ell_sea_kay
Member
Personally, the fact that I'd made some new friends and for once been involved in something which was actually completed (rather than dying of office politics or budget changes or which became obsolete before completion) and been useful for a while was enough of a mood boost that I passed my driving test easily. Anyone who knows me will tell you how if I'm feeling in the slightest bit down I tend to flap and fret about any sort of test and cause myself to make stupid mistakes. The things I was marked down for this time were, if anything, caused by overconfidence.
Taking it down really didn't bother me. Not only had we got it done, but I have some new friends and no longer have to rely on public transport and that's a huge benefit. Also, some of the things I ended up doing made me realise that I have more options for my career direction than I thought. Options that will require some training, but which I'd repeatedly dismissed when offered opportunities in that direction because 'I'm a tech, I'd be rubbish at $foo'. I'll be a lot more prepared to try any new direction now.
For me, the good things which came out of this project outweigh any mud-slinging and disappointment a thousandfold. Many of the volunteers felt used and undervalued but that doesn't bother me hugely because I'm used to that. I've not had many jobs where the credit for what I did came my way rather than to a boss or colleague, so really I never expected anything else. I'm used to jobs where pulling off a miracle gets no thanks but failure to gets a load of abuse.
Certain people involved were routinely rude or talked down to us, and a fair bit of information and advice was ignored, but again, at least towards me, they were still better than a lot of people I've worked for. Even factoring in what I've heard from others, I've had worse bosses.
There's one exception which stands out there, one person who I don't think really upset anyone and who tried to acknowledge and make time for everyone - James, who let's face it, was the real boss, so I really don't care about the rest of them. I very much doubt I'll have to work with any of them again anyway, but I'd not hesitate to sign up to help out with anything else James does, whoever else he might be working with.
I really like the way you've put that.
And let's not forget that, no matter what happened *afterwards*, it was completed and James got to spend the night as planned - and it was the people who were there day after day that got it done. For the short while I was on site, I had a complete blast, but for me the people who actually knew and understood what was going on were the volunteers like you and Ozgirl, and all I had to do was shut up and build stuff.
This Lego House seems to have been the real black sheep of the whole series (and it was the one that came last as well - maybe that's a good thing!).
But the bottom line is that it will make excellent television - even the media-drama about the demolition - and that is what the show is all about. It might have been about getting people off their arses and enjoying toys for James, but for Plum it would have been making a TV program.
Ell_Sea_Kay