The beginning of the works

This is a photograph taken to record the very beginnings of the works on the north side of Old College Quad. This is just a short term fix to mend the roof - as my colleagues on the fourth floor have been suffering leaks for a long time. Buckets are a common theme up there when it rains. Hardly what you want in a twenty first century higher education institution, trying to market itself to students...

But this is just the beginning of a multi-million £ refit of the whole of the north side which is starting, I think, next year or the year after. It'll undoubtedly be disruptive and mean that people will be decanted elsewhere. In my normal bunker on the south side, I might have been little affected by this (although we'll probably have to house refugees, as it were). However, as it happens, it's probably rather a good thing that I'm simply moving elsewhere at the end of this year.