Moving

Appeared in Volume 6/3, August 1993

To my left and right stand stacks of paper and packing cases. Shortly, I should stagger to my feet and start shoving the former into the latter. But for the moment, I am overwhelmed. Where did all the dusty manuals, the yellowing program listings in archaic languages, and the surprisingly large number of unreferred papers come from?

This nasty period of self-revelation has been brought about by the department's imminent departure. We are moving down the road to a bright, shiny new home - the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Mercifully, the SEECS Building (linguists should pronounce the EE part as 'ee' not 'air') is not a post-modern Christmas cake, with gargoyles and refuse chutes. Instead, it is tastefully decked out in the well-known International Banking style: a pleasing mishmash of colour-coordinated steel, glass and simulated-marble fittings.

Naturally, this isn't being wasted on academics alone, for many of the nicer bits are being leased to thrusting companies of the IT variety. Academics must enter by a side door, in no way reminiscent of the tradesmen entrance in the grander homes of the Victorian era. It must be said that egalitarianism does extend to the sharing of the tea room facilities, but whether this experiment in social engineering will be a success only time can tell.

My new office is a remarkable improvement upon my current abode - I will have my very own name plate outside, rather than the intriguing 'Supplies Store' label on the present door.

I will miss the pales, buckets, brooms, and mops, but will gain a valuable asset - a window. Until now I have had to stay vacantly at pictures of trees and grass while day-dreaming. Soon I will be able to gaze at the real things.

There are still a few serious issues to be confronted, negotiated and resolved. Will my comfortable chair be replaced by a 'Shopping Mall' special (the sort of seat that send searing jolts of pain up your back after 10 minutes of use)? Will I be getting the executive carpeting or the utilitarian vinyl tiles? Will I be granted one or two wood-finished bookcases?

Andrew Davison