Even though I had passed the duties on to another colleague months ago, I was getting the blame for the failure of the conference. I couldn’t help it if I spent the afternoon cosying up to P and playing with the children rather than preparing the conference dinner.

I ran up to Northfield to avoid our boss, but she soon tracked me down. When I explained that you couldn’t run an event without resources she seemed to understand my dilemma.

As we were discussing how to retrieve the conference BR interrupted the conversation to say that he and EH were using their bikes as collateral against bus fares for visitors to the “Computers and food” exhibition. He added that if the bus fares weren’t paid, he and EH would lose their bikes, and possibly also their homes.