Fire in the Uni, Smoke in the sky

It was a very dull afternoon when I saw this billowing. Huh? A bonfire in mid-July...Heard the siren. Checked the intranet and there was a message. A shed storing old astroturf towards the rear of Westwood Campus had caught fire. Bet someone's been smoking behind the shed...again.:-)

Not a nice day for photography too. It's the graduation week and proud parents and offsprings everywhere. Congratulations to all of them and welcome to the real, big, bad world.

I was in the Piazza listening to live performances from the University orchestra, observing the surroundings and off course taking photographs. I could have made a mint too. 4 different families have asked me to take their group photograph which I obliged. Thank goodness all are digital cameras.

Today was also cake day at work. This was to support Helen's successful Race for Life fund-raising which she completed last Saturday. The ladies baked fantastic, delicious, finger-licking, sinful cakes. Well done to Helen and the wonderful chefs.

JE took over the urgent books for today. Yesterday, I tackled a whole pile of urgent books in Mandarin!!!Urgh...I could die. Thank goodness some were already on OCLC, a few need Google translation. Also calls to the Language Dept for HELP.

On our way to work, we heard that the ring-road is closed due to another accident. We'd lost count the number of times we were in near-collision on the ring-road. Instead of slowing down to change lanes, drivers were racing to be in front of each other. Kevin says you need to have 3 pairs of eyes ...

The City Council strike was on its second day today. 60,000 council workers were striking over pay in the biggest campaign in the public sector in years. I don't have anything against this. I've only got very big problem with fat cats continuing to trouser the cash and MP's voting to keep their John Lewis list.

On Monday, Kevin called me to say that we won the 3rd prize at a quiz during Refugee Week. Yaay...the prize was (drum roll) a die-cast mini worth £3 :-). It's still in its package and who knows, might cost a fortune in the next century.

The Hate Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour officers paid us a visit regarding the spats of vandalism on poor Benzy. They were trying to determine in which category we fit in. We voice our concerns and all we want is to apprehend this coward and stop him once and for all. But, I've got a feeling that ours will just be added and filed among the thousands of cases they come across. I would really love to be proven wrong.

On a brighter note, we came across this beautiful pair fairy tale characters in the city centre. They were sixth-formers from President Kennedy School, in Rookery Lane, Holbrooks, raising cash for Macmillan Cancer Support. A total of £2k was collected for their efforts. I also wanted to take photographs with my other 2 favourite characters, Princess Fiona and Shrek. Alas, they were busy elsewhere. It's good to see young kids doing their bit for charity. Kudos to them.