...and making me feel like an old bag. Still it's nice to see their enthusiasm, brings back happy memories of those first idyllic weeks at university. Them were the days...

It's the nature of scientific research that much of the time you won't get the results you wanted or expected. That's the same whether you're a student or an established head of a group. I thought the idea of a PhD was to demonstrate that you understood the processes of science, not to get results that confirm a hypothesis. As long as you can demonstrate that you had a rational reason for choosing the methods that you did, and can discuss what next steps should be taken as a result of this unexpected lack of statistical significance, you should still be eligible.

Personally I can't stand having the radio on in the lab (quote from Simpsons' Comic Book Guy: "If I want to listen to mindless droning I'll listen to the air conditioner"), but if I'm outnumbered, as I usually am, I won't complain. I think it is dangerous to use personal headphones in a lab: you can't hear if any equipment is going wrong or alarms are going off.

Pretty much everyone has a radio on in the lab: sounds like she's looking for an excuse to moan. She must have bionic ears if she can hear it two rooms away.

Get some lungs from the butcher and inflate them with a straw. Just remember to remove your mouth from the straw before they deflate or you get a gobful of minging lung-air.

How open is your relationship with him? If you are able to do so, I would ask him directly if he would give you a good reference even if you did not do these extra tasks. Then it is up to him to explain himself if he says "no".

Just re-read your message and realised that if you need a visa you probably don't live close by your uni; sorry...I don't think you will have any problem since you want to register after September. It's only poeple who want to register before September that may have difficulty.

I would think so; it's only a few weeks later after all. You can probably start whenever you're ready but you wouldn't actually get your student card until the postgrad committee had met. Different institutions probbaly have different rules; if you live nearby just call in and ask to speak to the postgraduate advisor.

Where I am the postgraduate committee only meets twice a year (September and January) to process new applicants, so you can only really start in September or January.

Probably depends what field you're in. Once every 2 weeks we discuss analytical results, any instrument problems, any new methods to try, and ideas for collobrations with other groups within the faculty. It's a social occasion with coffee and biscuits, and usually lasts around 2 hours.

Coming back to spiders, does everyone else find their house full of those big b*****ds round this time of year? I mean the 3-inch diameter ones that cast a shadow and can cross your bedroom floor in under 3 seconds?

I had a German flatmate who swore that she'd never seen such big spiders in Germany and that they must be exclusive to the UK, but I can't believe that.

Monkey, I was putting on a bit, but I read about the "Japanese diet". It's not a diet as such though, you just eat Thai/Japanese/Chinese style: loads of vegetables and fish and spicy soups. I lost a stone over a 3 month period and I never felt like I was "dieting", it was just changing the way that I prepared food.

This abstract still makes me laugh (childish I know):

http://www.helsinki.fi/~mpjohans/science/abstracts/008-abstract.html

I wouldn't like to defend a thesis on arsoles.

I've written two lit reviews and my supervisor never questioned that my name would be on them as first author. He went on as second author, at his own suggestion. If you do write the review then get someone else to proof-read it and just submit it without her.

Bound to be on TV again sooner or later: I'll try to catch it.

I like "defenestration". Such an important sounding word for such a stupid activity.