43. Back to work (3/6)
I was prepared. Just as well: it was my second day back at work and no-one cared. No smoothie, no coffee, no message from husband.
I made myself a bowl of porridge with almond milk, added a few berries, poured agave syrup and sprinkled the magic chia seeds on top. It looked the part. I made myself of cup of strong English breakfast. I was ready for anything.
I checked my bag: keys, badge, code.
But I got there the gates were opened. I was so bitterly disappointed that I was going to complain about the non-negligible risks of contamination due to my opening the gates by myself.
I quickly forgot about my disappointment when I saw there were even more arrows on the ground! Lots of them! Everywhere! Feeling the child inside me bubble up with excitement I followed the yellow, red, blue, green and black arrows. I made a mental note to have a good walk around to see if I had missed any colours! We could have a competition: take pictures of arrows in as many different colours as possible. I would suggest it to my colleagues once everyone could find their way around this maze. Or maybe we could hide something (a bottle of gin?) and remove a few arrows and see who could find it. This arrow thing was such a brilliant idea, we could have so much fun in this dreary place now.
Then I remembered the purpose of my errand: the staffroom. I did not want to miss any important papers. So I went on stepping on the arrows when suddenly I stopped. The arrows were now going the wrong way! There must be a mistake! And here I was, lost and stranded in a gloomy corridor. I remembered the procedure clearly stated that you must never ever turn around. La marche en avant! Always! These arrows were no longer any good to me. There was no way was I going back outside, all the way up the first floor in the other building, back down to this very floor, across the garden (in the rain) to reach the staffroom! So I ignored the procedure and walked on. But I had to stop again as a teacher (impossible to identify behind the visor and the Education Nationale to-be-washed-twenty-times-no-more cotton mask ) was coming the other way. OMG what did the procedure say about meeting a colleague coming the other way? I could not remember!
The person, who was looking in my direction, then made a kind of zig-zag step. I mimicked instinctively and did the same cool zig-zag movement. We looked at each other again, trying to work out who was in the wrong. Then we both opted for the sensible solution: a beautifully executed chassé-croisé that allowed us to go on our respective ways without trouble. I hoped the CCTV cameras had recorded that.
At long last I got to the staffroom (still smelling of cleaning fluid) and to my greatest joy there were no important papers but hey more freebees! Coming back to work was so much fun! I was beside myself with excitement!
I took a look at my timetable. Class in Room 417. What??? 417! I am a first floor kind of teacher! I need to be near the photocopying machine and the kettle, not up in the attics. I went back outside in a huff. But oh the pleasure to see the arrows! And the satisfaction to be once again going in the same direction as them meant that I walked all the way to the 4th floor in a vey good mood indeed! No doubt more exciting stuff was waiting me up there!
I made myself a bowl of porridge with almond milk, added a few berries, poured agave syrup and sprinkled the magic chia seeds on top. It looked the part. I made myself of cup of strong English breakfast. I was ready for anything.
I checked my bag: keys, badge, code.
But I got there the gates were opened. I was so bitterly disappointed that I was going to complain about the non-negligible risks of contamination due to my opening the gates by myself.
I quickly forgot about my disappointment when I saw there were even more arrows on the ground! Lots of them! Everywhere! Feeling the child inside me bubble up with excitement I followed the yellow, red, blue, green and black arrows. I made a mental note to have a good walk around to see if I had missed any colours! We could have a competition: take pictures of arrows in as many different colours as possible. I would suggest it to my colleagues once everyone could find their way around this maze. Or maybe we could hide something (a bottle of gin?) and remove a few arrows and see who could find it. This arrow thing was such a brilliant idea, we could have so much fun in this dreary place now.
Then I remembered the purpose of my errand: the staffroom. I did not want to miss any important papers. So I went on stepping on the arrows when suddenly I stopped. The arrows were now going the wrong way! There must be a mistake! And here I was, lost and stranded in a gloomy corridor. I remembered the procedure clearly stated that you must never ever turn around. La marche en avant! Always! These arrows were no longer any good to me. There was no way was I going back outside, all the way up the first floor in the other building, back down to this very floor, across the garden (in the rain) to reach the staffroom! So I ignored the procedure and walked on. But I had to stop again as a teacher (impossible to identify behind the visor and the Education Nationale to-be-washed-twenty-times-no-more cotton mask ) was coming the other way. OMG what did the procedure say about meeting a colleague coming the other way? I could not remember!
The person, who was looking in my direction, then made a kind of zig-zag step. I mimicked instinctively and did the same cool zig-zag movement. We looked at each other again, trying to work out who was in the wrong. Then we both opted for the sensible solution: a beautifully executed chassé-croisé that allowed us to go on our respective ways without trouble. I hoped the CCTV cameras had recorded that.
At long last I got to the staffroom (still smelling of cleaning fluid) and to my greatest joy there were no important papers but hey more freebees! Coming back to work was so much fun! I was beside myself with excitement!
I took a look at my timetable. Class in Room 417. What??? 417! I am a first floor kind of teacher! I need to be near the photocopying machine and the kettle, not up in the attics. I went back outside in a huff. But oh the pleasure to see the arrows! And the satisfaction to be once again going in the same direction as them meant that I walked all the way to the 4th floor in a vey good mood indeed! No doubt more exciting stuff was waiting me up there!
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