When XY broke down in tears in my room I realised that the only way to comfort him would be to invite him into my bed. Between sobs he listed many injustices others waged against his research projects, using this information to justify why all his work should pass on to me. When I said that I’d never even heard of Project Violet he used this as illustration of the lack of interest that others showed in his work. He was also extremely angry with his boss. “Only you and EH seem to do any work around here” he said, adding quickly “Oh, and you both look great in your little skirt suits”.

In the middle of all this a stranger mistakenly walked into the room twice. He was clearly embarrassed to find us lying on the bed together (as was my weeping companion), but I wasn’t bothered. He could think what he wanted, but I knew that I had done nothing wrong.

Afterwards I headed back to base. My route took me through the (1) British Library; (2) a careers fair to encourage women into science, technology, engineering and maths; and (3) a blue and silver themed formal dinner in honour of senior members of the City of Edinburgh Council. Part-way through my travels a little old man approached me in the street and asked if I would join him for a game of table tennis. I regretted that I did not have time to stop, then watched him head off to ask another woman to partner him.