Day of Inefficiency

Other people's, that is, of course :-)

It started off with the visit to the manager. Of course, as I anticipated, he'd already been called out to a problem with someone's room, even though it was only 9.05. So I wrote him a note explaining what I wanted: approval for two posters and a leaflet, that I wanted to leave on the reception desk for people to take (all Climate Change Awareness Week stuff), and permission to have a freestanding noticeboard in the common room for a week (for reasons explained below- yep, more environmental stuff!). It was a long note, and I had just found the paperclip that had been nice and handy when I set out but had since fallen to the bottom of my bag, ready to attach the posters and leaflet, when, of course, the manager appeared. But this was a good thing as I was able to get approval for everything right there (though I would have to tell the receptionist when I put the pin board in the common room).

I haven't had time to fix my bike yet, so I had to take the bus in (well, I suppose I could have walked...). But I wasn't sure if I had enough on my oyster card, and since there's no way of finding out at the bus stop, I went into Liverpool St Underground to top it up. I thought that at 9.30 am the rush hour would be past and I'd have to queue behind, say, five people at most. Instead, there was a line of maybe 10 or 15. This would have been bearable except that when I was about halfway down it the machine closed and we all had to join the line for the one remaining working one- which as you can imagine was rapidly a very long line indeed.

At least there was no queue for the cash machine, so I was able to get some cash, and grab a croissant and cup of tea on my way out to the bus- where I noticed as I touched in my Oyster card that I'd had enough balance not to have needed to top it up after all. On the bus I rang the President of People and Planet- she was supposed to have got some photos printed for the Wierd Weather poster I was helping to make, and I was going to get them from her and stick them on this morning- the reason I was going in at that time. I was worried I was going to be too late to put them on before the poster went up. Looking back now in the light of the events of the day, this fear seems very foolish. Anyway, she'd apparently overslept (so had I but I'd allowed so much time that this just put me on time, till I spent that time writing the note for the manager and putting up the posters, and queueing to recharge my Oyster card) and said she'd be arriving at 10.30, the same as me.
Actually I got there about 10 or 15 minutes before that and went to a computer room to make a note of the captions for the photos, which I hadn't got round to copying out but had just pasted into a document when I was finding them. I hurried over to the Quad slightly late- but the President hadn't arrived yet. R, another People and Planet person (first year undergraduate), was there though- she'd made one of the Flooding Wierd Weather posters, and had the sticky backed plastic needed to cover all of them, so we made a start on that, helped by SC2- there to help with manning the stall and giving out leaflets- who had an amazing technique involving paper napkins for getting the plastic on with no wrinkles.

R had to go at 11, but the President arrived soon after. She didn't have the photos though- apparently she'd asked CMCC to do them as he had to get the photos for the Environmental Photo Exhibition printed out so could do them at the same time- and he hadn't got any of it printed yet (though he was around, vaguely overseeing everything in his role of Environment and Ethics Officer). But she took R's place on the sticky backed plastic application team- whose numbers were further swelled by Av, whom I hadn't met before. With SC2 wielding the tissues, Av and I gradually peeling back the backing paper, and the President holding the plastic and paper down so they didn't move about and become unaligned, we were on a roll, and got four posters covered. Technically, I was supposed to be leafletting about Climate Change Awareness Week at 11, but there didn't seem to be much going on- CMCC was just sitting at one of the tables chatting to a large number of people- and the posters needed to be done so they could go up.

I then dashed to the library where I topped up my printing credit (it got all used up printing out questions to be held up for the quiz* and leaflets) and printed out more copies of my Climate Change Awareness Week leaflet- but it took a bit longer than I had anticipated, and I arrived late and out of breath to the Sustainability Champions meeting. There was some usefull stuff at the meeting- but a lot of it was rather vague, such as the Halls Energy Saving Competition which was mentioned, but it wasn't explained how exactly it worked (how they would find out how much energy each hall used)- though I did get to ask later. There was also a man who explained very specifically about energy audits- but I didn't manage to take any notes, and it would really be helpfull to get a written copy of what he was saying. (I think this will happen- I asked about that too). We also had discussions in small groups which were fairly usefull. And at the end I got to push my leaflets on people. :-) I'm very proud of my leaflets, largely because by some fluke they turned out much better than I'm normally capable of. I'd emailed all the sustainability champions to say I had some leaflets (and quiz questions) if anyone was interested, (to save two people putting in the work to do two separate leaflets on the same theme), and got one request for them from a sustainability champion, and one from the Environment Co-ordinator- so I went to talk to her at the end to check she got it ok (the files were rather large, and I was worried about the documents coming out slightly different at the other end (different page breaks, which would be a problem because the pages were in a funny order so they'd be right when it was folded)). I got to show her the paper copies I had, as well as the girl who asked for them, and she seemed to like them. I asked whether it might be possible to have a web site where people could put things like that for other champions to download, and I think that's going to happen. Another girl who came along was also interested in being sent copies, as well as Av- who was in the discussion group with me.

Then I finally did something related to my course- my one lecture of the day (Computational Statistics). Today we had a test; it wasn't too bad, though I did realise just before the end that I'd misinterpreted something- in time to put it right, I think. We also got to hear about the individual projects which, if possible, sound even scarier than the group ones.

I then went back to the Quad where I was again scheduled to hand out leaflets- but once again ended up sticky-backed-plasticking posters: the Hurricane ones had arrived. SC2 wasn't there this time, but R, the President, the secretary and I formed the application team. It took longer this time though because they had stuck on paper shapes projecting over the edges- very effective but more difficult to cover with plastic.

This actually took us up to 4 when my stint on the rota ended- but I hung around partly because there was no-one on the stall so the President and I manned it, but mostly because she said CMCC was getting the photos and would be back quite soon, so I hoped to be able to put them on. We both did some reading though- I actually had some even though Statistics doesn't generally involve much, for the Surveys and Experiment Design course. I also took the opportunity to show her my leaflet, as I thought it could be relevant for the stall, and she liked it and is hopefully going to get some copies printed (I emailed her the document) for tomorrow. So I was pleased about that.
The President had to go at 5, by which time CMCC had still not materialised. He finally came at about 5.15 or 5.30, with his parents (they weren't anything like I would have expected)- but without the photos. That is, he had the one for the exhibition, but apparently someone else had my ones. He suggested I go to get them printed myself, and gave me the CD, so I set off straight away, hoping to get to the shop before it shut.

I realised as I walked along Fleet St that this was going to be complicated- the CD had all the photos and I couldn't remember the filenames. So I explained the problem to the man on the till (though I didn't mention that it wasn't my CD and they weren't all my photos). He led me to a machine where you could put the CD in and choose which ones you wanted to print and what size, and explained it all, which took a long time, then went back to the till. I looked through the photos. Mine weren't there. So, very embarrassingly, I had to explain to the man that I'd come out with the wrong CD and thank him for his help.

I was at least able to buy a pin board while I was there- this is for the competition we want to have in halls to find the most interesting/ shocking climate change fact. The idea is that the board is propped up in the common room all week, and people can find a fact from the internet, books, or newspapers, and write it on a piece of paper with their name and the source, then pin that on the board, and at the end of the week we'll draw up a shortlist and let people vote on the best. Then we can take all the facts and make a poster or leaflet. I don't know whether people will get involved or just think it's too much effort (and not that interesting)- but I hope they do because the point is to save it always being us telling them things, and give everyone a chance to get involved in the education process.

I thought I'd get a pin board in Ryman's, but they only had little ones, and it was actually Smith's where I found a decent sized one- reduced to £2.99 as well which was pretty good (particularly since, as I can't justify it coming out of any kind of budget, I'm actually going to pay for it myself and keep it).

Aware that I was planning to go to the talk that was the first event of Climate Change Awareness Week, and wouldn't be back till late, I stopped on the way back for a bite to eat in one of the cafes. I had an onion tart and some very nice pear juice. It was quite difficult negotiating the chairs and tables with my pin board though... Then back to LSE where I bought two pieces of coloured paper in the copy shop- luckily still open- for writing a title and instructions for the competition board, and to put under the leaflets in reception so they'd stand out better. I then went to the library again where I emailed the President the leaflet, dealt with a few more emails, finished printing out the leaflets (there was a problem earlier), and wrote up what we discussed in the Sustainability Champions meeting, as I'd agreed with the rest of the group. I didn't quite get that finished, and was cutting it a bit fine to get to the event at 7, so I hurried across the campus- it would be in the furthest building.
However, when I got there, I couldn't seem to find D103. I pulled out the events poster to check the details- and found I had the wrong room (and had put it on my leaflet...). Not only that, but, I then noticed, I also had the wrong time: it started at 6.30. I wasn't going to go in half an hour late so I went back to the library. I'm quite annoyed that I didn't check up on the time earlier- I was looking forward to that event. Not so much for the speaker- one of the ones who was at the hustings a couple of weeks ago, whom CMCC describes as his mentor, and whom he rather idolises, but from the title ('Does Capitalism Equal Climate Change?') it sounded pretty interesting.

I was able to finish off the record of the discussion in another line or two, and send that to the other people in the group, and then worked out the colour printing system and printed out the photos on normal paper- it seemed simpler, and after all, I'd only been having them as photos in the first place because the President said it was a possibility and seemed to think it would be nicer. It turns out to cost 30p a sheet for colour printing (compared to 4p for black and white) but luckily I was able to fit everything on 2 pages which I then cut up. I went up to the People and Planet locker**, which was where the poster was, intending to take it to the Sky Walk or the library, but realised when I got there that I couldn't be bothered and just sat down in the deserted corridor and did it right there- the pin board making a handy surface to lean on.

I was still there when the President, CMCC, and a few other people*** arrived- unexpectedly as far as I was concerned, but I guess I should have worked out that they'd be along, because I think they were putting away the things from the stall. I felt a bit awkward because they must have wondered why I hadn't come to the event (especially as I'd said I would); I'd sent the President an email about something else where I mentioned my mix up in passing, but what with her having been at the event she could hardly have got it yet.

I finished the poster shortly after they'd all left, and set off home. But that still wasn't the end of my to-do list for the day: at reception I had to tell them I was putting the board in the common room, then I went up to my room and wrote out the stuff on the coloured paper and pinned it to the board, then cut and assembled the leaflets, then put the board in the common room, then put the leaflets at reception, on their coloured paper- I was pleased to note there was only one left where there'd been five earlier, which looks like people taking them- then went around the halls putting up CMCC's Climate Change Awareness Week events posters. I put one in each of the lifts among other places- which in the interests of energy saving meant climbing up to wherever the lift happened to be instead of summoning it. But finally it was all done.

I went to the kitchen to help myself to some of the leftover salads and bread, intending to take it back to my room- but I got talking to Flatmates 3 and 7 who were in there cooking- apparently they'd already had supper but were just experimenting with a couple of dishes: pumpkin**** soup and pumpkin rice. They offered me some- and I actually ended up having quite a lot because it needed eating up. They wanted my opinion on the soup, and I recommended vegetable stock, and gave them some of my Marigold powder- Flatmate 3 just had Oxo which is really a bit too unsubtle. We had a really great time sitting around chatting and eating. Flatmate 3 and I are planning to cook together sometime when we're not so busy (probably next week)- she wants me to show her how to make gyoza. In the end I must have taken an hour and a half to eat everything!

*The quiz went quite well. We only got 10 people- but at least that's enough for a proper quiz- it could have been 2. There were three people that were laughing a lot at the beginning though, and maybe I'm just being paranoid but it seemed like they were laughing at me. This did not help me establish a rapport with my audience (I was doing the speech about the sustainability champions and Climate Change Awareness Week, and reading out the questions, while the other two held up written versions)- but then it was never going to be as easy to get a good atmosphere as if 20 people, say, had come. And I think the other 7 were on my side... The other thing that was strange about those 3 was that they didn't come up for food for ages. They were the first to arrive and I may have put them off when I said (as we had decided to do) that though we had paper plates and plastic cups and cutlery^, if they wanted to be even more environmentally friendly they could pop back and get their own crockery; they decided not to. I also told them they couldn't help themselves just yet (one of the salads wasn't down yet) and I think maybe that was a mistake. They put the TV on, and I don't think they heard when I told them they could take food (at that point there were other people there)- but that doesn't explain everything because there was quite a time when they must have realised it was ok but still weren't coming up. Bizarre basically.
The food turned out well. I had help from Flatmate 7 making the salads, and SC2 made a tortilla (as in Spanish omelette, not Mexican), and a Spanish tuna pie. But with only 10 people we had a lot left at the end. And I think we went massively over the per capita budget, though not over the actual total budget (which planned for 50)- I hope that doesn't matter. We spent about £50 and planned £1.10 a head...

**I managed not to get lost this time- and even worked out, when I found the door that opens onto the relevant flight of steps was locked, that I'd need to go up the Old Building stairs two flights, across into the adjacent building, then down a flight

***Including the speaker whom I didn't recognise for ages, mostly because I wasn't really looking up but was concentrating on my poster

****Due to English not being her first language, Flatmate 3 inadvertantly referred to it as papaya soup, and it was quite a while before I realised it wasn't- we were talking about pumpkins and squashes, but I thought it was the pumpkin rice alone that brought up the topic

^We couldn't find paper cups in Tesco. Shame on them.