Occasional Tales

Walk all over me. Beware of ambitious people. Vlad is apparently angling to be appointed to the Politburo, which may account for last week’s tantrum about his pet database on line, which had us all scrambling to find things to add to it to satisfy him. It may also account for all the extra work that’s hovering over us, which has the potential to cut into time for planning and preparation. I’d already started adding things slowly to the database, but I’ve also been keen to avoid a repeat of last year when whole months disappeared in an endless sea of marking. Unfortunately, it looks like that’s going to happen again or I won’t have time to finish one thing off before another surfaces. The latest initiatives have also come in the midst of marking, which is the worst possible time to be lumbering us with more to do. It was cooler here today. What did the Lone-Star Kid do? Switched on the fans and opened the window, and then opined how pleasant it was. Yesterday, Tonto d...

But there are still stones in my sandals. It’s so much nicer to be in a giggles-free office this year. It can still be a bit noisy because of our North American friends, but there isn’t that underlying sense that one person has to be the centre of attention and that all business is her business as well. That’s not to say there aren’t issues. Dmitry still isn’t show any real leadership skills. We haven’t had a departmental meeting since the first or second week of term. It’s clear that the Americans aren’t interested in co-operating beyond occasionally asking me about how something is done. It’s clear that the Lone-Star Kid is doing his own thing, which appears to mean that he’s wasting time reinventing the English B wheel. When I told Dmitry that I was moving on, he said that he was doing presentations, although he didn’t elucidate. I get the impression that presentations are a.) a lazy way of teaching and b.) a veneer which is the vanguard to the delusion that is student-ce...