To Ould Reekie the day. Teaching of a different and idle sort. It is called a seminar and the students do all the work-preparing and presenting papers on the topic of the week-today' Democracy in the Arab World'-a shortish work rather like the 'Scottish Book of Jokes'. Huttonian's role is what is known in academic circles as a '
discussant'.
French for some one who
sits in gently snoozing and occasionally, when awake, offering a
bon mot* or two. As always a small cadre of students dominate the proceedings and the discussant needs to encourage the more timid ones to speak up. This can have unexpected results as once a rather attractive but silent blonde when gently encouraged to say something, anything, confessed that she was in the wrong seminar but was too embarrassed to do anything about it. The nice young man sitting beside her persuaded her to stay on until the end and then disappeared into the sunset together-4pm but it was Edinburgh mid winter. A happy ending indeed.
* caustic comment. Enough French. Blog-ed
