There's no such thing as a free lunch

I don't know who, but someone once said that 'there's no such thing as a free lunch'. If I may say so, that is utter bollocks. Clearly, this oft-quoted luminary was never a PhD student (or at least not a very succesful one), since at the lower rungs the whole academic game centres around an ability to score free food.

Our department is recruiting not just one but two new faculty members, which is great news for me, since PhD students from related sub-disciplines are invited to lunch in the faculty club with every candidate. Fortunately, my colleagues aren't quite as good at bluffing as me (it must be a British thing), consequently I've managed to get on every free lunch going, irrespective of my personal aquaintance with the candidate's field of research.

I don't know the first thing about network theory in urban planning or GIS, but as the juice of that tender braised lamb dribbles down my chin, I shall learn.