[tag=IN | lemma=□]
[tag=IN | lemma=meantime]
They put a banana leaf on the floor in front of you , and spoon the food onto that . But one day she decided it was time to come home , and the next week she took matters into her own hands and flew back as a surprise , arriving on the doorstep the day after Ian 's birthday . Then from Belfast to Glasgow for a weekend playing jazz with Gary , an ex-member of the Ian Witten trio who deserted New Zealand a year ago for the grey skies of Scotland . And following Snowbird was a lightning trip to Microsoft Research in Redmond , near Seattle , which Ian found depressing . Luckily for her , several of her former music friends were still playing on a regular basis and she was warmly invited back into the fold . Many years ago an out-of-commission cargo ship was towed there and sunk deliberately to form a cheap breakwater that sheltered the bay , but the operation was not a great success because the hulk shifted as it settled , making the protected area too small to be of much use . The first , in March , took in New York ; a conference at Princeton University in New Jersey ; seminars at NEC Research and Drexel University in Philadelphia ( where who should turn up but Robert Aish , a friend from Essex days thirty years ago ) ; a " distinguished visiting lecture " at Texas A & M University ; a visit to ex-colleague Lloyd Smith ( the man who originally hired Ian at Waikato ) at New Mexico Highlands University ; Grand Falls , Colorado ; and the annual Data Compression Conference at Snowbird , a ski resort outside Salt Lake City . She went to France to stay with Pam 's brother Steve , who runs a hotel in a tiny village near Toulouse , and had a great time there . Half an hour ago a bird banged into the low glass half-wall that surrounds our patio and swimming pool , which we erected a few years ago ( at great expense , and at the Council 's insistence ) to fence out possible , and mythical , stray children . But more than that : Grainger was seriously into ( yes ! The six months away was intended to ease us into it : now we're finally back maybe things will get more challenging . ) We have some reservations about changing schools just before the end of her school career , but Nikki has thought it through and is determined , and we are anxious to avoid what happened with Anna , who changed halfway through her final year . Gulf - - near Maraetai , and just across from Waiheke island , if you have a map handy . Judy ( a long time ago Saul was Ian 's graduate student , now he 's a professor too ) and their two kids in their gorgeous house looking up to the Three Sisters . Next to Braunschweig , near Hanover , where he gave a lecture at the university and returned to his host 's home to meet ... Go check Witten at a bookstore near you ( e.g . The proprietor and her assistant had to clear away piles of books to allow the door to open before we could enter . Further adventure in store as we cross the path of the spectator fleet as it heads down through the Rangitoto channel , leaving clouds of diesel fumes where a floating city had bobbed only minutes before . We gently lifted them back into place whenever they got separated . You need one hand to hold on ( otherwise you're thrown immediately onto the floor ) , one to hold the cup ( it 's quite impossible to put it down ) , and a third for the kettle , a dangerous bomb full of evil boiling water and the nearest doctor eight days away .