Time for one of those “diary” entries – just to show that it’s not all about debates and, um, “sophisticated” jokes that no-one gets.

How are things, I hear you ask. Well, in terms of work (and there isn’t much else t talk about), I am consumed by my flailing PhD. I can’t really describe it in a few words, but generally, it could be going better. A lot better. I’ve heard Phil Collins songs that have gone better than this.

Must… resist… obscure… topical… humour…

It’s a lot of work, folks. My long-suffering supervisors and I have accepted the fact that we have nowhere near enough data to justify a PhD thesis yet, and I have only two more paychecks left. Boy, if I hadn’t read one PD James and two Dan Brown novels, I could freak out so easily right now.

Must… resist… obscure… topical… humour…

In short, I have a lot of work and little paid time to do it. I was considering selling my limbs on Ebay once poverty hits, but I’m told that I’ll need my hands to actually write my thesis. So, these days I’m working 24/7. Monday comes, and I feel like it’s Friday. Experiments wind up taking weeks rather that hours. I wake up and go to bed with a constant feeling of trying to run underwater. I’m tired, sick of Science (who isn’t?), the clock is ticking and my work is going slower than a Sergio Leone film.

Must… resist… obscure… topical… humour…

And yet, I’m surprisingly calm. I trust God to carry me through, and I am surrounded by wonderful, encouraging people. One person in particular is helping a lot (you know who you are). And although it looks like everything is falling to pieces (when isn’t it?), I know that, kicking and screaming, it’ll all work out. I just have to keep on praying and pressing.

After all, it could be worse. I could be trapped in a basement with a TV that –

Must… resist… ah, who cares?

– that plays nothing but “Big Brother”. On every single channel.

That’s right. I went there.