An unusual overhead view of a taxiing 737
The Open Education Challenge, Barcelona, Catalonia - 13th July 2014
Nosher and Isobel are at the "Open Education Challenge" final round in Barcelona. Isobel and Jules' idea - Think With Things - is down to the last 18 and is vying for one of the final winning nine spots to go through to a hectic four-city round-Europe session of mentoring and workshops. After a tense couple of days rehearsing speeches, interspersed with lunch and a nice outdoor music-and-tapas session in the company of David Puttnam (director of Chariots of Fire amongst others) and Xavier Prats Monné, Deputy Director-General for Education and Culture at the European Commission, amongst others. Isobel is more than relieved when Think With Things is indeed selected as one of the winners. There's no time in all this to actually see anything of Barcelona, but we do manage to escape the compound (a sort-of religious retreat-cum-hostel) for a few hours and retire to a local bar for a couple of beers.
Soundtrack for this album:
next album: Latitude Festival, Henham Park, Southwold, Suffolk - 17th July 2014
previous album: St. Peter and St. Paul's School Summer Fete, Eye, Suffolk - 12th July 2014
A Thomson 737-800 trundles on to its gate at Gatwick
Isobel peers out over the apron
Aerial view of an easyJet 737
On the escalators at Gatwick
EasyJey actually uses air bridges, unlike some
An easyJet 737 taxis around
Hundreds of trolleys at the real Barcelona Airport
Isobel roams around our spartan accommodation block
A craft workshop commences
Isobel gets down to making stuff
Our picture takes shape
It's a hive of activity
Pictures are laid out on the stage
The team from Talkso do their speech
A French team presents a bizarre Barbie sacrifice
OEC signpost
Some paperwork
The corridors of Cordola Martí
Magnetic letters on boards
People mill around the corridors
The lovely gardens of the Cordola Martí commune
Weird almost-black flowers
It's time for lunch
A table is moved around
The chilled Tempranillo wine flows
The gardens of Cordola Martí
Isobel chats to former Helsinki acquaintance Teemu
A marble bust
Stone gargoyle
A tiled bench and mosaic
There's time for a break and some TV
Funky matchbook sculpture just down the road
Isobel roams the streets of suburban Barcelona
Truck-side graffiti
Some anarchist graffiti
An old Mark 2 Astra (Belmont)
We escape the compound and eat Padrón chillis
Crusty 'Fanta' café sign
Café tables at night
An actual cigarette vending machine is filled up
Empty chairs in the Resedencia Cordola Martí
Back in the workshops, it's day two
Day two's lunch occurs
The OEC canteen
1970s corridors
A post-lunch workshop
The Greek team show off their 'cube robots'
Pre dinner mingling
Isobel talks to a potential investor
More schmoozing occurs
Isobel and a Challenge participant walk to dinner
Our picture again
David Puttnam, legendary 1980s film producer
Apples float in a fountain
Conversation in the walled garden
Isobel chats away
Tasty fish-on-a-stick tapas
Nosher's request of 'Lullaby in Birdland' is played
We hang around with fruit on a stick
Isobel with some OEC panel members and participants
Photos on phones are shared
The funky jazz band do their thing
Lord Puttnam chats to someone
Isobel does more schmoozing with the EU
Some stunning mini cakes arrive
Elsewhere, Luna reads to herself
The OEC participants listen to speeches
David Puttnam awaits his turn
The judges hang around
Lord Puttnam gives a lively speech
By the light of a mobile phone
The next morning, the terrapins are out in force
The 1960s/70s 'cubist' style of the accomodation
The nearby church attached to the 'monastery'
Industrial staircase
Nosher and Isobel make hand-made business 'cards'
Isobel brushes up her pitch
Luna makes up a game out of Isobel's 'things'
Isobel on the stairs
More deserted 1970s corridors
The OEC challengers assemble for a group photo
Nosher and Isobel
Isobel waits on the fountain
Luna has been creative with some fridge magnets
People chat after the results
A map of the participants
Cubist architecture
Mundane wooden doors
More corridors from the 1960s or 70s
Isobel waits at reception to check out
Isobel in the car park
Near the airport, it's the Estralla Damm brewery
A Sleazyjet 737-800 on its own on the tarmac
Our plane loads up
Down the side of an easyJey 737
An executive jet comes in
The actual Barcelonda airport
Cool Olympic-torch control tower at Barcelona
A BA aircraft hangar
Back at Gatwick airport
A massive Emirates Airbus A380 at Gatwick
The giant inter-terminal walkway at Gatwick
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An unusual overhead view of a taxiing 737
An unusual overhead view of a taxiing 737
A Thomson 737-800 trundles on to its gate at Gatwick
Isobel peers out over the apron
Aerial view of an easyJet 737
On the escalators at Gatwick
EasyJey actually uses air bridges, unlike some
An easyJet 737 taxis around
Hundreds of trolleys at the real Barcelona Airport
Isobel roams around our spartan accommodation block
A craft workshop commences
Isobel gets down to making stuff
Our picture takes shape
It's a hive of activity
Pictures are laid out on the stage
The team from Talkso do their speech
A French team presents a bizarre Barbie sacrifice
OEC signpost
Some paperwork
The corridors of Cordola Martí
Magnetic letters on boards
People mill around the corridors
The lovely gardens of the Cordola Martí commune
Weird almost-black flowers
It's time for lunch
A table is moved around
The chilled Tempranillo wine flows
The gardens of Cordola Martí
Isobel chats to former Helsinki acquaintance Teemu
A marble bust
Stone gargoyle
A tiled bench and mosaic
There's time for a break and some TV
Funky matchbook sculpture just down the road
Isobel roams the streets of suburban Barcelona
Truck-side graffiti
Some anarchist graffiti
An old Mark 2 Astra (Belmont)
We escape the compound and eat Padrón chillis
Crusty 'Fanta' café sign
Café tables at night
An actual cigarette vending machine is filled up
Empty chairs in the Resedencia Cordola Martí
Back in the workshops, it's day two
Day two's lunch occurs
The OEC canteen
1970s corridors
A post-lunch workshop
The Greek team show off their 'cube robots'
Pre dinner mingling
Isobel talks to a potential investor
More schmoozing occurs
Isobel and a Challenge participant walk to dinner
Our picture again
David Puttnam, legendary 1980s film producer
Apples float in a fountain
Conversation in the walled garden
Isobel chats away
Tasty fish-on-a-stick tapas
Nosher's request of 'Lullaby in Birdland' is played
We hang around with fruit on a stick
Isobel with some OEC panel members and participants
Photos on phones are shared
The funky jazz band do their thing
Lord Puttnam chats to someone
Isobel does more schmoozing with the EU
Some stunning mini cakes arrive
Elsewhere, Luna reads to herself
The OEC participants listen to speeches
David Puttnam awaits his turn
The judges hang around
Lord Puttnam gives a lively speech
By the light of a mobile phone
The next morning, the terrapins are out in force
The 1960s/70s 'cubist' style of the accomodation
The nearby church attached to the 'monastery'
Industrial staircase
Nosher and Isobel make hand-made business 'cards'
Isobel brushes up her pitch
Luna makes up a game out of Isobel's 'things'
Isobel on the stairs
More deserted 1970s corridors
The OEC challengers assemble for a group photo
Nosher and Isobel
Isobel waits on the fountain
Luna has been creative with some fridge magnets
People chat after the results
A map of the participants
Cubist architecture
Mundane wooden doors
More corridors from the 1960s or 70s
Isobel waits at reception to check out
Isobel in the car park
Near the airport, it's the Estralla Damm brewery
A Sleazyjet 737-800 on its own on the tarmac
Our plane loads up
Down the side of an easyJey 737
An executive jet comes in
The actual Barcelonda airport
Cool Olympic-torch control tower at Barcelona
A BA aircraft hangar
Back at Gatwick airport
A massive Emirates Airbus A380 at Gatwick
The giant inter-terminal walkway at Gatwick