Miss Pinch came visiting, and asked me what I intended to do with my Future. She spoke about it as though it were an incurable disease. ‘You have a future,’ she said. ‘We must take it into account.’ She suggested I try for a Junior Trainee Assistant Librarian Temporary Grade on a three-month work placement. She warned me that I shouldn’t be too ambitious—not suitable for Females, but that librarianship was suitable for Females. Miss Pinch always said Females, holding the word away from her by its tail.
