I travelled up the building squeezed into a lift with two colleagues. Over months one of them had developed a dangerous patter in snide remarks about my leadership. When yet another oblique and insulting comment escaped from his dirty little mouth I faced up to him with a reminder of what the alternative could be. Trapped with me in confined space, he backed down.

Out in the corridor once more I was delighted to run into BD again. However, I was rather puzzled. Wasn’t he destined for Canada after his trip to Italy? He announced that he had changed his mind. BD followed me along to my new office. He chose the desk by the window with the view over the housing estate and the city in the distance.

I then set off for my first class of the new academic year. Over the summer vacation my fame had grown and the classroom was packed to the point that there were not enough chairs for everyone. While working out how to handle the seating crisis I screamed at a mature student to get off her mobile phone and comforted a small skinny lad who was in tears because I hadn’t been able to offer him a free place at a conference. I knew that I was in trouble when I glanced at the clock and noticed that it was already 10 minutes past the hour.