Funnily enough the parallel between writing-up the dissertation proposal and associated ethics forms and an attempt to purloin funds from Brussels was not lost on my nearest and dearest. As I struggled to put the final touches to the document with a fair amount of grumbling, she looked over my shoulder and observed 'it looks like a bid. A quick glance at the first two pages of the document - and you can see her point, especially as it goes on in a similar vein for a further ten pages. All this is a pain, but it does make you consider the whole process and confront issues of permissions and legal compliance, even poets have to conform.
This and the other 10 pages winged its way to my supervisor who commented that it 'looked excellent' (good) and was 'comprehensive' (shorthand for goes on a bit perhaps!).
