As the department in whose tea room the Cow was sitting was not Religious Studies, they could be forgiven for muddling the various locations of theAfterlife, and confusing Limbo with Purgatory. Heaven and Hell were a little more difficult to confuse, although Prof Castle declared that Heaven sounded awful and he'd far rather end up in Hell. "Wearing those same smelly white robes every day," he muttered in disgust, "and having those silly, heavy wings! Not to mention all that choral singing! Sounds like Hell to me!"
Which raised the issue of where in Hell one would be sent if one committed different sins which were differently punished. "Perhaps," suggested Dr Green, "one spends some time in each, in turn?"
"But who would administer that process?" demanded the Cow. "That would require quite a substantial bureaucracy to manage!"
"Bremner!" declared Dr Stirrer. "They could have a career path - starting off managing Hell, and getting promoted until they manage Heaven!"
The discussion unravelled rapidly from there, until everyone was rolling around on the floor laughing hysterically. The Cow was relieved no one from Bremner was in the vicinity - bad enough that laughter was heard in an academic building, but to find the staff of a department gathered together, actually talking to each other was outrageous! The tea room would almost certainly be repossessed and turned into more offices for Economics.
Which again raised the issue of what was to happen to the evicted babies from Limbo. "Perhaps," suggested Dr Stirrer, "Madonna could adopt them?"