My computer hard drive died a few days ago. Initially, I was not bothered. This would be a good opportunity to clean up my electronic image, I thought. But, two minutes ago, I realised the extent of my troubles. My obsessive notes on Gareth Evans, Richard Heck and Michael Dummett, not to mention every paper I ever penned for class, have been deleted. There are no backups, no way to retrieve those special words.

You might think that I would promote storing your difficultly developed works elsewhere. But I think this is the wrong moral to draw. I think my disaster illuminates two different things. The first is that education is portable. You can take it with you wherever you go. It is not manifest in stored papers. The second point is that a fresh start can sometimes be welcome, even if it is initially unwelcome. I am now required to erect my writing sample from nothing. The freedom this gives me!