Journal – August 2004

Welcome to my next instalment of journal posts. Unusually for summer, I’ve had rather a lot to write about this month, as I got my full list of university results while I was continuing my search for work, Dad fell ill and had to go to hospital, we had some work done on the house, the Athens Olympics took place, I celebrated my birthday, and I continued to enjoy more new music and DVD purchases. So this is probably my longest journal post so far, and I hope you enjoy it!

Tuesday August 3, 2004

The CDs I ordered have arrived from Amazon. I haven’t listened to them all yet, but I’ve heard a few:

• Queen – At The Beeb – The songs are similar to their album versions, but it’s still good to hear slightly different versions of them. Son And Daughter is about 4 minutes longer, taking in the Brighton Rock guitar riff at one point, so that’s quite an interesting track.

• Brian May – Another World – Reviews have said it’s not as good as his first album, and I agree with them, but it’s still a great set of tracks all the same, including a good cover of All The Way From Memphis. I also notice Jeff Beck guests on The Guv’nor, and Cozy Powell is on the drums again, which is cool.

• Led Zeppelin – Complete Studio Recordings – I like the look of this box. It’s nice and compact, considering there’s 10 CDs in there. There are 6 little books in the box. One has an article plus photos, although the article is the same as in their 4 CD set that I have. The other 5 contain the discs in the front and back covers. You flip the book over depending on which album you want (apart from Physical Graffiti, which is a double album, so both ends are the same way up). You get pictures of LP sleeves, both inside and out, which is a nice touch. It’s not altogether easy to get the CDs out of their holders, as you have to make sure you grab them by the edges. Still, at least if one CD did get damaged, I wouldn’t have to buy the whole set again, just the one album I needed. I’ve listened to the first 3 albums so far, and they’re all good. I’ve got the legendary 4th one to listen to next, with Stairway To Heaven on.

I haven’t got around to Led Zeppelin’s BBC Sessions or the box set for The Police, but it looks like they’ll be good too.

Thursday August 5, 2004

I’ve got through all the Led Zep stuff now, and it’s all pretty good. Their later albums aren’t as good as the early ones (their first 4 seem to be the best), but they are still enjoyable nonetheless. The BBC sessions are great as well. I’m disappointed to hear they’re not allowing their set to be used on the upcoming Live Aid DVD because it wasn’t up to scratch. They will be donating money to the charity, which is nice, but it’s still a shame that they won’t be on the DVD. Queen will be though, thankfully. I don’t know if other artists have refused permission, but I hope there aren’t many.

I’ve also finished watching Series 8 of Minder with Ray Daley, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. The fourth series of The Brittas Empire is also as funny as the others. Series 3 of The Good Life is also funny, even though I’ve seen it before many times. It still makes me laugh every time I watch it.

No sooner am I getting through those DVDs, and I’ve already ordered another lot:

• Regan – This was done before the first series of The Sweeney, and introduces us to Regan and Carter, so that should be interesting. It’s been getting good reviews on Amazon.
• The Sweeney – Series 3 – Nearly there, only one more series to get after this one.
• The Simpsons – Season 4 – I don’t watch the repeats much, so many of the episodes will be new to me, which is a good thing. And they’ve had pretty good extra features so far, even if it’s taking them ages to release the series (about one a year it seems).
• One Foot In The Grave – Series 1 – It’s about time! There’s also a feature about the show from the recent Best Sitcoms programme included on the DVD, which is good.

Not much else is happening at the moment. A man’s come round measuring for scaffolding on our house, as we’re going to have some major work done soon on the front, including the garden and steps. It’s all booked to start on the 16th.

Friday August 6, 2004

I’ve been up since 4:30am this morning. Dad’s feeling sick and dizzy, and actually collapsed on the landing as he couldn’t move any further at one point. We rang the doctor, explaining what had happened, and were told to sit him up and give him a warm drink. He eventually got back into bed, but still couldn’t move without feeling giddy. We rang the doctor again at about 9:00am and it looks like Dad’s got an ear infection. It can happen quite suddenly, as it had for him, and I went to pick up some prescription pills for him. Hopefully they’ll do the trick. It doesn’t help that it’s hot at the moment – it’s very humid, without much of a breeze. It’s hard to get to sleep at night with it like this. Anyway, all we’ve got to do now is see if the pills work.

Sunday August 8, 2004

Dad’s been taken to hospital now. He started feeling worse yesterday, as his eye was sore and watering. He’s already blind in one eye, and partially sighted in the other, so he was obviously worried about it. The doctor came round, and phoned for an ambulance to go to the hospital. They didn’t have their sirens and lights on though – shame really, that would have been interesting. I bet the neighbours were wondering what was happening! The paramedics were wonderful, and are great at helping you to relax.

So he went to A&E, and is now in a ward which specialises in eye trouble, as well as ear, nose and throat (ENT) problems. The nurse phoned us to say that Dad’s relaxing better now, as the pain in his eye is going. He’s still dizzy though. Mum and I are going to see him tomorrow. There’s a bus we can get from a few streets away, and it doesn’t take long.

We’ve been told that he’s got labyrinthitis and iritis. The former is what he had to start with – it’s concerned with the labyrinth, which is in the ear. The ears control balance, thanks to all these really tiny hairs which you need a microscope to see. If a virus gets in there, the hair cells can fire random messages, which confuses the brain and makes you feel dizzy. And iritis is an inflammation of the iris in the eye, which dad is having eye drops for at the moment. The “itis” on the end of diseases simply means inflammation, as in things like think of arthritis, gastroenteritis, nephritis and hepatitis. My mother had nephritis when she was 10, which is to do with the kidneys, and was in hospital for about a year. Her arms had become all swollen up, and it wasn’t a pleasant experience. But she’d done so well in school that it didn’t matter about her missing her 11+ tests, they let her continue anyway!

Monday August 9, 2004

We’ve seen Dad in hospital, and he’s still feeling dizzy. He’s eating though, and he’s not being sick. His eye’s better too, thanks to the drops they’ve put in. It’s just this dizziness to sort out. He’s going to have a head scan later, as there could be a lesion somewhere. That could be explained by the fact that dad has had Behçet’s Syndrome all his life, and that can interfere with blood vessels. If it’s involved with blood vessels in his head, that could be the cause of the dizziness, and hopefully they could do something about that.

So Dad’s comfortable and seems to be feeling better. And the hospital’s great. Everyone’s really nice, the place is clean, and the food sounds so tasty I’m tempted to go there for dinner, lol! It’s a lot better than when Dad had his gall bladder out 7 years ago, they’ve improved a lot since then. But anyway, let’s hope the scan this afternoon finds the problem, and that they can do something about it.

Tuesday August 10, 2004

Mum and I went out to a local shopping centre today, which we discovered was the next stop after the one for the hospital on the bus. There are 3 big stores there – Comet, Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer – and a huge car park. So we went into Comet, and got Dad a small portable radio to listen to in hospital, and we’re also going to take him a portable tape player. We also went to Marks & Spencer to buy some food and a few bits that Mum wanted for the house and kitchen. Their food is lovely, so it’s good to treat ourselves to it every now and again. And it’s close to home, so I expect we’ll go back there again in the future.

The radio is like a personal stereo, and gives you access to FM, MW and LW stations, as well as 9 short-wave (SW) bands, so we might be able to get strange foreign stations on it as well. It has a speaker on the front, or you can use headphones. It’s quite small too, so that’s good. Comet also have a nice selection of TVs, and we want to get a decent one at some point.

The scaffolding’s been put up outside our house, ready for the work we’re having done from next week – creating a driveway (helps to sell the house for more money even if we don’t use it ourselves), repairing the roof, sorting out some windows, and other bits & bobs.

Dad didn’t have his scan yesterday, but is doing ok, and is able to walk with a stick now, without anybody else helping him. His sight’s still a bit affected (it’s a bit slanted now), but it’s better than it was. Mum and I are going to go and see him tomorrow, after my appointment with my jobs adviser.

Wednesday August 11, 2004

We didn’t see Dad after all, as the bus didn’t turn up! I did see my jobs adviser (Kurt) though, and I’m seeing him and a girl called Louise next Wednesday about the Work Prep scheme, so that should get moving fairly quickly now.

My Amazon stuff came while Mum and I were waiting for the bus, so the Royal Mail are holding it at the local collecting office. I’ll get that in the next few days. They’re only open from 7am to 2pm, which is an odd set of opening times.

The other bit of news is that my graduation photos have turned up, and luckily we were in to be able to collect them. They’re great, and bigger than we expected. It’s all been done professionally, in a proper frame, and looks wonderful. There’s one for me, one for my parents, and one for my relatives in London.

Thursday August 12, 2004

It’s Mum’s birthday today. I had some chocolates delivered from Cadbury Gifts Direct, and they came on time and in nice packaging, even if there was an awful lot of polystyrene balls to get rid of! You can pick and mix items to create your own package on their website, which is cool.

Dad still hasn’t had his scan yet, as he probably missed his slot through having the runs and being sick yesterday. He’s better now though. They’re trying to find out when he can have his scan done. We managed to get to see him today, and he’s ok, but getting a bit bored. We brought in the radio and cassette player that we’d got for him recently, with a book on tape that he likes. I was looking through the frequencies on the radio the other night, and managed to get French and German stations, plus Russia’s World Service from Moscow and an Israeli station!

It took us about 2 hours to get home from there! The bus journey is short, but we missed the first bus we tried to get. Another bus was by the bus stop, and the bus we wanted passed by behind it. He didn’t stop to see if anyone wanted his bus, and with another in the way we couldn’t see that bus to stop it. Our service only runs once an hour, so Mum and I waited and chatted with an old lady who had also missed it. The next one did come, albeit 20 minutes late. That’s 2 days in a row we’ve had trouble with the buses. We’re encouraged to use public transport, but it’s not hard to understand why people prefer cars, they’re much quicker sometimes!

I’ll go and get my Amazon stuff tomorrow, which the Royal Mail are holding for me. We’re not going to see Dad tomorrow. We took him in all the stuff he wanted today, and there’s no point in seeing him until we know more about this scan he’s supposed to have. It’s Thursday now, so he probably won’t have it until next week at this rate. At least he’s not any worse, and he is walking around a little bit. So let’s just hope they hurry up with the scan.

Friday August 13, 2004

It’s Friday the 13th, but everything seems to be going ok. I’ve got my Amazon stuff now and it all looks good. The extras on The Simpsons are very extensive as usual, and The Sweeney has some interesting extra bits too, including a Morecambe and Wise sketch with John Thaw and Dennis Waterman.

Last night I watched a programme called Animal Games that I’d recorded earlier in the week. It involved scaling animals up to human size, and pitting them against each other in running, swimming, shooting, weightlifting, the high jump and the long jump. It was weird, but fun to watch, and you learn some interesting things. For instance, in the shooting, a particular caterpillar’s weapon of choice was its own poo! It fires it out in the wild to distract predators with the smell, as it can shoot it about 1.5 metres when it’s normal size. As predators go for the smelly stuff, the caterpillar gets away. A couple of BBC commentators presented it as if it was the real thing, and it was very funny to listen to.

The animals had been filmed in their natural environment, and then computers were used to put it all together so they looked like they were competing in a stadium. It took about 2 years to make, but was a great job. The amphibians and reptiles won. Although the insects are very fast and agile, they’re not very accurate (anyone who’s opened a window to let a fly out will know how stupid they are!).

This is all a precursor to the Olympics, which start tonight. Athens seems to be ready at last, so let’s see how the British team does – we’ll do reasonably well I hope. And I haven’t heard from Dad yet, but let’s hope he has his scan soon.

Saturday August 14, 2004

Dad rang last night. He’s had his head scan and there’s nothing wrong, and there’s nothing wrong with his ears either. So his dizziness seems to be caused by a virus, and all he can do is wait until it goes, they can’t give him anything for it. He then rang this morning to say that he was coming home this afternoon, and he kept his word, being brought back by an ambulance. He is still giddy, but he’s probably going to start feeling better now he’s not so worried about it. We know that it isn’t anything serious now, so that’s put all our minds at rest.

As for Athens, you have to give them credit for a fantastic opening ceremony. Everything went off without a hitch from what I could tell. We didn’t bother watching all the teams parade out, but we saw the stuff before it, and the lighting of the flame at the end. There’s now 16 days of sport ahead, and I expect I’ll watch some of it. Mum and I saw the Regan film on DVD last night, which was the inspiration for The Sweeney, and I’m glad I got it. It stars the main characters from the series, and just feels like a longer episode of the show really.

Monday August 16, 2004

We’ve got our first silver medal in Athens – in the men’s synchronised diving, but we haven’t won anything else yet. Tim Henman crashed out 6-3 6-3 in the first round of the tennis, so that was disappointing.

The work’s started on our house, which could go on for at least 3 weeks. It’s been raining heavily to start with, and it still looks horrible outside, but it’s not too bad right now. I’ve also got an appointment with the dental hygienist to look at my teeth, after I had them checked when they were sore recently. And I’ve got a jobs appointment on Wednesday.

But the big piece of good news is that I’ve got my university results! I already know I’ve got a 2:1 degree of course, but the uni have sent me an official breakdown for all 3 years, and I’m very pleased with it.

Remember that the marks work as follows:

• 70% – 100% = 1st (first class)
• 60% – 69% = 2:1 (upper second class)
• 50% – 59% = 2:2 (lower second class)
• 40% – 49% = 3rd (third class)

Years 2 and 3 are the ones that make up my degree mark (50% each). Weighted averages take into account the different credits allocated to each module each year. It’s this weighted average that counts. The normal average just shows the average mark obtained per subject. There are 120 credits available per year. Most modules are worth 30 credits (25% of 120), but some are just 15 credits (12.5%).

Year 1

• Introduction To Accountancy = 61% (2:1)
• Business Law For Accountants = 76% (1st)
• Principles Of Economics = 84% (1st)
• Introduction To Statistical Method = 91% (1st)
• Computer Skills For Social Studies = 68% (2:1)
• Management Concepts & Practices = 71% (1st)

Year 1 General Average = 75.2% (1st)

Year 1 Weighted Average = 74.5% (1st)

The first year was my best, not surprising as it was also the easiest. It’s not easy getting 4 first class marks though! I’m very impressed with the Statistics and Economics marks. Given that I hated Management Concepts and Practices, I’m surprised I got such a good mark in that too. For an accountancy degree, it’s a shame accountancy was my lowest mark, but it’s still a very good mark.

Year 2

• Financial Accounting = 62% (2:1)
• Taxation = 57% (2:2)
• Management Accounting = 60% (2:1)
• Audit = 58% (2:2)
• Information Systems = 66% (2:1)

Year 2 General Average = 60.6% (2:1)

Year 2 Weighted Average = 60.3% (2:1)

This year counted 50% towards my degree, and it gave me a good start, with a borderline 2:1. I enjoyed Taxation much more than Audit, but got a slightly lower mark. Information Systems wasn’t difficult, and there’s another respectable mark for Financial Accounting (62% compared to 61% for the first year’s introduction module). I did well on Management Accounting too, and that’s a hard module.

Year 3

• Financial Management = 60% (2:1)
• Financial Statement Analysis = 66% (2:1)
• International Accounting = 65% (2:1)
• Economic Principles And Policy = 79% (1st)
• Company Law For Accountants = 61% (2:1)

Year 3 General Average = 66.2% (2:1)

Year 3 Weighted Average = 66.375% (2:1)

This year counted the other 50% towards my degree. It was a better year than the last, probably because I was really used to the work by then, even if it was harder. 2:1’s across the board this time, and even a first in Economics, which is a pleasant surprise! In fact, all of the results were higher than I expected. It was certainly the toughest year, but my hard work evidently paid off.

For the degree, counted over the second 2 years, my weighted average mark was 63.3% (2:1), which makes sense. If it had been counted over the entire 3 years, my weighted average would have been 67% (so still a 2:1).

So I’m very pleased with all those results, which isn’t surprising!

Tuesday August 17, 2004

I saw the dental hygienist today, and that went ok. As for the house, the front windows upstairs are in, and we’re having new windows in the front downstairs too, plus a new front door and side window. The back windows aren’t being done yet, we’re doing the front of the house for the time being. The new windows are great, and it’s good that you can lock them. You can also leave them open just a tad, so the air can get in, and still lock them in that position. Plus, they’re glazed on the inside – our old windows were double-glazed on the outside, so a burglar who knew his stuff could slide the glass out. Not this time. It’s all coming along, but there’s plenty left to be done.

Saturday August 21, 2004

Matthew Pinsent has won his fourth rowing gold medal, giving Britain another gold in the Olympics. We’re not doing too badly now, although it could still be better. Congratulations to all those who have won so far.

The work on our house has been coming along well. The leak in the ceiling of Mum and Dad’s bedroom has been fixed. The roof still needs some work done, but the weather’s been horrible most of the week, and our builder needs a whole dry day to do it. But the rain can’t come in now at least, so that’s good. The bedroom is in fact virtually empty, as we’ve moved everything out for a fair amount of stuff to be done. We’ve been getting rid of a lot of stuff too – old clothes, wardrobes that have been chopped up, etc. We’ve given the clothes to a charity, and the other stuff, including wood, is going in our skip.

Not much else is happening at the moment. Dad’s dizziness hasn’t gone yet, sadly. But he’s still getting about reasonably well, so let’s hope it goes away soon. Stupid viruses!

Monday August 23, 2004

Paula Radcliffe sadly had to drop out of her marathon at the Olympics, which is a great shame. She’s one of the few great athletes we’ve got left. She was so upset when she stopped, it was painful to watch. It seems like the trouble was the intense heat and humidity, coupled with a very hilly course. She says that she doesn’t think it’s that, though, because she prepared for such conditions. She just can’t explain it, and she’s still very upset. She was due to take part in the 10,000m on Friday, and I hope she still does. Team GB wasn’t having a great day anyway – Philips Idowu fouled 3 times to be kicked out of the triple jump final, we couldn’t get into the 100m final at all, and we only won a silver during the whole day I think. Perhaps today will be better.

I’ve got my handwritten certificate for my graduation now – it’s much bigger than I expected, but still looks great, and it goes perfectly into the frame we picked up at the ceremony for it.

I have to say I’m enjoying Season 4 of The Simpsons. I don’t watch the repeats on TV very much, as they tend to show the same episodes over and over, so I don’t know most of the other. But that’s good, and it means I get to see them properly for the first time. The Sweeney’s also good, incidentally. And coming out soon are DVDs for Bottom and another compilation of Not The Nine O’Clock News. There’s also a Kenny Everett compilation coming out, and I’ve not seen him properly before.

What I’m really looking forward to though is Burnout 3: Takedown for the PS2, out in September. From what I’ve read on the net, it’s going to be extremely addictive. What with that and GTA: San Andreas in November, I won’t ever be able to say I’m bored! I don’t play video games for hours and hours at a time, so it allows me to take my time getting through them. And that means I get my money’s worth. After all, £40 is a lot for a game.

Tuesday August 24, 2004

Well done to Kelly Holmes for winning her 800m race for Great Britain last night. It’s a great relief after the trauma over Paula Radcliffe. Kelly’s going in for the 1500m today as well. Paula hasn’t decided if she’ll run the 10,000m yet, but I doubt she will, it’s not a good idea now. We’re still not doing too bad overall, although we don’t have anywhere near as many great athletes as we used to.

My graduation DVD’s arrived! It looks really good, although I haven’t watched it all the way through yet. The presentation is great, from the DVD cover to the disc itself, which is properly printed, while the underside of the disc is purple. The disc itself contains footage of the university grounds and the surrounding area, as well as the 90 minute ceremony. 3 cameras filmed it, and I’m glad to say I look pretty good. There’s also footage of people on the campus on the day getting ready for the ceremony, although I can’t see myself in that short sequence. There’s also a screen of text about the honorary graduate. And there are menus, including a scene selection option, so they’ve done a grand job with the presentation. Not surprising really, given the importance of the occasion. Visions Unlimited are the name of the company, they deserve to be named.

Wednesday August 25, 2004

I’M 21 TODAY!

And still I don’t feel any older. I got some money, as usual, and my parents paid for me to get some more premium bonds – the money’s then safe, and I have a better chance of winning prizes with ERNIE. Not much else has been happening though. I’ve bought myself a magazine with a demo of Burnout 3 on, so I’ll play that later. I’ve got an appointment with Louise to do some extra paperwork for the Work Prep scheme next week too, so that’s good.

The work on our house is still going well. Mum and Dad are going to have some wardrobes built onto the wall of their bedroom, which saves space. And as there’s no space behind them either (being on the wall), it stops dust and dirt building up behind them, making cleaning much easier. They’re also going to have a window seat too, with extra storage beneath it.

Also celebrating a birthday today:

• Sean Connery – 74 (born 1930, arguably the best James Bond)
• Frederick Forsyth – 66 (born 1938, author of Day Of The Jackal)
• Gene Simmons – 55 (born 1949, founder member of Kiss)
• Willy DeVille – 54 (born 1950, member of Mink DeVille)
• Rob Halford – 53 (born 1951, member of Judas Priest)
• Elvis Costello – 50 (born 1954, big hit was Oliver’s Army)
• Tim Burton – 46 (born 1958, directed Batman and Beetlejuice)
• Billy Ray Cyrus – 43 (born 1961, big hit was Achy Breaky Heart)
• Candida Doyle – 41 (born 1963, member of Pulp)
• Claudia Schiffer – 34 (born 1970, model)

Thursday August 26, 2004

Burnout 3 is going to rock. It’s only a one-level demo, but it’s brilliant. It didn’t take me many goes before I was able to get the gold medal either. The graphics look wonderful, the handling’s superb, and the crashes… well… they’re out of this world! You can slow them down, and even direct the car during the crash, so you can try and hit other cars. Plus you’re encouraged to take out other cars in the race (called Takedowns) to fill your boost bar. I haven’t perfected that skill just yet, but I’m going to keep playing the demo to work on that. At least there’s not long until it’s released.

In another bit of good news, Dad’s feeling better. Whether it’s got anything to do with the fact we all had champagne last night, I’m not sure! We only had a glass each, but it might have been enough. When you have alcohol, you can get light-headed, a bit like Dad’s been feeling recently, and your body fights it off. So I’m wondering if the body fought off the alcohol and some of his dizziness with it. I’m probably wrong, but it’s an interesting coincidence. He’s not fully better yet, but the fact that he’s said he feels better is great news. Let’s hope he continues to improve.

Sunday August 29, 2004

I had to laugh when I read that a cleaner had chucked away a bag of rubbish at an art gallery. Why? Because it was one of the exhibits! A rubbish bag full of paper and cardboard is now considered art, for some odd reason. You can pass off anything as art now! The bag was recovered, albeit slightly damaged, and the artist has now replaced it with a new bag. A painting called The Scream by Edvard Munch was also stolen the other day, and that is irreplaceable. Even if it doesn’t look good to you or me, it’s much more understandable how that can be regarded as art. It’s the second time it’s been stolen, and they’re worried that it’s been damaged or destroyed, as it certainly can’t be replaced.

Paula Radcliffe had to pull out of the 10,000m, as her legs hadn’t recovered from the marathon. She was very brave to have a go, after her disappointment earlier in the week. She’s emotionally drained, but I really hope it’s not the last we see of her. I’m sure she wouldn’t want to go out on a low note, so she’ll be back. She’s still a great athlete, it’s just been a bad week for her, that’s all.

In better news for us though, Kelly Holmes has achieved the golden double – she’s won the 800m and 1500m races, which is brilliant. She’s one of the best athletes we’ve got at the moment. She’s got her own style and tactics which work for her, sitting at the back of the pack before storming through at the end of the race. She’s been given the honour of holding the British flag during the closing ceremony tonight, and I think there’ll be uproar if she’s not voted BBC Sports Personality Of The Year in a few months time. Perhaps she’ll end up in the New Year Honours list too, I wouldn’t be surprised.

Also on the track, our British guys won the 4x100m relay, a welcome surprise to everyone. The Americans completely mucked up their baton switches, but we were perfect for a change. It’s not usual for the US to be second to us in a race like that, so I’m entitled to gloat! And Steve Backley took part in his last ever javelin final prior to his retirement. With 2 silvers and a bronze under his belt, he really wanted gold. Sadly, he only managed 4th place, but it wasn’t for the want of trying. He gave it his best. We’ll miss you Steve.

Another achievement worthy of mention is Amir Khan who, at only 17, has got Britain a silver in the lightweight boxing. I’m not a big fan of boxing, but he’s a good fighter, and looks like he will go far. As I write this, we’ve got 30 medals, 9 of which are gold. The games aren’t quite over yet, but that tally won’t go much higher now. We’ve done better than we did in Sydney (we got 28 medals then), so it’s been pretty good.

The only thing to mar the day was a protestor running on to the road during the men’s marathon, pushing the leader into the barriers at the side of the track. He was drunk, and was the same person who ran on to the track at Silverstone in the past. Why people have to do this, I don’t know. It always amazes me how protestors think they are going to get support from others if they go around upsetting everyone to try and get attention. Sometimes the causes are admirable, but I lose sympathy when they do stupid stuff. Anyway, the athlete in this case was leading, but ended up 3rd. Sportingly, he accepted it without fuss, and was given an extra medal for his sportsmanship and values, quite rightly.

But, barring that, the initial drug scandals, and the worries about buildings and security, these Olympics have been a great success, better than most people expected. Well done to Athens for such a great show!

Tuesday August 31, 2004

Nothing much to report on the Work Prep front. I met Louise today to get the initial paperwork done mainly. I’ll be meeting her for a 2-hour session next Tuesday, in which we’ll look at the internet and explore the local job market. It’s coming along gradually. And Dad still isn’t better yet, which is a shame. The dizziness has gone a bit for sure, but not completely. He’s getting a bit fed up with being stuck at home now.

As for the work being done at home, Mum and Dad’s bedroom keeps getting better. The big wardrobe units are now up, built onto the wall. The doors go from floor to ceiling – the 2 on the left and right are huge panels, while the 2 middle ones are large mirror doors! All the doors are sliding doors too, which works really well. There are shelves in some and rails in others, and there’s just tons of room! And the hinges are on the window seat now, so we can put stuff in there. The walls have been painted too. Some shelves are going to be put up as well, and I’m having some in my bedroom, so I’ll be able to put many of my CDs out of the way at last.