Strewth! It has been an eventful couple of months, not least because I have made the decision to accept a new position in Australia, and I’m starting to pick up the local lingo. A move tinged with both sadness and excitement. Was it a difficult decision? Well once the proposal for the sun, beach, salary and job specification was made, it was not as hard as it would have been for some locations!
But there is a lot of work to be done before I go, and we’ve had a couple of busy months.
An important event in July was the submission to Parliament – on time – of our first set of accounts. It is a major achievement and enormous credit goes to all the team involved in the preparation. It is in line with the new HMG mandate of “digital by default” being mandated by Cabinet Office, and as such is a little minimalistic. If you like reading numbers it’s OK, but if you want to find out what we actually do, then please visit our website.
The Farnborough Air Show went really well, and the Space Zone was full of excellent displays. Again thanks are due to the team who saw the project through, and colleagues who manned the display. Throughout the week we had a range of specific space seminars. The Space Day conference on Tuesday was excellent, where I hosted a session with Minister David Willetts attending and speaking. He was alongside Minister Profumo of Italy, the heads of ESA, the Russian Space Agency, the Italian Space Agency as well as Andy Green CEO of Logica and co chair of the UK Space Leadership Council. All-in-all, a powerful group and a good opportunity to get everyone around the same table.
There was also great news from the Size & Health report on the UK space sector which continues to be a success story. The figures show it has continued to grow through the recession. This is both impressive and important in a year when we are going to be making major decisions on programmes and funding at the European Space Agency.
Red Kangaroo.
Anyway back to Australia. Leaving the Agency will be a big wrench for me, but time passes and everyone needs new goals. So maybe this is a more dramatic change than perhaps is normal, but it is a great opportunity for me – and for whoever takes over at the UK Space Agency.
Brits are obsessed with the weather, I have to confess that the family decision was influenced by the prospect of real summers, no winter frost, as well as sunny beaches and …. OK I will not go on. But whatever the weather, wherever the weather whenever the weather it will be better. Good to get that bit out of the system.
I am now studying the real perils of Australia, which contrary to local people are not us Poms, but take the form of snakes, spiders, jellyfish, blue octopus, crocodiles and Great White sharks. It can be a dangerous place full of dangerous things, but then again, so is London with its traffic! So keeping your wits about you appears to be the key, along with an ability to find a doctor for serum to combat bites. Everything has its compromises!
