Once inside...

I was led by Mrs. V. into a small hall, leading to a dining area. There were boxes everywhere, piled on the dining table, covering the floor.

Mrs V

The boxes were filled with books for the school. As Mrs. V went to get some tea for me, I peeked inside one. "A Tale of Two Cities " Junior Reader. This was a book that seemed to follow me around the world - I taught it in Sudan during my two years there. (1984 -1986)  Other books that have followed me are Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude" which I first came across in my sixth form, and Greene's "The End of the Affair." 

Others were science books, all at the junior level. Mrs. V. explained to me that they were for the new school in Karachi.

We chatted - it wasn't really an interview - and I felt I had been expected and accepted for the post. 

I have a feeling I was the only applicant. I'll never know. I left her place with no real expectations. She had struck me as earnest and sincere.