Knit Wit

Last evening, finally managed to make it to the legendary, and very difficult to confirm, knitting group that meets at The Forum in Norwich city centre on Thursday evenings from 7-ish to 11-ish! Clem (from my office) went with me and took her tapestry; v. convenient, as she lives right around the corner from me at the moment. It was a v. diverse group (although not as much fun as the Knit Wits in Shreveport yet) and I actually sat next to another American – a lady from Boston who moved here 3 years ago. Clem is also technically American, as she was born stateside AND another first-timer was born in Delaware, although she has no trace of an accent as she has lived here most of her life. I like to think of it as a reverse rebellious invasion.

My project (which is now finished, although I have no photograph to post yet) was/is a blue jumper/sweater and tiny hat for a moose. Readers may be wondering what drug I am now taking. But here is the story: on her first trip ever to the US last week, Sally made the dizzying decision to buy the cutest stuffed moose. Well, he has been photographed with Bear (of course). Bear does have a jumper/sweater, and Moose cannot be walked around au natural in company with other clothed animals. It is just not the Done Thing.

As well, I would like to point out that I am not completely nutters (or maybe just that there are more nutters out there, too) for knitting clothing for stuffed toys – another girl at the knitting group brings her bear everywhere with her, and he has an entire wardrobe of knitted clothing. Last night, he wore a lovely purple turtleneck. Next Thursday, Bear shall accompany me and Clem. This will be a nice educational outing for him.

FYI, tomorrow, 9 June, is Worldwide Knit in Public Day. Even if there is not a location near you, you should go sit somewhere outside your natural habitat and knit. There are a lot more places than are listed on the site above, if you Google it.

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Speaking of Sally’s trip to the US, a couple of notes.

She, like E in March, noted the presence of fire hydrants/fire plugs on the street. I believe a photograph was taken. This is interesting as I don’t really even notice that they are there unless they are being cleared and gushing water all into the road, which will then splash up on my clean car right after it has been bathed (although this really hasn’t been an issue of late).

She also noted that loos/toilets/ladies’ rooms/restrooms/bathrooms in the US are really unfortunate. And I have to agree. This is not because they are dirty necessarily, but because of the visibility of people in stalls. There has been much amused discussion in the past two years over the American aversion to the word toilet (Eww. Ick. Bleugggh! Such an unfortunate word that conjures images that quite simply needn’t be conjured.), and Sally finds it amazing that a people who are so prissy over the use of this word can find it completely acceptable to have stalls that a) have walls and doors that are way off the floor and that b) have space around edges of the stall where people using the toilet can be seen doing their business. Yes, this is an interesting observation and I certainly concur.

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Speaking of Done Things, there are certainly some stupid Done Things, such as the religious dedication to hierarchy. In the workplace of the 21st century, surely we have more opportunity for a flattening of interpersonal communication. I mean, hey! We've got women in here now, too (AND we can vote!). Anyhoo, regardless of who is whose boss, there are times when it is just sensible to ask someone a question instead of wasting time with chains of command.

To give an example: some exchange agreements (which are my personal responsibility and primary remit in my position) need signing and/or renewing. These are signed by the Vice-Chancellor. I organised them and took a whole passel down three weeks ago. Some of them were signed and returned and some were not (and these latter were the ones that I had agreed to deliver to the partners by hand during the NAFSA conference last week -- naturellement). Since, it is my responsibility, I requested them a couple of times from the VC's PA (not unusual, no?). One day before my departure, my boss/line manager returned from his own work travel in Africa and forwarded a chain of emails to me (and referencing me). This is gist of the chain:

* VC's PA emails my boss's boss about some questions that the VC has about the validity of these agreements (one of which has been in place for 20 years and the other which was agreed to by my predecessor).
* My boss's boss emails her back saying that he would prefer to ask my boss about them (even though he came into the office very late that same day and talked to me in person about something completely different).
* VC's PA emails him back saying that I had been 'chasing' and she doesn't know what to do (WHAT to DO? What, what?).
* My boss's boss emails my boss (who is out of the office, remember) to ask him to ask me to 'stop chasing'.

The outcome of this was that my boss (also American and who also agreed with my query, 'What the bleep is this?') had to ask me to prepare notes for him and explain to him the reasons for my outrageous (sarcasm) actions (since theoretically, I/yo/myself/moi/me am the person who is supposed to know what's going on with the bleeding exchanges), so that he could to go and explain the reasons for these to his boss, after which he was instructed to schedule a meeting with the VC to explain these reasons YET AGAIN.

This is the most inefficient practice I have ever seen (well, maybe not the pinnacle, but still an excellent example). Five people to be involved in scheduled meetings, not to mention email composition time, where it would have been easier for the silly PA to ask me straight out if I could shed some light on the situation...

I must have lunch now.