It begins!

Day 1 of NaNoWriMo. At lunchtime, the novelling hoards should descend and start work on their masterpieces. Then they'll be here after school too, hammering away at their keyboards with me until half four.

Sadly the writing cafe is not to be - it seems that Health and Safety will not allow it. The big no-no, I'm told, is the possibility of students carrying hot drinks across the library. Drinking them is fine, spilling them on books and computers is not a concern, but clearly carrying is a risky business. The irritation here is that we're expecting these students to act as young adults, but we deny them the responsibilities of it and treat them like children. This doesn't make any sense. And no, apparently it is not enough to gather parental consent forms for tea carrying and offer special training. Nor is it relevant that they do this every week in food tech, and take hot dishes out of ovens with their bare hands*. But I'm allowing them to bring snacks and drinks, and, y'know, flasks. Of tea.  *subtle wink*

*This is not entirely true.