Musical chairs

When you want to pursue a postgrad degree, say a PhD or DPhil or whatever you want to call it, the trouble is not to get accepted into the degree, nor is it to get a free RTS place at the uni. The biggest problem is to find a desk to call your own for the duration of your studies. Although the uni is obliged to provide each doctoral candidate with a desk, a computer (that works), a cabinet that can be locked (with the key) and access to a printer (again one that actually prints stuff when you want it), this is not as easy as it sounds. There are no free desks and everybody that has one allocated to them holds on to it as desparately as if we were playing musical chairs. Yet the irony is that most postgrad cubicles seem to be empty most of the time. Uncluttered, though dirty, they show there yellow surfaces to the passers by: no papers or books anywhere in sight and the happy deskowners are nowhere to be seen. So why oh why can't I get one of these nice deserted cubicles, pronto? I'll clean it myself!