Warming Up

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Wednesday 5th March 2003

When you are over-tired and grumpy itÂ’s like everyone is trying to get on your nerves.
A bloke came and sat next to me at the library today and banged his bags down on the desk. He took out his folders noisily, rustling his plastic bags, breaking my concentration, all just a little bit too loud to be an accident.
He plonked himself on his seat, sighed, wanting everyone to be aware, that he – some bloke- had arrived for work (at around about 1pm, making even me look like an early starter).
Then he got out his folder and started flicking over every single sheet of A4 from left to right. I looked up at him annoyed, but he didnÂ’t register. He was totally breaking my concentration. I am amazed by the extent to which some men will go to signal their status to the other library users, how that little rectangle of desk can be taken territorially.

But how much of this was my imagination? How much was I blaming him for the fact that I couldnÂ’t buckle down? How much was I concentrating on his every movement as an excuse to get over the fact that I wasnÂ’t getting anything done today?

And was my exaggerated sighing any less attention seeking than his clumsiness?

I am reminded of the man complaining about the late arrival of his coffee at a pizza restaurant.