We had something of a mini re-shuffle the other week, with half a dozen new employees turning up. Apparently they are actuaries, which means absolutely nothing to me - I'm not even sure if that's the correct spelling. From what I can make out, they are involved with hefty financial calculations and a fair bit of scheming. It seems important work, as they produce plenty of sheets of number-covered paper for me to sort into piles, or something equally vital and rewarding.
One thing that's not hard to notice is that all of the new numerical boffins are Asian, so there's been a bit of unconscious 'them and us' stuff going on. None of it serious of course, it's just the way with new people in a busy office. Being the unifying sort, I took time out from my paper sorting duties and talked to one of them, who turned out to be from Malaysia. And guess where she got her degree in Actuarial Studies? Edinburgh. So we had a chat about the weather (of course), and the particular Western invention that helped her through the winter of 1982 when she was over there - the wall-mounted 'metal pipes with hot water in them'. So let's hear it for the humble radiator!
