Silver Linings

8.45am, first day back after half term and our school network grinds to a halt. Our stalwart IT technician team (now significantly reduced in number following years of Government cuts to education budgets) leaps into action and switches things off and on again. Switching off and on again appears to only temporarily fix the problem and the rest of the morning is spent watching colleagues descend into troughs of despair and panic. In a burst of intermittent connectivity B fires off an email to the rest of leadership team exclaiming that WE CANNOT SAFEGUARD WITHOUT THE INTERNET. Somewhat heartened to read a response from J moments later bemoaning the fact that he also hopes our Internet Problems are quickly fixed because it is having a negative impact on his ability to listen to Apple Music playlists in his office. Resist temptation to respond to J with a barbed quip about this being a blessing for the rest of us who do not share a predilection for Queen and to B with a reserved observation that in the pre-Internet Age we seemed to Manage Just Fine.

Feel certain that some hardy youngsters who have determined to truant from double Science will no doubt emerge victorious in their endeavours today thanks to inability of electronic registers to fully track their every movement. Also enjoy a morning otherwise devoid of emails and actually manage to Get Things Done. In every cloud Silver Lining and all that.

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