Admitting defeat

I found dealing with the concrete crusher right outside my study window bad enough, but now that the jack hammer has come right over our way, and is breaking up the concrete, this has got beyond a joke. They operate, with a short break at 10am and another lunch break around 1pm from 8am to 4pm Monday to Friday, and I cannot see this lot being finished much before the end of the year. In addition to the various crushing and hammering machines, there is also a big machine in operation now turning the concrete residues into hard core. You cannot see it very well on here, but it's over behind the alpine feature on the left.

So, in a word, it's noisy. I had a conference panel this afternoon, and the conditions for my presentation were not good. Not only was I contending with concrete crushing, but in addition some bloke on the call decided to start eating just as I started my presentation, and I ended up with the video of him pinned to my big screen. No matter how hard I tried to keep my eyes on the web cam on my laptop, I kept being distracted.

At the end of the afternoon, Mr A came in my office and said that he wouldn't be able to work under those conditions. So we've swapped things around and I will be able to use his desk some of the time, but that's not ideal because he's doing an OU degree and he needs access to his desktop machine sometimes. But luckily I will be able to spend a bit of time in the office from now on, and will be doing so starting tomorrow. I think having a demolition site outside your window constitutes the type of emergency conditions under which a bit of working in the office (where I fully intend to meet no one and to maintain all suitable distance) is justified.

Not much else to say about the day, although I went to the gym before dinner, so felt better for that. Mr A made us a healthy salad, so we're all improved.

Oh, and one of the plants I got back in April has finally flowered. Tiny little flowers for which the macro lens is excellent. But that can feature later in due course.