#define GONZO_THOMPSON_FAN thusday evening, went home early (before 1900h) – no intention of coming into the office on friday because of some training-video footage that i wanted to be filming before the weekend.

thursday night, phone-call from colleague re: announcement of 11% company layoffs. oh hell, my mother will be pleased to have something to gossip about and force me to explain repeatedly in search of reassurance. feigning total disinterest = best course.

friday, up bright and breezy, breakfast, laundry, whoops what’s that telephone-call? unexpected conference call, explain that i was not going to come into the office / only going to pop into the office for half an hour / sod it, drive to office.

stuck in office reading e-mail and meeting with colleague to talk about filesystems. lunch. more meetings with people off confcall. coffee. definitely, definitely will be gone to go filming by 1330h.

at 1400h a colleague asks me about boss’s just-called meeting at 1500h to discusswhat is known about the layoffs. suspect i must show up to wave flag. bother. maybe i can phone in?

in lieu of other filming, hoist up camcorder to do some vox-pop filming around the campus, re: automotive safety. good chance to practice cold-call technique. about one dozen successes, one refusal to appear on camera, one too-shy and one busy-talking-about-marriage-breakup.

results to question “which automobile manufacturer makes the most crash-resistant car” approximate:

bmw, volvo, bmw, volvo, mercedes, bmw, volvo, volvo, peugeot, rolls-royce, porsche because i drive one, volvo, volvo but they’re pants and it’s all marketing, bmw, and sun microsystems.

…evidently last person wasn’t quite thinking straight, or i know less about our product line than i believe.

went to boss’s meeting re: layoffs. as heard, total will be 11% from specially-targeted and tuned areas, rather than the previous and (i personally believe) rather shortsighted 9% across the board. one cannot guarantee being safe, of course, but i believe the prospects are favourable.

burn out of the office at 1525h to head 100mi southwest to dorcester, and maiden castle bronze-age fort, in hope of filming before setting sun gets too dark. park, camera, tripod (fscking awful thing, need a better one) and run up hill like a high-voltage monkey, rolling film as i go. fall over (mud but no damage) and slice hand open on barbed wire, all in the name of security education. lovely site, though, view for miles, nice sunset. hope video comes out ok. chuffed to have gotten two required bunches of filming done in one day.

drive further 200mi to aberystwyth, book into hotel [www.harrysaberystwyth.co.uk] at 2230h and slip out for a pint. run into wedding party (hence reason for trip to aber) pub crawl and bride and groom introduce me to others. meet some nice people, including one graham who recently completed a mature degree in compsci at aber. graham used to run weapons systems for the royal navy. rings bell. familiar age and deportment. eventually confirm that yes he does know the guy who sits next door to me at work, evidently they lost touch years ago and would like to re-establish.

small world.

up saturday morning, ugh – hangover on three pints? scrub, shave, shower, breakfast, relocate car to free parking, drive around aber, rain, hail, walk over castle mount to spy “greenpeace” boat anchored out in bay. apparently it’s the current rainbow warrior, [archive.greenpeace.org] apparently they’re out sniffing dolphins and porpoises after heckling some nuclear waste shipments.

bright sunshine, clear sky, wedding in registry office, big smiles, running tape near continuously in spite of arm trying to fall off under weight of camera eqpt. must post website later.

wedding party walk along prom, many many many many many photographs taken, stop in at belle-vue hotel for pimms punch, and then abscond to see the town. buy six small rounds of nice local cheeses (farmers market third saturday of month), change, explore town for some time, return to room to crash out for a bit.

1800h wake, dress, walk to belle-vue hotel for wedding reception. rhun (groom) greets me with a pint, and much booze is consumed though i go easy; go digging for old navy stories (ammunition of a sort) and dragged such out of graham, re: simon. chat with new people, re-meet roz (ex-aberite and notorious hill-walker) and discuss mutual friends. boy-scout tendencies to the fore, help bride’s mother out for a round of fresh air along the prom, when the smoky and sweltering disco gets too much.

not one for disco dancing to abba (or anything else, much) so opt to try and make myself useful and/or enjoy the comforts of a pleasantly overstuffed leather armchair. get to chat with hotel night porter. night porter is a dispensed benedictine monk who left his abbey to look after his ill father 13 years ago and is keeping himself busy whilst wrangling with questions about whether he should go back. discuss church politics and vatican radio, and about possibility of him establishing a new trend of hermitage in wales.

go for a walk up and down landing stage, enjoying evening air and the pleasant sensation of standing mere inches above lapping water, some 60 feet out from the actual shoreline. put messianic thoughts to back of mind, return to hotel. eventually retire with hugs and thanks at 0030h.

bed, wake, clear head, breakfast, retreive car, and 4h30m drive homewards. set up website with some pics at [www.crypto.dircon.co.uk] and time for bed. see you all in the morning.