Member-only story
Finding My Inspiration Amongst the Black Dots
How one fuzzy pattern changed the course of my life
It’s 9.17 am. I’m only half awake.
Along with my fellow undergraduate students, I’m bedded down in the surprisingly comfy green seats of the lecture theatre, grateful to be inside as the notorious east coast wind howls. It’s basically still night at this latitude— the northern sky is only just starting to lighten.
I’m supposed to be taking detailed notes on amino acid structures, which are the building blocks of proteins, but all I’ve managed so far is a swirly diagram of some sort of flowery hippie woman. It’s not bad. Perhaps I could live in the woods and carve pretty pictures all day whilst fluffy rabbits frolic around me?
Sigh.
I readjust my thick jumper, one of the many woolly supplies I bought for moving to Scotland. Ironic really, since I’m from Northern England, and that’s nearly as frigid. It hasn’t got quite the same ‘rep’ though, so under the strict instructions of my Mother, I stocked up on ‘arctic survival’ gear anyway. I had somehow neglected the simple truth that Scotland had heated buildings, so now, I’m sweltering wherever I go.
My extra insulation is not helping me concentrate on those amino acids.
