The greatest arguement ever...

So yesterday was a pretty tough day, in fact the highlight of the day came technically today at about 00:35.

Mondays are always frustrating days and we (me and S) knew it was going to be a tough one before it even started. S had spent much of the weekend working on her paper which was due at midnight last night. Going into Monday there was still quite a lot of work to do so she had planned to spend some of her time at work working on it as well as the whole evening. Unfortunately that plan started to unravel early on. I received a phone call not long after getting in from S saying that she had forgotten to email the paper to herself and so would have to essentially work blind. I offered in my most reluctant of tones to go back home and send it to her but through some force of female intuition she realised that I wasn't looking forward to the extra hour walking and declined the offer. I am bad and I will be going to hell.

So I started on my own work filled with guilt and irritation (the usual emotions of Monday mornings but not for the usual reasons) and realised that everything I had spent the last week writing was unfounded rubbish, true but unfounded. I'm supposed to be doing research on drug mules and there is nothing out there! Nothing other than generic rubbish or studies that are so specific as to be of very little use to assess the European perspective. I successfully fought the temptation to delete everything and start again and instead found myself writing without even attempting to find justification or evidence knowing that the vague reports I have will cover me and that as a research recommendation I can suggest further study in particular areas to strengthen the evidence.

The problem here is to not be seen to be in any way political. It's almost like reaching conclusions are anathema. It's frustrating but despite this organisation being packed to the rafters with experts we have been told that they shouldn't be making the conclusions, they're for politicians to make after they've carefully ignored the evidence of the experts, but when the conclusions are as clear as day it's almost insulting to the intelligent man not to mention them. I got a phone call on Friday from a lawyer I had been put in contact with through an old colleague. He was extremely helpful and enthusiastic about the project (providing that I was more focused than the in rambling email I sent him) which surprised me to a large extent as I know how busy people are. Unfortunately but predictably when I reported this to my colleagues there was an immediate note of caution. We (I) can't be seen to be going over the head of the established contact points despite being told that it's essential for us to nurture our own networks of information.

With my head ringing from the contradictory instructions and feeling that this study is nothing more than a hassle to my colleagues I set about my day's work trying not to get under anyone's feet. The day in the office was remarkably uneventful...lunch was a pleasant affair at the usual place and consisted of alheira grelhado com ovo a really greasy smoked chicken sausage, grilled with a fried egg on top, served with rice, chips and greens. It's a real man's lunch and I am always being mocked by my continental colleagues - they claim I have a typically English attitude to eating but I don't think this is particularly fair. I have put on a little weight since I have been here, but not a great deal, especially considering I've only been running a couple of times since I arrived. I do like my big lunches and some are incredibly fatty but I avoid most dairy products (they're really not a patch on milk/butter/cream from the UK) and I have much lighter dinners. Plus I don't snack as much despite the constant temptation of the omnipresent pastelarias.

The afternoon passed mercifully quickly but before I left I had the idea of ringing my mum for a quick chat. I hadn't spoken to her in a while and we have free VOIP calls here at work for international personal calls so I thought I would take advantage of that. I ring the house phone, no answer, I ring the mobile, no answer, I ring the house phone again, no answer, I ring the mobile again, no answer. Now I'm not the angriest person in the world, I perhaps used to be but I have definitely calmed in my old age. One of the few things that is still guaranteed to annoy me beyond all reason is people not picking their phones up. I think it a common courtesy that if you're busy and don't want to answer your phone you switch it off and put it on voicemail, otherwise there is absolutely no excuse for not picking up a mobile phone. I know it's something we're all guilty of, even me, it might be in our pocket or we don't hear it but seriously, look at the statistics, I probably have no more than 3 or 4 missed calls a month. When I rule the world, more than 10 and you lose phone privileges.

As you can imagine from my unreasonable rant now, when actually confronted by an unanswered phone I was near apoplectic and so I stormed out of work in a deeply irritated mood. By the time I met S I was in a somewhat calmer frame of mind but over the course of the evening I was deeply unkind and unhelpful and S was getting increasingly panicky and silly. We were just working completely at counterpoint to each other but then followed one of the best arguments I have ever had...

After about four hours of not talking to each other, in fact it reached the point of very actively ignoring one another, we had a blazing row, 15 minutes of shouting and accusations followed by silence. A silence in which it struck me how silly the whole thing was, I was hit by the ridiculousness and childishness of my own actions and S's reactions and I let out a giggle. A giggle that quickly turned into a chuckle which was particularly contagious and soon we were both in fits of laughter, wrapped round each other and all was forgiven.

Today we felt like a team again but unfortunately it's back to the grindstone as the next paper is due on Sunday evening and much reading and research has to be done before then.

This morning was a lot easier and therefore a lot more productive. As usual I didn't see many people until lunch time but had a good chat with my colleagues about the progress of the Annual Report and the problems that have arrisen into it. It's great getting these sorts of insights. I broached the subject of me taking a day off next week, it's Carnival and the plan is for lots of drinking and dancing to be done. It was no problem for me to take the day off because it's not like I'm getting paid to be here. We also discussed an interview that the director was giving today on drugs from Asia. One of my colleagues was responsible for briefing him beforehand. We asked him what he told the director and he said,
"I told him what we know, Heroin comes from Asia."

This is why they get paid and I don't!