Saying goodbye to an old friend.....

Yesterday we said a teary

goodbye to an old, dear member of staff. After enduring months of it

teetering on the edge of total breakdown, Young-Hun finally decided to

replace the office photocopier with a newer, sleeker model.

We couldn't let the occasion pass without a few moments of

reflection... We had got to know and love the old copier well, even

intimately you could say. There was many a frantic moment 5 minutes

before class when we could be found on our knees in front of it, its

front flap hanging open and our hands rummaging around inside looking

for our missing lesson copy...

We knew what parts to kick, when to give a judicious thump and had

become familiar with all of its grumblings as it decided which piece of

paper was the most important and thus the one it was going to make into

a concertina.

But for all its faults, it was a tried and trusted member of staff. If

it were human it would be the older spinster lady that had been with

the school since, ooh no-one knows when, literally a part of the

furniture. She would listen to your woes, make you a cup of tea and

always know the right thing to say. The stories she could tell of all

the students she had seen come and go, watched them grow and head off

into the world to become accomplished English speakers......

Our new member of our English school family on the other hand is

glossy, well manicured and speaks at least 5 different languages. It

knows an AWFUL lot about copying but isn't so very interested in our

personal lives. Once the work is done it wants no more interaction,

nothing is said that isnt necessary.. If it could, it would bill by the

minute.

I suppose you cant halt progress and it raises our status as an office

to have such a fine, efficient machine at our disposal. It certainly

appears very impressive and to some, how you look is half the battle.

But we shed a few tears for old faithful who, I like to think has gone

to a better, more sympathetic home that wont require it to copy umpteen

lesson plans a week and wont subject it to a daily poking with a ruler

by teachers wondering where their piece of paper has gone. I certainly

hope so.....