I’ve been spending a whole lot of time at the office recently, so while we catch up on organizing travel pictures I might as well tell a bit about work life.
To start, we’ve been embroiled in a fierce inter-office competition called the Arup Cup for some time now, with teams (like bridges, highways, IT) competing in ridiculous competitions over lunch to assert office dominance and presumably build morale. The British are known for inventing games (croquet, rugby, soccer, billiards, cricket, cheese-rolling, etc.) and then loosing to the rest of the world in those games. No, no, that’s a bit harsh, and I have to compliment them on the incredible array of sports they’ve developed. The nearest comparison I can make is that Brits of all ages seem to be as inventive as US college students in dreaming up new games and competitions.
I’ll give you a flavour for their inventiveness with two of the recent Campus Cup activities: the Pancake Race and Wellie Wanging. The origins of Pancake Day in Britain seem similar to Mardi Gras in French-speaking countries and it is a celebration that precedes Lent. Since Lent is a period of fasting and eating simply, rich ingredients like butter and sugar would all be used up by making tons of thin pancakes then eating them. That’s all pretty straight-forward, but the office adopted this into a bizarre race where teams need to flip a pancake on a skillet while ducking under or jumping over poles, and finally running through a gauntlet of co-workers armed with whiffle balls. My bridges team was pleased to be crowned winner for this event, as you can see from the proud photo:
The competition continued in another great British test of manhood: Wellie Wanging. A bit of preference: a “Wellie” is a type of completely waterproof boot worn by the Duke of Wellington which most Brits are obsessed with. I certainly understand how important waterproof clothing must be to them here, but the Wellie seems to enjoy an almost cult following. Anyway, in an effort to look for new ways to use their boots, the game of Wellie Wanging was invented where you pretty much just see who can hurl a Wellie the farthest. Here’s a great one of me mid-launch:
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So yeah, all in all a pretty serious place to work. It’s not just games though--the other week I had to go down to the London office for a long, boring, and ostensibly important meeting. They gave us an hour break for lunch, so I pulled out my trusty A-Z street map and found I was 5 minutes walk from the British Library. That sounded like a nice destination, so I went there and over my lunch hour saw i) an original Guttenberg Bible, ii) the Magna Carta, iii) the first map of America, iv) Leonardo Da Vinci’s notebook, and got a sandwich in the café. It was the most culturally scintillating lunch ever, and you can’t do that many places…I mean antiquities and good roast beef!?
To start, we’ve been embroiled in a fierce inter-office competition called the Arup Cup for some time now, with teams (like bridges, highways, IT) competing in ridiculous competitions over lunch to assert office dominance and presumably build morale. The British are known for inventing games (croquet, rugby, soccer, billiards, cricket, cheese-rolling, etc.) and then loosing to the rest of the world in those games. No, no, that’s a bit harsh, and I have to compliment them on the incredible array of sports they’ve developed. The nearest comparison I can make is that Brits of all ages seem to be as inventive as US college students in dreaming up new games and competitions.
I’ll give you a flavour for their inventiveness with two of the recent Campus Cup activities: the Pancake Race and Wellie Wanging. The origins of Pancake Day in Britain seem similar to Mardi Gras in French-speaking countries and it is a celebration that precedes Lent. Since Lent is a period of fasting and eating simply, rich ingredients like butter and sugar would all be used up by making tons of thin pancakes then eating them. That’s all pretty straight-forward, but the office adopted this into a bizarre race where teams need to flip a pancake on a skillet while ducking under or jumping over poles, and finally running through a gauntlet of co-workers armed with whiffle balls. My bridges team was pleased to be crowned winner for this event, as you can see from the proud photo:
The competition continued in another great British test of manhood: Wellie Wanging. A bit of preference: a “Wellie” is a type of completely waterproof boot worn by the Duke of Wellington which most Brits are obsessed with. I certainly understand how important waterproof clothing must be to them here, but the Wellie seems to enjoy an almost cult following. Anyway, in an effort to look for new ways to use their boots, the game of Wellie Wanging was invented where you pretty much just see who can hurl a Wellie the farthest. Here’s a great one of me mid-launch:
So yeah, all in all a pretty serious place to work. It’s not just games though--the other week I had to go down to the London office for a long, boring, and ostensibly important meeting. They gave us an hour break for lunch, so I pulled out my trusty A-Z street map and found I was 5 minutes walk from the British Library. That sounded like a nice destination, so I went there and over my lunch hour saw i) an original Guttenberg Bible, ii) the Magna Carta, iii) the first map of America, iv) Leonardo Da Vinci’s notebook, and got a sandwich in the café. It was the most culturally scintillating lunch ever, and you can’t do that many places…I mean antiquities and good roast beef!?
3 comments:
that sounds like the greatest lunch ever... I am so jealous... the magna carta! guttenberg's bible! wow.
You just lead a very enviable life. Love, Jan
Wow! You guys have been there for 2 years!!! Amazing! Look how far you've come, and how many great trips you've taken, and holiday destinations you've been for state-side friends. So awesome! But we still miss you terribly!!!!
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