stereotypically, if its a she, she may well be at home with kids on their easter break and maybe didn't understand what 'out of office' was on their email. I would still go through the admin route, they often know a lot more than academic staff - its where I always go for departmental gossip in my coffee break!

Yeah, deffo find a departmental secretary, they are always the stars of the department. Like the time DanB was having relationship problems and burst out in tears in the corridor and there she was, like a ray of sunshine :-)

PhD fail, I just got the reply. Oh well, I guess I have to have a long sit and think about what comes next now.

Sorry to hear that Tribble. Keep going though!