Visitation

Paid the old stomping grounds a visit this morning before coming to work. Nothing much had changed: the staff room is still only half-full on account of teachers being out on invigilation duties and/or attending the usual end-of-year nonsense like the staff dialogue sessions (where someone will again have the opportunity to rehash the points from dialogue sessions of years before); most tables are still the mess of post-end-of-year exam marking; the dead cat is still stapled to someone's head (and starting to look decidedly ratty, if I may add); and Glorious Leader is still nowhere to be found.

You know you're back in a school staff room when:

1. Ex-colleagues volunteer their kids to be models for your next project;

2. Ex-colleagues can't stop telling you how you've put on weight;

3. Ex-colleagues talk to you in acronyms;

4. Ex-colleagues ask if you'd be interested in doing some relief teaching; and

5. Ex-colleagues asking for quotations for services offered by your fledgling business.

It's like I never left.