Walk Two Hundred and Thirty-Nine – Shadows

Flo’s school holidays have started, and so she accompanied me on my walk where we also delivered all our village Christmas cards. We talked about what she can do to stand out from all the other candidates when she applies to university to do veterinary medicine (which is what she thinks she wants to do). I don’t know how it is in other parts of the world, but here in the UK it is much more difficult to become a vet than it is to become a doctor. There are very few places and they are all heavily over-subscribed, so apart from it being essential to get top grades in all of your subjects, you need to have something extra to distinguish you from the other candidates. Work experience in the field seems to be one important way to show commitment, but goodness knows what else. It’s all a bit of a surprise to have produced this scientifically talented daughter. When I was at convent boarding school, they didn’t think that girls needed to learn sciences at all. Once when I inadvertently embarrassed one of the nuns by asking whether any of the girls had gone to Oxbridge (little did I know that barely any of them had had any kind of tertiary education whatsoever) her reply was ‘Your parents haven’t sent you here to gain qualifications, they’ve sent you here to learn good manners!’ So Haunton Hall (really, that was what it was called) did a rather wonderful line in awarding badges for good deportment, but none of us were ever taught physics or chemistry. So if there’s anyone out there who knows something about what really can make the University examiners see how clever, dedicated and generally all round fun to be with, Flo is, then do let me know.

125mm x 200mm watercolour in large watercolour moleskine