The Honorary Degrees Ceremony with Dr Shirin Ebadi

 I was lucky to be invited to the honorary degrees ceremony on the 23rd June. Sarah got me a ticket as Dr Shirin Ebadi was being given the title of Doctor of Law and Sarah knew I'd be interested to meet her.

The Combination room before the ceremony

I got there early, and among all the people with academic gowns and ceremonial dress, I didn't at first recognise Dr Ebadi. She was surrounded by a little knot of people speaking Farsi, and she was easily the smallest person in the room but she radiated strength and determination. Later, when I got talking to her for a while, she told me that she leads a nomadic existence travelling between her children's homes in the UK and the US. Despite that she doesn't feel like a refugee because she has a purpose: to inform the people in other countries about what is happening in Iran and continue her work for women's rights.

One of the younger women with Dr Ebadi asked me about myself, and as we talked we realised that we'd spent time together in Iran. She was Evaleila Pessaran, now a lecturer in Politics at Murray Edwards college who were hosting Dr Ebadi. She was a school friend of my sister Emma, and Emma had given her my number when Evaleila had come to Tehran for a year to re-connect with her Iranian roots after leaving school. I had introduced her to some Iranian NGOs and she'd come with us to Taleghan for a weekend. She was now expecting her first baby at the same time as Emma!

We walked up to the Combination room for tea before the start of the ceremonies. After a few minutes there was a stir at the door and the Duke of Edinburgh came in and made his way slowly round the room talking to the guests and the soon-to-be honorary doctors and their friends and relatives.

The Old Schools with Triumph Brass in the gallery

The ceremony was moving in a way that I never expected. Music was an important part of it - there were members of three choirs (King's, Trinity and St John's) directed by Stephen Cleobury on the organ, a solo cellist, and a brass ensemble.
 The pageantry and speeches were surprisingly interesting and entertaining. They've had 800 years of practice after all.  Most of the talking was done by the University Orator who makes a short presentation in Latin, laying out the achievements of each of the eight honorands. These included Trevor Nunn and Colin Davis as well as the retiring Vice-Chancellor, Alison Richard. All of them had made very significant contributions in their fields and the oration captures the essence of this in under 300 words! Amazingly enough there were people who laughed at the jokes when they heard them in Latin - the rest of us laughed when we'd read the English translation.

Prince Phillip (back to us in red) at the reception

It was the last time the D of E was to lead the ceremony as he was retiring as Chancellor. At the reception afterwards on the lawn, he joked that his qualification for being Chancellor was to have not been to University at all.

Reception on the Senate House lawn

Cooking rubbish

It was the recycling open day at the AmeyCespa recycling plant just outside Cambridge, so I went along to have a look. I've always wanted to see what happens to our rubbish  and this is the plant that pocesses it.

From the road all you can see is a large green hangar. And no sign of any rubbish as you drive in and park in a large (clean) field. But as soon as you get near the hangar, a thick, clinging, undefinably unpleasant smell hangs all over.

Inside the main rubbish decomposition hall

Inside the huge hangar was a vast flat mass of rubbish the size of a football field, with high speed conveyor belts bringing more rubbish to one end. I could see the occasional recognizable object, and even some flashing lights from a toy zip past the viewing gallery.

The smell came from the decomposing rubbish - it is kept wet with sprays and heated up so that it rots faster. Behind the thick glass windows of the viewing gallery the smell is mildly unpleasant, but to go into the main hall you have to wear breathing apparatus to filter the fumes. It takes about 4-6 weeks for the rubbish to get from one end to the other of this huge contraption, and by the time it gets to the other end, it's reduced by about 2/3 and is ready to go to landfill.

There were some very strange objects on display that had been fished out of the garbage before getting stuck in the machinery including a large fire extinguishers and a huge anchor.

The landfill site

John Powley presenting prizes for Ready Steady Cook

There was a display of archaeological finds from the site which showed that around the time of the Romans, the place had been used as a settlement with - appropriately - a large rubbish pit.

The bus tour of the site took about 40 minutes (it's huge) and included views of mountains of crisp packets (un-recyclable at the moment), a deodorizing area (to protect local houses), and miles of tangled video tape which seems to get everywhere.



Finally,  I had time to look around the marquees, at all the community groups and council recycling displays. There were recycled wood projects,  and recycled paint (for community groups to use), and tips for reducing food waste. At one end a cooking stand was set up. Before I knew it, I was co-opted into a Ready, Steady Cook competition. The other lady made risotto and omelet, while I made leek and potato soup and ratatouille with rice. We each said that the others' dishes were delicious, but the judge, Leader of Cambridgeshire Council, Councillor John Powley, decided that my leek and potato soup was the winner. My prize was a goodie bag of gadgets, and a nice apron. The food was eaten by the Council staff who'd organised the competition. The official photographer took lots of pictures and I went home promising myself that next time I visit a rubbish plant, I'll be sure to have a shower in the morning and wear smarter clothes.