hello. i'm your daughter.

I received an urgent email last week advising me that my daughter had fallen at school and was now at the hospital. I wasn't to panic, as she wasn't seriously hurt, but could I please contact the school asap to confirm receipt of the message and when I'd be able to get to the hospital.

I'll admit that despite their request, I was a little spooked. I rang, naturally, asap, but I was a bit annoyed they hadn't taken the initiative to call me themselves rather than resort to email.

Never mind. The more important point to get across was that I don't have a daughter, and it was obviously a case of mistaken identity, so they might want to try contacting the girl's (real) mother by a different and perhaps more direct method.

It's amazing what an email address can get you nowadays.

I almost asked whether she was a nice, hardworking attractive child because that's what I'd hope my daughter was, but decided them finding the real mother was probably more pressing.