The Richard Florida-esque ideal of a creative class able to work anywhere kind of falls flat on its face unless you (a) have equipment less than six months old, and (b) a bulletproof internet connection you can afford to pay for. All of which is a roundabout way of saying my internet access has been too sporadic and intermittent recently to allow any serious posting.
I have learned an awful lot about energy and environment during this travel to Japan, covering a broad range of topics – a chance encounter with a climate change engagement NPO in Gunma, a visit to a hydropower project in Kurobe, seeing a one-industry town in Toyama where the employer takes its duties to the community and environment seriously, and following on and feeding back from last summer’s field work campaign in Iwaki.
More will be written about each of these things when I get back to Aberdeen and have access to the innards of my camera again, but what all this illustrates is I have a job where one seemingly never switches off. New contacts, new potential projects, ways to develop existing research – getting back out in the field has been hugely energising – not to mention, as per the image below, delicious. If fish doesn’t give you brains, it at least gives you ideas…
Dr Leslie Mabon 