Diary – 6 January 2007

I was ready for the depression but it still doesn’t stop it hitting. Doing the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures was such an exhilarating, exhausting six-month roller-coaster ride. The climax was a two-week adrenaline-charged loop-the-loop staging what felt like five wild maths pantos. Then the last lecture is given, filmed and delivered and bang, the ride comes to an end and I’m spat out the other side on my own again. The camaraderie of staging a show is a very temporary thing. I remember as a student the feeling of isolation after the last night of putting on a play. You promise to see each other soon. Take phone numbers. Swear to have them round for dinner. But then everyone goes their different ways. For me the contrast is probably starker than for the rest of crew. Doing maths is by its very nature a lonely pursuit. You have to hide away, trying to achieve that level of Buddhist meditation that lets you escape into the mathematical world.