Sensory system

Interoception

Context

On the wall, directly opposite a crew member, himself a habitual smoker.  The exercise has been ongoing for 5 hours, 3 still to go.  The crew have just had to re-calibrate a load of data due to a simple error.

Temporality

15 minutes within a national 24 hour exercise.

Physical

Five hours in and we feel irritable.  Long periods of stand down and inactivity - the moment we would normally pop out for a smoke.  Short periods of intense concentration - another moment we might normally reach for the fags.  Now the mood is gloomy due to a simply error with the data - people are looking for who is to blame.  That unaccountable internal hum kicks in as the body and mind crave nicotine.  It is harder to hold an even temper, to concentrate, to close down the urge to be away from people - to just take 5 minutes and get your self back on an even footing.  The sign seems to get larger - more evident, more hectoring, more final.  The sign compounds this physical shift, this internal imbalance and uncontrolled shift in character.

Emotional

You always used to be able to smoke in here.  I remember being in one of the posts, three of us with a pack of 20.  Get the wind in the right direction and the entrance shaft was like a flue, the smoke pulled up and out no sooner had breathed out. Now there are these bloody signs.  Sometimes I don't want to come in for long sessions.  That or I find excuses to step outside, which can leave others having to fill in for me.  I do feel a bit bad about that but it can be so boring just waiting on the next imaginary bomb and going through those damned routines, AGAIN! People twizzle with their pencils, some pop off for another cup of tea.  I'd just like a fag.

Relationships

• Smell
• Visual