December brought heat, the occasional tropical storm and pre-Christmas workplace gatherings designed to celebrate the end of a profitable year – or, in Anna"s case, the departure of hundreds of often irritating students for the long vacation. Student Administration joined with the college library for the lunch, each staff member being asked to "bring a plate", a phrase Anna had learnt meant take food to share. Shortcrust pastry being one of her culinary successes, she made a cheese and onion flan. Decorating her “plate” with slices of tomato prior to the lunch, she glanced at the dazzling dishes on display and felt inadequate until she discovered that the library staff – a veritable United Nations with seventeen nationalities represented – were responsible. Her own colleagues, all Australi
