Thought Picnic: Composing elements of life and work

Counting down the sheep

I was up too early as I was trying to adjust my sleep patterns for the regularity of a work day. Getting to bed earlier and putting in more hours of sleep might mean I have to learn to count sheep better.

Some might say because I am in Wales, the matter of sheep is easy, but I will not subscribe to ridiculous stereotypes, I have not once seen a specimen of such since I arrived here.

Ironing smooth blogs

Between getting a blog up and the usual morning chores that had me ironing a shirt using a full-sized iron on a miniature ironing board, I could not help but wonder why irons do not have automatic sensors to determine the material being pressed and adjust the temperature accordingly.

Now, I know to turn the dial, but too many times the ironing surface needs high heat to attempt to rub off the material that had welded or should I say melted on the surface before you indelibly stain your cotton shirts.

Picture to see

My taxi to the office arrived 10 minutes early and by the time I was ready to leave, there wasn’t enough time for breakfast as I climbed in the cab for the 10 minute journey to work.

Greeted by soft rain, I arrived at reception and for my visitor’s pass I had to pose for a picture with no make-up on, then my hosts at the office had not yet arrived as I waited a while, catching up on my emails and other events on my tablet in the lobby.

Life comes up

Later the receptionist came to tell me that my host will soon be down to get me. Greetings, pleasantries and a visit to one of the offices presaged a meeting in the café for the mandatory morning coffee or was it a latte I had and it was nothing like Starbucks.

We had a general chat about things, where things were going and well about life, for whatever happens to us, either good or bad or somewhere in between comes under the broadest definition of life – that makes it easy to understand – questions get asked about my cane.

Then we went to meet other members of my team, 7 firm handshakes later, I began to make notes, read documentation and got my first access to the environment; the all-important wireless internet connectivity.

We are good to go, my first day has begun.

Chatting up more bravado than a drunk

Mind the long bus

I could not help a smirk this morning as I rode on the bus to work. I usually take the backseat in the double-length 18-metre long bus because it gives me a 10-stride advantage of getting off and getting to the office quicker - well, it is a perception.

These long buses which could top 10 tonnes or more can be manoeuvred like snakes as they take corners, but the comfort could almost tempt you into thinking you are in a car.

That false sense of existence leads the absent-minded to expect the bus to stop abruptly if they suddenly realise that the bus is just about nose past their stop - very few drivers risk the act of applying the brakes though the passenger would almost always rain insults on the poor driver for not stopping.

We live in a world where you can never ever be at fault no matter how blatantly obvious it is.

So, today, I could not take the back seat, but the one just before because this voluminous man had splayed himself on the three back seats, well with one occupied by his rucksack.

Yapping like a dog on a phone

Then my peace and tranquillity was assaulted beyond tolerable limits as he mouthed into a phone call that almost lasted the whole journey, my irritation is getting quite palpable.

I suddenly thought, he would miss his stopped because he seemed so engrossed in his talk to be attentive to his surroundings, then he pressed the stop button to alert the driver, by which time it was obvious that driver would drive on to the next stop rather than turn his passengers in crash test dummies.

So, the man ended his conversation on the phone to rail abuse on the driver for not heeding the bell which the driver just ignored.

On reaching the next stop, when for which I think the driver had been alerted, the bus stopped and our man got off - in my mind the 1 kilometre walk back to his original stop and consequent destination would do him well.

However, the point is, I do not need scientific papers to clearly illustrate that there is nothing you can conveniently do with adequate concentration when you are chatting on a mobile phone.

Dangerous as drunks

It has been said car phone users are four times more likely to crash, that could just be as dangerous as drinking under the influence.

I have not just seen this kind of concentration stupor with car drivers, it applies to cyclists who I have see ride their bikes as if they are on a zigzag course and pedestrians who have walked into the path of vehicles all as they chat to their pals on their mobile phones.

To the exclusion of all else

Basically, there are many jobs where one can multi-task but when it comes to speaking on the phone you are trying to block out every kind of interference whilst trying to be completely communicative on the phone - this leads to a loss of awareness - a feature necessary to do this properly, rightly, meticulously, confidently and consciously.

The problem is, many do really think they are both capable and aware such that use of a mobile phone cannot in any way impair judgment - that is same bravado of drunk.

Doing right

I rarely do other things when I am on the phone except if it is related to a support calls - in fact, I just had a 30-minute conversation with an old colleague and left this article unfinished to concentrate on the call - it was social.

If you do have to talk, make safe your situation by aborting everything to concentrate on that call - in a car, hands-free sets are not the answer, rather, park your car and take the call, in other cases where there is risk of collision or accidents whilst walking or riding a bicycle - stop and find a place out of the way to take your call - better still, let your phone take a message and you can deal with it later when you are safe and sure.

Reference

Study: Drivers on Mobile Phones as Impaired as Drunks