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Tuesday 8 September 2009

Builders in the building.



Here a builder, there a builder, everywhere a buttcrack...

We have a builder infestation at work to go along with the flies, their maggoty offspring, the aphids and the other unknown insects that chew on my plants.

Oxford is basically one permanent building site, which is miraculous considering there is absolutely no space left in this city. They are tearing buildings down and putting up new ones and renovating all over the place. And since about January it has been our turn.

It was allright while they were doing their thing on the upper floors, , but now they are on our floor! The corridor is blocked off so we have to go downstairs just to get across the building. We have no lift so we have to carry everything up and down multiple flights of stairs. Some people have dozens of trays of soil to carry.

And they are creeping ever nearer my actual lab.

Soon they will be drilling away IN our lab, and apparently this shall go on for 3 months. The dust. The noise. The ladders and huge men and random flying saws (it happened) to dodge. Something tells me sanities shall be hanging by slender threads by the end of this. How am I supposed to produce world class science, huh? Yeah yeah, so I didn't before but it could have been imminent.

Since they are knocking down whole rooms in our lab, every available space we have left is currently covered in stuff from those rooms. We are all stumbling over boxes and equipment every time we move. It is just madness. I sense the tension and the drills have not even moved in yet.

The builders are really good guys and do their best to accommodate us. It is not their fault that there are some very miserable people in labcoats wandering around these days, covered in a fine film of dust.

I foresee only one solution. A three month holiday.

Aha, bet you never saw that one coming. Sadly my superiors did not share my sentiments. Yet. Wait until the drills start I say; just wait.

You may have picked up that I have been feeling somewhat fragile in the mental department recently, but I must warn you that when the noise circus moves in I will probably start raving about badgers in my belfry or capybaras in my cranium or marsupials in my meninges.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

10 comments:

LadyFi said...

So sorry to hear about your friend's loss.

Went to work yesterday where they were drilling outside all day long. I'm now mad.

Hope you survive!

Goblin said...

Such close minded folk. The three month holiday sounds like a brilliant solution.

Hope you get through it without having to dodge any saws.

Cam said...

My cousin was a builder in the UK...I wouldn't wish his butt crack on anyone! Not even the Queen!

Anonymous said...

What happens if the building dust somehow gets spliced into the DNA of one of your plants or something? You could create a whole new species...

Tamara said...

That sounds like fun. Or not.

At least you have a blog where you can vent about buttcrack and the like.

Think of the poor soil-carrying scientists who don't ;-)

po said...

Ladyfi: wlecome to the madness, perhaps we shall be able to converse in three months time?

Goblin: it sounds like the only solution to me!

Ches: thank you for not wishing his buttcrack on me. There is a saffa builder in the building...

quartercenturycrisis: Ah you see! We are concerned! Actually most people are concerned cos it seems anicent fungal spores are in the dust and contaminating their stuff.

Tamara: they should try it! Bloging, not buttcracks.

Helen said...

Oh dear! That sounds awful! They should hand out giant noise-cancelling headphones! Then you'd have soil-carrying scientists bumping into each other a lot!

Keep fighting for the 3-month holiday!

Anonymous said...

I'm just trying to imagine carrying all that soil... and how much heavier it becomes when you think of the walk up. Shame.

Sorry love.

po said...

Helen: freaking good idea, I forgot about those! I need to get my hands on a pair before everyone else hunts them out.

Paula: it will be fine, it will give us something to complain about, and you all know how we loooove to have something to complain about!

AngelConradie said...

I would resign. Plain and simple. Or check myself into a clinic for the duration.