Sweet relief - back at my desk

Good morning all. I'm back in the office, having largely recovered from my Polish exertions.

It's a weird experience, being in a team. On the first day, I knew two of the fencers a little. By the end, we'd worn the same clothes, eaten the same food, undergone similar highs and lows. I'd learned their names, their fencing styles, a little of their psychologies, what kind of support they wanted (and didn't want), how they coped with victory as well as defeat, how to engage their attention and when to leave them alone - and then it's all over in the time it takes to collect bags from the conveyor. A quick goodbye, hand them over to their parents and those intense days become the past, relationships stored away for a year to be reactivated once more at the next event.

I'll miss the cosmopolitan air of Wroclaw though - the Poles were very friendly and curious about our band of England-jacketed kids. Great cheeses and sausages too!

I've added some more photographs: a few more by me, some by parents and some by fencers. It's interesting how different they can be. The fencers' shots are all of people rather than places/things, and they're much more personal: the subjects are more intimate and idiosyncratic because the picture is being taken by an equal and a friend rather than an official.

We met Andy's ancestor in the museum!

Details from medieval paintings in Wroclaw museum

Good Polish cheese. 

Coming back holds its own joys too - seeing friends, sleeping in one's own bed, settling back into my own office chair ready for hard work (which is lucky, because I've got to write a whole conference paper by Friday).