The Obligatory 'Work Sucks' Post

When I started this blog, I was determined that it not descend into banal, self-obsessed navel-gazing. But this weekend - unusually - I've had to work a bit. And it's been driving me mental.

The project I coordinate is hosting a workshop at our university over the next two weeks. There are fifteen participants from the Philippines and Vietnam, all of whom were due to arrive this weekend. However, about seven of the Vietnamese waited (inexplicably) until the eleventh hour to apply for their visas, which did not come through in time - so we're now sending frantic emails to the Canadian Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City, trying to find out what's wrong. And we're now faced with thousands of dollars in penalties due to missed and cancelled flights - no small problem when you're talking about a government-funded development project.

To make matters worse, Halifax Airport is undertaking repairs and upgrades to its runway at the moment. This has necessitated shutting off - for the whole month of July - the navigational equipment that allows aircraft to land in fog. The airport says it chose to do the work now because July is the least foggy month in Nova Scotia. But this is not saying much in a province where it is foggy 364 days a bloody year. The result is that the airport has basically been shut the last two days, with all flights cancelled. I've been on the phone all weekend - to Air Canada, various hotels, taxi drivers, travel agents, you name it - trying to sort things out. Our travellers are presently all stranded in Toronto, Montreal and Moncton. The workshop is due to start tomorrow, and only three out of fifteen participants are here.

ARGH.

On an altogether more pleasant note, today is also my sixth wedding anniversary. A. and I popped out for a very nice dinner earlier. So my weekend hasn't been an entire wash-out.

UPDATE 12 JULY:
Eight more errant travellers arrived this evening. Three others still visa-less and AWOL. Workshop due to start tomorrow, at last. At least all these extra hours mean I'm earning time in lieu to tack on to my holidays next month!