Ah, recalling one of my worst nightmares. As an undergrad in the late seventies, I took a course on urban dynamics. It was a great course, developing models to test the effects of housing policies, tax policies, etc. on an urban environment. We, too, had to develop these fairly complex computer models on punch cards using a langauage known as ND-Tran, a specialized version of fortran.
Me being me, I had waited till the last few days to complete my major project and was over at the computer lab during finals week frantically typing out (punching out) the last set of formulas.
There was an intense thunderstorm that night. With completed project in hand, literally, I exited the building and tripped going down the steps. In order to cath myself on the handrail, I dropped my stack of roughly a hundred and fifty cards. A strong gale caught them and blew them literally all over campus. (I know, I know, why didn't I use a rubber band to secure them together?)
This gave rise to what my professor deemed the most creative excuse he had ever heard for turning in an assignment late:
The wind ate my homework."