I only have a 2.2 for my first degree as well, from another Russell group uni.

Nope, I'm doing a PhD at one of the Russell group unis and I don't have a distinction.

You can get non-stick ones too (more expensive) including ones where the non-stick surface doesn't come off and therefore you can use metal utensils. My big one is like this but I bought it back with me from India, was definitely worth it.

I just had a quick look on the Argos website. Both of mine are Prestige which is the best brand I reckon. You measure the cooking time in "whistles". So if I was cooking chana daal, I would soak daal for an hour, put daal plus water into the pressure cooker (about 2 times volume of water to daal) and then turn on cooker to medium to high heat. Once the steam has released (whistled) 3 or 4 times (15 mins). I would take off the heat and leave the pressure cooker alone for a bit to allow the pressure to level. To check you can open the pressure cooker, slightly lift the whistle at the top, if no steam comes out, take off the lid. If you want to cook the daal more, put lid back on and cook for a further 1 or 2 whistles.

If you over cook, your daal can become mushy and lose the shape but it's still edible (and definitely easier to digest).

Around 15mins for most lentils and beans. It's never much more than that.

The way you have written your post, it sounds like you already have a strong argument against the second uni. The fact they don't have much experience is your particular area is the biggest factor I reckon. Don't be put off that your potential supervisor (at your current uni) doesn't have a PhD, are there are other members of staff (with PhDs) in the department? You could also ask to have a second supervisor if you feel your potential doesn't have enough experience.

There have been a number of threads about supervisors who have had loads of successful (or not) PhD students but that didn't necessarily make them a fantastic supervisor.

Having a break is a must, in my opinion. The further away I manage to be from the UK, the better I feel lol.

I think you can use pressure-cookers to cook really tough bits of meat too.

Yep. Make sure you buy a somewhat decent one though. I don't know if the cheaper ones blow up but it's not worth the risk.

I have two! I use them side-by-side sometimes. One of them is really really old now but it still works ok. Hubby really likes mushy kichdi which is a quick job with the pressure cooker. Also making mung bean curry, cook the mung beans in the pressure cooker very quickly and add to the curry sauce. I have cooked potato curry (super fast). My mother-in-law uses it for all sorts of things!

Invest in a pressure cooker I always good lentils in the pressure cooker (and beans). Definitely reduces cooking time by loads!

Walrus, there is nothing wrong with thinking about "afterwards". Before I started my PhD, I said to my supervisor that I didn't want to stay in academia but wanted to go back into industry. My supervisor helped by getting an industrial company to give me extra funding and I've spent quite a bit of time there. In my opinion, depending on your exact area, phd helps to go further up in the career ladder in the pharmaceutical industry.

Make sure you take the time to attend and even present at industry sponsored conferences meetings. It really helps to network.

Don't stress about it too much now. When you know you have about 1year to 6 months left, keep your eyes peeled and your options open. Apply to anything you are interested in, even if they want someone sooner than you can start. You never know, if they like you enough, they will wait for you (happened to me).

Of course you are right, no one knows what will happen until it actually does. I was just airing my fears on why I don't want to have children at the moment. Going back to going away for conferences etc, I find it hard to leave behind my husband, it would be a lot harder for me to leave a baby for x number of days or weeks.

I did what you are doing, write up chapters as I go along. It really is the best thing to do even if you have to re-write chunks of it afterwards. When I started and asked advice of people who were finishing or finished in my group, the main thing they said was that they wished they had written up as they went along as it's difficult to always remember exactly what you did 2 years ago.

Another thing is that you will look back on those earlier chapters and possibly realise that you haven't done enough analysis or need to do more experiments because you are developing your skills over the years and you WILL become better and better at it.

I agree with you in some ways PC_Geek. I want children at some point but definitely not whilst doing a PhD. In a way it seems a little pointless. You might miss out on conferences and other experiences (which is what I think is part of doing a PhD) because you have to stay at home with the baby. I got to go to 3 conferences abroad this year and presented, if I was pregnant or already had a baby, I wouldn't have been able to go.

I will be starting my new job soon and will probably be travelling abroad quite a bit. If I get pregnant, I wont be able to go so far (or would want to) and then they will start leaving me out more and more. It wouldn't help develop my career.

It's fast food mexican food. I got indigestion when I had it a few months ago.

lol

I love mexican food though.