The day went by with agonising slowness. Maybe an office job would have more appeal after all. Apart from the hour I took for lunch after the library closed to the public, when I managed to get a brief word with Mark, I spent the whole day in the department.
Mark was doing well at the café. It amazed me how he managed to squeeze himself into the tight black trousers Daphne gave him. Daphne claimed the number of female visitors to the café increased, once word got around.
Though, as she said, “Little do the girls realise what a hopeless cause Mark is for them.”
I got my budget report finished by six. The key was to ask for double what you actually wanted, such as new books, replacement of worn and tatty books, new equipment, requests for re-decoration etc. Because once the pen pushers
