Soundscape

Most of the time my office door is open
and the room fills with the sounds of the Department.

1.
Laughter.
If you listen at any moment in the day
you will hear laughter
somewhere in the building.

2.
The squeak of the Admission Tutor's shoes
as he leads another guided tour
for applicants
and their anxious parents.

3.
The rattle of the ventilation unit
starting up on the ground floor Cold Store.

4.
The trumpet player in a nearby Hall of Residence
who practises endless scales and arpeggios.

5.
The students who chatter
as they leave the seminar room
"Human Geographers are SO intellectual."
and then, mysteriously,
"My girlfriend is KILLING me."

6.
The telephone in the office next door
which has a special ring tone
when the Professor's wife calls.

7.
The Academic who has just turned 40
who marches purposefully down the corridor
and says "I don't want to disturb you but...
I have another cunning plan..."

8.
The clatter of a skateboarder in the car park
where I hope that the new Little Car is safe.

9.
The folding bike with tiny wheels
being wheeled down the corridor.

10.
The faraway music of an ice-cream van
in the streets at the bottom of the hill.

11.
The swirling sounds of rooks roosting
in the tall trees outside the building.

12.
The succession of people leaving for home
who cheerily call out as they pass
"Bye, Alice, have a good evening.
See you tomorrow."

Noticeboards

The noticeboards in the Department are immaculate.
The order and energy of the display impressed me
when I walked through the door for the first time.

1.
A handwritten message from a tutor:
"Hello again!
I hope that you had a great summer.
Please come and see me to discuss
your course choices for this year."

2.
An advertisment for a seminar:
"Why Denim?"
(Why not?)

3.
The Student Soc poster:
"Around the World Pub Crawl.
A different drink in every pub."

4.
Newspaper cutting:
"Great Dust Storm Shuts Sydney"

5.
Poster of Department Staff:
There is an empty space
where the China expert should be.
He was in Corsica
when the photos were taken
Tsk.

6.
Health and Safety sign:
"It is Strictly Forbidden
to Eat or Drink
in this Room"
which is on the wall above the table
where the birthday cakes are shared out.

7.
Outside my office:
Pictures of the bones of
a Woolly Rhinoceros.
I know the person who dug them up.

8.
Notice of Important Meeting:
to give details of Field Trip, January 2010
for the first years
who read it anxiously,
not sure what to expect.

9.
Collage of Photographs of Field Trip, January 2009:
Much laughter and chatter from second years
as they recognise themselves
smiling out from the display.

10.
On my noticeboard:
a postcard from the University of British Columbia
sent by the Professor of whom we spoke.
It shows a granite arch stranded on grassland.

11.
Small notice in foyer:
"The sarsen stones outside the front door
were found during excavations for the M25.
They are similar in size and age
to the sarsen stones at Stonehenge."

12.
A competition to design a sari:
I wonder if my friend, Gina, would be interested...