Aisle or window?

When I first arrived here and was assigned this office I was sharing it with a visiting researcher, who in his time with the office to himself had chosen the desk/computer in front of the window. So when I arrived, I got the desk/computer at right-angles to the door.

Once he left, I figured there must have been a reason why he chose the window desk, so I moved there, leaving the desk by the door to the new PhD student who arrived a few weeks later. All of this is illustrated in a very artistic diagram I have kindly constructed for those of you who are spatial-visualisation impaired.

And now I'm suffering from a case of "the grass is always greener". I freely admit that I've maybe become a little bit obsessed about whether I have the best deal or not, but this is the sort of question that suddenly takes on new importance when your advisor is expecting a chapter draft by the end of the day. After all, if I don't have the best possible working conditions, then it's not surprising if I don't meet deadlines, is it?

Anyway, in the midst of my obsession, it struck me that the pros and cons of each position are pretty much the same as those for aisle and window seats on an aeroplane.

If you pick the window seat, you get a pretty view, plus you don't have to worry about people wanting to get in and out all the time and squeezing past you. But you have to have a strong bladder, because the rules of Murphy say you'll be trapped in place for the entire flight by an enormous (and often extremely smelly) person who falls asleep in the first five minutes and lies there dribbling like a beached and decaying whale* for the rest of the flight.

If you pick the aisle seat you are bound to have an excitable small child in the window seat next to you who has to get out every three minutes to go pee or vomit or do whatever excitable small children do on plane flights.

The advantages of the window-seat in our office arrangement are:

• Sunshine. Light. Air. A nice view, sometimes with parrots.
• Next to the filing cabinet, for easy access.
• The computer cords actually reach the power sockets.
• When people enter the office they aren't standing right in my personal space.

Disadvantages:

• The computer screen faces the door, so anyone walking in can immediately see what I'm doing.
• I'm next to the filing cabinet, so I have to move whenever my office mate wants to access her files.
• I have to squeeze past her whenever I want to leave the office (Bump! Sorry! Bump! Ouch! Hold on... No, I can fit. Nevermind).

The advantages and disadvantages of the "aisle seat" are pretty much all of these in reverse.

So aisle or window? Which would you have chosen?

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* Beached whales are not known for their dribbling, I know. But work with me here, people. There is a limited supply of similes in the world and today I obviously got stuck with less than my fair share.