Physical labour

I thought I was supposed to be on holiday!!

Dad: Do you want to day's work on Tuesday? Terry [project manager] is on
holiday and I can't get the guys

Me: I'd really rather not, but if you can't get anyone else...

-- Tuesday --
Dad: So I've quoted for 6 man-days. That means 3 of us for 2 days
Me: ...

-- Wednesday --
Dad: Don't worry. We're on schedule
Me: No we're not. We're never going to finish by tonight.
Dad: I know. I'm not coming back tomorrow, but you guys are.

-- Thursday --
Me: Dad. Have you got a new annor T-shirt? I've been wearing this sweaty one
two days already.
...
- Later -
Dad: We've got a job in london tomorrow. It's only half a day, but Tom can't
do it on his own.
Me: Fuck off. I'm going dancing tonight. I'm not going to be up for working
tomorrow... And anyway: If it's only half a day, there's no point in all 3 of
us wasting time travelling.
Dad: Then I'll pay you for a whole day's work... Well make up your mind. I've
got to call the client now to tell him what time we'll be there.
Me: Well if you can get me a T-shirt, I will go (secretly knowing that there's
not a chance in hell that he will have an annor t-shirt washed.)
Dad(on phone to client): We'll be there between 9 and 10
Me: *rushes out to the bus stop, and buys a sandwich for dinner on the way to
dancing*
- 20:15-11:30 -
Dancing was... It's a different experience to cambridge: A lot more
performance than social, and no Matt and Lotte :'( (we love our Matt and
Lotte *hugs*). Also, the teaching is more of a one-way process, mostly
general derision of the entire class. No questions there (even though we
loooooove questions) because the class is so much bigger.

[babble] Also, there was a lot of really shit lead-follow: Early on, I noticed
a lot of guys stopping their partners and forcing them to do a move in a
certain way. Then later (when all those "advanced" guys left) I had a dance
with with some (possibly drunk) girl who kept forcing moves upon me. I knew
it was going to be a bad dance from the way she clamped my arm under hers. I
ducked out pretty quickly, and she said something like "I've taken way too
many lessons to just do the basic stuff: It's too boring".
If anyone says that to me again, I think my response will be "If following is
boring, DON'T DO IT! and save the rest of us the pain of dancing with you,
you back-leading bitch!"
Note that I quite enjoy trying to follow (though I will complain quite loudly
about not being able to do it). The problem is that when I'm leading, I will
always start off simple to get a feel for how the girl moves (and if she
struggles with the basic steps, I'm happy to just dance basic for a song or
two). If she does something un-expected(like back-leading) then I can't get
an idea of what she can follow, and it all goes to shit. Of course, if I've
led something already with someone, and the second or third time results in
something un-expected, I enjoy the variation.[/babble]
-- Friday --
- 00:30 am -
Me(silently, after missing the last W16 bus without realising, and letting all
other even remotely useful busses pass him, then desperately getting on the
next bus going along the road): This is why I don't use the busses.
*walks from <a
href="http://www.openstreetmap.org/index.html?mlat=51.5815&mlon=0.002&zoom=16">Whipps
cross round about</a> to <a
href="http://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=51.6079612627822&zoom=14&mlon=0.01">home,
which is... erm... about here (*makes a note to update that*)</a> * (google
maps seems to say 2.6 miles, but I doubt I took the shortest route)
- 01:30 -
*dies*
- ~07:30 -
*gets woken up by neighbour mowing lawn, and parents aren't here*
Me (silently): Oh wow: My dad must have left without me.
*prods mouse to get computer to display the time*
*curses and curls up in bed*
- 08:30 -
Dad: You getting up?
- ~09:15 -
Me (staggering into shower): You got that T-shirt then? Didn't think so. [note
for future reference: should have used that excuse as soon as it presented
itself]
- 09:45 -
Me(through a breakfast of chocolate cake): Dad, can you phone Tomasz and tell
him we're going to be late?
Dad: Whose fault is it that we're late? You ring him.
Me: You know, I'm doing this as a favour for you. The more you piss me off,
the less likely I am to *ever* do this again
- 10:00 -
Tom(on the phone to me): Where are you?
- 13:00 -
*has the first non-[sandwich/cake] meal out of the last 5*
- 18:00 -
*leaves the site, after doing a really shit job of a frustrating install
between two equipment cabinates (why can't the English just use Hubbel
I-Frames like the rest of the civilised world)?

-- Saturday --
*punts among the tourists, and gets sunburn and cam-water in his cable-tie cit
from yesterday*