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ELSA's past highlights and accomplishments JULY 2003 Sunday 13th (Andrew) My first, and probably greatest worry, was getting there, but the first 99.9% of the journey was almost problem free. The flight took only 40 minutes and, as a London commuter, I was surprised and impressed that both of the trains taking me from Schiphol airport to Nijmegen ran on time. There was no problem catching the correct bus, and I even managed to get off at the right stop, directly outside my destination, the Werkenrode complex, at about 3pm. It was then that I got lost. After going entirely the wrong way through the grounds twice, I wandered back towards the entrance gates where I was lucky to meet two of the organising committee: Anita Blom of the Swedish association and Konrad Schäfers of the German association, who were putting up signs directing delegates to our buildings. They sent me off in the right direction, but I promptly got lost for a third time. I retreated to Konrad and Anita, and made the last 200 metres of my journey under supervision. On reaching the main one of our two buildings I handed all my paperwork over to the third organiser, our very own Edwin Farr, before Konrad took me to my room in our other building. Now it was time to consider my second worry: actually surviving the meeting. Unable to delay the daunting task of speaking with other delegates any longer, I donned my name badge and returned to the main building to find some foreigners. Informal introductions and conversations began, and continued during dinner. After dinner, Anita explained the basic set-up and rules of the site and conference. During term-time, Werkenrode is a kind of residential school for physically disabled young people, hence the hand-rails, the large lifts, and the alert system in all of the bedrooms and bathrooms, which we were urged to avoid confusing with the electric lights. (It was easy: the lights were switches and the alarms were pull-cords, except where it was the other way round.) The rota system for serving at mealtimes was announced to a few groans, but the blow was softened by the announcement that beer was to be sold at the bargain price of 50 cents [about 35p] a can... |