Hooray!!! I, Dr. Kerosen, might just be the newest ‘Doc’ on the block. I just passed about 3 hrs ago (and on 13th mind you!!!) of grueling grilling but only minor corrections. I am very pleased with myself I guess the reality has yet to dawn on me. As those that have gone before me might attest to, it was a culmination of incredible hard work, of creation of time, of ups and downs especially this last year. Mine presented an additional challenge in that apart from having to pursue it abroad, it was in a second language (both write-up & viva), which I only started learning at the start of the PhD, yet my area was not linguistics. The downside is probably that I got dumped by my then fiancée in the thick of it all, but I turned a threat into an opportunity by “marrying” my project and it paid – I’ve defended in 3yrs 1wk 11hrs. To sum it up all is well that ends well. To those on home stretch, match on gallantly, those further down the hill one day at a time and you shall surely get there. Cheers fellow forumites for the comradeship!