Finally! I’m starting to get to grips with some labwork which I’ve been meaning to do since May this year – analysing my vertically stratified zooplankton samples from my cruise earlier this year (see the post here!). To jog my memory about what I should be doing, I’ve been going through my old lab log books and notes, some from as much as 10 years ago! While doing so, I came upon an entry in my notebook from 2010, which contained a poem I must have scrawled in a fit of frustration – probably during a conference or meeting, and quite possibly when a very senior scientist (or two!) was talking over a more junior one… here goes:

Wooly socks and leather sandals.

The speaker cannot get a handle

on your probing question.

Gloating now you make your speech;

wise and learned, out of reach

ignoring his suggestions.

Sometimes scientists are the kind

who fail to show an open mind

to embrace a new technique.

For crying out loud!

Will the learned crowd

just listen to someone speak?