Ball

I woke at 07:00, and got up immediately, as I wanted to retrace my route of last night in order to look for my keys. I didn't find them at the most likely place, so was pleasantly surprised and relieved when I found them further down the same street. There's a pleasure in getting "away with" being careless. In work I attended a meeting where I had something positive to contribute, and then finished writing my exam. After a quick call to И, I advised Y on the ATAS application for her study visa - she was offered and accepted her PhD studentship yesterday - and then got down to experimenting with a new piece of code that someone has written for HiGHS, and writing some documentation for it.

At 17:00, I got changed into Highland evening dress, ant took a bus into town for the student Maths society ball. Before and after the meal I met a couple of dozen students I'm teaching this year, or taught last year. Although a self-selecting group, most were very complimentary about my course.

At my table I found myself sitting between a good Spanish colleague, and a student from the Netherlands whom I hadn't taught. I enjoyed her company immensely and, later, when I left with my Spanish colleague, she took a moment to say how much she'd enjoy meeting me. The pleasure of hanging out with smart young people never grows old.