Serendipity

What is it about Auckland traffic when it rains?

And what is it about Auckland weather in early December?

Griping aside, it was most fortunate that when my Pacific Blue flight landed the other day, right alongside the previous (two hours delayed) flight, that my bag was first onto the carousel and I was able to race outside and grab the ONLY Co-op cab on the rank. Turns out that a traffic jam on the southwestern motorway (in both directions) had prevented any other taxis from making it out to the airport. And every other taxi there, from various companies, had been pre-booked.

Earlier in the day, Dave Snowden had recounted the story behind the word serendipity at the Cognitive Edge Accreditation Course in Wellington. Yes, serendipity was "taught" at Library School, well, not exactly taught, but it was a phenomenon that was well regarded, has been observed by librarians down the ages and was working for me again this evening.

I had to dash across town to make an end of year business networking dinner that my partner had booked us in for. Thankfully I had lucked upon the smartest taxi driver in Auckland. Billy not only knew about the snarl up on the motorway (we tried it for a few hundred metres, then got off at the first available off ramp.) He also knew that there were snarl ups in Newmarket. When we tried to drive around this one, we got tangled up again at the Gillies Road on-ramp. This time my knowledge of Auckland back streets came into play. So, after three traffic jams, I arrived late and with a moderately hefty taxi bill, but I did make it in time for the main course.

At the Cognitive Edge Course, Dave Snowden had discussed the perils of the London taxi driver and here was a fantastic example of said skills in action.

Allied to that, when I finally sat down to dinner, I ended up sitting next to a charming young lawyer from Mcveagh Fleming. She had dragged along a colleague of hers to the dinner and it turned out that this colleague actually knew what knowledge management was and indeed has a friend writing a thesis on it at Auckland Business School.

I have been trying to locate post grad students in km up at the University.

Serendipity indeed!