Where better to 'write-up', but....

....India! Or atleast contemplate the process of it.

On 26th December (gosh, in 2 days), I am going to India for 7 weeks, for two weddings, hopefully more than two adventures, and three weeks of thesis writing (yes, Edward, 3 weeks of writing). Conveniently, two of my special people have decided that they'd like to get married in neighbouring states in south India, 6 weeks apart. I am very grateful for this, and felt it rude not to accept both of their beautiful invitations. So, off to India I go. I'm hoping that the magic of the sub-continent will inspire my work too, and I'll return with lots of good words on tropical peat swamp forest ecology and management. I'd better. The days of missed deadlines must end with the turn of 2012.

And two Indian weddings! I am a very lucky girl.

Many happy Christmas wishes to anyone who might be skimming, and I hope the year to come is a very happy one, and that we win the Olympics.

I'll be in touch from the land of sweet spices and savoury sweat.

My precious pollens.

Here are a few of my beauties....

Last Monday was momentous for me....I finished counting pollen. I AM NOT COUNTING ANY MORE. (Another time I'll explain the tenuous link between pollen and palm oil.) I'm not sure how many days I've spent, how much sight I've lost, or how many Woman's Hours I've listened to in the process....but I did calculate that I've counted over 103,012 pollen grains and spores over the last 3 and a bit years. (Don't worry, that calculation didn't take up too much valuable writing time - I weighed up the costs and benefits before doing it.)

Now to analysis. I'll miss my Radio 4 marathons though.

If only pollen grains wore name tags.

I've decided not to think about the automatic pollen counter that my supervisor has just bought for my lab. It's just not cricket.

And why not become a pioneer.

Another way of ensuring a swift end to your PhD is to not only keep growing your own food, but embark on an allotment expansion project so that you can grow even more food that you don't necessarily have time to cook (it's all about priorities though). I felt much like one of the first American pioneers today digging up fresh new earth with my fellow allotmenteer, Benj, under the mid-day sun....whilst an environmental campaigner took photos of the site we're moving into to support his argument that we're badger-loathing nature-haters. There are always two sides to an argument. Our new patch is an exciting blank/black canvas awaiting permacultural inspiration and strawberries, amongst other juicy gems.

I'd like to thank my previous plot for it's wonderful cooperation over the last 3 years and the many courgette, butternut squash and (a failed) parsnip cakes it provided in its prime.


And apparently there's always times to dress up as Santa and run around a park too, in these precious 'finishing' months.

It's all about priorities (think I've said that before). A good friend of mine, who's just finished her PhD and done wonderfully well, has made me appreciate it might be time to rethink mine! I hope there's still time.