our study visit earlier this year was to New York where one of the highlights for me was coming across a screening of Alexander Calder's Circus. It was the mix of clever wit, invention, attention to detail and acute observation that appealed - the seriousness with which something so unserious could be handled. We managed to get a video copy for the studios and already it has had several viewings. After one showing someone said 'the world is a better place for having seen that'. I knew exactly what he meant ...

in the lounge is a table with four chairs. They are a modern design with a single shaped piece of plywood fixed to four thin chrome legs splayed like a spider's. The table is also laminated plywood with a satin blue Formica top, the kind that holds a dark damp fingerprint for a few seconds before evaporating. An earlier wiping with a dirty cloth has left telltale smears, and a scattering of crumbs remains from a more recent visit. The chairs are not neatly tucked under, but are pulled out at random angles to each other, abandoned like the newspaper left on one of the seats with the banner headline MASSACRE IN MADRID ...

I am facing a large glass window overlooking a patchwork of irregularly-sized concrete rectangles like a Mondrian in beige turned at 45 degrees. The odd offending crack breaks rank and spoils the near perfect grid of right angles. A little way off a mobile phone rings the can-can, a clash of time and place that we are now so used to. As if on cue, in neat black capital letters, the printed name TCHAIKOVSKI glides past the window against a grey London sky, while out of the corner of my eye I learn that Posh's musical career is over due to a slump in sales ...

neatly inserted into the back of the seat in front of me is a folding tray on which is a sticker with instructions, IN CASE OF EMERGENCY. Five sequential line drawings numbered left to right 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, show a man wrestling with a door. In each drawing red arrows indicate the direction of effort required should an emergency occur. I am reminded of the little arrows that appear in some of Francis Bacon's paintings and wonder if he ever sat here. The labels are repeated on the backs of all the other seats in the row ...

that evening I received an e-mail about magnesium carbonate, or the 'chalk' used by rock climbers to improve their grip.'To date, no scientific research supports this practice; indeed, some evidence suggests that magnesium carbonate could decrease the coefficient of friction. Fifteen participants were asked to apply a force with the tip of their fingers to hold a flattened rock (normal force), while a tangential force pulled the rock away. The coefficient of friction - that is, the ratio between the tangential force (pulling the rock) and the normal force (applied by the participants) - was calculated. Coating (chalk vs. no chalk), dampness (water vs. no water) and rock (sandstone, granite and slate) were manipulated. The results showed that chalk decreased the coefficient of friction. Sandstone was found to be less slippery than granite and slate. Finally, water had no significant effect on the coefficient of friction... We conclude that, to improve the coefficient of friction in rock climbing, an effort should be made to remove all particles of chalk; alternative methods for drying the fingers are preferable.'...

From the Journal of Sports Sciences, Volume 19, Number 6 / June 1, 2001

There is no discernable rhyme or reason most of the time, just an incredibly complex mix of chance and planned encounters. We make our way and pass our time giving our attention often to the most remarkably perverse and unlikely things, but things, which ultimately we find, give us enormous pleasure. It is no more worthy than that, but just imagine if it were anything less.

All the staff would like to wish this year's graduating students the very best for the future, and hope that their time at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College has adequately played its part in preparing them for the journey ahead.

Alan Franklin
Course tutor