I don't actually work for the Astrogrid however I am involved with the Euro-VO's VOTech project, which is managed in the UK by AstroGrid, so I'm sitting in on their 11th consortium meeting at MSSL.
Which is how I've come to be sitting in the common room of a country house, which despite being about three quarters of an hour drive from Gatwick Airport, is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. I think it's been at least ten years since I was last at MSSL, and it doesn't look as though the old place has changed much.
Like much of the hard science community in the UK most Astronomy groups are ghettoised into buildings constructed during the early 60's, and despite some notable exceptions, these buildings aren't particularly ergonomic or comfortable places to work. MSSL is an exception to this rule. I'm sure like all old buildings it suffers from a whole different set of ergonomic problems, and like Jodrell Bank it suffers from being badly isolated, however it does have a sense of history which is always sadly lacking in modern buildings.
I just wish it wasn't so bloody awkward to get out here...
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