The Vengabus Is Coming

My Dear Princess and Dear Fellows,

Princess, you will not know this, but in 1999 Mad Dog developed something of an obsession with The Vengaboys. 

It was something to do with how unutterably CRAP they were. So - much like you with "Chanson D'Amour"* he would occasionally break into their classic tune, Up And Down**, complete with dance moves. Just to put the song in our heads.

It didn't stop there. On RX team nights out, he would drag us all up whenever the FWAAAAAAARP! FWAAAAAAARP! noise came over the speakers, meaning that The Vengabus was coming.

It was just his bit of fun. Sort of a post-modern, ironic thing. But yet also got us all up dancing. 

We finally realised the joke had worn thin when we bought him their CD for Xmas and he responded with, "What the F***?!?"

I hope he still has it somewhere.

You may wonder what that little trip down memory lane had to do with my day today. I will tell you.

Saffy the Project Manager, who I have decided to rename "Gromit" had asked me to accompany her on a trip to Christchurch to look at some of the meeting rooms we will be upgrading. We caught a taxi to the airport together where we talked mainly about animals. 

"This is where I was bitten by a duck," she told me, showing off an impressive bruise. 

She has ducks. One of them needed to be given medicine. It made perfect sense. She also has horses, chickens, parrots and she wants a sausage dog.

We talked about animal documentaries and this gave me an excuse to tell her about Stoffel the Honey Badger. She was so excited when I showed her a clip. Stoffel is kind of awesome. 

I have to admit though, I didn't really understand what I was doing in Christchurch. I didn't seem to be adding much value and Gromit was doing all the running - talking to people with passion about her ideas. But we took photos and talked about room configuration with Sam who is in charge of the hardware install and he offered to drive us to the airport after a few hours.

He apologised for his choices in music. "It's my 90's mix," he said. Then Boom Boom Boom Boom came on. 

"Oh my god! OH MY GOD!!" said Gromit. Then she started singing.

Boom boom boom boom! 
I want you in my Microsoft Teams Room!

There might also have been a "raise the roof" dance. 

Then she VIDEO CALLED the rest of the team, "Put it back on! PUT IT BACK ON!" she said to the tech guy. And then she repeated the performance for the bemused team. 

It was a lot of travelling for one day though. And I arrived back in Wellington right on time for rush hour, so it was one hour flying, one hour in traffic and one hour on the train. 

A long day, which required a long nap afterward. But definitely one of the more fun days I've had at work in a while. 

And I discovered that I have been renamed "Stoffel" in Gromit's team profile. There are worse names.

S.

* Rah-da-da-da-da. 

** I've just realised what the innuendo is here. Disgusting.