Oxford and we took advantage of many (but brief) sunny moments to walk about the many sights around town during the day when I wasn't in class. The Botanical Gardens were lovely, as were the many College sites that we popped into pretending to be resident students.

Twice we visited the Museum of Natural History to see the amazing collection of zoology specimens and various displays about natual history, evolution of life, geological history, etc... Melina took some excellent photos of the many dinosaur skeletons arranged in the hall, the museum building itself was amazing and definitely worth the price of admission (free! as are most museums in the UK). Satisfying not only our interest in science, one evening during the week while I was doing a not-to-be-missed rowing workout (see my next post for more about rowing), Melina took advantage of an art class that was taking place at a local studio in town and produced a number of drawings that she took home on the plane back to Canada.

Other highlights of the week in Oxford included attending 'high tea' with another visiting friend, May from Toronto whom I attended the UN climate meeting in Bali with in 2007, as well as attending a student concert (I use the term 'student' loosely as it might as well have been a professional show) in the Christchurch Cathedral (the smallest in the UK) featuring a class mate of mine who is a virtuoso on the guitar, some future opera stars, and a young piano maestro extraordinaire.

Eating was definitely a highlight of our visit...check out the 'minty peas' on top of my beef pie and mash (potatoes). This is at a little restaurant in the covered market in Oxford called the 'Pie-minister'....I love it. I'm not sure Melina enjoyed it as much ~ but it is traditional English fare that couldn't be missed.




As you can see we got up to a lot, more activities then will fit this update actually, so I will split this post into 2 parts, to be continued......

Field Trip #3: Renewable Energy in Wales

The snow is gone in Oxford....only to be replaced with flooding. Oxford lies in the Thames Valley so flooding is actually quite common. Unfortunately for me it means that my rowing team from Linacre College is unable to get out on the water for practice as the river levels are too dangerous for us to be out. So as a consequence we have to battle with the erg machines in the gym - not an entirely pleasant experience, but worthwhile for training purposes. Our next major race is at the end of the month (assuming that the flood waters recede) and our crew is looking quite fit. For some reason I've been nominated to be a vice-captain of the men's team. Which doesn't actually say anything about my ability as an oarsman, and says more about my penchant for attending meetings. My first duty as VP was to organise a dinner and film night. For anybody interested in seeing what life is like in Oxford, watch the 1996 film "True Blue". It's a classic film about the famous annual 'Boat Race' between Oxford and Cambridge University. Many of the places where I study, hang out, train, etc.. are featured in the film.


A couple weeks ago our class took a field trip to Wales to visit some sites involved in renewable power generation and alternative energy education. We visited a hydro power station, a wind farm, and stayed overnight at an education centre that operates using a combination of solar, hydro, and other green technologies (see the photos). The idea behind the centre is to allow guests to experience 'low-carbon' living, essentially living with a lower environmental footprint via various conservation strategies and technologies. Our group thought the experience was worthwhile, but the site (which showcased cutting edge technologies when it was founded in the 70's) could have used a little bit of updating.

I think the wind farm was the most interesting part of the trip for me. Before visiting I didn't have a full appreciation for how large some wind farms are and how much (relatively) clean energy they can produce. Wind power isn't without controversy however, some people find them beautiful, while others think they are an eyesore that damages the value of the landscape. Standing underneath the spinning blades was quite interesting, unexpectedly the turbine wasn't very loud (some people complain about the noise from the blades). I've attached a video, hopefully it works out ok.....




Oh, and as an aside...here is a link to the funniest thing I've read in a long while....it's a complaint letter regarding airline food written to Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin (of Virgin Airlines, Virgin Records, Virgin Mobile, etc...), one of the most prominent entrepreneurs in the UK. Melina is coming to visit during her reading week (arriving today!), hopefully she's served something better than this!

http://www.realbusiness.co.uk/business-comment/5530271/richard-branson-the-best-virgin-atlantic-complaint-letter-ever.thtml

Also, here is a link to my latest blog on Canadian climate change policy for Climatico:

http://www.climaticoanalysis.org/post/canada-verifiable-emissions-reductions-from-government-programs-hard-to-find/