{"id":291,"date":"2009-08-06T20:35:27","date_gmt":"2009-08-06T20:35:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/2009\/08\/06\/on_surveillance\/"},"modified":"2009-08-06T20:35:27","modified_gmt":"2009-08-06T20:35:27","slug":"on_surveillance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/2009\/08\/06\/on_surveillance\/","title":{"rendered":"On surveillance"},"content":{"rendered":"

So there I was, trying to figure out exactly what<\/em> I was supposed to do with over two thousand journal abbreviations (it’s a giddy, hedonistic<\/a> life I lead), when HD came over to annoy<\/del> talk about something that I have executive authority over (yay for power. Go me).<\/p>\n

\nHD is a nice enough chap, but he does suffer from that peculiarly English affliction of looking at stuff on your screen, or reading things or your desk, or generally giving into the temptation of nosiness in a totally non-malicious but slightly\u2014once you’ve noticed it\u2014disturbing way that people have.<\/p>\n

\nAs we talked his gaze kept flicking over my shoulder. Not, as I initially thought, to the riveting Business Requirements Document displayed on my screen but rather out of the window behind me. This, I thought, was odd even for HD.<\/p>\n

\nFinally, I gave in and turned around. <\/p>\n

\n‘Um, sorry,’ HD said, ‘but I see why you chose this desk. There’s a woman getting undressed down there.’<\/p>\n

\nAnd indeed, two floors down, in an office behind the building Dennis Publishing was a not unshapely figure in a sheer, silver undergarment<\/em>. I desperately tried to refocus on HD, who, although not necessarily unpleasant to look at (in a certain light, at least), certainly posed no serious competition to what was going on behind and below me.<\/p>\n

\nI tried, really I did. But after another thirty seconds of talking about stemming and wildcard searches my neck twisted inexorably around and I was rewarded with a vista of bra and panties.<\/p>\n

\nIt was pretty difficult to concentrate after that, so in the interests of propriety (although I’m not quite sure whose<\/em>) we moved away from the window.<\/p>\n

\nA slightly more edifying distraction occurred when I took my lunch break. Waiting at the lights on the corner of Cleveland and Howland, I saw a black car with a pole and camera arrangement on the top. Oh ho, I thought, it’s one of those so-called stealth parking council parking spy cars. But as it drew closer I could read the magic runes on the side.<\/p>\n

\nI turned to the cove next to me and shared a manic grin. The car turned right, and we watched it go up past<\/a> the Post Office<\/del> BT tower.<\/p>\n

\nThen I realized that I was grinning like an idiot with an iPhone in his hand. <\/p>\n

\n‘Damn!’<\/p>\n

\nI pelted up Cleveland Street, and nearly caught up with it, but it turned into Maple Street and appeared to be getting away. Then it slowed to turn into Cleveland Mews, and I managed to snap it:<\/p>\n

\n\"google<\/a><\/p>\n

\nGiggling to myself I continued on to Tottenham Court Road to meet my friend, half hoping the car might make a left, and then\u2014no, because there’s the one-way system. Of course, it might turn around I suppose…<\/p>\n

\nAnd there it was, stuck at the lights, and I twittered<\/a> furiously.<\/p>\n

\n\"IMG_0365\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\nI’m hoping that I’ll appear several times on Google Earth. Beverage of choice to the first person to spot me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So there I was, trying to figure out exactly what I was supposed to do with over two thousand journal abbreviations (it’s a giddy, hedonistic life I lead), when HD came over to annoy talk about something that I have … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}