It turns out:
(1) having a book to read and make notes on is still a good way to get me to actually stay in lab for the long-but-not-that-long column runs;
(2) old lab suite has the advantage of being easier to curl up and read a book in, because reasons, and also I have been really appreciating the lack of Endless White Glare;
(3) I do actually miss the modern Milli-Q head units in the new lab suite, partly because they're not rusty but mostly because they're both more readily adjustable and, crucially, apparently I really appreciated the ridiculous "press some buttons, have it disgorge exactly 2.5l of ultra-pure water while you get on with the rest of your life";
(4) I had forgotten the extent to which the old lab suite's hotplates are Not Good and also Feeble, which means everything took an additional half hour longer than I'd expected, which I'd have been more okay with if I hadn't got into lab at 8am and left at 9.40pm;
(5) I am perfectly capable of sitting down to dinner with A, when he has travelled across town to have said dinner and also sit around while I do the final hour of lab work, inevitably resulting in attempting to leave Imperial at ten in the evening during Prom season, and launching into an earnest monologue about my difficulty believing that he is actually interested in and enthusiastic about spending time with me.
(I started out in the old lab suite, in Lab C; I moved to the new suite for the middle chunk of the PhD; and I'm back in the old suite, only this time in Lab A, for the final round of sample processing.)
(1) having a book to read and make notes on is still a good way to get me to actually stay in lab for the long-but-not-that-long column runs;
(2) old lab suite has the advantage of being easier to curl up and read a book in, because reasons, and also I have been really appreciating the lack of Endless White Glare;
(3) I do actually miss the modern Milli-Q head units in the new lab suite, partly because they're not rusty but mostly because they're both more readily adjustable and, crucially, apparently I really appreciated the ridiculous "press some buttons, have it disgorge exactly 2.5l of ultra-pure water while you get on with the rest of your life";
(4) I had forgotten the extent to which the old lab suite's hotplates are Not Good and also Feeble, which means everything took an additional half hour longer than I'd expected, which I'd have been more okay with if I hadn't got into lab at 8am and left at 9.40pm;
(5) I am perfectly capable of sitting down to dinner with A, when he has travelled across town to have said dinner and also sit around while I do the final hour of lab work, inevitably resulting in attempting to leave Imperial at ten in the evening during Prom season, and launching into an earnest monologue about my difficulty believing that he is actually interested in and enthusiastic about spending time with me.
(I started out in the old lab suite, in Lab C; I moved to the new suite for the middle chunk of the PhD; and I'm back in the old suite, only this time in Lab A, for the final round of sample processing.)