On my wick

I was workplanning with a project partner in the US and she thinks we have discovered some new bat species. One of the likely taxonomic families is known for bats with large penises. I then somewhat foolishly typed 'bat penis' into Google and revealed a load of articles about a contestant on Celebrity Love Island. I am already in the bad books of Linda in IT for downloading a browser add-on that enabled me to watch iPlayer overseas. I kept a low profile for the rest of the day.

Hannah and Fede invited me to my first formal hall (dinner) at Magdalene College along with another friend from work, Lawrence. Fede is finishing up his PhD so is cramming in the social events, and students are allowed to bring guests as long as they adhere to the rules.

Formal halls at Cambridge colleges are steeped in tradition and it feels like the dinners have followed a similar format for several centuries. Unless it's one of the 60s colleges, the venues are candlelit atmospheric halls where the most senior professor says grace in Latin and servers and students alike have to respect the movements of the academic staff by pausing when they are on their feet. There are rules around gown-wearing and various complications about the time window for uncorking wine. Few ethnic minorities were represented, but the post-drinks room did give away free After Eights and Baileys.

I wanted to be careful not to transplant any pre-existing bias against elitism and pomp into the evening, and because Oxbridge is an easy target, I tried hard to view everything with an open mind. I am now mulling over these practices within a sub-culture within a college culture within an elite institution.

Traditions are everywhere in all societies, often they are innocuous, and mostly they involve a greater number of people so are more levelling. If the traditions in these halls insulate the participants from reality or reinforce any sense of elite superiority, their time has passed. Many students use the knowledge of their privileged place as a force for good but I fear others don't have enough perspective of the average person's life to be able to. I am pleased to have experienced it and, despite being coarser than most attendees, not to have upset the college elders (although at one point I mispronounced Magdalene as it is spelt rather than the correct form of 'Mawdlin'). I don't think it should be an issue if a waiter collects a used plate while a lecturer is exiting the room, but I wasn't alive in the medieval period to point that out.

Black Friday has invaded the UK retail sector with unnecessary force. I don't think this phenomenon affected us five years ago. My inbox was already out of control so the hundreds of deals and offers have not been helpful.