Thanks for the replies. I am in betwen what jojo and rjb203 have said but I think a PhD means facing new challenges and opportunities (never problems!!) so I will give it a try. It means spending Yule/Xmas reading up on the subject but it will probably be more interesting than making conversation or watching Morecombe and Wise reruns at family get togethers!
I'll let you know how it goes in the New Year.

My background is in medieval english but as part of a big mainly language project I was given the chance to do a PhD but in Art History. I am nearly a year in and everything is going OK with my own research but I am due to start as a teaching assistant next semester. However because I am now based in Art History I will be teaching this subject. I have just been sent a couple of outlines of lectures for the course but it is stuff I have never studied, not having an art history background. In fact half of it I'm not even sure what it is about. How am I ever going to take two-hour seminars with undergraduates! Has anybody else experience of having to teach the unknown? Should I say I can't do it. I know if I was teaching any of the courses in the English department I would feel confident in my knowledge and I think I should really at least have some idea of what the art history course is about before teaching it. Help!

I have my first review panel in two weeks but I am away on study visits until just before so I want to get everything ready now. How much detail do I need? I have to do a bibliography, chapter outline, training log, and my supervisor has asked for a brief piece of work showing some ideas so far on the data I have collected. I also have to do a couple of pages on the next stage of research.
Most of it is quite straightforward but I have no idea on the chapters until I have got all my data and see where it is leading me. Does it matter if I just do a basic outline, say on chronological lines. I am looking at medieval costume so I could just do 12th, 13th, 14th etc centuries as each chapter. I am going to have an introduction, methodology and theoretical applications, lit review, and conclusion as well. Does this sound about right?

I'm glad to her not everyone is up and working by 8am. I am definitely a night person and don't get started till lunchtime. I prefer to work in the evening and at weekends. In fact I was finishing off my bibliography for my first review panel at 3am this morning.

I'm glad to her not everyone is up and working by 8am. I am definitely a night person and don't get started till lunchtime. I prefer to work in the evening and at weekends. In fact I was finishing off my bibliography for my first review panel at 3am this morning.

Shani, that sounds a much better system. I hate the way I have to defend myself all the time. I found myself shouting down the phone the other day 'but I have a guaranteed income for 3 years and I am working an a £3/4million government funded project at one of the most prestigious universities in teh world, with a book deal at the end of it and my prospects are actually quite good' - I just felt if I had a little part time job at Tesco to supplement my husband's income then they would be more impressed with that!
Anyway, they have very kindly said that as it is quite a long term contract they will now take my income into account but we still have to wait 2-3 weeks for the final verdict. (Hmm how long does the application process for Tesco take?)

I am going to make massive complaints and write to Watchdog as how can staff be called mortgage advisors when they haven't got a clue what they are talking about. We can get a mortgage from my bank but the vendor will probably have pulled out by then due to all the cock-ups which are not our fault.

I don't know if anyone is interested but I have another update. I phoned Nationwide for a small query about the paperwork and was then told 'sorry, we don't actually accept student income'!!!! I am fuming as I checked over and over with a number of mortgage 'advisors' and supervisors before going ahead. We have paid out money for fees etc because of this. They are going back to the risk assessors to see whether we can still go ahead - I have explained that my income is the lowest it will probably be and after my PhD i will be on a good salary (yes I know that is a lie and I might have to work in a bakery) but we have covered our rent while I wasn't earning and the mortgage is the same amount.

Four months in and all I seem to be doing is admin stuff rather than actual research. I am filling in a skills audit; finding and signing up for training courses; spending ages finding and booking hotels and filling in forms for study visits; filling in more forms; setting up software for data storage; going to meetings; I suppose you have to do the groundwork first before you can get started.
Is this normal? I haven't looked at a book in days! (apart from Yellow Pages; Travelodge Guide etc!!)

Same as 404, PhD researcher for trying to get a mortgage and student to get a railcard and council tax discount!

Just an update. We have finally got our mortgage - with Nationwide. No higher lending charge, accepted my student income and fees not too high. Hurrah.
I'll invite everyone to a virtual housewarming when we move in.

I agree with correctedshoe, temp agencies will welcome educated people. I have worked for and had temps work for me and you would be surprised how many are complete idiots. Most places I have worked they are so glad to have someone who can use their own initiative and get on with the work without being spoon fed. Also, depending on where you are working you could possible take on extra work because of your skills (for no extra money but at least it might not be as mindnumbing as basic stuff). I ended up producing newsletters and publicity material for a company where I was a receptionist because of my previous journalism skills. It just made the day a bit more interesting. And if you do not want to go into academia you might be able to network, again depending on type of company.

The Open University do a psychology conversion course for postgraduates.
http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?Q01D15
I don't know if this would be any use.

Thanks. We'll have a look at them as well.

Just thought I would update on this. When we applied for a mortgage last year with HSBC there was no problem. We are now in a position of going ahead with a purchase but decided to look round for a better deal. With a whole of market broker we have just been told no-one accepts PhD stipends as proper income. If you don't tick their boxes you are just dismissed. I think the word 'student' scares people. HSBC are probably the only lender that will accept PhD stipends so we will go back to them or my Dad is going to act as guarantor as we 'don't have enough income to cover mortgage payments' although obviously we do - but mine is classed as Monopoly money!