Prepare for the Big Day

Over on Kathy's blog she mentions that tomorrow is Unicorn Day, and she lists a number of details about unicorns including the fact that it's Scotland's national animal.

Well, I didn't believe that. I'd never heard of it and why would a country have a mythical animal as its creature. Then I remembered in Wales we have the dragon . . .

Anyway I looked it up and cross-checked on several reputable sites, and, yes, it's true: Scotland's national animal is the unicorn.

But speaking about dragons, we have a little corner of the garden, that is dark and currently covered in slate bits. It just gets littered with this and that and is wasted, so I was thinking perhaps I could put a little statue there.

My first thought was a child reading but the options are either bronze and v. expensive (though lovely) or pretend stone and a bit naff. Then I thought about a dragon but the same thing applies really. Either dramatic and metal and expensive or boring.

I don't want to spend a huge amount so my choices are limited. I'll keep thinking.

Now, while I was looking for photos of dragons I came across a piece I wrote in 2011 (nothing about dragons so not sure how I got there). I thought it would be interesting (for me if not you) to repost it along with another piece from eleven years later.

September 2011

Younger Son has started his new job in Devon. It's not an ideal job but it's work and he gets paid so it's fine. Trouble is the job is full-time and he's only just heard from the university that he needs to do 2 taught modules during the first year of his PhD. He could have coped with doing his own research in the evenings and at weekends but he won't be able to attend regular university lectures. As a result he's decided to postpone starting his PhD until next year in the hope that he can get funding that will enable him to give up his job. He's being very sensible even though he's disappointed.

I was telling someone this and their response made me think about education and its value.

Husband and I both went to university as did all three of our children. We took it for granted that they would want to. We still like to think that a degree helps you get a better job in your chosen subject although that's a bit of a fallacy these days with just getting a job being a struggle, but a university - or other - education is more than that.

Education and learning for its own sake is equally valid I believe. Not just for those who will go on to make a tremendous difference in the world through their invention or their art, but just because. It's the reason old age pensioners learn how to send emails or get degrees in their 80s; it's why adult evening classes in French, art history and flower-arranging are so well-attended.

So when someone says to me, 'It'll do him good to join the real world,' I bite my tongue and pray that Younger Son clings onto his dream and brings it to fruition.

June 2022

Today he finally had the email telling him he's passed his doctorate! He's now Younger Son PhD!

It's been eight years since he started during which time his supervisor has left the country, his examiner retired, and university admin has generally messed him about. He's been on the point of quitting so many times and we are so proud not only of his achievement but of his perseverance and determination. (He gets that from Husband; I give up at the first hiccup.)

His dissertation is entitled something  like, "Utilising behavioural psychology to create pro environmental behaviour in scuba divers." And it's in the fields of conservation psychology and marine biology. (I had to ask him!)