So, today, for the first time in 35 years, I have been inside a laboratory. Scary stuff happens in these places.

You have to wear a white coat, protective glasses, proper shoes and all sorts of stuff to be let loose in a lab. The first thing we’ve had drummed into us is how much everything costs…..which does, of course, worry me rigid given my propensity to drop things or otherwise damage them. I found myself holding onto the microscope I needed to carry across the room so tightly I almost lost feeling in my hands. I dithered and waited until everyone else was sat back down just so I’d not bump into any one or trip over them. Phew – got it out and put it back without mishap I’m pleased to report.

Today’s session has been a bit “Mickey Mouse” in some senses because all it entailed was switching on the microscope, setting it up properly and then looking at one slide. The only “real” work I did was to draw the things I could see on my slide and that got handed in for my first bit of marked coursework.

It probably won’t surprise anyone to know that I’ve been fretting about doing my labs – especially in biology, despite thinking biology is something I should get on with. Basically I’ve been worrying about dissection. For a thirty-odd year-long vegetarian who is against animal experimentation, I’ve been fretting and frazzling about whether I’d be expected to dissect lab rats (obviously dead ones). I’m not sure how I would have dealt with this issue, but asking around, it now seems unlikely that I’ll have to do any at all. Phew again.

So, now the lab coat is slung across the back of one of our dining room chairs looking for all the world as if a scientist lives here. How strange is that?