When JK hacked into RK’s email account he found over 5000 confidential messages exchanged between university admin staff on the subject of academic pay.

The Principal had had a hard choice to make in respect of financial savings. To avoid redundancies, all academic staff would now be required to work just two semesters a year, with a corresponding drop in pay. While this suited my plans perfectly, I imagined that it would not be popular with my colleagues.

I wondered how KB would have taken it when she suddenly appeared brandishing a homemade gauze bag of toiletries as an early Christmas present for me.