Occasional Tales

Mutual exclusivity. I know why Vlad suddenly upped sticks and went, and he didn’t depart with his child bride. We got a replacement fairly promptly, but Colonel Blimp was rarely around this term because he was still wearing his original hat as well as his new one. I’m very much on the fence about him. He loves using social media for announcements, but I think this is the wrong platform on which to do that because I regard such messages as trivial even when they’re important. He’s started forcing AP methods on us even though that’s nothing to do with us, and we have our own way of doing things. In fact, he’s forcing us to reduplicate systems we already have in place. I’m probably going to be HoD by default rather than by design. As I said in my previous post, this is not that important a role, but it seems to be regarded as only fit for the fittest and finest. An HoD is merely a teacher with a few extra duties. Frankly, I don’t want another Dmitry; I don’t want to have to dea...

What? Really? Vlad bailed out. He turned up one Monday morning, and while I was otherwise occupied announced his sudden and precipitous departure. We have no idea why, and no one who might know has ever said, which suggests that the only person who knows is Vlad himself. Did he take his mistress with him? That’s a moot point, but, I think, he’d be cold-hearted enough to dispense with her. We were certainly expecting him to last to the end of term, and it’s possible that some personal business affected his decision. He also left leaving various threats in his wake, but like the story last year, it may not be till sometime in the 2020s that the story emerges. No time was wasted in dispatching his replacement, who may not have scrapped all the mandatory extras we’ve been lumbered with, but who has got rid of some of them. He also listens to people (or does a good job of feigning it) where Vlad merely seemed to be waiting for you to stop talking and made you feel that everyt...

Rasputin dithers. Vlad is out; Dmitry is departing for tropical climes; Rasputin is… dithering. Yes, Vlad got the boot for the very reason suspected some time ago – he irritated the locals. Dmitry will be back to being one of the rank-and-file. I wonder how he’ll cope with not being part of the inner circle, and how long it’ll be before he’s in it again. Vlad let him down in the end, and Sarasvati had to supply him with a reference. As for Rasputin, his departure has been an open secret, but the latest news is that he’s allegedly had an offer, but needs to make his mind up by Monday. Our fear is that he remains and will “Squat like a Toad, close at the eare of EVE”. Some good news; some potentially bad. 20.01.17. And the news ends up being bad, with the toad deciding to irritate everyone for another year.

The rupturing of the triumvirate. This week, Dmitry has been off having a nice holiday… sorry, enhancing his employment pro­spects. I’ve now heard from a fairly reliable source that Rasputin really is leaving, and I have first-hand evidence that far from being Vlad’s keen and eager lackey, he would appear to be somewhat contemptuous of him. I’ve also heard that Vlad is looking elsewhere, which may be partly motivated by his dislike of the place and by the departure of his two substitute sons. I imagine that he doesn’t want to find himself without that extra, contrived layer of management. So far, the only certainty is Dmitry’s departure, but officially, there has been no word about Ras­putin. Sarasvati tells me that he wants to do the introduction to the new EE to the IB1s, but I can’t think why someone who’s never been involved in the process would want to muscle in on my turf. I do, however, suspect that he’s possibly doing this so that he can claim to have been an...