Some of them were quite small, like stopping the watches of people sitting next to me (I still don't wear a watch myself because they just don't last), while others were a bit bigger (killing computers and the like), and some were ... well .... pretty spectacular. The landslide while I was in Hong Kong comes to mind. And the two "near misses" over Italy. And the nuclear explosion at Chernobyl, which actually happened a few days before I flew to the Soviet Union, but hit the headlines pretty much while I was on my way to the airport.....
Then there's the matter of the schools I went to, and the first few offices I worked in. My three schools were, in order, demolished, closed and merged (leaving the premises) within a few years of me leaving. And the first seven places I worked were either closed or demolished shortly after my departure, with the exception of the Tonbridge office; I was there for six months and it was totally gutted and refurbished. Then I returned there a few years later for another six months, and it was completely gutted again.
As I've got older, these occurrences seem to have died down. However, this week has had me wondering whether I still have the touch.
This week at work was always going to be a particularly busy one; we had a deadline of Friday for a substantial piece of work which, in turn, was just one essential step to a major date three weeks away.
Arriving at work on Monday I could feel something was wrong. It was the squelching carpets that gave it away. And the lack of electricity to my side of the building. Yes, we were flooded. In all, six desks on my floor were completely out of action; my Director's, two desks in front of me, two behind me, and mine in the middle.
Tuesday and Wednesday were reasonably normal although we're still, even now, down one computer and 'phone extention.
By Thursday we were actually starting to see the light at the end of this particular tunnel. That's when the building managers ran the annual practice of an emergency evacuation.
But, once we were back in the building, I got back on track and, by the time I went home, I was confident I would deliver on time.
It was while I was on the last leg of my commute - the bus from the station - that I started to become aware that the traffic flow was wrong. It's always pretty heavy at that time of night, in both directions, but keeps moving. But now it was stop/start in my direction, and unusually light the other way. Almost as if ....
Which was when the bus driver wound his window down to speak to an oncoming motorist and announced to everyone on the bus that a tree had fallen down, blocking the entire road ahead.
He was right.
Now, imagine you're in charge of a transport system, which a substantial number of bus routes using the same major road, and that road is suddenly blocked. Do you:
a) Redirect the buses by other routes, missing out a few stops on the way;
b) Turn all the buses round at the obstruction, and ask the passengers to transfer on to those on the other side (bearing in mind the pavements aren't blocked) to continue their journeys; or
c) Stop all the buses at the obstruction and leave them there, causing more chaos.
So I walked the last two miles home. In the rain.
(I'm assuming you guessed correctly. The answer was c)
Anyway, by lunchtime on Friday we were delivered, or close enough, and there was nothing more I could do. I spent the afternoon tidying up electronically, and doing all those little things that get pushed aside. Until just before 4.00 .....
I have reason to believe that, although we were told that work on our IT system wouldn't start until 6.00, it started before that. London is a satellite office for us - the main centre is in the Midlands - and we in London access our main systems remotely. A little before 4.00, the first person in London got thown out of the system and couldn't get back in ("Log in and password invalid"). This was reported to the main office, and they couldn't work out what the problem was. About ten minutes later, the same thing happened to someone else in London. Then another. Then another. Then ... well, you get the picture. I'm no expert, but that sounds as though IT were playing with the firewall.
Anyway, I decided to call it a day ... and a week .... and left.
Oh, come on! Haven't you guessed who was the first person thrown out of the system?
