Olivia - you must check the current quarretine laws - they used to be draconian but may have changed. I think some countries like the US have more favourable entry requirements. People certainly do do it. You might need to approach a letting agency and ask specifically for somehwere that allows pets - that is probably the hardest part!

Nap - is that a funded PhD? It's generally the funding that has to be applied for on a yearly cycle.

Then you need to wait for the next round - later this year but mainly early next. No harm in making provisional enquiries to supervisors that you are keen on though. But much too early for offical applications.

Garvey - that would drive me batty too. I think if you are giong to leave - best to do it in the first year if possible. I like this Turkish proverb: no matter how far you have gone down a wrong road, turn back.

You have to work out whether you can come out of this with a PhD which will look 'normal' and worthy and just forget about how tedious the work has been. or whether it is more serious than that and the project is not sufficient for your career aspirations and/or sanity.

I just had lunch with an old friend who has been an academic for a long time and he is pretty jaded and fed up with the whole chasing money thing. I really think these negative comments stem from the negative feelings of many supervisors who perhaps have doubts about their chosen career and don't feel like recommending it to their students.

Is there a term for essay marking (which is what I should be doing but I'm on the internet instead - I will be so sorry when it gets late and they still aren't finished....)?

Yes this is totally normal I'm afraid. I go through cycles of being very fed up and only shere bloody-mindedness keeps me going.

No support here either but fortunately I have some prior experience. I also have found the reading lists somewhat outdated and sometimes update them myself depending on my time and enthusiasm. I also have given feedback when it's clear a course has been taught very badly. I do think insufficient priority is given to teaching - and organising the course content.

I'm in evolutionary anthropology and planning to stay in academia if I can cling on. I used to be in scientific then educational publishing though and that's something you could look into. The two kinds - journals and textbooks are quite different jobs and career paths. There's also science writing but that's a lot harder both to break into and sustain as a career.Y our University careers people should have information on both these options.

Is it really out of the question? It's quite normal to go straight to PhD after the Masters rather than wait a year (I waited a year as it happens - to apply for independent funding - but most people I know didn't).

It's been a while since i lived in London although i still go down now and again - but i used to like to go to Camden market - you might like to look around there.

Having had a baby in my second year I like this:

WHY WRITING A DISSERTATION IS HARDER THAN HAVING A BABY

1. Three months before your due date, your doctor doesn't say, "I want you to
go back and redo the first trimester's work."
2. Unlike advisors, you can switch doctors without starting over.
3. Conceiving a baby is WAY more fun than conceiving a topic.
4. You know exactly how long pregnancy takes.
5. Friends and relatives don't question the worth of a baby.
6. You don't need to explain repeatedly to friends and family what it takes to make a baby and why you're not through yet.
7. Babies don't require proper footnoting or adherence to a style manual.
8. You can freely borrow other people's stuff if you're having a baby; if you're writing a dissertation, that's called plagiarism.
9. No one will complain that your baby is too similar to another one.
10. No matter how much trouble it was doing it, some people will gladly have more than one baby.

Perhaps she feels duty bound to point out the difficulties in estabishing an academic career - she may even feel a bit jaded herself. Also she may have had or seen many other grad students take non-academic jobs on completing. I wouldn't worry about it too much - if you know you want to apply for an academic job then get finished and do that.

Oh I used to watch Loose Women too. Daytime TV is the devil....

Seen this before - love it!