Gearing up for another year

I search for the sheaf of papers in my cupboard ; those loose, lined papers you get for 40 bucks per kg. I start punching holes into them and drawing lines to make margins. Should prepare in advance for tomorrow. Don’t want to do all this when the lecture’s already begun.
I search for the huge plastic bag in which I kept all my empty files. I’ll need those tomorrow too. I file the sheaf of papers on one of them.
They still have their old labels on them, those files. ‘Comparative Anatomy Paper I’, ‘ Epidemiology Paper IV’, ‘Haematology Paper II’…stare out at me and I stare at them; while in my mind pictures of our old classroom, ppt presentations, misplaced forceps and shark liver floating in the tray flash by. And the students of course. Gossip King hissing into someone’s ear, Mata intent on writing down every word the prof utters, Four Seasons brooding over what Sid’s just told her…


Think I’ll decorate my files this year. How about the Deathly Hallows symbol? Or maybe a printout of H2G2? Or maybe a tyrannosaur skull?...Anything that connects me with the things I love and cherish. Things that the people in my classroom are oblivious about.


Another year. Same campus, same bus route, same college, some new students, plus some old ones, but a different degree.