The great cleanup....for a day of interaction
Wednesday morning saw a large number of people awake early and running around cleaning, ordering and washing up the central room and its surroundings. Mops were scarce as well dish washing sponges and order was the call of the day with a rapid reconfiguration of the furniture. All in time for the visit of our ONR Global Program Manager's visit, Dr. Ellen Livingston who had flown in from London. Joining her was Lars Lovlie of Norway's Defense Research Establishment (FFI) who had come from Oslo.
Presentations were made, questions were asked and details were provided for a long day which went all thru lunch (at the local dive in Tavira which served excellent fish for a bargain) and continued well thru the afternoon. Ellen complemented the team and told us that despite all the setbacks due to uncontrollables (ship and weather in particular) we had achieved a lot. And indeed we had. She encouraged all participants to think of ONR Global for funding, which while modest was good for networking and seed funds. Freshly squeezed orange juice and expresso notwithstanding, the end of the day say all happy and tired.
Dinner was at a new place in a small town outside Tavira, St. Luzia. Table tennis commenced late in the night with the relief of the review over and that we had done a good job in presenting our work.