08-II-2010.
Lena and the quiz team again in Princess Anne school, on the VB boulevard (and the poor princess has two boulevards too, one a few miles south, and one in Norfolk, and they aren't connected). Knew the place, been there last year, and it's getting interesting this time, because Lena is now in the front line.
They seem to have interesting policies about everything. Lena hates this, of course, they treat their students like imbecils and set up the rules accordingly. The schools have their own cops (!). To be in the halls during classes you need a piece of paper signed by the teacher, even if it's only to go to pee or stop a nosebleed.
Two of the guys got a fresh Canon camera from the school, to document the event, so I taught them the basics of photography. At least it was fun to redo the same old routine, this time adjusted for digital, which isn't too different. It's just a few technical things that have different drawbacks. The guys caught on really quick. It also helps that whatever you tell them, you can show them right away, without having to wait for the lab work to be done.
Spencer, Lena, Siobhan
They were very good at this quiz, and of course they beat the other school. There was a funny case when their default answer, „Smith“, which they used whenever they didn't know the actual answer, turned out to be right. The question this time was „if someone's name is Lefebvre in France, Kowalski in Poland, Kuznetsov in Russia, his name here would be...“. Lena actually knew the answer, but Spencer was faster with the switch and then it turned out that he didn't know the answer, so he just said „Smith“, which was the correct answer.
It all took seveal hours, so I went for a few smoke breaks outside. It being february (or febewary, as the aborigines would say), I sat in the car and smoked there. Turned the key on so I'd have some music. When we bought the Matrix, I thought these red lights on the dashboard would kill me, which idiot's bright idea was this, but acttually no, it doesn't impair my vision at all, and I can read it at all times, no eye hurt at all. Amazing.
Mentions: Jelena Sredljević (Lena), in serbian