... we lost people today

... we lost people today, from the office. We lost too many good people.

The day began oddly, with a strange atmosphere about the place. We all tried to carry on as if nothing was happening - but we knew what was going on. We knew what was coming.

At one point in the day some of us flocked around a recently gathered supply of food and wine, and started to gorge ourselves, as if this could ever be expected to stave off the inevitable: some of us just lost a little more of our dignity around that table, that's all. I'm not proud of the number of pastries I ate today; but I guess that's just something that I will have to learn to live with.

Once the final effects of the Sllennoc disease had begun to take hold the damned amongst us drifted aimlessly from the office, looking for some form of solace in the unwelcoming mid-afternoon haze of a busy city.

The busy city seemed only to offer up alcohol & garlic for comfort.

... and these poor souls accepted such meager offerings with glad hearts.

I wish them peace, as their encounter with the dread canker has finally ended.

... and I wonder what horrors will await me, on Monday morning, in the Office of the Dead.

V : 2 / F : 22

... chairs are starting to move

...chairs are starting to move about the office, with strange markings appearing on some of the more comfortable ones; I suspect that the others are up to some mischief.

And the atmosphere about the place is one of finality. I'm certain that soon I shall have to say my final farewells to a dozen or more colleagues with whom I have shared my life over the last few years.

I believe that this time will come tomorrow.

And the most regrettable thing is probably not the sheer waste of humanity that I shall witness, nor the way in which this hideous plague has attacked us; but rather it is the sad fact that, with everyone here trying their utmost to ignore the awfulness of our day-to-day situation over the last couple of months and just get their work done regardless, we have not taken the time to truly appreciate each other - and the enjoyment that working together has so often given us.

...they have even taken that from us.

And now I fear that it is too late.

V : 2 / F : 2