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Friday, March 1, 2013

March 1. Day 60. Head above water

It's game on. The students have arrived and finally the main game of teaching can begin - I just need to clear the backlog of paperwork. I'm up to my neck in it. My head is above water but only just - a bit like this lizard at South Bank this morning.
I'll let you in on a big secret. I hate paperwork. Never has the need to fill in a form, write criteria sheets or complete appointment documents motivated me to get out of bed in the morning. Indeed if that was it I might never crawl out from under the doona. But there's a mountain load of administrivia in my and I suspect every job and it only gets worse. Efficiency drives seem to mean the phasing out of administrative staff. Sure I can make my own coffee and phone calls and do my own printing. I've never dictated anything to anybody. But more and more of the complex administrative tasks seem to be finding their way into my inbox. I sometimes wonder about the wisdom and indeed the cost of shifting responsibilities from specialist office staff on to academic staff.
Don't get me wrong. These things are not beneath me it's just that I'm not very good at them.
Surely it is better to have someone who is fast, efficient and experienced at a task do it rather than farm it out to those who are slow and inefficient.  It's prematurely aging me. Beady little eyes and scaly skin are other things I share with this lizard. I may also be growing horns.
Humph, if only I got to laze on a rock or wade in the water at South Bank every day. Perhaps this fellow could fill in appointment forms and we could swap. He couldn't be much worse at it than I am.

19 comments:

  1. great analogy and photo as always. you have such a clever way with words and your stunning images. x

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  2. Great picture the clarity is amazing x

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  3. Do a swan impression; graceful above the water and peddling like crazy underneath.

    Thanks for linking up.

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  4. Brilliant photo! We have a chameleon ... I love lizards :)

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  5. Gorgeous photo. I love how easily you spot all these amazing creatures and photograph them.

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  6. That's an amazing photo - and I know how you feel!

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  7. I'm not a fan of paperwork either! You need to be born for it! Love your lizard :-)

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  8. Yet again another great photo!

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  9. ha ha that really made me giggle, look at him just popping ut to say hello!

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  10. I sympathize fully and love the comparison with the lizard.

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  11. What a really great photo! Would be dead chuffed had I taken it!

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  12. I always love your photos and this another excellent one :)

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  13. I'm always in awe of your photography. Another stunning shot.

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  14. wow the detail as always is spot on, the story fab, but oh so true, admin staff are trained to do admin, teachers are trained to teach.

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