28 July 2009

This madman was interrupting

The breakaway had 2'30" on the bunch, with just 15km to go.

picture by fras1977

You can normally count on an organised peleton to make up only about a minute every 10km, and so with the slight downhill, if the leaders could work together they still had a chance.

At the front of the bunch Columbia were the only team riding and I could sense their resentment that no other teams were prepared to do any work..

And then someone knocked and came into my office.

 "Good afternoon, I have come to check whether you are having any mouse problems"

I looked at him blankly. And I looked around my neat and hermetically sealed office with bemusement. "Well", I said slowly "No, I don't think so, but ...  are there mice on this floor?"

It was his turn to look confused "Well, yes, everyone has one. Don't they"

A stand off.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Astana coming to front of the bunch. This madman was interrupting the tour my work, I had to get rid of him before the leaders reached the flamme rouge.

"Well", I said very slowly and carefully, ''I haven't seen any mice"

"OK", he said, undeterred, "well, if yours is working that's OK then. But with all the sticky mice, well I'll be collecting them all up this evening - they'll be replaced with optical ones"

The penny dropped at last. "Ah", I said, "you're from the IT department. You're a ... You're a.."

"I'm a mouseherd" he said, flatly.

7 comments:

M4GD said...

Funny ha ha - I guess that tells us: mice like to stick together at the wrong time wrong place:-)
So, you got promoted then and did not tell us? i.e. you have your own office now with doors and everything? How could you not celebrate this ominous occasion on your blog! When I joined GI you were just in a cubicle;-)

M4GD said...

Re Side bar and ’Marrying NYC’ who wouldn’t. NYC is a whole ZEN by itself! Reading her article, though seems real, I felt as if I‘m reading a script from the US HBO series “Sex and the City” which took place in our beloved Manhattan!

Carrie Bradshaw, the main character, acted by Sara Jessica said the following wise words on relationships in the last episode of the series:
"There are those that open you up to something new and exotic, those that are old and familiar, those that bring up lots of questions, those that bring you somewhere unexpected, those that bring you far from where you started, And those that bring you back, But the most exciting, challenging, and significant relationship of all is the one you have with yourself and if you find someone to love the “You” you love…Well that’s just fabulous!"


And for the lady who wrote the article, I send her this poem that says it all.
"After a While"

"After a while you learn the subtle difference between holding a hand and chaining a soul.
And you learn that love doesn't mean leaning and company isn't security.
(Kisses aren't contracts and presents aren't promises.)
After awhile you begin to accept your defeats with your head up and your eyes open, with the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child.
And you learn to build your roads on today because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain and the inevitable has a way of crumbling in mid-flight.
After a while you learn that even sunshine burns if you stand too long in one place.
So, you plant your own garden and decorate your own soul instead of waiting for someone else to bring you flowers.
And you learn you really can endure,
that you really do have worth.
You learn that with every good-bye comes the dawn."

By
Veronica Shofftall or Judith B. Evans or Unknown for Certain! Heard on an audio book before 2005...my two cents for July 30, 2009 and off to more acupuncture!

Botogol said...

I like that poem (you know a lot of poems).

Ihere are many variations on-line in the version you give I like the parentheses in the middle, but the ending of the poem I prefer this version

M4GD said...

Ditto I like your version better! BTW I do not mean to ‘poem you/GI out’:-) I do love poetry though I never formally studied it. I’ve always found comfort in reading Poetry. I like it simply because it does not lie but also for a whole lot of other reasons…
In response to W.H. Auden famous sentence that Poetry “makes nothing happen”, an American Poet once wrote the following:
“But if poems, by being poems, can acknowledge the difficult truths; if poems can confirm our own perceptions, our fears, our suffering, and if, in sharing these poems, we can be less alone; if poems can help us pay homage to that which sustains us, and direct our attention to what is transcendent and eternal; if poems can renew our sense of humility, without which there is no chance of harmony in the world; do they not make something happen?”
I wholeheartedly embrace the foregoing view! I say poetry makes life a whole lot better! Now that’s more than two cents for the day:-)

M4GD said...

Two more cents before midnight. Re Acupuncture and back pain: Mischievousness noted'Dennis'!:-) There is something flawed in their argument/analysis. Their conclusion does not measure right i.e. simply convoluted! Yet, I find my position weak to refute their so called evidence for two reasons: (a) I have no prior terms of reference, and (b) I have only used acupuncture twice! This is to be continued once I finish my six sessions!
Okay skipping needles spikes: BTW recently I listened to Madeleine Peroux’s new CD ‘Bare Bones.’ It’s not bad at all. I think that her second album Careless Love still reigns though. Since 1996 I’ve been an avid loyal fan way even before she became famous. Her voice is so warm and fuzzy. It lingers in the ears. What is unique about it is that you can even describe it as an oxymoron! Why? Because she has this ability to be happy and melancholy at the same time! Amazing. Her style is a modern take on blues, country, and swing. When I first ever heard her I thought it was a young Billie Holiday! Another great favorite is the New Yorker Jane Monheit who is compared to a young Ella Fitzgerald but I disagree with this. It’s different. Jane has her own.

outside-jane said...

Did he really say Mouseherd? That's fantastic! With an ironic smile? Or serious? Do you think that's on his passport? I can only imagine the fun he has crossing borders - imagine trying to get into the US with Mouseherd on your passport! :-)

Botogol said...

would I lie about my punchline?