March has been a monster month, yet I have little recollection of what went on other that the odd curry, a lot of gardening and a very exciting evening at the Operetta ‘La Belle Helene,’ where I caught sight of an old Maths teacher almost making public his square root whilst wearing a toga.
In other news I was very happy to find out earlier this month that I can officially write the letters ‘MSc’ after my name – quite a step up from the ‘HMV’ and ‘DVT’ I’ve tried to pass off for some time now. This of course also means an afternoon of donning a cap and gown, sitting in some stuffy hall and clapping limply whilst watching Isla White pick up her 7th PhD.
In respect to this gracious occasion however, I also have the somewhat odd task of choosing which of my dearly beloved, who (god bless them have all aged considerably since I started this Master’s degree), shall be accompanying me in said stuffy hall (a maximum of two), and which of my long suffering supporters will have to watch the ceremony via a ‘video link room’.
Much to my surprise all three of my nearest and dearest, namely my Mum, Dad and Neil have offered to do this – all of whom I suspect have their own agenda for not witnessing me first hand collect my official transcript. My Dad for one is familiar with the area of Headington in Oxford and knows the Dog and Trumpet is easily accessible within the time frame of a graduation ceremony.
My Mum on the other hand is an avid reader and I’m sure would be much happier in the company of Jane Austen or Erica James than Captain Birdseye or whoever they bring in to make this year’s speech.
Neil I suspect however would rather actually be setting up the the video link rather than watching something on it – using some Linux application called ‘broken badger’ or ‘furry armpit’ or something similar (I am immersed in the world of Linux as you see). Most likely is that he has figured out you can get free Wi-Fi the nearer you are to the Cafeteria…
The answer I think will be to make them do shifts. That way I also get the opportunity for least half an hour in the Dog and Trumpet with enough time left over to throw my hat in the air at the end.
Now that’s what I call Planning.
A boring comment, but if you order your video link tickets as soon as they become available, you stand a good chance of getting upgraded to sitting in the main theatre as they work on a first come first served basis. It’s the only upgrade that’s ever worked for us! Cxxx