thursday dodging the triffids

[sungod]

'ning

scorchio, possibly incendio

ride, cafes and bask

 

[briantrumpet]

Graduations 10-12 today, after suitable doses of coffee from my DeLonghi machine. Been raining overnight, I see, but looks like we might get away with it for the ceremonies, so umbrellas not required. More pastries and a pasty from the university shop will be consumed.

 

[DCLane]

@briantrumpet - I'm presuming you work in a university? Mine for my university students is at 4pm today so I'm hoping it's not too warm. My gown makes me look like Father Christmas / a fat Superman.

 

[Pinno718]

Morning Mortar board bearers, tyrants and those in between

Sunny and calm up here in Northumberlandshire County Land though pleasant, not incendio.
Will do stuff depending on energy levels.

Coffee...

 

[oxoman]

Morning peeps. Day of work as I celebrate becoming a sexargenerian today. Feeling a little low as both my parents had passed before they reached 40. Never mind. Family around later for a few beers. Family under pain of death if any surprise parties sprung on me. The lads jokingly said there was a dwarf stripagram ordered so to stay at home. Weather decidedly damp here at the moment. Builders next door have been given a rocket by me and the neighbours for not reading the plans properly. Luckily I spotted there cockup before they'd done to much brickwork.

 

[wakemalcolm]

Congratulations on reaching the sexual generation. There's hope for us all.
A good day for coffee and breakfast outside. Just a shame I had some unfinished Imlach business to attend to.

 

[VinSumRox]

Looks sunny out there, cold still hanging on, might feel a bit less like sleeping a lot today. Some bike race to watch later.

 

[sungod]

rode up to yaiza against fierce headwind to wish the cactus well and have a coffee, rewarded with a hurtle back from the same wind

cafe brekkie about to arrive

 

[briantrumpet]

@briantrumpet - I'm presuming you work in a university? Mine for my university students is at 4pm today so I'm hoping it's not too warm. My gown makes me look like Father Christmas / a fat Superman.

I do the ceremonial music with a brass ensemble... entertaining stuff before, with everything from Dancing Queen to a Gabrieli Canzona, then the grand processions in and out. People seem to really appreciate having live music, and being live it means I can paper over any cracks in timings with none of the audience knowing. My OU MA gown and hood aren't too silly, at least as far as gowns and hoods go.

OK, they are all silly, actually, though David Attenborough made a good case for the display of silliness when he was awarded an honorary doctorate here about 15 years ago, comparing it with the displays animals make at various times.

 

[Stevo 666]

Another graduation here, it's my kid's turn to put on a mortar board and pick up her certificate. Currently sat here waiting for it to kick off at 10.00

 

[briantrumpet]

Good hon grad speech from a climate specialist at the Met Office, talked about mis/disinformation, tribes, & polarisation, and the value of disagreement in finding agreement. In considering "Who to trust?", she wisely suggested that those who are able to admit they were wrong and change their view are the ones to trust more than those who just stick to their tribe's position.

Hon grad speeches vary enormously. Just occasionally there's a great one, using personal experience to get something thought-provoking across, but they are few and far between: most are generically decent and 'worthy', and occasionally they are dire (such as the one by Damon Albarn, whose 'speech' lasted about one minute, and had had less preparation than that).

 

[briantrumpet]

Hurrah - got my invoicing for Summer Term lessons done, between ceremonies, with the bonus, thanks to operator error on my part, that contrary to what I thought, I'd not invoiced already for the first half of term, so it's a decent wodge of dosh dropping into my account for the summer hols. (The operator error is me still learning how to use the Autocrat add-on to Google Sheets for doing a mail merge... each time I seem to overlook a different thing I need to check before doing the merge.)

 

[PhotoNic69]

Morning all. One Grad Session done. Three more to go today. It's gruelling. Currently on Ceremony 10 of 17.

Hot and stuffy and sweaty and airless.

View from the back...

 

[Homers Double]

When all of these reprobates graduate do any of them think "you know what I to be...? A H&S advisor!"

If any of them utter something along those lines please just punch their face, as hard as you can right in the face.

 

[Homers Double]

But in other mundane news I had a really fun morning today.
Chances of riding are slim to none and I just want to go to bed early for once. But I did stock up onsome reasonable sun tan cream for our trip to Italy and some water guns.