I managed to have an entire conversation the other day without mentioning the d-word once. It was quite a revelation. Usually I always end up blurting it out, like a sort of MW Tourette’s.
‘Yes, I passed the tasting, but now I’m doing the dissertation.’
‘I can’t take part until I’ve finished the dissertation.’
‘Can I please have a pint of milk, six first-class stamps and by the way I’m doing a dissertation.’
So, managing to finally not refer to it was rather novel, especially because I have spent the month since writing part 45 deliberately asking...