Finals, Results and Balls!

Right, where was I last time we saw each other? Was I waving at you as I wallowed in an alcoholic haze in the aftermath of my exams? Or was I reclining on a punt gliding gently past the backs of Cambridge's most beautiful colleges thanks to the punting expertise of Duncan, Sally or Simone? Was I sipping champagne in Grantchester meadows, having a picnic on the Wolfson lawn or just awaking from an extended afternoon nap?

Well, whatever I was up to, the main news since my last visit here is that I PASSED MY EXAMS - ALL OF THEM!! It turns out I'm nowhere near as thick as I look after all - which is something of a relief!

Friday was a Cambridge Day to Remember. In the morning, Simone and I walked into town: we were psychologically holding hands, nervous as hell about the prospect of finding our names and grades on the Green Notice-Boards of Doom outside the Senate House, both of us only wishing to get the same grade and both hoping that same grade would be a 2.1. We arrived, only to find our results had not yet been posted. We drank coffee, talked incessantly about the same things over and over again, worried, fidgeted, made anxious sideways glances in the general direction of the Senate House. Then we went underwear shopping, realising only as we were queueing in Marks and Spencers that the Results Posting Hour had arrived. We held hands, approached the signs, then panic hit and neither of us could find our names. Three Williamses, there were, all with different grades: I thought "Fuck! I've got a third", then "whoppeee - is that a First?", followed by "Oh bugger, it's a 2.2.". My heart sank just a little - it was what I had been dreading but I was trying my best to comfort myself: some of the papers had been very difficult, a 2.2 was still a decent grade and, besides, I never came here expecting to do well. Remember: beer and boys, that was what it was all about.

Except my grade wasn't a 2.2 - when I worked out the grade I was counting down from the top in groups - my name was in the third group, which made it a 2.2 - until I worked out that the top group was the names of the examiners. So, a 2.1 after all - good stuff, and better stuff still when I found Simone's name in the same group. I hugged her, tried to jump up and down with her and heard her scream "LET GO! I HAVEN'T SEEN MY NAME YET!".

We came home, happy bunnies. Arrived, Louise was here. Joy! Then we checked e-mails, got our breakdown of marks. It turns out we really did get the same grade - averaging out at over 67%. We were still surprisingly unbothered by the extra couple of percentage marks we would have needed to get a first. High 2.1s were plenty good enough for both of us to go on to do any post-grad work we wanted. Happy times.

Fast forward a few hours. Pictures speak louder than words. I'll leave you with some...


















It's not easy putting photos on this blog. I have put most of them on to Facebook and suggest you all get yourselves an account (Nicki Cilia is way ahead on this one!).

Thank you all for helping me celebrate - I never would have dreamt on Friday morning I was capable of (a) a high 2.1, or (b) pulling an all-nighter and making it to the survivors' photo at 6 am. I'm a very happy bunny: sad to be leaving this life behind but looking forward so much to the one that is ahead of me. And I think we have to come back to future balls here, for some sort of annual reunion of crazy alcoholics! You're all just brilliant, you really are!