OK, So I am back and its official, we're jinxed.

 More on that story later, as they used to say on a R4 comedy program. Can't remember which one. 

Anyway let's get Nottingham out of the way. 

First off, the Nottingham Campus has some very pretty bits to it.

It is also very hilly. And very confusing. And the maps are rubbish. And the accommodation was a long way from the building where most things took place. And up a hill. And the place where things took place was very confusing as well. And we had no floor plan. 

I thought the standard of student accommodation would have improved since I was a student in a Hall of Residence but I am here to tell you that actually I was more comfortable as a first year undergrad at Leeds almost 50 years ago than I was in Nottingham l this month. The room was tiny, and badly laid out, it smelt of damp, and the toilet seat was broken. 

Am I sounding jaundiced? That's because I am. The Congress was not hugely enjoyable. Lots of people had obviously taken one look at the venue and thought 'No, not going there' and I can't say I blame them. After Glasgow, Vancouver and Prague, what can Nottingham realistically  bring to the party? I don't know but whatever it was it certainly wasn't enough. Most of the keynote lectures bored me, I had lots of trouble sometimes deciding where to go, not because I was spoiled for choice but because I was desperate to find a panel that looked even remotely enjoyable and the quality of the papers given was mixed to say the least. Definitely my last World Congress. Well the next one is in Philadelphia which is just too expensive and complicated and I'll be well into my 70s by the time of the next one, so it's time to draw a line. 

That said I did enjoy the trip to Newstead Abbey, home of Lord Byron on the Sunday after the Conference finished and I have some lovely pictures ready for when I do my report on that.