I managed to get through Christmas without peeking at my thesis, and actually got to relax and unwind. But now January is here, things are moving along and the examination process is now underway. I have a date set for both my real viva and my mock. The mock will be with my supervisors on Tuesday 5th February and then I will get locked in a room with my actual examiners on Friday 15th February. Scary, but I’m glad it’s not too long away now. The only problem is that I will have to, reluctantly, pick up my thesis and read through it again. I’ll do that next week and try and anticipate some of the questions which might come up in my examination and attempt to come up with some succinct answers and summaries of my research, theoretical positions, evidence and conclusions. I think that should stand me in good stead.

While I was home at Christmas I did show off my thesis to various family members and while most only got as far as the acknowledgements page, my Auntie Julie seemed to be getting into it, which I must say was a surprise, but she seemed to understand where I was coming from, so it can’t be that badly written if it makes sense to someone. But we shall have to see what exactly my examiners make of it.

Another Christmas surprise was the amount of Belgian beers my Dad had brought back with him from a recent booze cruise to the continent. Avid blog readers will remember that in my post ‘Sunny Days and Green Beer’ from March 2009 I vowed to have a magnum of Chimay to crack open upon passing my viva. I am pleased to say that my Dad has managed to come up with the goods, so when I get home the following week after my viva I shall get stuck into that. It’ll be well-deserved but almost certainly a little messy!