A lonely job
Wherever have you been, Patrick?
I haven't seen you for months.
Someone said you'd emigrated.
Whoever told you that?
I've been working on a weather research station on the Isle of Collett.
Where on earth is that?
It's a lump of rock about 100 miles north-west of Ireland.
Whatever did you do to pass the time?
Fortunately I had my university thesis to work on.
If I hadn't had a pile of work to do,
I'd have gone off my head.
Was there anything else to do?
Well,
if you were a bird watcher,
it would be a paradise;
but whenever I got tired of studying,
I could only walk round the island -
and that took me less than twenty minutes.
How ever did you stand it?
If I'd been in yourshoes
I'd have taken the first boat back to civilisation.
Well, I needed some information from my research there,
and they paid me,
so I saved some money.
Now I can have a short holiday before I start looking for a job.
Have you finished your Ph.D. already?
I thought you had another year to do.
No, time flies, you know.
As long as they don't reject my thesis,
I'll be leaving for London next week.
If I were you, I'd go off to the Mediterranean or somewhere before starting work.
No thanks, I'll stay in London.
I've had enough of the sea for a while.