Of Weekend Work and Fortune Tellers...

Well, it's been a while since I last posted, and will probably be a while until I post again because I am taking my computer back in for further repairs (I love being able to get every thing fixed for free, so I have a new computer when my warranty expires...) So... on to what happened during my weekend...

On Friday night I went out to a pub with my coworkers, and had a good time watching drunk people and talking, though of course the gradual increase in decibels of the music eventually made talking impossible and my continued inhabitance of the building undesirable. Still, it wasn't a bad way to spend an evening. I ended up spending most of the rest of the night on the phone, which wrote off some of Saturday morning. When I finally got up, it was time to go to work, since I had cell cultures growing that needed to be split and frozen down, and others which needed to be thawed and grown. They're like little chicks, really, constantly needing feeding and attention, regardless of the day. At least there is some ability to control them, since you can plate out very small amounts which will take quite a long time to grow, or large amounts which will grow quickly, but the cells tend to be quite temperamental, and like to grow in particular ways. Therefore there is a range of percentages by which they can be split, and the rate of growth sometimes means that they cannot be delayed for more than 1.5 days.

I finished work at 6, and rode out to the Backs (the backs of the large city-centre colleges), to sit on the bank of the Cam and drink (lemonade in my case) with my coworkers. It was pleasantly sunny and the atmosphere was nice. As we were sitting there and observing people, a strangely-dressed man was observed. He was wearing a patchwork jacket of gaudy fabrics, a jester's hat, torn socks, and loud pants. We were remarking on this apparition, when he decided that our little party looked like an interesting place to visit. He sat down and said something like the following very quickly: "Good evening esteemed sirs and madam I wonder if I would be able to beg the enormous favour of a moment of your time to introduce myself I am appelated Andi Pandi and I have the fascinating and esoteric talent of being able to read everything about you, more than you would ever cogitate or consider credible, simply from the order in which you select these coloured cards I have with me etc etc etc". We decided that it would be amusing to partake of this offer, so he went ahead and laid out his cards. I picked some, repeated the sequence a few times, and when he was happy he began to spout an awful lot about my many layers of feeling. As expected, he said enough that was general so that some things applied, and enough that was specific that he had observed from my interaction with workmates. After he finished, it was such fun to ask him specific questions and watch him wriggle... Particularly when he couldn't work out what my profession was ("something involving scrutinising"), despite a lanyard around my neck saying "Addenbrooks," and a hospital ID and a research ID. Eventually he saw it and pretended to "discover" that my colours meant that I was a doctor working long hours in the ED... not exactly. Anyway, it was quite a lot of fun, and he was a good sport.

Sunday was a bit of a non-day. I went shopping. That's about all that can be said for it. It's funny that even the aforementioned hypermarket is not open for long on a Sunday; only from 10am until 4pm. Still, that was enough. And that was my boring Sunday. I was going to go to someone I don't know's house for dinner, but then his wife was sick, so I ate a lonely meal and slept. Sometimes life here is not very exciting...