It is Commencement day today at USC! In celebration of that I thought I’d post a picture of my colleague Krzysztof Pilch and I, being a bit silly. We each have one of those excellently practical Brompton bikes (splendidly finished in British racing green, of course) you sometimes have read about here, and Krzysztof suggested that we take a picture or two of us in academic robes riding our bikes. Krzysztof had his academic full gear ready because he was going to go to the hooding of one of his graduating PhD students, but I had no regalia to hand since I was not planning to do anything ceremonial this year. However, I have a master’s gown at home from the old days of being a member of University College at Durham University (I’d have it ready in case I was going to high table dining at the Castle, where that College is), so I brought it in, borrowed a mortar thingamabob (from our colleague Vitaly Kresin, who also took the photos – thanks!), and we were ready for our close up! (I’d forgotten that my gown was designed to go over long-sleeved garments, so it looks a bit odd, but given that temperatures have been passing 100% these last few days, I think it was actually appropriate to be short-sleeved…)
Congratulations to all the graduating students and their families, and good luck for the future!
-cvj
