We had a full staff meeting today at Zend - all of us, from all over the world, connected by long-distance telephone, a common purpose, and the sound of a small child making a lot of noise. Of course we all denied having any children on the spot, but it was funniest hearing the Israeli office in full flow. (C'mon Amnon, we all know it was you!)
'Course I got homesick - for about the first 40 minutes, anyway. After that I remembered how non-virtual staff meetings always go on for at least half an hour longer than my attention span can manage, and practiced throwing paper aeroplanes at myself in the hallway alone at home.
Still it seemed strangely quiet when the meeting was over, and I couldn't settle back to work for a while.
England's becoming more itself again (to me), if still aggressive. I got a fulsome apology and part of my bar bill paid by the guy who was so obnoxious the other night; that's something to hold onto I guess. My second best friend's going through a rough patch - no work, no car, no money - and can't come over to visit, although we plan to party like crazy when my paycheque comes. My best friend of all is in Ireland practising being a husband - no point there, I know he'll either be very good or very bad at it, there'll be nothing in between, he's Catholic. And my third best friend (Capricorns always have three very good friends) is the ever-faithful Nigel, who bans me during the week on account of my being an evil influence.
I have this Saturday night reserved for his birthday, and hopefully - this being a very rural Saturday night indeed - some of the edge of this rough culture will be softened then.
Why the blather? - ack, it was just a little episode earlier tonight, standing in a queue at the garage waiting to pay a fiver for the half-litre of petrol I'd just spooned into my mother's car, and someone drop-kicked me directly behind the knees. Obviously aiming for that spot that makes you crumple and fall over, but thankfully he missed. Just some guy I vaguely know. 'Orl right girl? You been away?'
Yeah, I been away alright, and I wish to God I still was.
No comments:
Post a Comment