2022: Pandemic behind, Thesis ahead (a little bit to the left)!

I have good and bad news and spadefuls of optimism! The good news is that we ended the pandemic and jabbed the nation out of misery and prison. Sad for those who were relishing the burrows but the bunnies were out in full swing in January 2022. Oh Covid is still around but it it is not sending us to hospital and no one wants to know anything about it so I shall say no more! Just that long Covid in teenagers and young people should get more attention in the media than a defamation case involving Johnny Depp! The more good news is that last year I finally concluded with great civility and dignity my financial settlement arbitration and I emerged with a year and a half grace period to conclude thesis, find work (holy-moly!) and move on! Maintenance year means I should thesis in peace.

The bad news is that I am still struggling to get 'back' into the thesis when I get out! Advice: Don't take breaks if you are like me. Calculate after a break how long your break from thesis was and how you felt when you tried to crack in again. For me, the week before my break with a friend, added on to the ten days break, and then the week after when I tried my darndest to get back in the groove, took away around three weeks! The only way to do this is to be totally in control of when you take breaks and no obligation to do it at any given time. It's great if you have a friend who can understand that and let you decide. More likely than not, your relationships will suffer, but that's a risk in the final year - do watch the latest series of the Marvellous Mrs. Maisel and you'll see this is universal and timeless a risk for all thesis-writers! Only breaks I take are for half-term stuff with the kids!

So it's 88 days: a nice number, fluid and contained. No open-ends and untidiness and it's how many days I have to churn out four chapters. my third I will take four plus two days to complete the first draft. Then I have chapter five and six taking up 28 days apiece which leaves us with 26 days for in-between breaks. A strict calendar and disciplined writing is needed. I will blog more about how I weave in gardening, walks in Richmond Park and along the Thames as well as swimming to keep fit as well as cooking my ancestral diet and sitting in a proper office chair to keep carpel tunnel syndrome at bay! With a visiting fox as my mascot, let the writing begin!