(no subject)

Today was the start of the dreaded April-June quarter, in which we have to ask additional questions in the survey, putting a few extra minutes on each person's interview. The plus side is that the longer interviews make the shift go quicker; the minus side is that the chances of respondents getting bored/fed up are increased. Thank goodness, I didn't get any miseries tonight, but a couple of the extra questions are at the very beginning of each person's survey, and I got caught out a couple of times, starting to ask how long they've lived at their address (which normally comes first) then having to stop, say "sorry, I'll start again" and ask the new questions. Most of the work I got tonight was mop-ups from the end of the January-March quarter anyway, so it wasn't too bad all round.

And there was perfect Southern Fried chicken for lunch in the canteen :)

Meanwhile, the vending machines have disappeared. As from tomorrow we're getting new caterers, so today the workmen were in taking out the old machines ready for the new ones to go in tomorrow. So we weren't deprived of refreshment altogether, the Support Team set out a tray with tea, coffee, skimmed milk, coffee whitener and sugar, and there was a kettle available in the lounge. Just before 7 pm a lady arrived with a trolley, bearing not only the ingredients for making coffee and tea but also some flapjacks, cookies, crunch biscuits and bags of yoghurty nuts. "Chocolate!" one lady exclaimed excitedly as the trolley passed her.

"It's only biscuits," I told her. She wasn't best pleased. The goodies were a roaring success, though; they'd nearly all been pigged by 7.45.

Got to go watch Round The Horne Revisited.