Monday Lecture woes

Had another pair of double lecture blocks, this is now the Monday morning standard. The first seminar is with around 100-200 people in the main hall, we sit quietly and listen to a lot of information being pumped into us, this session is a 2 hour slog more or less but a necessary evil for learning. Our second block is much more intimate, around 40 of us all sat in a room where we are allowed to have a little joke with the lecturer; suffice to say that these sessions are greatly preferred. We did a little piece today on why Dr Who is getting worse by introducing Deus Ex Machina's a little too often to resolve and episode - is there nothing the sonic screwdriver cannot do?

Actually, I'm getting ahead of myself a little. I say I prefer the second block if it wasn't for one crucial factor.

This, is your basic chair. It's simplicity is what makes it perfect. A decent height off the ground with a back support at a perfect 90 degree angle - comfortable, but you'll never fall asleep in a lecture while sat on one.

Now here is what we sit on:

No brownie points for spotting the difference. Most chairs have a neat little 'reclining' feature to make them super comfy. That involves the back support tilting for maximum comfort. But here, the bit you posterior is perched upon is slanted at a malicious 45 degree angle so the very basic task of sitting has become a struggle with gravity. I'm sure that when we were all young at a playground our favorite item was the slide. How many of you readers have tried to remain stationary on the slanted surface of the slide? Most of you I'd guess. But in that context it was faintly rewarding and cool, it was like you were fighting against the natural flow, it was rebellious and awesome to be able to stay still on the slide. But you could only do if for about a minute at a time because it did start to hurt after a while.

Imagine being sat on a playground slide for 120 minutes... You's start to look like this:

Holding on for dear life... All I wanted to do was learn!