I’ve been berated yet again for neglecting my blog however I’ve been out and about on the road again spending most of last week and the weekend tearing up and down the length and breadth of the UK starting off with a Microsoft Academic Team roadtrip to the University of Hull. I’ve been meaning to visit Hull University for a long time despite the fact that Hull is often cited as being one of the dullest places in the UK. For those readers that haven’t taken a trip across the M18 and M62, Hull is perched on the North East coast of England in the shadow of the River Humber and its immense suspension bridge, it is now home to The Deep, a top Rugby League club, and of course a thriving university and for those of you who are old enough it's where the House Martins started. In addition I discovered that Hull also has a very distinct perfume resembling the smell of death but which I’m assured apparently emanates from the local chocolate factory.

So we arrived en masse with Gavin and I spending time with David Grey and also Rob Miles who will be acting as an “uber mentor” to all UK-based university teams entering the Software Design Challenge in this year’s Imagine Cup. Andy and I then headed off for coffee to meet the new and the not so new Microsoft Student Partners who include Phil (recently returned from a 3 month internship in the product group at Microsoft in Redmond, compsoc president, previous MSP, former Imagine Cup Barcelona finalist), Mat (Imagine Cup 2004 Brazil finalist), Simon (Imagine Cup UK 2004 finalist), Tom, Ed, Lydon and Andrew. Hull really does seem to attract students with a real passion for technology which probably explains why Hull has had the largest number of students presented with MSP awards for the past two years and students featuring in the last two Imagine Cup worldwide finals.

And finally in complete and utter contrast the weekend was spent hurtling down the A3 to Hayling Island on the south coast of England to sit on a pebbly beach in the autumn sunshine amidst a force 6 gale watching the likes of Kirsty Jones and Jo Wilson pulling off the most acrobatic of freestyle stunts in the British Kitesurfing Championships. One thing I noticed about Hayling Island though was that it didn’t have a distinctive smell…would love to know what's the real reason behind THE smell in Hull; any ideas?