Standstill...

This week started with a huge system failure. The first thing we noticed was that “Outlook” was not responding anymore. It left – for half a day as we discovered later – with no mention of when it would come back, and we couldn’t write e-mails to each other anymore.

It became a day of actual communication in the Web Communications unit. Our so loved synopses were brought around by helpful colleagues who had printed out several copies. Instructions were given orally and I must say – it was very pleasant to see a friendly face leaning on the doorframe of my office at regular intervals. Besides, this sudden movement was also a useful exercise for our stiff backs.  Conclusion – probably we should do this more often to change the routine.

We also couldn’t publish any articles for long time that day. Our impressive publishing machine, alias IM-Press (what an IM-Posing and IM-Portant name!), had taken an extra holiday… He – I somehow assume IM-Press is a “he” although you could draw parallels with “empress” and “princess”- obviously thought: “if “Outlook” can do it, I can as well”, although his working regime is actually much lighter.

IM-Press is one of those friends you can’t really rely on. Like a cat. Sometimes it decides to play little games with us during the plenary session – the busiest time for the Parliament and its communication teams. Of course, there’s a lot of work on his shoulders during the peak hours – everybody wants to publish something and that in 22 languages… but then IM-Press just says: “Nope, not with me…” and goes for a cigarette – or wherever, nobody really knows. This behaviour makes us incandescent.

That day he was in a particularly funny mood. He came back together with “Outlook” and then, sometime later, I realized that there were no articles at all on my page anymore. Yes, of course, then I had to play with him a little bit, talk softly, and… yes, finally it worked out.

We should have somebody here with the job description: “IM-Press whisperer”. Or we should be clear enough and express to IM-Press that he needs to impress, or he will be EX-Press!

Well, this is just for you to know. If you sometimes don’t find the long awaited articles on our website for some time and in none of the offered languages – think of our “enfant terrible” and have compassion with us.

Back to normality… until next time?