Our fine host!

We had a day out visiting old friends, and enjoying an exceptionally boozy lunch with them that lasted from 1 pm to about 8 pm.

My goodness me, we were glad we decided to go by bus rather than driving over.

Here is our host for the lunch. I took the picture initially as an experiment to see what would happen with his black shirt against the black background, but I think that the photograph is a good likeness of our friend, and perhaps conveys the spirit of the afternoon. And I have to say that his wife and he prepared a very fine feast for us and two other visitors.

This man was once an undergraduate student of mine, and then he did his doctoral research with me, and at a later stage became a research assistant in my group. He is now a very distinguished professor in another university, not far away, and is Head of Department there. So I have known him since he was a schoolboy applying for admission up to this latest stage of his career.

I have to say that it has been a great pleasure over the years to have known students who subsequently become really good friends, and often professional colleagues as well. It is one of the true rewards of our endeavours in academic life.