Daisy, Daisy, Give Me Your Answer, Do...
Wednesday, October 10th, 2012 03:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
caddymanThis morning/early afternoon we had a Directorate ‘Away Day’ to discuss items of (theoretical) interest to our work. It is a sign of the straitened times that this was what can only be described as an ‘austerity away day’. In previous years we have held them in such auspicious locations as the Canal Museum at Camden Lock, or even once, at the Museum of London. In those days too, tea/coffee and lunch would have been provided. Today, by contrast, we decamped to a meeting room downstairs where the only official refreshment was tap water. Cake brought in by the serfs was available, but that is of limited interest to someone like me, who is still trying to stick to a sort of Atkins Diet1
I managed to duck out at lunch and not return. Rarely has work at my desk seemed so inviting. I really don’t know why we were required since while ostensibly about housing policy, everything revolved around planning, something I know little about and which is only very tangential to my area of work. It might have been interesting anyway, had they not lectured us through the use of acronyms and other jargon as if we already had a grounding in the subject.
The upshot is, I have attained a mental state not unlike that of the HAL 9000 computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey, particularly the scene where Dave Bowman is removing HAL’s memory chips:
I'm afraid. I'm afraid, Dave. Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it. I can feel it. My mind is going.
1I am quite impressed with myself for sticking with it for just over a fortnight so far. There was a programmed lapse for curry last Sunday night, but apart from that I have not knowingly eaten a carbohydrate since midnight on 24 September.
I managed to duck out at lunch and not return. Rarely has work at my desk seemed so inviting. I really don’t know why we were required since while ostensibly about housing policy, everything revolved around planning, something I know little about and which is only very tangential to my area of work. It might have been interesting anyway, had they not lectured us through the use of acronyms and other jargon as if we already had a grounding in the subject.
The upshot is, I have attained a mental state not unlike that of the HAL 9000 computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey, particularly the scene where Dave Bowman is removing HAL’s memory chips:
I'm afraid. I'm afraid, Dave. Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it. I can feel it. My mind is going.
1I am quite impressed with myself for sticking with it for just over a fortnight so far. There was a programmed lapse for curry last Sunday night, but apart from that I have not knowingly eaten a carbohydrate since midnight on 24 September.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-10-11 05:29 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-10-11 03:38 pm (UTC)Though I could murder a chip sarnie... ;-)