fun with a graduation gown

hey everyone

well, i imagine anyone who has hit this post with a google search thing or something might not quite find these pictures feature the content they were hoping for, but never mind them.

on Mothers' Day last week Michele, Mum, Erika and i had a really fun time digging through a box of old pictures. we found some absolute gems which i will be posting here eventually. of those, here are some from my graduation ceremony in 1997. it was for my BA Degree, and quite an excellent day!

the saying goes that if you give someone a new pen, the first thing they will do with it is write or sign their own name. i'm not so sure that's true, but i do know that if you give someone a graduate outfit, the first thing they will want to do is wear it and mess around a bit.

here, then, is my dear brother Richard, trying on the outfit!





Richard didn't quite stay on in education as long as i did, but you can't knock his knowledge and intelligence all the same. not only is he a great success in his career, but he has also made it a mission to ensure that no one, but no one, knows more of the life and career of Jimmy Nail than he does.

at face value, Richard and i are in appearance like chalk and cheese. except we are not. we are in fact either different varieties of cheese or chalk. actually, we are both made of the same cheese and chalk, just put together in a different order. that sounds very much like the kind of philosophical statement which Nigel Tufnel out of Spinal Tap would make, doesn't it?

happily, Gran and Gramps were over visiting us at the time of the graduation ceremony, and so we were able to get some pictures of Professor "Stormin" Norman Henry Ricketts in the appropriate attire. and, of course, once appropriately dressed, Gramps' first instinct was to instill discipline on his unruly charge.





i have a feeling i may live to regret sharing the next pic. i was at least wearing a very comfortable pair of pants, but did wish that i had any one of the several books i studied down them!





great memories!! i have no doubt that a few more will follow in the near future!!



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!