Supervision on what turns into a lovely spring day

Daffodils out at Birmingham Uni

It was grey and threatening this morning when I left Sheffield. Rain clouds hung heavily over the city centre and the air contained a light drizzle as if they were not quite sure whether they were packing up or just testing to see how we’d cope with some more rain. It was just enough to keep my brolly up most of the time as I walked down to the station. When I got to the station I found I had booked the wrong train, but decided to get the train I thought I wanted instead of the one I was booked on, and I managed to get a table seat in a quiet carriage which is my ideal situation. However whereas I normally find that the train is one point that I really get a chance to read, today I was anything but focussed. Not quite sure why as there are a range of contesting items. Easter was hectic, not only was I trying to get what time I could for writing my PhD, I had three chapters in the last six weeks to my supervisor but I was First Table Elder on Easter Sunday which was also our Ministers last service! Then there is the fact I have been teaching a new course at work and that always takes energy. Finally it is one of those times when my energy levels drop and I have quite a bit on this weekend as well. If I am also honest it was one of those supervisions where I needed to talk to my supervisor about something. Not something nasty just something important.

The weather was still overcast when I got to Birmingham and I thought the day was not going to get any better when I spotted that the Waterstones at the University House is closing in a week’s time. This has been one of my post supervision haunts, a place to gather my thoughts amongst the quiet whispers of books, where nobody thought it odd if you spent half an hour just browsing the shelves and then bought nothing. However my brain is also saying that there are very few students around. I do not mean none, but not term time numbers. When I go to the cyber cafe that does as a common room the cafe is not open, the drinks machine is sold out and it is about half full of students. Quite a few are working on computers, indeed a quiet industriousness hangs in the air, socialising is conspicuous by its absence on the whole. Beside the computer I used to check the Google alerts for papers I found a penny on the floor. I eventually decide this has to be the last proper day of the Easter vac, which feels odd as Sheffield has been back for almost a fortnight.

Just before 2:00 pm I wander up to my supervisors office, there is a notice pointing to Starbucks at the other end of the corridor, I go to the other end to see if there is a clever way to get but realise that if I did go out by the doors I would need a parachute to arrive safely at the Starbucks cafe below. I think it is classed as misleading directions. The supervision of the chapters goes well. Two of the three chapters (one actually before the supervision) are in second draft. The third my supervisor sorts the structure of the argument out for me but I have to pull one that was in second draft out and will have to redo for it to be in second draft. My apologies to James and Ruth, who are going to have to go through the Worship chapter another time.

Then we got to the conversation I was dreading. It was a biggie on who were possible examiners. Now all PhD students spend time wondering about this. Internally you are always pretty limited, and I think my supervisor was well aware that there were certain members of staff who I would not want. I am however perhaps one of the easier students to place as I expect to open up my thesis to the range of academic discourses rather than working solely within a particular church tradition. By the way in passing I got confirmation that the problem former supervisor in the department was exactly who I thought it was. Then we turned to external. There were two options, one was to find someone from the URC who could examine me. At a pinch I could think of a name, but it is tricky, not least because many of the obvious names are theologians and few are sociologist and if I use a theologian then my father will be the elephant in the room. The other option was to choose a sociologist and it is that line that we have taken at least to begin with. What was even more interesting is that we went through the exact names that I had occasionally gone through. There is a bit of a problem in that many of those who have done Congregational Studies in the past have moved on so my work is almost the only recent stuff. There are several of names that just do not fit with what I am doing; at least two of them could have done if I had done a slightly different thesis. That leaves three people, all of whom would do. We picked one, probably the most senior and someone who I believe I can have an interesting conversation with. There was two good things to come from this; firstly it was a good test of whether my view of where I stood with respect to wider academic discourse was right, secondly my supervisor thinks that my thesis is worth someone I regard as being one of the current leaders in the subject. I am not naming them as they have not been asked. I need to finish the substantive chapters for next supervision and then have a good go at the methodology if I have any extra time.

We also talked of finishing date. It looks like I will be submitting late summer, early autumn. That is still tight but realistic, we actually did a time thing. I came out and finding the building stuffy, went outside. The sun was shining and the daffodils were out as were what I think were current bushes with daisies flowering in the grass. I got a diet coke and liquorice toffee from the Spar before going into Waterstones for the last time. I ended up buying three different note books, a mug (for Dad) and a book of T.S. Elliots prose. That was actually a serious piece of thesis work, as he wrote an article on culture which a couple of the theorists I semi-read this morning referred to. I wonder what I will make of it!

Please note there will be no further blog this weekend, I am taking an extended weekend off thesis!