The Diary of Cameron Louis James Dugdale

hey all,

We've decided to keep diaries over the course of the week, in an attempt to identify an area of wasted time in which we could intervene. Here's mine. I tried to use the lyrics of my housemate (who *may or may not be a semi-famous musician) to describe each day. It's harder than you'd expect...

Monday - "Life is hard, when everything you do is nothing but monday..."
One of those awful days when you role out of bed, straight into the library. Today marks my first day enclosed in the self-inflicted 'academic gulag'. very busy with work from here on in. The library would be a great place to stage an intervention of sorts, if it weren't for all the dissertation desperation. Something to consider, perhaps...

Tuesday - "Whenever you say hello with no ulterior motive..."
Took a break from the library in the afternoon to venture into Peckham - bank issues. After queuing for what seemed like hours, it occurred to me that it could be interesting to stage some kind of intervention in a bank (not like that). Why do people keep themselves to themselves when in situations like this? I decided to challenge this, and attempted to start a conversation with as many people in the queue as i could, at the same time. Sadly I didn't capture this moment, although its probably for the best. It failed spectacularly, although I had a lovely chat with Pat, 76, from Peckham about her granddaughter who's doing quite well for herself these days...

Also, here's a video of direct action group UK Uncut staging a 'bail-in' in a branch of Barclays. Here's your big society.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Esob5I8KOsY

Wednesday - "A Missed opportunity, in the place where we meet. Repetitive until there's nothing else"

I couldn't seem to avoid a sense of missed opportunities, as I was back in the gulag for the duration of the day. However, whilst I was hammering away at the keys on my laptop, in the hope of some profound articulate spiel, the mind started to wander. After reading some Italian Autonomism, I started to consider work. This could get interesting...

Thursday - "Do you have a name? What's your favourite colour? Is it blue? 'Cos mine is green..."
Back in the library once again. Decided I'd have one last attempt at engaging people whilst queuing/killing time in the library. Turns out asking people what their favourite colour is (when everyone seems to be plagued by that gruesome spectre of academia) doesn't go down well. We need a rethink...

Friday - "Work is Work, sometimes tangents benefit the dreams that lurk..."

Looking back on the week,  Surely there must be somewhere in which we could intervene? I've been thinking a lot about work: the effects of the wage relation on economic freedom, and working hours and how they effect our leisure time. The majority of people work all our their lives, and for the most part it is utterly soul destroying. I think it could be interesting to explore work in greater detail, analysing, as Engels put it, that repetitive routine of endless drudgery...

cam

x

p.s meeting this week?








*he's not.