Ah, graduation day: The silly hats, fawning parents and photos that won't go away
Ah, graduation day! She rememembers through gritted teeth. The sexist ruling that declared that Ladies didn't have proper mortar boards, but some stupid soft version. We were all invited up to the Departmental building beforehand. Every other department that issued invitations offered sherry and nibbles to graduands and parents. Not the Politics department. Not even water, and the temperature was actually hotter than today.
Us Ladies were supposed to wear a black dress or white blouse/black skirt to graduate. Even though I was twenty-one and about to graduate, it really pissed me off that i was the only Lady in my (admittedly tiny and predominantly male) department to be wearing a black dress.
The crowning nadir was when the professional photographers wrote to me to say that the particular film they used for my 'official' photos had been over-exposed and there were no photos. They would, however, pay for the rehire of the gown so that I could have them redone in their studio (no mention of travelling expenses...!). But my brother had taken a decent enough one of me, so, as far as I was concerned that did. Would you rely on a professional photographer or a schoolboy?
And the Graduation Ball was a really horrible unenjoyable night. I hated it. And missed some bloody good telly because I graduated on 14 July 1989*, and there was some splendid stuff coming from France. They rounded the evening off with Henry V, because Laurence Olivier had jsut died. The chutzpah of that has only just occurred to me...Agincourt and all that.
*bicentenary of storming the Bastille
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