Blog: A Day In The Countryside

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Yesterday I headed out to WILTSHIRE for a work meeting. It was a lovely day to do such a thing, both because of the weather (which was SPRING-LIKE) and the fact that it is the week before Easter which, in an academic setting, is basically one long Friday afternoon with hardly anybody about, so you can do other stuff without worrying (too much) about DISASTERS occurring while you're looking the other way.

For some reason Academic Types always seem to think it is a really good idea to book meetings at 9.30am so that those travelling have to get up at half past awful to get there, and I very nearly fell into this trap myself when organising this trip. However, sense prevailed and we arranged to meet just after lunchtime, which meant i was able to get my train at an EXCEEDINGLY sensible time. The train was one of the new high-speed GWR trains which have ACTUAL LEGROOM in them and functionining toilets, it felt like EXTREME luxury the whole way there!

I was meeting somebody at Bath Spa University's Corsham Court campus, so instead of going to Actual BATH I got off at Chippenham and then STRAIGHT into a bus. I was very impressed with Chippenham's Integrated Transport - the bus stop is DIRECTLY outside the station and there were buses WAITING when the train pulled in.

Twenty five minutes later I got off the bus in CORSHAM which looked like something off the TELLY - I deduced later that it had been in POLDARK, largely due to all the shop window displays that said "We Was On POLDARK". I walked along streets that seemed to have come straight out of Jane Austen, and then into Corsham Court itself which looked EXACTLY as you would expect a manor house to look. It even had its own LORD living onsight! As I walked up to the house I thought "What is that horrible noise?" and then turned a corner to see a) GROUNDS that looked like Mr Darcy would come wandering through at any moment in his soggy undergarments and b) a PEACOCK!

I went inside for an Actually Dead Good meeting about a system which Bath Spa use called FIGSHARE which we currently HAVE and are trying to work out what to DO with, and then the people I'd met very kindly took me for a guided STROLL around the grounds where OH MY WORD we saw an Actual Peacock Actually Peacocking i.e. its ginormous TAIL was up and fanned out. It was ASTONISHING - it's one of those things we see so much in BOOKS or ILLUSTRATIONS but I don't think I've ever seen one in real life before. It was RUDDY HUGE!

And so I made my way back, through fictional Truro, a bus ride in the sunshine, and then the train home. If you ever get the chance to go and talk about computer systems at another institution, I would highly recommend Corsham Court!

posted 18/4/2019 by MJ Hibbett

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