fatvegan

Anna and I had to present some stuff to CHERE yesterday. I thought I would be much more scared than I was. Normally when I wake on the morning of major sorts of things I have butterflies, but I kept repeating to myself part of email which the organiser had sent me.

It is very informal and lunch is provided.

It quelled all my fears very nicely. It was very informal, and lunch was provided. And the lunch was good and gourmet. One of the nice things about being a research assistant is all the econometrics lunches and nibbly evenings you get to go to.

The people at the presentation were really polite and interested and clever. If I had a paper I was writing, they are exactly the people I would want to present to and have ask questions of me. The interestingness of questions asked by professors so far seems to be rather a lot higher than those asked by undergraduates. Which is reassuring I can tell you. Undergraduates rarely ask questions at all.

The trip to the place was very difficult. I didn't have a watch, and I was worried that I was late, so I was racing across the city on crutches, in the middle of a sunny day, wearing a giant winter jacket (which I couldn't carry because of the crutches). But the time I arrived there I was so sweaty and hot. I hadn't been able to put deodorant on that morning because I'm not really sure where any of my stuff is, so I was hoping that the Mitchum "you can even afford to skip a day" promise held up. And I realised my shirt was totally crumpled and I looked generally pretty shoddy. Fortunately I was 20 minute early, so I had time to cool down.

I collapsed into the boardroom still looking rather appalling, and I think the girls running it wondered if I was legit. They ushered me through and got me some water and I dumped all my bags and coats and crutches in the corner. It was a bit awkward until one of them suddenly piped "Do you know Vineta? We'll go get her!" And they did. And despite having to compare myself to Vineta's chronic and infuriatingly pristine appearance, I was relieved. We had some little chats until Denzil - who was supposed to be violently unwell and probably wasn't going to make it - arrived.

Everyone arrived and they were actually quite a large number and the lunch feasting began. I wondered if maybe it was one of those glorious events that everyone goes to just so they can eat and chat, figuring that having to sit through a presentation is a reasonable admission fee. But it wasn't.

I did my little presentation, and people were really interested, and were talking about things they could do with the dataset. Which was the whole point, so that's grand. Anna did her talk, which was far more ambitious and sophisticated, but also much more vulnerable. She got a very considered and friendly lambasting from most people in the room, but stood up to it very well I thought. Especially considering she had just claimed to a room full of health experts that the risk of children being overweight increased by 5.7% for every additional hour their mother worked.

I think the nicest thing was that everyone was chatting and discussing stuff, and most of it I understood. And even better the stuff I didn't understand I felt like I would understand pretty soon. And they were talking about important things and problems that make the world better. And if I could make the world better, I'd be a very happy chap.

Although if I can't make the world better moving to France and starting a cheese farm would make me almost as happy.