Photograph by Layla Burford: thank you :-) Breakfast is messy; thick, hot, sweet; baked banana pancakes. Leftover espresso recycled with boiled water. Steam does a little dance over the mugs. We think we might be awake. Shirts pressed, ties tied, blazers brushed. Outside everyone winces in the wet cold. The paperwork is safe in plastic boxes. A short drive is admired for its convenience. We do not always have the benefit of convenience. In the car park are people shrinking which has a logic to it: less rain falls on a smaller area. We greet as we walk, brisk, chirpy, into the school and down the corridor and into the hall and say more hello, hello and get on with jobs. Wheel the meal tables out, stick floor numbers down, lay out the paperwork, find pens, count students, file them out. Herd them into grades, say Do This Do That and what, for example, can you tell me about why we do it. Sigh for their disappointments. Admire their achievements. Herd them up again fo