It’s five minutes to four on a Friday afternoon, in October. I am trying to find some theses and articles about intercropping of cereals. In Finnish. From a department at the University of Helsinki, which (the dept, not the uni) appears to have closed down or changed its name. I’ve learnt this afternoon that “Käsikirjasto” means “Departmental library”, and “Kasvinviljelytiede” means “Crop husbandry”. But I can find no trace of T. Pulkki, who wrote his or her master’s thesis in 1992. . .

Ugh. I have things to blog about, but this has been a worksome day. The library science students who have been here for a month elected to spend their last week at Circulation (can you believe that?!) and I’ve had to find things for them to do.

The chancellor of the university is closeted with our head librarian and the head of human resources; the HR boss got an urgent phone call that I had to bring in to them, feeling like a Lowly Minion (not that they appeared to regard me as such…) I hope they were impressed by our efficiency so they increase our funding. Which is so far beyond hope it’s not funny, but still and anyway.

hap·pi·ness (n) : The state achieved when the builders in the next room shut down their power-polishing equipment for the day.

I have not yet reached happiness.

Sic transit etc - back in the half-cubicle; no door to close, no portable telephone, no apples outside the window, no protection apart from the screen, 120 cm tall, between my desk and the next.

It’s remarkable how quickly you get used to having privacy; being back in this totally unprotected position makes my stress levels skyrocket. But I’ll get used to it again, I’m sure.

No joy lasts forever: as I walked by Circ cubicleland this morning, I saw the renovators at work returning our desks to their places, so I guess I’ll lose my snug office in a day or so.

Wow, I’m competent. Or something. In any case, I’ve spent the morning supervising a couple of library science students, who are doing their work placement here. It’s remarkable how difficult it is to explain self-evident things - that is, things that after four years seem utterly self-evident…

Monday morning, and back at work. To my surprise I find that I still have an office to myself; the renovation of Circ isn’t finished, which I guess shouldn’t really be a surprise, since complications always happen… anyway, it’s good.

Madness, madness…. I’ll leave the library and go work somewhere peaceful and quiet. At a zoo or something. Or in a coal mine.

Today’s Gorey - extremely apposite:

They came and called him through the door:
He only went to sleep once more.
from The Stupid Joke

“I won’t get up today, he said
“I’ll spend it lying here in bed.”
-from The Stupid Joke, by Edward Gorey

What a saying to find in your calendar upon getting to work on a Monday morning! Not that today hasn’t been good, so far; I was plied with tea and eatables at the veterinary library at nine, and this afternoon there will be a major tea party here at the main library. So I shouldn’t complain at all, should I. . .

Here I sit in an actual office room - as opposed to the Circulation cubicle land, which is being renovated. I have two weeks to get used to the incredible luxury of some actual privacy - not to mention a portable phone and a flat computer screen - before going back to a hopefully better-ventilated Circ room.

And it’s autumn, very much so. I can open my office window and pick apples; definite perk! And as long as it’s not raining, Uppsala is quite lovely in the autumn as well. . .

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