Restart PhD

Well here we go again, after 3 terms as a p/t PhD student, I have now transferred (almost) and had my induction as a 1st year p/t PhD student at RHUL. Now only 6 years to go (hopefully less) The day started out grand and amazingly I did not have any feelings of De Ja Vu! Can you get in the Guinness book of records for how many restarts of a Degree you can do? I shall have to look, though I doubt 2 will be to high on the list.  I can honestly say this time I was made to feel like a PhD student, a collogue and apart of the department, something that rarely happened at the "other place". Don't get me wrong I had collogues there and people I could talk to but rarely did you see the other PhD students other than at seminars and as far as I knew they did not meet up. Unless we saw each other at a conference or bumped into each other in the corridor. But enough of that!
The induction went well and we were all advised of what happens next. I though the graduate book with all the working titles in it was useful and you could see what the others were doing and who their supervisors were, so that you could get in contact if needed. My supervisor is very friendly and had more to say in the time I was with him, in one meeting, then I have had in the past year and half. I feel like I have a process and a path to follow rather than being left to my own devices and floundering in a pool of research that I had no clue what to do with.

I have plenty of ideas and things to add to this thesis or rather what I want to add but without guidance it was all just going to be words and nothing else. Now it feels like I have something concrete.  "A PhD should be fun", he said to me when we finished, I looked a bit sceptically at him.  It is great to see an academic that enjoys his job!!and I am looking forward to working with him and this new department.

Oh My mad head!!

Today I have found out I shall be going into hospital at the beginning of October. I knew it was coming but it is still very stressful. I am worrying quite a bit about what will happen and how things will work with Stan having time off to help me when I am back home from the hospital. Also it is frustrating that this has made me have so much time off and has affected my studies and ability to work so much. I just feel so lost and anxious. It would be great if I could know that I shall be able to study while I am off to at least keep my mind in one piece, though I don't know if that is possible as it doesn't feel in one piece at all at the moment!!

You want to know that everything will work out, but there is so much to sort out, I have no idea what will come of anything. All I want is to be healthy, know my family are ok and be able to study and work. But it feels like it has been such a long time since all that has been possible. I am very low and am just trying to get on with everything that is happening. I have been reading a lot for my studies and I think I am progressing with getting some framework together on how the thesis shall work. I am hoping to have some idea before I go into hospital, so I can get out and just work  on it while I recover. I am sure that that is a pipe dream, but you have to try to keep busy somehow!!

I am glad my blog has been so interesting to some people, it is a shame though that they do not read all of it before making assumptions!! This summer has felt like a damp squib to me as I have been struggling with so much, but it has also been good that I have been able to spend some quality time with Stan and Hannah before everything starts happening. The 3 weeks we get in the summer are very important to me as it feels that it is the only time we get to be together by ourselves. I know there is Xmas but that is for family and Easter is not very long an dis for spending with others as well. So it is good that this summer we got to have some personal time and spending the time on the boat all by ourselves, I think means that we are topped up on alone time till next year! I think Hannah will be glad to back at school so she can see her friends and not be with her boring parents and depressed mum!! Amazingly Stan and Hannah have also managed not to spend most of the time arguing!!, I think it is because they were so busy, since I could not do a whole lot but watch what was happening.

I have started to try writing again, in a vain hope that I can concentrate long enough to get an article to a boating magazine, it might also help my confidence so I can write to more historical things, when I have the material together from my project. Now that there is a date I am hoping that I can get my head around what is happening and get prepared but we shall see what the next fee weeks bring. I am sure that there are still more stormy waters ahead!!

a few select more photos

                                                  Seasick Molly on the bed

                                                                  Selsey Bill

                                     1st mate Hannah at the helm with Capt Stan keeping watch

                                           Coming to the Solent

                                               HMS Illustrious in the Solent

1st mate Hannah in Charge!

Molly's daily starters of Sprats!

One of the forts protecting Bembridge Harbour

The way to Bembridge

The view from the hill of Bembridge Harbour

HMS Illustrious coming behind after we left Bembridge to go to Yarmouth

Further Photos of Dover

 Seasick Molly checking out the local fish at Dover Marina

 Dover Beach, boy those stones were uncomfortable!!

The view from Dover Beach out of the Harbour.

Mon 1st Aug Poole to Ridge Wharf Yacht Centre

 Capt Stan in awe of the peacefulness of the river Frome, either that or a bug just flew in his mouth!!

The views from the boat of Poole Harbour, Rockley park, and Wareham on the way down the River Frome.

This morning waking up in the marina it was strangely quiet, you could look out to the breakwater and hear very little but see all the activity of a working harbour, while on the other side you could watch all the people go by going to work and shopping. I sat at the end of the pontoon with my feet in the water watching all the fish below and it felt so peaceful.. It was very hot and we were making our way to Ridge Wharf on the River Frome, we still had not heard from the EA about a mooring but we hoped that if we got there we could solve any problems from there. I had decided to escape and so Captain Stan, 1^st mate Hanna and seasick molly were making the trip by themselves. I was going to get the car and meet them there so we could begin to take things home, so the boat smelled less like a unwashed laundry bag!

It felt very strange to be in a car again and even stranger to think that it had taken us 2 weeks to do a 3 hour trip from Chertsey to Poole! A domestic were beginning on the boat again, as Hannah has been able to charge her Nintendo DS and was in game mode and had little interest in anything else, but she was dragged away for the last leg of the trip! I was hoping that they managed to get to Ridge Wharf without throwing each other into the river along the way! Apparently, my leaving was wrongly timed as it was the best part of the trip! Typical! We also had the good news the EA had a mooring for us and we could take it that day! However we still wanted to moor at Ridge Wharf to charge the batteries and fill the tanks again before settling on the mooring. After settling in Capt David got some bubbly out and we got to celebrate the success of our first sea going trip!! It was great to share a bottle with the new friends we had made on our trip and fitting that they shared this with us. We are hoping to be here for a few months as Corisande has to come out to renew the anti fouling and now also to waterproof the gunnels!! Hopefully by next season we shall have got most of the work we wanted to do done and have seen some of the area before going back to the Thames.

July 31st Sun- Yarmouth to Poole Harbour

 Corisande in Poole Quay Marina, all safe and sound!!

 Hurst Castle as we go past!

 Corisande, maybe a bit out of place with all the gin palaces next to her??

We didn’t have to leave till midday, so we had another leisurely morning this time watching all the other boats trying to get out of the harbour, having been in Yarmouth all weekend I imagine they were all trying to get out while the wind was up and get back to their home ports. We watched a sailing loose control and swing round to the other 3 it was rafted to scratching the nearest one before running off quite quickly. We thought at this point that was enough entertainment and we should start getting ready to move. Both Bonny Rose and ourselves were going to be sailing to Poole harbour were we could await news if we had managed to gain a mooring on the River Frome, near Wareham.

Having checked the weather and seeing it was going to be choppier than we had been in before; we made sure to fix everything down we could. Once out of the harbour we found out exactly how choppy it was going to be particularly with the business of Solent to contend with as well!! It was chaos once out of the harbour with all manner of boats chasing and trying to get round us as well as the ferries criss crossing our path. The most annoying was the very big new boats who zip past without seeing where they are going, boy it would be good to put them in a tin tub and see how they feel when a speed boat zooms past at 20 knots!!

The sight of Hurst castle and the needles was terrific, you see the postcards but it still looks amazing when you get to see it up close yourself. You could almost imaging you were being taken to Hurst Castle to await your sentence, like a certain King we all know!! After taking a few photos Seasick Molly and I took our places in the forward cabin, though it is more bouncy there at least when you lay down you feel like you are not being pitched around uncontrollably. Little did we know! 1^st mate Hannah took the helm while Captain Stan checked all the ropes and such and she got to yell a few choice words at some of the speeders trying to wash us away as we got caught almost immediately out of the harbour.

It was very choppy all of the way to Poole and Seasick Molly made sure to live up to her name, though training has meant that she stayed in the head while she was sick! After coming into Poole bay, things got even worse, I had dozed off to the pitching of the boat and both me and Seasick Molly got rudely awakened by a flood of water coming in under the windows and gunnels. As we came to a place called Christchurch Ledge, Corisande began to roll as well as pitch and we touched water on both sides we were rolling so much and as it became apparent we had a leak in the forward cabin; though only when the boat sloshed side to side. A sheet of water came in and soaked poor Seasick Molly making her run for cover on the floor, where she thought it would be safe. However it was then all the things all the side fell down on top of her. The rest of the boat was just as bad and we lost a mug and glasses that were fixed down. Capt Stan had taken over the helm and both he and Hannah were holding on for dear life upstairs. While Molly tried to get back onto the bed by jumping from the floor, but during her jump we pitched to starboard and she hit the roof instead! So I picked her up together on the bed with me just as we heaved to the other side and I got to hit the roof too! Molly had enough by this time and hid in the head to stay out of the way.

Hannah came to check on us and sat with Molly and took up the seasick cause as well, though not that she was going to tell Capt Stan! She quickly made her way back to the top deck where she could watch everything with Capt Stan. Bless!!

Needless to say if we wanted adventure we got it today, this was the longest 3 hours of the trip and ever! Having arrived in Poole quay, it was like heaven, I felt like jumping off and kissing the ground! It was hard to believe the difference between the outside and the inside of the harbour. It was amazing coming into Poole harbour having only seen it by car and walking along the quay. Now being on the other side, you felt strangely separated yet so near, as it was so peaceful in the marina. After that trip a few drinks in the pub was required to calm the nerves!

July 30th Yarmouth day 2

 Capt Stan having a few winks on the beach in Yarnouth harbour!

 Hannah after her beach combing session

 Some selected views from Yarmouth harbour beach out to the Solent

 We are very close to where the ferry is, yet we did not notice the loading and off loading.

 The harbour is heavily packed with boats and at one time we were rafted 5 across!

Can't get much closer than this!!

We stayed in Yarmouth a second day hoping to spend some time at the beach, yet when we woke up the day began grey and miserable. So as you do, we got up late and the captains played with the engines! Seasick Molly thought it was most interesting what the captains had uncovered and was most annoyed when she was shut away in the forward cabin! 1^st mate Hannah, 1^st mate Pamela and I decided to go for a sail in the dinghy with the electric motor and had an adventure scaring the local wildlife with how quiet we were.  Particularly a large Herring gull who had a large fish and had to try and run as it was too big to fly with!

After our trip exploring the River Yar we met with the Captains and set to Yarmouth for Lunch, which was good timing as the sun began to come out. So we hurriedly got back to the boats to change into swimsuits for our jaunt to the beach. After arriving at the small beach adjacent to the harbour we could watch all the boats and ferries in the Solent busily on their way, while Captain Stan took the time to have a snooze. Hannah went beach combing and Pamela went swimming. The views from the beach were amazing and in the distance you can see what seems to be 100’s of sailing masts in Portsmouth harbour, that look similar to a forest  of trees! There is rarely a dull moment in the Solent and it was very easy to lose track of time watching the world go by.