The conference, hosted by University of Glasgow at the Crowne Plaza Hotel went without a hitch. I had a view from my bedroom window right up the Clyde which was magnificent. There are some beautiful buildings in Glasgow not least of which are the City Chambers where the conference delegates were kindly invited for a reception by the Lord Provost. The Jesuit Church of St. Aloysius is another absolutely wonderful building.

Now it might sound from all of this that I was on holiday. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. I was privileged to be on a panel,’Social Function in Horace’, with Professor Stephen Harrison from Oxford and Professor John Moles from Newcastle and I delivered a paper called, ‘The Usefulness of Horace (other poets and me!)’ Speaking of which if anyone reading this blog was at my panel and didn’t manage to get one of my handouts, then feel free to email me and I’ll make sure you get one.

This venue is the first I’ve read at where I’ve actually had a copy of my collection ‘Chasing the Ivy’, although I have read work-in-progress at several venues in the last couple of years - nice to have the book itself at long last and thank you to all those people who bought a copy.

The conference was striking in that there was a high percentage of young people presenting papers as well as worthy academics. This made for a very interesting mix and made the conference feel very vibrant. I am always surprised at the breadth and width of knowledge held by many young people - they are impressive!

As always with such events discussions went on until late into the night and there was wine (Horace would certainly have approved!)and I was introduced to a delicious whiskey I’d not tasted before, Laphroaig - it is peaty and best taken with just a hint of water to bring out its full flavour and smoothness. Something else to remember for my Christmas list I think.

Here are some photographs I took during the conference. There are none of me actually working - but I did work - honestly!
(I have blocked out or chopped friends from my photos because I don’t think I should assume everyone wants their face on my blog!)