Team Christmas lunch
Dec. 16th, 2011 05:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sawylEnded the week with our joint HPC & mainframe Christmas lunch at the Waterfront down by the quay. Having agreed to help a colleague navigate their way through Exeter — a mistake, because I think I managed to select the worst of all possible routes — I found myself constantly surprised by the state of their car.
Warned that the boot was fairly full, I assumed that I'd be able to fit my small rucksack in without too much trouble only to find that the boot was completely full and it was a struggle to find room for my back. As we got underway we were told to ignore any strange rattling noises from the exhaust because these weren't signs of a malfunction but were instead indicative of design flaws in the silencer baffles. Then, as we approached the security barriers, the electric window struggled to open and had to be assisted with some sort of Fonz-like knack. And so on throughout the journey, with colleague apologising profusely for the various malfunctions that he simply put up with because he was the only one who normally used the car. Not that I minded: a lift is a lift and I was rather grateful, given the weather, not to have to take the bus.
The meal itself was enjoyable enough. More lively than last year but more subdued than the people at the end table, who seemed to be skating around the edge of the sort of behaviour that would get us sent on an equality & diversity refresher. In the end I stayed until around 4 and left as part of the general exodus of commuters and people with familial obligations, neatly ducking out of the heavy evening that some people were obviously planning.
Warned that the boot was fairly full, I assumed that I'd be able to fit my small rucksack in without too much trouble only to find that the boot was completely full and it was a struggle to find room for my back. As we got underway we were told to ignore any strange rattling noises from the exhaust because these weren't signs of a malfunction but were instead indicative of design flaws in the silencer baffles. Then, as we approached the security barriers, the electric window struggled to open and had to be assisted with some sort of Fonz-like knack. And so on throughout the journey, with colleague apologising profusely for the various malfunctions that he simply put up with because he was the only one who normally used the car. Not that I minded: a lift is a lift and I was rather grateful, given the weather, not to have to take the bus.
The meal itself was enjoyable enough. More lively than last year but more subdued than the people at the end table, who seemed to be skating around the edge of the sort of behaviour that would get us sent on an equality & diversity refresher. In the end I stayed until around 4 and left as part of the general exodus of commuters and people with familial obligations, neatly ducking out of the heavy evening that some people were obviously planning.
