Conference today for all new staff which was both fun and interesting.

I didn't do very well at the 'human bingo' as I'd end up talking to people rather than playing the game by just ticking boxes and moving on to get as many ticks as possible. The prizes were good too with a memory stick being 2nd prize. (I never did hear what was in the box being offered as first prize.) And why does no one ever have to get a tick against 'find someone who can steer a ship over 100 tons' or something!?

As for other content: we heard from the VC himself (who really ought to be an aging tv presenter but most confusingly manages - in both looks and mannerism - to be nearly indistinguisable from my old boss!) giving us an overview of the uni. Although it was interesting he ran over time and unsettled much of the rest of the day as regards time. The Finance Director told us about funding. And after a break we went on tours. Some on a tour of the city by coach, I'd opted for the walking tour of the city campus. Fortunately the rain stayed off while we were told more about architecture than about what the buildings contained - but it was interesting nevertheless.

All day there were lots of opportunities to meet other newbies and lunch was no different. But there was also a mini-exhibition in the foyer of various services that might be useful. Even the library was there with a stall and I picked up various freebies from mousemats to booklets and a uni stress reliever in the shape of an oldstyle computer terminal. Weirdest of all was stumbling across one of the chaplains who turned out to know my parents well and to have just joined the church I attend. I suppose I should expect the small world effect. Sister breezed through at that point having been relieved to have finished with a meeting at which some nasty allegations against her weren't substantiated. That was good.

After lunch there were parallel sessions for support staff and academics. I went to the latter as did H. Perhaps we should have divided and conquered to see what the other part was like. Our two sessions were a mixed bag - the first being fairly dry and presented unenthusiastically about getting money for research, the second being a more interesting look at various support services.