I’m back, and exhausted. It was a busy few days in the capital, though a welcome break from the drudgery of thesis writing. The Pathology Summer School was the central reason for my visit, and was definitely worthwhile. The Summer School was held in the Royal College of Pathologists HQ, overlooking the Mall (the drive up to Buckingham Palace) in Central London – a fantastic location, steeped in prestige. It wasn’t always that way, and when the College took over their current location in the 1960s, it was a post-war wreck, having been bombed out and left to decay for years. It’s hard to imagine it ever being like that, but a glimpse of those times remains. The lower ground room walls are bare red brick, allowing the real age of the building to shine through. The event took place all of Friday, and half of Saturday, combining a number of talks from consultant pathologists with smaller ‘find out about’ sessions, where there was a chance to talk to trainees and consultants in a number of different fields. There was even dinner at the College, and a pathology quiz on the Friday evening. which turned out to be excellent fun. Despite having three pathologists on my team, we still lost out to a few others. Between us we barely watched any TV, which put us at rather a disadvantage when it came to the TV pathologists round. I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend, and it solidified my desire to pursue pathology as a career. There are loads of opportunities for research within pathology, whether it is on the side of an NHS job or a full blown academic pathologist, and there is a diverse range of disciplines within the pathology umbrella.

I’m going to have to come back to this one again, as I’ve been trying to focus on writing my thesis and these entries have been started too late in the evening to finish. There’s a lot more to talk about though. I made it to the Natural History Museum, the Comedy Store, the National Gallery, the British Museum, m&m’s world, and much more. Well, actually that is pretty much it, but I also got to meet up with a long lost friend.