Travelling

Spent much of Monday/Tuesday travelling to Inverness to attend a farewell meal for ex-colleagues in University of Highlands and Islands (UHI).


Three things struck me:-

1. The spectacular scenery on a beautiful Monday on the (three hour) rail journey: snow-covered peaks and slopes set against a sunlit sky (For the many of you who have been there, it was similar to winter day in the Murree Valley in Pakistan).

 2. Great and free wifi facilities both in the train and in the small hotel in which I stayed. My modest Kindle Fire and a really ancient first generation Nokia cellphone kept me in touch with e-mail, travel updates, Twitter, texts and BBC news - at a tiny fraction of what some of my friends and family spend on tablets and smartphones.

3. The social company at the event i.e. over a meal and conversations. Many of the people present were ones with whom I have worked largely through the very sophisticated UHI video-conferencing system. But V-C has its limitations: it is difficult to have a meal and a drink together by VC.

The human brain strives for rationality: the human heart for affiliation.