The caste system in HE

Working in ‘professional services’ in a British university means that you will be persistently undermined by clueless academics who assume that they know more than you about everything simply because of their job title. Academics assume that anyone who is not an academic is inherently ignorant, and, even if you have a PhD, you will be repeatedly told that you have no expertise in your area by people who literally have no expertise in your area.

The pear cider from my local pub

It tasted like someone put a bunch of pears in a wooden box and then set fire to the box. When the pears were soft and squishy from the heat, they mashed the pears down into a jar and left them to ferment, being sure to leave a few bits of charcoal from the box in the mix. Then, later, when suitably alcoholic, the remaining pear and charcoal ferment was strained and put into a keg and then sold to unsuspecting cider drinkers in order to disgust them.