London - ESH-2012 - pre-report

For the first time in years I am back in London, and back in Love. It is just the most lovable city anywhere, and that is when it is windy and slight chill is in the air. They have promised rain. I couldn't say why I like London. Especially not why I feel different coming here, going through customs, riding the subway, and checking in to my hotel, than what I felt in San Diego, doing the same thing in better weather.

The ESH saw fit to award my abstract with a travel award this year. Very nice. Even more so considering they got me a suite less than fifty meters from the conference. Yes, a suite. First a small hallway with a side-board, then a massive bathroom, a sitting room with a kitchenette/bar (sadly unstocked), and finally a bedroom with a huge double-bed. There is a wide-screen TV both in the sittingroom and the bedroom. As usual, the only thing I care about is that there is free wifi, and there is.

Once I had installed myself I went out for braised mutton in gruel and a Guinness. Very English, and just what I was looking for after a week of margaritas and fajitas.

I pretty much missed the first day, but on the other hand it was mostly working groups and ESH-statements-in-the-form-of-seminars. Tomorrow til Sunday will be three crammed days of sessions. They run until 18:30 on Sunday so I probably have to miss the last one just to get to my flight home.