I walked into the foyer of the British Library and identified the conference registration desk. Beside it some delegates were crowded around an electronic display board on the wall. Some others were fighting over a grubby postcard at a table further over to the right. NI greeted me and explained that the display board and postcard provided an update of corrections to the list of members who had been mistakenly declared dead at the recent AGM. The list of names was known as an “Avanti list”. I was very relieved to see that amongst those “returned” from the dead was SW. However, I was shocked that the list gave false hope to friends and family of at least one person who had definitely died earlier in the year. I also spotted that my name appeared in pencil at the bottom of the postcard. I clearly needed to do something more to raise my professional visibility.

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The variety of my external work commitments became more extensive and ludricrous by the day. Now I found myself on the outskirts of Bristol with caretaker-type responsibilities for a small modern dwelling on a new housing estate. One of my first jobs was to sort out the fencing. This was to put a stop to the regular night-time visits of deer. Evidence of their forays into the garden were everywhere in the form of droppings across the lawn. One poor creature had even shed a hoof on “my” land. The fat father of the family in residence said he’d be pleased to mend the fence. I fear that he may have noticed my surprise at his offer. He looked more the type to watch DIY programmes from the sofa than actively participate in such activities. Meanwhile his wife and daughter were busy hanging out the washing. Every item, including the clothing that they were wearing, was white.