Building 52a, Zone A1, Position 068
I have just moved to a new desk space on Cranfield campus. The new building is a glass addition to an old hanger style building, which there are a few of here as there is a private airport on-site. It's very light and airy, standard grays with flashes of lime green, pink and yellow. I like it, even it's corporateness, as it's novel for me to be in a place like this. On the outside it's impressive to visitors but inside is pretty inflexible in terms of workspace – a small desk and a tiny cabinet each – but it's not to house artists, it's for academics so maybe that's all they need, and there are the labs upstairs which are ace and slightly sci-fi and smell just right. I doubt some of the format meets their needs but will have to remember to ask around. The great thing is that it is populated with people and that is what I need. People. Yip.
My old desk space was in an office halfway up the stairs. I had two desks, some shelves, a white board, lots of light, walls to put things on, spare tables BUT it was empty (and it smelled). SamNewPhD joined me in the room after a few months but the isolation was still there as we were cut off from the rest of the people in the building – we couldn't see them and they couldn't see us. I didn't spend much time there and came up with lots of reasons – TP wasn't in, I need to save fuel, I'm wasting 40 mins due to the drive, I work better at home, my dog chewed the front door handle off with me inside…
I realise now that when I was in there I felt like an item of storage stuck halfway up the stairs – like your Grandma's corner cabinet that is potentially valuable but doesn't fit anywhere.
So today I am feeling excited as I have witnesses (even though they don't know it). Does everyone need an involuntary audience for their life?
