Introductory Lecture

As we walked into the Lab a tutor was standing waving his arms at the rows of benches and calling "Group 1 here, group 2 here and group 3 here" Clearly, we had to sit in rows according to our group. I wandered toward the back of the lab where Group three were supposed to sit and found myself sitting next to Carolynn. Our group tutor is a lovely lady called Jane whose long grey hair is done up in a clip at the back, our demonstrator is an enthusiastic young chap called Christophe. The other tutors in Lab one seem larger than life and fairly eccentric - somehow, Jane does not fit that mould. We worked until 6:00pm when we had an hour for Dinner, then on until 9:00pm. I had been warned about the food at Durham. The warnings were not exaggerated. I guess institutionalised would best describe it. However, they had a lovely salad bar so I decided to spend the week eating salads.

By 9:00pm I got to know Carolynn quite well and we decided to wander to the bar to recoup after our first day. It is my first summer school, however Carolynn had already met up with Mischelle who had been on the S102 summer school the previous year. I also spotted a couple of people from my own tutor group that I had met on a field trip with to Newlands earlier in the year. Everyone seems very friendly so it looks as though I will have a good week. At the bar, Phil Rogers came over to chat and we caught up on 23 years. Took about half an hour. Amazing how you can condense your life story.

Mik Markham (the coach leader) warned us that the field trips relied on a prompt start so we must be ready to board the coaches at 8:15am for an 8:30am departure. He also told us that the S338 group had to be on their coaches at 7:45am so we should give them priority at breakfast, and that they would then do the same for us when we had our early start on Tuesday. Tomorrow's trip will be to Hillbeck hill. There is toilet stop at the start but other than that, we are going to be on the hill all day. As bushes might be in short supply, Carolynn and I decided to watch our liquid intake at breakfast.

There are times when I think life is much easier if you are a bloke.