Congratulations and celebrations

My sister Steph got accepted to study Medicine at UCL. Despite repeatedly telling her how over-hyped the city is, she's really happy to be going to London.

My friend Joanna Parmley, who started her PhD after me, passed her viva voce exam, officially making her "Dr Jo". Last night we had fantastic time with former and current Hurst lab members at my ex-supervisor's country house. Laurence and his wife used to regularly host dinner parties, but I studied at Bath just as his family grew by two. I've always been curious at to what I was missing!

His dog and two daughters are all really sweet. The girls were keen to show-off their plush cuddly toys, including a maned lion named Milly. One day daddy the biologist will have some explaining to do!

Laurence was very pleased with himself after showing-off a birdie in Golf. Seriously, how many university professors do you know who play Wii?