Last week, three of my classmates had their birthdays and booked out Darwin College’s island for a celebration BBQ. That’s right, Darwin College has an island in the River Cam. Here is a picture from that day, with kind permission from two good friends.

On the left is Jen. She’s from the US and had just had a haircut from Letty, who you’ll remember from earlier this month. It’s a beautiful haircut, no? Jen says that she donates her hair to Locks of Love each year. Being away from the US, she will have to post her snippets to them this year.

On the right is Cobi, from Adelaide and therefore my neighbour in a global sense. You might know her writing from here and here. And here. She is a science journalist and has taught me the unnecessariness of the word ‘locate’. Cobi is a charming young lady with job and research offers coming out of her ears.

While partying on Darwin Island, someone pointed out a small bridge going downstream.

‘There’s another island there,’ he said. ‘That’s the illicit sex island.’

Of course, the first thing I wondered was if it was an ‘illicit sex’ island or an illicit ‘sex island’. Then I wondered if there was a difference.