Days 131 to 140

Okay, so nice new bike heading towards the Steppe. The original idea was to set off after Sean, give him a head start, cycle out to a reasonable distance and he would pick me up on the way back. Didn’t get far. Ended up with a double puncture. Had to make one repair on the road. No-one stopped to help. Equally no-one stopped to knock me over the head and nick my bike either. Managed to limp home but Sean didn’t catch me. So have used up all the spare tyres, having to fly more from the UK. So at least can catch my breath and rest my legs.

Finally managed to go to the much acclaimed restaurant called Fusion. Excellent steak. Very pricey. Company was excellent. Lina and Gerald baby sat. Kids very excited. Went with Joe and Penny to say goodbye. They’re due to leave soon. Me, very sad.

The hassles continue with trying to sort out my conference trip to South Korea. The set-up of the university with its many separate legal entities, but dependant on the university, means they have particular ways of working. So they want me to sign a contract that basically means that I have to repay the university in the event I am unable to give the conference talk, regardless of whether I get the money back from the conference. Plus be exposed to penalty fees and late charges until the talk is given. Seems like I’m one of the many who find this unacceptable work practise.

School hassles also continue. After writing the much needed updates to the health and safety documentation for the School, someone then tries to suggest exactly what I recommended. Desperation?

Running going well. 5km in 23:21. Haven’t run that quick before.

A number of positions opened up in the School of Engineering including Head of Chemical Engineering and Full Professor. My previous position at Brighton was Reader, which meant being above Associate Professor and not quite a Full Professor in the UK, but outside the UK it should have equated to Full Professor. I tried to discuss this prior to appointment, but never knew who I should have pushed this matter with, so came anyway in the hope that I would be able to get bumped up as quickly as possible. It was also a difficult decision to make going for the Head of Discipline, which mainly was because I felt I could run the Chemical Engineering department more smoothly and try and get control of the hiring procedures so we could recruit properly. Not that the limitations were solely down to the existing Head of Chem Eng, but I sense that he is not passing on all information and keeping a few too many things close to his chest. In going for Full Professor I also found out that a colleague was applying for the same post. I refused to evaluate his application to spare the accusation of any bias and because there are no formal markers being used to evaluate each position. I know that this other person’s application was handed to a number of other colleagues, some of whom also refused to look at it because they felt their position being lower than the applicant could also be viewed as negative feedback if this individual didn’t get the position So there’s lots of politics ahead and I wouldn’t be surprised if this some implications further down the line.