All quiet on the western front

We had a break in our Internet connection at the College which lasted from Sunday lunchtime to end of work on Monday. It wasn't our fault, and another 20 colleges and schools were affected, but of course when your system isn't working, no-one can see whether it's localised or general.

It's always interesting to see what happens when technology's blankets are torn off the bed for a while. We had internal email, so that probably kept the e-junkies going, but for most of us it was a liberating break from the tyranny of 'response-response-response' to new mail. I got on with several long-delayed or ignored desk projects and employed a radical new-fangled management technique called management-by-walking-around.

My walk took me also to the Business Transformation workshop for intake 31, where I was able to host a short Q and A on the Reading merger. People had good questions, mostly relating to reassurance about our belief in Henley as a brand, clarification on where their degree will come from and what the business case is for the deal.

Actually, the same questions have come up again and again and it will be very important that we communicate as much as possible in the coming weeks and months.