15/04 - OK, I am at 6am, 7 hours into the shift. I have exhausted all the options facebook, BoingBoing and Make Magazine's Math Monday have to offer. Collisions started about half an hour ago, there was a brief flurry of excitement when I thought something had gone wrong, but then found out it was something that is known about and went away on its own quickly. I am glad I have made it through tonight with only one coffee and no game playing as of yet - however I am now bored of the internet, so tomorrow I may have to bust out the Naruto. I am not quite at Dwarf Fortress boredom levels yet. Also, my prawn salad at 3am was disappointing, but my 6am roast beef and mozzarella baguette is delicious. I posted a picture of me in the control room on facebook, and got an enormous amount of reaction to it - people seem to think it's pretty interesting, or at least pretty cool.
That was an odd night. I made it home by about 0730, having dashed off as soon as my replacement arrived. I remembered to pull the blinds this time, and fell asleep pretty quickly, waking up at about one. I decided this was a silly time and went back to bed until half three, when I got up, had some sugar puffs (thank you Kelly) and somehow faffed around until I had to leave at half 6. I went to balexert on a sandwich mission and ended up with a jambon cru and parmesan focaccia and a chicken satay and rice. I must admit to having a cheeky burger too, as I walked past McDonalds and the smell was too tempting to refuse. My French class was fine, still quite basic stuff but I am learning extra vocab nonetheless. I can tell there are a few people who may mildly annoy me (bossy Italian woman who interrupts all the time, I'm talking about you), and the teacher both praised and criticised my pronunciation. The first time I did it at natural speed and received a "bon", whereas when I had a bit more to read he mildly mocked my accent, saying it was "trop Anglais", especially when pronouncing Beaujolais-Villages. I tried again, and didn't seem to do much better. I am glad of the instruction, just not sure why he's criticising me but ignoring the people who pronounce every single letter in every word, whether it's meant to be heard or not.
I managed to talk to Kelly a little before my shift, and got some bad news - Kelly is supposed to be flying out tomorrow evening, but the Eyjafjallajokull volcano eruption may have thrown a spanner in the works - all flights in and out of the UK are cancelled until further notice. That further notice is meant to come at 0230 UK time, so I await it with baited breath. Oh, also I reckon that I ate 4 1/2 meals yesterday, and as I spent a large chunk of the day sitting still I don't think night shifts are going to be good for my health.
16/04 - The shift is no more exciting than yesterdays, as it is now 3am and nothing has happened yet. We are awaiting the first physics fill of the night, god knows when it will start. There are an awful lot of people in fleeces in this control room. It seems to be the de rigeur item of clothing for physicists. I am listening to Major Lazer to keep me awake. 'What U Like'? Absolute filth. It's not looking too good from the flight point of view, the Met Office is giving an update at 0600. Fingers crossed.
Shit. Their update was at 0330 my time, and it isn't good. Most flights are closed until 1900 - Kelly's is at 1840. I think I'll suggest trying to change to a flight on Saturday morning, as it's free, and if they cancel that then we'll have to use the flights another weekend. Preferably the most expensive flights on the most expensive weekend ever - obviously none of this is actually easyjet's fault, but it's always nice to get one over on them.
Bugger. No good news, and it's now the end of my shift - 7am. I have devoured my chicken satay (ropey) and my focaccia (bone dry), found a sofabed upstairs near the vending machine, and been refreshing BBC news every few seconds. It's looking like all flights are cancelled until at least Saturday night.
Friday afternoon/evening was pretty fun - I enlisted a few people to come on an adventure around the Planpalais area, led by me on my bike. We went to a couple of bars and a Peruvian restaurant which served enormous portions, I realised that Dakers lived on the road we were on so I invited him to join us, and at 0145 I cycled (slowly) home.
17/04 - I was in my dressing gown about to go to bed when I heard some commotion outside - it was about 10 or so people who I had left in the bar, all of whom were going up to Mike Alexander's flat for a few more drinks. As I was still on night shift time I was the last up - we drank a lot of wine and then moved on to ill-advised whisky, which meant that I stayed up until far too late, got far too drunk and woke up far too late and far too hungover.
Kelly rang to tell me her new flights had been cancelled too, and she had rebooked onto yet another, on Sunday morning - she informed me that I was very lucky this had happened, and rightly so, as I would have been absolutely no fun if she had arrived today. I felt absolutely awful, really weak, sick, hot and angry, and I could do nothing to dispel any of these feelings. I made it as far as the park at the end of my road, where I lay in the foetal position cradling a carton of ice tea until I mustered the energy to go and find food. I had to have a sit down every few hundred metres as I felt faint, and eventually I found somewhere which would sell me a pizza. I took this home, ate half and had to get back into bed until Kelly rang. I was still frustrated and angry at something (probably that volcano), and I felt that my only option was to have a bath, the most relaxing option available to me. This I did, called Kelly back in my more relaxed state, and passed out at around midnight, despite having only been awake for about 8 hours. I am a confused mess, I am not sure about these night shifts...
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