Dr. Lang

Posted on 2007/07/05 21:55:48 (July 2007).

[Thursday 5th July]
Took the day off work today to go and attend a very special occasion - finally today was the day for Rob to put on his floppy hat and go and shake hands with the Vice-Chancellor.

I arrived in Reading towards the end of the morning, and met Rob for lunch in town (which also gave him a chance to buy a last minute new suit in an impressively short amount of time). From there we then headed to Rob's place where we met Jill and Iain (Rob's Mum and Dad), and then over to the London Road campus, picking up Byrnie and Kate on the way.

After a quick drink Rob, Kate and his parents went into the ceremony while Byrnie and I waited in the marquee. We had a rather nice time of it actually - the two of us sat and drank Pimm's and tried to pretend it was summer (it was in fact raining outside, as it also had on my PhD graduation day). Byrnie and I realised we had now become rather seasoned graduation ceremony attendees - I had been to had least five in Reading that I could remember (count them - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). It's a rough average of one every two years over the last decade. We determined that we would be quite happy to come along and join in the festivities even if we didn't know anyone who was graduating. Slightly reminiscent of that film The Wedding Crashers I suppose.

Anyway, on Dr Lang's triumphant return from the ceremony there was the obligatory bottle of champagne, and it did just about brighten up for long enough to get a few pictures outside. After a while longer of just generally soaking up the pleasant atmosphere of graduation day we headed off. We had a couple more drinks at the Turk's Head (nearest pub to the London Road campus), and then I headed back into London.

A jolly nice day out, and I am so pleased after all the ordeal poor old Rob had to go to in order to get the final sign off on his PhD that he now has it - and I couldn't think of anyone who deserves the qualification more.

Congratulations Dr. Lang!

Didn't he throw his cap up on the pediment then?

Posted by John's Mum at 2007/07/05 23:00:04.

Great Pictures, COMPLIMENTS DR.LANG!!! I am happy for 'ya!

Posted by Lox at 2007/07/05 23:47:00.

Cheers John-boy. A lovely write up there. And thanks for treking out to see me! :-)

Posted by Rob at 2007/07/06 11:24:21.

Yes I wish I'd taken a few more pictures in hindsight, but we were battling against the weather a bit... Still, there were a couple of other cameras there, and unlike me Rob even got the official one done (holding the inner tube from a bogroll and everything) so this only represents a sample of the photographic coverage of this monumentous event.

Posted by John at 2007/07/06 21:42:31.

....and Rob, you're welcome - it was a pleasure to be able to attend. It's great that we were both able to attend each other's, and in a way even better than having graduated on the same day, as this way round we got to do it all twice over!

Posted by John at 2007/07/06 21:44:14.

Congratulations little bruv, can't think of anyone who deserves it more. You should get an honorary doctorate for perseverance!! xx

Posted by Alex (big sis!) at 2007/07/10 13:36:55.

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