Posted on March 14, 2008 - by Calvin L. Smith

Englishman in New York (20)

Just wrote a long entry then lost it as the connection was cut! All that effort for nothing, just because I failed to back up periodically. Pity really, as I’m short on time now and will have to write something later. Anyway, these Americans really know how to organise a conference. It has given me various ideas for some seminars we are planning later on. And the Duke University campus is quite something. It has lovely gardens, buildings clad in stone, and a splendid chapel in Gothic style. The thing is, the University was only founded and constructed in the late 1920s, so in a sense it is somewhat of an illusion, but quite a spectacular one nonetheless. It is very different from the many other US university campuses I’ve visited and in some ways resembles an old, prestigious university campus in Britain. You can see some pictures here. Duke University is the home of the basketball team and Blue Speedo fan discussed in a previous entry. Hang on, I’d better back this up before I lose it again…

OK, we’re safe. I’ll continue. I am enjoying this part of the country. It isn’t the Deep South, but it is the South all the same. The people are relaxed, friendly, and speak with a distinct drawl. I’m just enjoying being in an area with some history, the many blossoming cherry and (I think) apple trees, and the sunny, 75 F weather. Ah shorely aaam, sah! Indeed ah aaam (that’s local lingo). On Sunday I shall be setting off early for Charlotte, down near the South Carolina border, to speak at a church before flying home on Monday. I worked at this church’s Summer Camp as a teenager some twenty-odd years ago so it will be interesting to go back. The camp was held in the hills, in a forest replete with snakes (including poisonous ones like rattlers and copperheads). I remember once, in the dorm in the middle of the night, looking down from my bunk and seeing a five-foot long snake slither along the dorm floor. As a staff member I think I was supposed to raise the alarm, but I just hid under the sheet in the belief that if it attacked one of the kids at least I would be safe    Anyway, more later.