8 June 2015, 8.15 am
My head hurts. This is partly due to the Prosecco, partly due to the early start, but mainly due to last night’s cubicle doors which were actually not doors at all. I am in early for our “Diversity in IP” breakfast meeting. The Americans thought it was going to be a “Women in IP” breakfast meeting, but at CIPA the Men in IP get peevish if you leave them out of anything, especially if it involves food, so we had to let them come too. Team CIPA has done us proud. The Breakfast Pixies have been. Also the Flower Fairies, who have brought a vase of sunflowers to cheer up CIPA Hall, because Diverse People (women, for example) like flowery things. But the Breakfast Pixies did not bring honey nut cornflakes, and I cannot help wondering what is the point of breakfast without honey nut cornflakes? Once everyone has got over the disappointment of not having honey nut cornflakes, and eaten pastries and granola instead, I disappoint them further by standing up to make a speech. It is a rousing speech about diversity in the IP professions. I use my gardening metaphor. I say we must not sow our diversity seeds on stony ground, among the sceptics, and someone tweets that I am using biblical references, which I think God will be having a laugh about. I say we must protect our plants from pests and diseases, and not let racist and sexist and homophobic slugs gobble them up. People seem to like the slug metaphor. Even though they have only just finished their breakfasts. The American Women in IP tell us about the events they organise, which all seem to revolve around food. They do breakfast meetings, and lunch-time meetings, and dinner meetings. And when they do breakfast meetings, they start at 6.30 am, which makes us look a bit pathetic only rolling up at 8.15. Still, I bet they don’t have a Patent Attorneyettes’ Afternoon Tea Society.
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