Overload

It was still practical joke time, Bob Morris thought that there was something very wrong with the three of us, times when he wanted a serious chat with one of the musketeers were always punctuated with insane, muffled grins.

If Brendan was being talked to by Bob, or any manager for that matter, Ian and myself would position ourselves in his sightline and attempt to create what we termed an "overload" situation. This was a process where it was impossible not to make eye contact with the two clowns hiding behind filing cabinets or in the FEA room, and the manager would not be aware of what was going on.

No one was safe from this process and we were all victim to "the other two" at some point.

There were stages, initially there was a general feeling of heat in your face and an inability to hold it in a "straight" position, this would look strange to the manager as he could be talking about a serious negative margin of safety on a critical part, but your face would be contorting upwards.

The second stage, which was victory to the instigators, was the total collapse of all bodily functions, resulting in an inability to hold more than a two word conversation without smiling like an idiot, this was the overload situation where the only option was to excuse yourself from the conversation or place a brown paper bag on your head.