Doors...downsides of working at home.

Today we're having a new front door and a new kitchen door. So, for however many hours it takes, I have two strangers removing the old doors and preparing to instal the new ones.

This is one of the downsides of working at home. Even when they are quiet, I can sense their presence, and when they are drilling or hammering, the noise carries from the back to the front of the house. I fiddle with some writing on line, but it's almost impossible to settle to prolonged writing or even thinking about writing. They are not exceptionally noisy or disruptive, but the disruption is a natural accompaniment to their work. Will anyone notice the difference? I'm sure the new doors will be fine, and visitors will be impressed.

Conversations

Conversations are the foundation of knowledge sharing, and I would be thrilled if some of my several blogs' audience would enter into conversations with me and with one another, too. Maybe that will happen soon?

Writing about knowledge sharing

Writing about knowledge sharing seems a little odd, because writing itself already is an act of sharing knowledge, whether instant (as on this blog, or when emailing, posting on a social network site) or delayed, when writing something to be published or archived for the future.

However, I feel I have a small contribution to make by writing about my experience of the role of knowledge broker, and will do this as an e-publication.

Currently, too, I am writing on another blog about my experiences as a volunteer teacher in the Kingdom of Tonga, and this seems a good way of rehearsing something for future publication. In about one month, that blog - - has achieved far more 'hits', proportionately than this one has in over eight years.

Still, now one blog succeeds, maybe another one can begin to find an audience, too?

Back home from southern places...colder and wetter up north

Yesterday we got home after ten days away in southern England, in Kent, Devon and the New Forest. The last few days in particular were marked by gorgeous hot weather, so it is a shock to get back to Yorkshire and find it is much colder and wetter here than in the south currently.

A summer morning...

This morning I got up at 5:00 a.m, and left home at 5:30 to walk down the hill to Crossflatts, to get some daily newspapers, as I do every morning during the week. Today there was a crispness in the air, a nearly clear blue sky, and hints of the sunrise. At the foot of the hill, I reach the Leeds to Liverpool Canal, and cross the road to the towpath. At this time of day, this is a restful route, with few other people. Today, I saw one person walking his dog as I walked towards the shops, and two cyclists on the return walk. By the time I began my walk home at 6:00 a.m the sun was about to rise over the horizon, and it was perceptibly warmer already. What better start to the day could I have?

Time flies...

How time flies when the summer fails to stay. It's a month since my last posting, and it is a bit of a blur. I've mowed the lawn a couple of times, read some books, written a bit, and reflected on my life now and what I want to do in the future. Thinking of starting a new blog, to write a new version of an account I wrote over forty years ago, about my year as a volunteer teacher in a small village in Tonga. I was eighteen years old, just left school,and it was a life changing year.

Midsummer: blow, winds, blow...

Yesterday was Midsummer's Day. Currently the weather is far from summery, with wind, rain and grey skies. I am thinking about what I want to do with the next five years of my life, and things I would like to write about. I ponder the idea of going by myself to New Zealand for three weeks in November, and waver from enthusiasm to uncertainty. It is the 50th anniversary of New Zealand's Volunteer Service Abroad organisation, and on November 10th they are holding a dinner for returned volunteers, in Wellington. I would like to go, but think I must find other objectives for such a trip: people to talk with about potential work, writing projects etc. Shall I go? I do not know yet.

Troilus and Cressida in Maori - powerful ...

Last night, Tuesday 24th April, I went from Yorkshire to London to attend one of the first plays in a series, "Globe to Globe", comprising 37 plays in 37 languages. It was a powerful, passionate, poetic spectacle, with an original translation, and transposing the wars of Greek versus Trojan into classical [pre-European]Maori society. Like many/most of the audience, was captivated. My grasp of spoken Maori is diminished compared to thirty years ago, when I learnt it in Auckland, but I picked up some,and was carried along by this outstanding ensemble. The theatre group, Ngakau Toa, should be performing often and widely.

Update: Christmas and New Year

If anyone happened on my last but one post, they might be wondering whether we did go off to New Zealand or not. The idea certainly cheered me up and aided my recovery from the nasty illness I had in early December, but we decided not to have a last minute trip to New Zealand. Instead, we went south to family in Kent, and home for the New Year, and friends over for a meal and to see 2012 in. So, choosing to stay in England gave us different, but enjoyable experiences, though no warm summer sun. Summer sun is something I miss and long for. Spring and summer cannot come soon enough for me.

Networks and networking

Have just done a little bit of work on a bibliography and glossary on networks, which was very interesting, though rather open-ended.

It seems to me that networks,like discussion forums, are frequently desired and rarely enduring. Entities that are made up of a disparate body of people turn out to be messy, haphazard things, despite good intentions. You can plan to minimise failure, but you can't eliminate it as a possibility. When a network succeeds, it's exciting. When it fails, we have to get over natural disappointment and learn. That's not easy.