Review of 2010
I've never been one to write a Christmas letter with a summary of my year, however I get asked so frequently what I get up to that I decided a 'review of 2010' blog entry might actually be read by some people. So, inspired by those Christmas letters I've received, and determined to write something less dry than JJ managed, here it is. It's not really a Christmas letter, as it isn't a letter and we're a week past Christmas.
To start with, here's the the result of that Facebook status app that has been doing the rounds:
As you can see, the year was dominated by @imperialcollege and @icunion, due to my role as President of Imperial College Union. This finished at the end of July, and feels quite a long time ago now, despite the fact that I keep going back, mainly for the cheap beer (and the good company, of course). My year as President was hard work, but great fun, and stories from that role will dominate here.
Dizzy Blonde
In January I was asked to speak with London Mayor Boris Johnson at the official opening of the rebuilt Prince's Gardens complex. Thankfully I spoke before him: although I thought my speech was pretty funny, the one Boris gave would have been impossible to follow. You can see Boris' speech on the College website. This was particularly special for me: not only do I remember the square as it was before the ETHOS sports centre was built (as some of you will also do), but I was able to take part in some notable events while the new halls were being built, including the topping out ceremonies and first night of the new Southside.
The highlight of the day was probably the mayor's arrival on campus. He was cycling from City Hall to 58 Prince's Gate, with College photographers poised on Exhibition Road to capture his arrival. Unfortunately for them, Boris came in the back way, arriving directly at Eastside. When members of the events team realised who the blonde buffoon wandering around with the bicycle was, there was a mad dash across the square to meet him. I believe the communications division still holds the record for the Prince's Gardens Dash.
Ups and Downs
February was difficult for a number of reasons - some of which I'll write about in a couple of months time. Others had far more trying months than I did, but thankfully everyone overcame them. The whole of February and March were bittersweet, to say the least.
Being an officer at a students' union is a bit strange, because as soon as you get into the swing of things, it's time to elect the officers for the next year. We wanted to attract a more diverse range of students to take part in elections, so changed the election advertising dramatically. Tomo and Alex McKee's warped minds came up with the crazy stick men:
The plan worked - we had a huge number of candidates and a record turnout. Unfortunately a number of the candidates turned out to be flaky, and we had to have another two elections after that. Despite those two elections taking place at typically quiet times of the year, they too had record-breaking turnouts for comparable elections. All-in-all a good show, even if our attempts to make hustings better attended were a bit of a flop.
The downside, of course, was that we then knew who our successors would be, which immediately makes you less inclined to take any risks that might make their lives more difficult.
1.21 Gigawatts?!
May was an exciting month: I was officially awarded my PhD, got to speak in the Albert Hall at the postgraduate graduation ceremony and we achieved quite an amazing feat at the Miglia Quadrato. Being awarded the PhD was the culmination of 4 years work (well, mostly work), and as it turned out a lot of chasing paperwork which other people should have submitted. As of 1st May I became Doc Brown!
Due to paperwork chasing I didn't graduate in the May postgraduate ceremony, but I was still there in my role as President to read 'the proclamation', which opens the ceremony. This is a particularly dry and convoluted speech which hasn't changed for years, but speaking to thousands in the Royal Albert Hall is an exciting, if terrifying, experience. Although I'd done the same in October, this was by the far the most daunting - record numbers turned up so the crowd was larger than ever! As it turns out, my colleagues from work were also graduating in this ceremony, although I didn't know I'd be working for them at the time.
Run a Mile
The Miglia Quadrato is a 'treasure hunt' within the Square Mile, which takes place from midnight to 5am on a Sunday morning in May. Each team is given a set of 60 co-ordinates with an associated clue. The aim it to plot the points on a map, then drive round the City solving the clue at each point. Most people take nippy little city cars, or people carriers with internal strip-lights so they can easily plot and drive. For 4 of the past 5 years, RCS Motor Club has gone along with Jezebel, our 1916 'N' Type Fire Engine. With such a large lumbering beast we're at a bit of a disadvantage - narrow streets present a challenge, parking is difficult and trying to navigate in the dark with no cabin lights and the wind trying to blow your map down the road is interesting, to say the least. We've previously not come any higher than 37th, however for the 2010 event we took an experienced crew to try and go for gold: the top 10.
One big advantage Jez has is that you can just jump on and off, rather than faffing around with doors. This proved to be a big advantage, as we were able to pull away as soon as everyone was on board (well, usually everyone was on board). Sadly, that's negated by having to park further away than most people - although the Miglia is technically a motor rally, every year we've been running around for most of the 5 hours to get from our parking location to the clue. At the end of the evening we were confident that we'd done very well, but weren't sure whether that was because it was easier than usual, or we'd been quite good. Upon getting the results it turned out that we'd done rather well - 6th place, well into the top 10, in a vehicle constructed 40 years before the event was even founded. It was a tremendous fun, and a hard-fought victory getting into the top-10.
Winding Down
June and July are the months where an outgoing sabbatical team try to finish their projects off and hand over to the new team, while juggling endless parties. It is a lot of fun - you know that you don't have long left in the job, and the ability to do anything is quickly eroded as members of staff going on holiday and you become a very lame duck.
We had the Summer Ball, a photoshoot with all the College mascots - particularly pleasing for me as one of the last things I was involved in after 9 years at Imperial - a number of handover parties and the President's dinner. The latter was my opportunity to say thank you to everyone who had worked hard to deliver our goals for the year, while dishing out some comedy presents. JJ sadly wasn't there, as he had started his long drive to Egypt. He had an amazing time, seemingly managing to make it without offending too many people at all.
And Relax...
After 9 years at Imperial and very few holidays, I decided to take a couple of months off before starting work. August was a month of rest, which included a trip to visit Phil in France and a week in a cottage on the Isle of Wight (while the rest of Motor Club were in tents in the rally field!). We're grateful to Phil for hosting us, and we lucked in with the weather - the only time during the month it was hot and sunny were the days we were there. Unfortunately most of the two cases of wine I dragged around the Paris Metro in a suitcase (not easy!) have been consumed, so I guess we'll have to go again.
Work? Who needs work? Oh, for the money
After a month of relaxation I found myself back at Imperial part-time, working for the Union on a finance project which needed a bit of TLC. At the same time I was preparing job applications, updating various websites and trying to find myself gainful employment. As it turned out, I only found out about the job I finally accepted as a result of a tweet I posted complaining about entering the same information over and over and over again...
In October I started work - part-time at first, but quickly becoming full-time. The company hasn't officially launched yet (we're in what's known as 'stealth' mode), and that makes writing much about it difficult. However, I've picked up a whole set of new skills and resurrected some of the programming which I was worried might have gone a little rusty - it turned out to be OK though!
On the leisure side, the new bar and nightclub which we'd commissioned during my time as President opened, and they're jaw-droppingly good. Take a look at some pictures here. It's a shame I won't really get to enjoy them, but it's a fantastic legacy to have left. The openings have also made a good excuse (not that I really needed one) to return to Imperial and spend time with the friends I made during a fantastic couple of years. A number of leaving parties also saw some even older faces return, and it's been great to see so many people over the past few months.
Onwards!
As I write this last paragraph, there are under 18 hours left of 2010. What will 2011 hold? For sure, there'll be a wedding in September.
Beyond that, who really knows?
