Influential Otters: Penny Paddlepaws

Hello there chaps, I am still awaiting the latest update in the time log debacle, but these things take time I am told! I do have an inkling that those OIA fellows might have a paw in this, it is just the sort of underhanded nonsense they would be involved in right up their whiskers! While we are waiting, very patiently I might add, LUcy Littlepaws has published another one of her very fine Influential Otters series in the Otterbank Times and I thought I would share it with you.

---

Welcome to the next instalment of the Influential Otters series. Today I met up with the extremely accomplished young otter, Penny Paddlepaws. We met in her lab beeventcause she has a lot of quantum experiments in the works and they need constant monitoring. Don’t be fooled though, she has made this extremely scientific environment into a very homely and comfortable space. We settled down in the remarkably comfortable coffee area and got stuck into the interview.

Hello Penny, Your title here is Quantum Experimentation Research Fellow, can you tell us non-scientists a bit about what that means?

Hello Lucy, I can try but you will have to stop me if I get too technical or carried away, I find the whole thing so interesting! I am currently looking into quantum computing, I am following the current human research in that area quite closely and researching it in the context of our Otter water based technologies. It is fascinating and eventually we will be able to use it to calculate even more accurate time travel equations and hopefully refine the time wheel.

My goodness that does sound interesting, do you think these developments will change the way we use the time wheel, will we still need the Hamster activation department?

That is a very good question, and i think that sometime in the future we will be able to make the whole contraption a good deal smaller, however that is a long way off. I think Cedric and his team are safe for a good while yet!

Oh that is good news, I’d miss the little fellows if they weren’t around! So, Penny, I hear you studied at the Wey University in Guildford before starting with us here at the Holt, what did you get up to while you were there? Apart from Studying very hard science that is!

My goodness I am not sure that your readers want to know everything I got up to while I was there! It was a brilliant place to study but I didn’t spend all my time in the lab! I was involved in the behind the scenes crew for all the university gigs and productions, It was brilliant fun, I got to know loads about aquatic sound engineering made some amazing friends!

That sounds fascinating, and we know who to come to now when we put on our next midwinter show! I have heard you are also quite sporty, and have a slightly unusual sporty hobby?

Well, you could say it was unusual, it was certainly unique to my department! We put on the university’s first ever quantum-amphibious frisbee tournament! It was something of an experimental sport and there were limited teams, but it was great fun. The only problem was predicting where the frisbee was actually going to land so you could catch it. I have heard from some of the guys still at uni that some of the frisbees are still to reappear!

My goodness that does sound exciting, I wonder if you and Duncan McBristlewhiskers could get a tournament going here! Talking Of Duncan McBristlewhiskers, how have you found working with him in the quantum lab?

Working with Duncan McBristlewhiskers is absolutely amazing! I was happy enough to be a research fellow hear to the Holt after my studies, but when I got to work with the world renown Scottish quantum team I thought all my dreams had come true! You know some of his writings are required reading on my course don’t you?

That is brilliant, and the work you are doing here is definitely very well thought of!
So now for the vital questions..,
What is your favourite sandwich?

Oh sandwich, well, I’d have to say I am partial to a slug and lettuce toastie!

Do you prefer the swimlanes or the bank runs to get around the holt?

I think I like both, it just depends on my mood, some journeys I will eve switch between the two!

And lastly, we are quite keen on hats around here, do you have a favourite one?

Well, I think Commander Longwhiskers’s top hat is probably my favourite hat, it suits him so well and is very smart!

And how about for you to wear?

Oh yes sorry of course, I don’t wear hats as often as a lot of otters but I do like a nice wooly hat with a bobble in the winter!