Befuddled

Went to work, worked, but the day didn't quite go as we'd all expected.  I was rather sharply reminded of one of the things I learned when I took the Decision-Making-in-a-Complex-and-Uncertain-World MOOC -- that in a complex network, even the smallest of things can cause enormous change.  In today's case, it involved the Grenfell blaze of a few months back in London.  The head of our university decided, as a consequence of that event, to have a thorough inspection done of all the buildings.  'Our' building is the oldest of them all, about 30 years old, built about the time the London apartment was also constructed, and, lo and behold, the same potentially dangerous materials were used.  He consulted with the Board of Directors, insurance agents, and building superintendents, plus the heads of all colleges, and the decision was made to empty and evacuate our building ... at once.  A shock for us all as we reported to work!  We were not allowed to go upstairs without escort, and we first had to have our names on a list.  I was able to go up three times, during which I cleared my desk completely, putting things into my cabinet, and taking home valuable books and folders (ordners).  As my car was parked almost a kilometer away, I had to walk all the way back to fetch it so that I wouldn't have to carry everything.  After the first trip upstairs, fetched the car and loaded what I could, then parked it back.  And then, very surrealistically, I had my lessons, which were fortunately planned in the new building.  My class decided to attend, and with a 100% presence, which made me glad that I didn't have to cancel it.  We plowed through the material and workshop for about 3 hours, and then I managed two trips up to get more stuff.  I collected them near the Front Desk, and then fetched the car again (hopefully losing more calories) and loaded them all and drove back home.  All lessons for tomorrow in Building C have been cancelled, meaning I don't have to report to work.  I will go back, though, and try to get some more stuff.  To make matters more interesting, on the way back, there was an accident on the A16, so that I had to detour through some traffic on the A15 and then turn right on the N3, which skirts Dordrecht, adding an extra half hour to the trip.  By the time I put my key in the front door, I was exhausted.

Took this shot in the classroom at the top floor of the D building while my students were busy with the workshop.  It was quite a day.