(just for the record)

It is 9am on Monday morning
MrsM organises her work
carefully prioritising her lists
so that she can take an urgent document
to the Finance Department

MrsM is just leaving the office when...

1.
the student needs to book a room
for a group tasting of vintage mustard
2.
the academic wants to check through
the questions on her first exam paper
3.
the technician has to order a sieve
to sort tiny excavated bones
4.
the professor must change details
of his expense claim
5.
the visiting academic from Pakistan
requests a code to work the photocopier
and the visiting academic from Brazil
wants to pay an invoice.
6.
the academic wants to discuss
changing arrangements for a field trip
7.
the careers service cancels a seminar
because the speaker's car won't start
8.
the Head of Department needs
details of bursaries for
students from developing countries
9.
the administrator calls for information
about car passes for students
10.
the new mentee emails to arrange a first meeting
11.
the student brings the long awaited contract
for her teaching work
12.
the PhD student from South Africa
comes to share news about a viva that was passed...
a PhD student no longer!!

and suddenly it is not 9am but 3.30pm
and MrsM runs out of the office
clutching the envelope of signed documents
and arrives in Finance just before the deadline...

...without
the most
important
document
of all
which is still in her office.