I've just come back from the second graduation ceremony of the day and I'm happy and sad, which is weird. Threading my way through the queues for fast food and nasty pubs on the way to the theatre where we award the degrees, I realised that I'll really miss this particular bunch of students - some were bright, some were funny, some were troubled but they all made it worth coming to work. Two of them were former housemates of mine - I like to think that the books they nicked from me got them through their degrees. That, and being very strategic: one of them, half French and half Spanish, took a degree in… French and Spanish language! And didn't get a 1st Class degree!
I know that the year behind them contains many more gems, and a new intake starts in a couple of weeks, but I really liked this lot. Lots of people slag off the new generation of students - including me, a lot of the time - but it's at times like this, when you see them with their parents, partners, children, dressed up to the nines, you have to stop seeing them as a mass and understand what a huge achievement it is for most of them.
Anyway, enough sentiment. Time to crack open the whisky.
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