Dr Claire

 I had taken the Monday off. I looked forward to not going to Menai Bridge. And then an email came: my former colleague Claire would have her viva that day, and I was invited to celebrate with her afterwards in the pub. And I like Claire! She covered for my colleague Mollie when she went on parental leave. He interrupted her PhD for that by a year. She did a fine job. We also hung out socially. We did a memorable walk just after a race, when my IT bands were not collaborating at all. We also had done a walk with my other colleague Katie. And she had a whole bunch of us over for a games night. So I wanted to come. Even on my day off. 

I decided to bike. I don’t like biking to almost work (the pub is some 600m from the office) but now that the weather was finally good for biking again it would be a pity to drive. 

I got to the pub and didn’t see any of the celebrants. When I checked my email I saw that there was an update: everyone was in the coffee area, having cake. Oh dear! It was my day off. I hadn’t brought my key card. How would I get into the building? 

I phoned the person who had sent the update, but she didn’t answer. I tried three more. One answered, but he was at home. Finally, the first person saw she had a missed call, phoned me back, and let me in. Success! 

Now I could go and congratulate the new doctor. (Yes I know, she still has to do corrections.) I was also introduced to her partner Tom. And soon we went to the pub. ‘We’ included her external supervisor and external examiner. Excellent! 

We sat outside, because we could. Claire was clearly feeling a bit strange. That’s normal after finishing something that big! And someone had prepared shag stickers. Her PhD was about sea birds, and she are a good candidate if you want to get some light relief out of them. After one drink we relocated to a nearby pizza place for dinner. British vivas take hours; I bet she was hungry.

My ‘Honk if you love a shag’ sticker! 

It was funny that in the restaurant there was a bit of a buzz about Effi. A lot of people either had already seen it, or were really keen to see it. I have never experienced such excitement about a Welsh film!

I was quite aware of having to bike home again, so after that pizza I said my goodbyes and left. Claire is staying at the University, be it on main campus, so we will be able to keep seeing her!