After getting dressed, I took a walk to my favourite little restaurant, had a bite to eat and watched the world go by. I spotted one of the tutors, Roger O'Brien (Parklife) having a swim in the sea. He spotted me up on the balcony, looked up, waved, I waved back. Brave man, it looked chilly, despite the warmth of the afternoon sun.
As I was finishing my food, Roy came and sat at my table. He looked fine, no hint on his face that he, like me, had stayed up late and drank on the beach. However, I got the impression that he'd also been quite careful not to drink large measures.
As I headed back to the hotel, I saw Pete just crossing the road. He said that he was feeling awful, like death warmed up. He's only in his mid-twenties and he is of very slight build, so I guess there is less of him to soak up alcohol. He was brandishing a sausage roll that he'd bought to try and make himself feel better, but when he opened it, it turned out to be a sweet chocolate non-sausage roll.
Got back to the hotel, and joined Angelika, Roy, Norman and Derek at a table around the pool. They were discussing the project tonight (eclipsing binary stars), which is more formally and more rigorously assessed. Angelika has very sensibly drawn up an agenda for the planning meeting, which is very helpful, it should help the meeting to go more smoothly.
Derek doesn't seem to be able to help himself, he appears to be congenitally incapable of being an ordinary person. After more than four days of careful observation, I have come to the conclusion that Derek is annoying, small-minded, petty, obsessive compulsive, passive-aggressive and basically just a see-you-en-tee. If he were in the Navy, his mess would have picked him up and thrown him overboard by now.
He tries hard to present the impression that he is of sound and ordered mind. His clothes are all precisely ironed. He wears formal shirts and jumpers. His clipboard has all his materials meticulously and neatly clipped. Despite having a lined notepad, he uses a wooden ruler to help him write. This ruler is also placed under the clip on the clipboard, and it perfectly bisects the papers under the clip. I just want to rearrange things, to fuck up his ghastly little system. I am also really growing to dislike the caustic comments that he makes ("I noticed last night we had to reluctantly come to the conclusion that you were right, Norman" etc). I couldn't help myself but make a 'wanker' hand signal when he was looking the other way. If he worked on my department at work, I would have him removed, end of.
A perfect example happened today, even, when I arrived at the table. He spotted that I'd bought a bottle of water from a shop. "Why have you bought that Dave?" he asked. "Because I was thirsty," was the only answer I could give. "Yes, but there are bottles of water provided at the Observatory."
Quite aside from minding your own damn business, why would I think at 3am of taking a bottle of water back to the hotel, where it will sit around, sweating and getting warm, just in case I fancy a drink of water at 2pm the same day? What an absurd small-minded little man. I get the very strong impression that nothing happens in his house without a committee and an agenda being formed. I can only shudder and imagine the sub-comittees that are formed to discuss sexual intercourse. Where's the fun in that? Sometimes you have to be spontaneous.
No small wonder that he isn't married. The universe is simply not large enough to contain the required patience. One thing about going home on Saturday is that I won't have to look at that stupid orderly face again.
Having gotten that out of my system, I need to have a thorough read of tonight's project booklet. As we are heading up to the observatory at the usual early time (4.30pm), there is allocated reading time, however I want to make sure I'm completely familiar first.
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