Too much cider, not enough food last night leads to a very groggy morning where anything beyond basic functioning and reasoning is a veritable impossibility. It was week one of the Griffin Quiz: Season 5 and everyone (and I mean everyone) turned out to start it off. Our defense began robustly enough but owing to our splitting off into two teams, we didn’t have the brainpower to knock Team Science on the head; had we remained as one team we’d have won although there might have been some ill feeling because we won three bonus round prizes (although one was the thrice-cursed Hot Spot). Some Scotty Dog biscuits and a Jack Daniels Hip Flask n Key Ring.
And I was able to open negotiations on the Paris trip and the logistics thereof. I need to email/text everyone with details of the Champagne bar visit as that’ll be in little over a fortnight. There’s some sort of consensus on an overnight trip which is good and Joey might be able to pull a rabbit from his hat (even better). All in all, there’s a lot more to look forward to than just oblivion and proton decay.
It’s been semi decent at work the last couple of days (although don’t ever quote me on that as I’ll decry the work of this blog as a fraud), chiefly as Motormouth has been out the office the last two days, we seem to be somewhat manager-less with senior civil servants being in absentia and there’s a more relaxed mood rather than people acting all uptight. Being glass half empty, I know it won’t last but it’s something to take comfort in so long as the feeling endures. Cause and Effect, I believe; either way one has to revel in the small victories because the gaps between major victories is ever widening.
Today’s moan/Grind My Gears segment is going to be about the CSRA Research Project. Yes, I’m going to complain about colleagues and maybe I’ll get sacked in the process. It’s been well over a year since the research was undertaken and the final version of the report reproduced but the publication of said report has been stuck in bureaucratic HELL far, far longer than ever expected or anticipated. If I were utterly devoid of hobbies, I’d turn my attention to the pencil-pushing geeks holding it up and have them crushed. They’re on my shit-list and no mistake. As always, the most frustrating part of the entire process is not the whole delay part but if the situations were reversed, I could expect high-impact diarrhoea from above. It’s always one rule for one group of people in the civil service and a completely different set of laws for another which exposes the lie of “equal opportunity and equality of opportunity”. And they wonder why we’re so cynical.
I can’t believe the Trade Unions are proposing to deal with this current Pension dispute by immediately threatening strike action. It seems such a poor negotiating strategy by immediately bringing out the big guns, like something a tinpot Dictator would do in a bid to shore up crumbling strength. Speak softly and carry a very big stick would be in better order. Be like Don Corleone and only use muscle as an absolute last resort but use ones power of persuasion. I know the activists are chomping at the bit to elicit as much support as possible for strike action, I just don’t think now is the time. Shalln’t be voting in favour of a strike when the inevitable ballot paper wings its way to me.
Imperial Centre 