Today was a positive day in terms of research — a sad rarity in recent times! I firstly had a short meeting with my new postdoc bosses and we discussed a kind of manifesto they have put together, in which they have explained their expectations for me in the role and presented their individual working styles. I have really appreciated their openness and honesty in all of our interactions so far, and I hope this will lead to a good outcome in our future work. If I ever have a group of my own, I would like to emulate this very candid dialogue, as (in my experience) discussions about working style, time management and compatibility so rarely happen and yet are extremely important for the health and wellbeing of the group.

We then met with a couple of new collaborators to further discuss some ideas for one of our new projects. I really like the topic (it’s related to the standard sirens work I did a while ago) and can’t wait to get started, though we have a few things to play around with and some initial directions to explore before going forward.

I then spent some time checking all my visa application documents, because tomorrow is the big day: I have an appointment at the Spanish consulate in London at 9am to submit my visa application. This means a 6am train, but I’m looking forward to it nonetheless and hoping for a quick and favourable outcome so I can move to Madrid as soon as possible.

Two other events took place this week: I failed to get tickets for the rugby World Cup in 2023, which was disappointing (but in the end, saved me a lot of money) but I succeeded in getting a haircut on the 15th, only three days after hairdressers are allowed to reopen! I think it’s a miracle I managed to get an appointment so soon. I genuinely cannot wait, as I haven’t had it cut in seven months now, and my fringe is down to my chin.