No, P. M. Wetherill (Letters, THES , August 17), I am not far-fetched fiction. I am every bit as real as Professor Lapping, who is in Ireland struggling to connect to the email between golf rounds, and Dr Piercemuller, who has just emailed (asking me to "look into something") from a beach in the Med! I am here "covering", but I don't mind because I'm on the appropriate secretarial grade.
Bonnes vacances à tous .
Maureen (Parker)
Secretary, Centre for Applied Research in Education, University of East Anglia.