Thanks so much everyone - I had a nice steak dinner and bottle of wine at home with the bf that night then came home to a bottle of champagne, card & box of chocolates from my dad & sisters on sat. Lovely. Now just have to figure out what to do with myself...

Just thought I'd share my viva experience as so many others in this forum have.
I had my viva this morning and was so nervous - I couldn't even eat my breakfast, my stomach was churning from 6am.
I arrived at my uni at 10am, half an hour early for my viva. My supervisor took me to his office and came with me to the examination room at 10 30. Thankfully the chair told me at the start that I had passed and then the external & internal took turns asking me questions. They started by saying how much they enjoyed reading my thesis which was wonderful to hear! The questions I got asked were very specific to my work rather than generic ones. The questions lasted about 45 or 50 mins, then I was asked to step outside. When I came back in the chair told me I had been awarded the PhD without amendments! I couldnt believe this as some of the comments implied I should have added a little more in one chapter and remove some repetitive text fr
om another.
I won't lie - I found the lead up & the actual viva really stressful, but my examiners were so happy with my work and so complimentary that I really can't complain! I don't think it has sunk in that I don't have any corrections to do - there were a few suggestions made during the viva that I will probably add anyway! My supervisor (the one who knows my name) was so proud too - made me a little emotional!

Hi David - I think that being asked questions you haven't got a hope of answering is everyone's fear - I its mine anyway! I am still waiting on my viva date so I can only offer a little advice. I think, considering the time you have, you need to be really focused on the areas you want to re-familiarise yourself with. You will know most of the work, even though you may not have looked at it in 2 months you spent 2 years writing it. If you like use post-its to divide up your chapters and another colour to mark out specific chunks of text (that bit in the intro where you state your argument, and that bit in the conclusion where you nicely sum up that argument), and make sure you make note of mistakes you find during your read through. Good luck.

Good luck!

Submitted this afternoon - the ladies in the office were lovely and very helpful. I already don't know what to do with myself. But I am resisting the urge to open my copy of my thesis & start adding little sticky markers - I that can wait for a few weeks I think!

Submitting tomorrow morning - I have to hand in 4 bounded copies and one for myself. I have printed off 4/5 copies and just need to print off the final one plus some pages of the other copies that were a bit smudged, fill in my forms and burn a copy on to cd.

Hi - I am in a situation similar to you and your partner. I am about to submit on monday and do not have a job lined up. There is no opportunity for post-doc with my university at the minute due to serious cuts and staff lay-offs but to be honest me worrying about not having a job right now isnt going to help me finish my phd. The best I can do is apply for a few jobs while I have been busy writing up but at this point I am focusing fully on submitting my thesis then using the few weeks/months inbetween submission & viva to job hunt more seriously.

My Phd is in the humanities and possibly like you my other half finished a more practical course of study and was offered (yes offered -- he didnt even have to apply) 2 jobs! I try not to compare myself to this as it is simply reflective of the different fields we are in.

As for your parents & their worry he has no job - Do they not realise a Phd is a significant achievement? After being in academia for a while it seems everyone is a Dr, but really - so few get the opportunity to do a PhD and even fewer seem to finish.

Besides, maybe your boyfriend also worries he had no job at the minute? Perhaps he bottles it up because he knows he needs to focus on what's at hand to actually complete. It may seem like he is putting the job hunt off and procrastinating, but so close to the end how can he do anything else?!

Poor Emmaki - I have suffered from cycsts and even had two abscesses in the past and I know they are horrible things. It sounds like the doctors are keen to remove yours so thats great news (they often try to fob you off with antibiotics or a 'wait and see') - once its gone the relief is instant.
Good luck with your work in the meantime.

I have ordered my printer paper today as I am printing out my thesis myself - it takes over an hour to print out each copy so I might split the printing of the 5 copies over two days next weekend before handing in on monday.
In the meantime I am trying to do a final read through for typos. And trying not to throw my laptop through the window when word keeps messing up my margins (by reverting to Letter paper instead of A4 paper - why?!?!?)

Good luck Clementine - You are one week ahead of me! I hope I feel as calm and collected as you this time next week in the last few days before submission.
Hope everything goes well and you can enjoy your day after handing in.

Three weeks until I hope to submit - am a bit worried about supervisors holding me back as I dont think they have sorted out the paperwork on their end, or actually contacted the external examiner yet.

am hoping to finish the draft corrections this week, then play with formatting - one supervisor suggested trying a couple of different fonts - before having a final meeting with both supervisors and reading, re-reading and re-re-reading over all the million pages.

Hi - I dont know about your uni but at mine the confirmation viva (as we call it) was actually quite informal. It was basically a powerpoint presentation with some questions from lecturers at the end of it. Every single person in my year passed without a problem.

As far as questions go I can only speculate - but for mine they were pretty regular questions on what my topic was about, how I was going about the primary/secondary research and what I was going to do next. There were no nasty or awkward questions, and they had a few helpful suggestions for future work. The panel is not trying to fail you at this stage - you are 1 year in and not expected to have done or know everything! Basically they are checking that you are capable of doing the work and actually are doing it, i.e. not slacking off. If your supervisor isn't worried you should be ok!

Good morning - my goals for today
1. stop faffing around
2. Read over at least two chapters for typos, mistakes etc.

goals for the rest of the week to read over the remaining chapters, ready for feedback on my first draft from supervisor next week.

Hi Anz07 - from what you have described you are in a similar position to me a year ago!
I am hoping to submit in October this year and will be 26 by the time it is all finished - and the only job I have had was working part-time in a cinema 3 years ago.

I know its hard - and the decision has to come from you ultimately, but I would suggest that you try to stick it out. It might feel like everything you write is rubbish and that you are getting nowhere but I'm pretty sure most PhD students feel like this and have a crisis (or two) at some point over the few years. Something that I put off for a long time was sitting down and writing my introduction - it doesnt have to be perfect or finished, but maybe have a go at actually writing what your thesis is, what areas it will look at, what research you have done, your methodology etc.

As far as employability - this is something I worry about too, but quiting your phd before you have even gotten to the viva will not make you more employable. And if you are funded (you didnt mention if you were or not) there is no way you should give that up, especially if you do not have a job lined up. You say you are still passionate about your subject - you are just going through a bad spell, if you love your subject the writing will hopefully come in the end. Maybe chat with a supervisor or another student about how rough you are finding the writing - maybe take a break from writing if it is not happening and read some books/articles. I know when I was feeling very unproductive and guilty about not doing work I could pick up a book and take notes. Its not as taxing as writing but you still know that at least you are doing some form of work.
Hope this helps in some way. Good luck.

just be yourself, and if 'yourself' is quite reserved and private your supervisor will understand - you can be private AND friendly, no supervisior needs to know what you were up to on Friday night! share what you want with who you want. You never know, it might be beneficial in the future - I got a couple of teaching hours from my supervisor as it just sort of came up in conversation over coffee.
Good luck with both you supervisors!

Congratulations on getting a full draft done!

Personally I see no need why you should finish up early, unless you have a secure job offer that requires you to do so - and from your post this does not seem to be the case. You have been awarded 3 years funding (plus the possibility of 6 months paid maternity leave) so why give that up? You earned it, do not throw it away unless there is a good reason. The way things are going funded phds may become a thing of the past.

You say you have no idea what you could do for the next 18 months - but there is always more scope for research, field work, theoretical study etc. It sounds like you have done a lot of work writting up, maybe now you need to step back from your thesis and consider other things. Are there opportunities for any paid teaching work at your Uni? Are there any upcoming conferences you could attend/present at? You mentioned publications - as far as my uni is concerned this is very much part of your phD and with so much written you could easily edit and submit a number of papers - and a way you could get your claim on originality sooner rather than later. There is probably more you could do if you are honest with yourself - you say you got your data collection done early but how is your bibliography, does it cover the breadth it needs to?

I'd say take the money, have a lovely baby and try to get a couple of publications. You are in the lucky position of being both ahead with your work, and with guaranteed employment (and pay) for the next 12 months!