Wednesday 8 October 2008

BRISBANE POSTCARD


“For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move.” - Robert Louis Stevenson

My day today has been full of meetings, interviews, consultations with staff and many administrative duties that go hand in hand with my visits to Brisbane. A very hectic schedule, but also very satisfying, as at the end of the day one gets the feeling that much has been achieved and the trip is worth it. Although the weather has been very pleasant I have not had a chance to enjoy it as I have spent most of my time indoors. However, I did walk to work in the morning from my hotel, which is a good 2 kilometres away, and I walked back there this evening. Spring is evident in the gardens and parks and the subtle fragrance of the mauve jacaranda mixed with the headier creamy frangipani blossoms, perfuming the streets.

I shall be spending the day in Brisbane tomorrow also and then returning home for the weekend on Friday evening. There is lots of work to be done at the weekend as every time I come to Brisbane I take home a new project or two. Such is the lot of a peripatetic worker! Hence our word of the day:

peripatetic |ˌperipəˈtetik| adjective
1 Travelling from place to place, esp. working or based in various places for relatively short periods: The peripatetic nature of military life.
2 (Peripatetic) Aristotelian. [ORIGIN: with reference to Aristotle's practice of walking to and fro while teaching.]
noun
1 a person who travels from place to place.
2 ( Peripatetic) an Aristotelian philosopher.

DERIVATIVES
peripatetically |ˈpɛrəpəˈtɛdək(ə)li| adverb
peripateticism |ˈpɛrəpəˈtɛdəˈsɪzəm| noun

ORIGIN: Late Middle English (denoting an Aristotelian philosopher): From Old French peripatetique, via Latin from Greek peripatētikos ‘walking up and down,’ from the verb peripatein.

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