Tales of a Cockney Jack

by Katie Thomas

I came to Cardiff by default really. My sixth form was immensely enjoyable and so my A level results were awful. I'd asked around about degree subjects and a couple of people had suggested microbiology, it being the only biological subject likely to end in employment. With had no clear thoughts myself, it seemed like a good idea. Both my biology teachers at school were microbiologists but I like to think this had no bearing on my decision. So, after facing resits and another year at home, I was delighted to be offered a place at UCC.

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I was born in Swansea but left to live in England at the age of five, so moving back to Wales felt like a real home coming. Cardiff is a wonderful place to come to after a medium-sized Cambridgeshire town (although some prefer to do it the other way round). My memories of undergraduate years are highly selective. For example, a Microsoc Christmas party at Newport Road is perfectly clear (up to a point - about 8 o'clock, I think) but first year chemistry is fading Into obscurity. I do remember being the only person in my flat to enjoy my degree (the others being various medics, lawyers, musicians and biochemists). The worst thing about microbiology was having to tell people what you do. One landlord, when I said I was a microbiologist, asked me if I was studying microorgasms. Another person suggested I might like to take a look at her dog. Both were met with non-committal grunts.

 

As undergraduates, we were pretty much in the dark over the "merger" with UWIST. The first I heard was during the Easter holidays of my final year. Having gone home (for food, warmth and washing) I read in The Telegraph that Microbiology was one of the departments soon to be closed. Thankfully, that turned out to be premature but incorporation into PABIO followed. Returning to Cardiff in October to start a PhD, the labs in Main College were filled to bursting. In the lab where I worked there were three postgrads, one postdoc and five Honours students. The lab only had four working benches so it was very cosy in there. Things gradually improved, however, and soon I had a bench to myself.

 

Having decided to work for a year to lessen my overdraft before taking a

further degree, I soon spotted the flaw in my plan; it depended on finding a job. I was working as a print girl (i.e. photocopier and coffee maker) in a local concrete factory when Prof. David Lloyd rang to ask if I fancied doing a PhD. I handed in my notice and headed home to Cardiff. My project looked at denitrification in pure cultures and sediments, with Prof. Lloyd and Dr Lynne Boddy as supervisors. The pure cultures bit was fine, it was the sediments that caused problems. We tried sampling at a number of different sites, with varying degrees of success. At Llanishen reservoir my sampling partner (Julie Edwards, now a primary school teacher) and I were chased from the area by irate Welsh Water personnel for churning up their beautiful greenery. At Cosmeston Lakes, I managed to drive a very embarrassed Lynne Boddy over freshly laid tarmac in front of some astounded men who had just finished smoothing it over. It was much safer to stick to public places so we settled for a site at Cardiff Bay. I was often to be found in wellies, gloves, hat and a white coat lugging chunks of mud up to the van, much to the amusement of the locals in the pub next door.

 

Demonstrating to undergraduates was a necessary (financially) but otherwise boring part of postgraduate life. Occasionally it would be worthwhile, like the time a student, having been asked to incubate his plates for an hour, informed us that his had sunk after only a couple of minutes! A much more pleasant activity is the annual Microbiology trip to Gregynog with Aberystwyth University. Spending a couple of days in a beautiful house in the country, with interesting seminars and mind-numbing hangovers. All in the name of science.

 

Once the practical work of my PhD was completed, I began thinking about writing up. The common thing to do at this point is to sign on the dole. With my overdraft fast approaching a small republic's national debt, this wasn't possible so I went to work. This time, it was behind the bar in the students' union. Working five nights a week in a hot, loud disco until 1.30 in the morning is a great spur to finishing a thesis. That done, I spent 5 months covering maternity leave in Dr Brian Dancer's lab working on microbial insecticides for the biological control of olive pests. It was a nice change from my PhD, back to pipettes and agar plates, but I was missing the mud.

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This was closely followed by my present job, with David Lloyd. The project involves looking at the factors affecting methane and carbon dioxide production in peat bogs. A great part of the job is the sampling trips to Scotland, floundering up to your middle in a bog, not to mention the very sociable opening hours in Scottish pubs. This project has given me the chance to travel to several places I've never been to before. As well as Scotland and Cumbria, the mass spectrometer and I spent 4 weeks in Cameroon measuring methane production from termites with Dr David Bignell (Queen Mary and Westfield College) and Dr Paul Eggleton (Natural History Museum). It was quite an experience, although I think the greatest culture shock was working with entomologists. Cameroon is a beautiful country, very green and hilly (a lot like Wales, only tropical). It's fairly politically stable and therefore safe for foreigners, and the people couldn't be friendlier. The snakes were a bit too long and poisonous for my liking but you can't have it all.

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It's eight years since I arrived in Cardiff. Working in the University is a great way to make a living (it certainly beats Booth Concrete for job satisfaction). I sometimes think I ought to move on, find a job elsewhere, but I always manage to find a good reason to stay.

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