The courtyard within it continues to be the only truly nice thing about the Ellen Wilkinson Building, my place of work for the last 20 years and, more or less, three months. Will I miss it when I finally do manage to leave? Probably not. But it can look nice, at different times of the year.
You could say there’s been a change in the weather over the last couple of days. I managed to get to and from campus without getting wet but others were not so fortunate, including Susan in the next-door office, it seems.
First shot from Manchester since the 6th. Do I really spend so little time there these days? At some yet-to-be-determined date in the future, I will, of course, take my last ever shot from there, not so much the city but from campus more specifically. I will not be working at uni for the rest of my life unless that life ends unexpectedly, and fairly soon. But for now I am still going in. I do not know what this sculpture represents though it has clearly been built from the same stuff, and at the same time, as the building that surrounds the courtyard in which it stands. If I have a favourite place on campus, this is probably it.
Too nice a day to have lunch sat inside, and a few minutes after I made this decision this group joined me in the courtyard. This space has appeared on here several times before, and as it’s still not exactly easy to work out how to get in it, this is as many people as I’ve ever seen using it at one time.
On the basis that it was going to be warm enough to sit outside, colleague Louis stood by the exit out to the courtyard. However, today was about 10º cooler than it’s been lately — so we met inside in any case. I was running a couple of minutes late. But I did see him down there, patiently waiting.
I said on Tuesday that campus was busying up. I withdraw that assessment after today’s visit, on which I reckoned I might have been the only member of uni staff in the whole Ellen Wilkinson Building that turned up today. And I only really did that for the step count. I have worked (occasionally) in the EWB for coming up to 18 years now, and it does not ever get much more visually interesting than this.
Summer at uni, a time to get renovations done to buildings (like the Ellen Wilkinson) which sorely need it. A scaffold and a red tool box set off the view from up on the third floor landing. It would be nice if I was on a proper summer break by now, but not yet: ten days to go.
At this time last year we had our annual ‘staff awayday‘ entirely in Zoombieland, and frankly it was the lowest point of that bleak, lonely time for me. I could return to the point about why a largely vaccinated population is still being told they should live in fear, but let’s not — instead, let’s at least celebrate the fact that there were some work colleagues around today. Only a few, but they were there, and how much better the day was for it. Left-to-right; Steve, Miri, Stephen (pictured in his office two weeks ago), Miguel. Happy Fridays, everyone. Take back your public spaces.
There may be a few people, other than me, working in the Ellen Wilkinson Building at this time. There are occasional noises, dimly perceived, as if made by spirits. Shadowy presences in stairwells. But seeing as even in normal times I was usually the only one who ventured out into the hidden courtyard, the annual cherry blossom display is even more personal than usual, this year. We both greeted a warm, early spring day — alone.
Last day in Manchester, certainly, for 33 days. Off tomorrow, on my most significant journey of 2019. So time for this year’s ‘cherry blossom in the Ellen Wilkinson Building’s secret courtyard’, then. I doubt it’ll still be there when I get back.
Being 42 