A Worthy Celebration.

The Intrepid Two meet up at 07.30 at Athens airport for another adventure, which meant a very early rise for me ....and my driver ! :) Our Aegean flight to Gatwick was fine ... apart from the catering. Breakfast, purporting to be Croque Monsieur, was brittle and well-nigh impossible to cut without  little pieces of 'shrapnel' flying off the tray. Croque Missile, more like! Then a train trip ( again disrupted !!) to Plymouth. What is it with English trains?!

  

We were there to attend Angeliki's graduation at Marjon University and she had organised everything beautifully. Our b&b accommodation at the  Three Crowns bar was perfect  with this lovely view of the harbour 

                                               

We needed some sustenance beforehand and, instead  of the local Devon cream tea, we went for the  Cornish Pastie - well, we were  on the borders of the two counties. A semi-circular short crust pastry pie, usually filled with meat and potatoes, it has a thick bevelled crust all around for ease in holding. Tradition says this was the food carried to work by the Cornish tin-miners.  

First the gown, hood and cap had to be picked up and here she is titivating a little before going to the venue, St Andrew's Church.

 And here The Master's - with distinction !! - is being conferred on her by the Vice-Chancellor. Isn't the University officials' rich regalia  impressive? 

 When it came to  shooting Angeliki , her fellow course-members and their tutor, I wanted  to show off the hoods, shaped according to the university with colours  dependent on the faculty department. It's interesting to see that the graduates wear the traditional mortarboard - the square board attached to a skull cap, while their tutor wears the doctoral soft-crowned, round-brimmed Tudor bonnet. Incidentally, since there are now so many universities in Britain, with each one selecting designs and colours for their academicals, in 2001 the Groves classification was  introduced whereby details for each uni are identified by a code of letters and numbers.

                                               

Christina, a friend, currently a doctoral candidate and tutor at the University of Lancashire, came down to share in the celebrations, bringing a beautiful bouquet. 

 

Her family run the award-winning  Greek restaurant, Greekouzina, in Preston and we were delighted they came to join us.  

 

The local gin distillery with restaurant seemed the ideal venue for our celebratory meal. 

Good food, great company and high spirits - a really memorable evening !