283.
Friday, and thoughts are now turning to the journey home tomorrow. Today was a bit of a wasted day, as the long awaited meeting resolved nothing, since the only two people with the authority to make decisions decided not to bother coming. Perhaps I shouldn't have bothered either. Anyway, I suppose this is the way things work in Portugal... they just kind of rumble along until they hit a problem, then they stop until someone notices and decides to ask someone else to do something about it. The afternoon meeting was little better, as the person who has been causing us all sorts of heartache decided that, rather than just respond to the questions asked, they would much prefer to make a drama out of nothing at all. It was all I could do not to ask this person why they feel that my time and money is worth wasting just so that they can complain about having to make sure that the references to their article are complete and accurate, and why, when asked if they had actually read the publication guidelines before insisting on having this pointless meeting, they admitted that they hadn't. If it were up to me, I know where I would tell this person to stick their article. Unfortunately, however, it is not up to me. I can't wait to get back home.