Saturday 15 December 2007

Medal of Honour

As expected, I had a ball in London on Thursday. It was the international Geomatics faculty board and I was honoured to be voted in, uncontested, as the new Chair of the Geomatics Faculty. Sometimes I think it's an absolute piece-of-cake and then sometimes I think "oh shit....!" I chaired the meeting all day which was fine but I realised that as Chair I can no longer slope out to grab a coffee/tea when I feel like it. Timing is everything.

After the meeting and gathering my thoughts, we shot up to UCL for the evening lecture. I travelled up with 6 others and it was so funny at times trying to do the headcount of the English/German/Chinese we travelled with. We all got there eventually and I met up with some cherished mates at UCL. I received the 'medal of honour' at the lecture which was another funny occasion. I was introduced as the first female chair of the Geomatics Faculty. And as my long hair got caught up in the catch/ribbon I realised why it was so significant...


The lecture was great. Not only was the subject, land tenture globally, fascinating but the three presenters changed Christmas hats each time they spoke which made us all laugh. Long live humour and geomatics. Stig Enimark, President of FIG, was there so we were honoured. And I was doubly honoured by my old geomatics lecturer, Prof Paul Cross, also being there. He talks so much sense that guy. Now all he needs to do is organise heating for the next lecture and we're set...

We ended up dining in an Italian somewhere in London which was lovely as I sat opposite an old mate from the RICS.

I arrived home on the Friday respledant with medal. My husband fell about laughing big time and explained it major 'bling'. Hey, it says "President of the Land Division of the RICS", I'm not knocking it. My girls thought it very funny too and I couldn't help but laugh when my 9 year old said "does this now mean you're president of the UK?". Uhmm, give me a year or so....

I think I'm going to have a great time over next 18 months as Geomatics Chair.

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