Journal – May 2006

Welcome to another bumper set of entries from my journal. This has been a very busy month, as I’ve had 3 trips away – attending a Mac training course in Manchester, staying with a friend in Exeter to play at a quiz night, and spending a week in Bournemouth with a couple of mates. And at home I’ve continued to make good use of our new broadband connection, while the new series of Doctor Who was starting on TV. So there’s a lot to mention this time, and I hope you enjoy it!

Saturday May 6, 2006

It’s been good to have a short week at work. I’ve been helping to produce the P60s for all the employees, which I’ve finished now.

Tomorrow, my section manager and I are off to Manchester for our training course. It’s a Macintosh computer course that we’ll be doing for 2 days, and I’ll come back on Tuesday night on my own, as my colleague’s doing a more advanced course for the rest of the week. We’re flying to and from Manchester, from Plymouth Airport. The flight leaves tomorrow at 1:30pm and takes about 2 hours, including a stop in Bristol. My flight home also takes the same amount of time, and I get into Plymouth at 9:10pm, so it’s not too late. My department manager’s arranging for someone to pick me up to drive me home then.

We’ve got a hotel 5 minutes from the training venue. Which is a miracle, really, as there’s a big testimonial football match during the week, and a lot of the hotels that my colleague rang were full. But we’re sorted now – my colleague and I are sharing a room for the first 2 days, then he’ll go into a single room once I’ve gone. Our twin room doesn’t have any windows apparently, it’s an internal room, but that’s not a problem. Anyway, it should be an interesting couple of days. I’m sure I’ll manage to get back alright on Tuesday.

Sunday May 7, 2006

My section manager picked me up in his minibus just before 11am on Sunday morning. His wife and kids came too, because the minibus is the only vehicle they have, and his wife needed to take it back home in order to drive herself or the kids around while he’s away. The kids were well-behaved and quiet though, playing on video games or listening to music. They’ve been having chicken pox this week apparently, which they’re passing on to each other. I had it when I was young, so I haven’t got it.

There was a cock-up to start with, however, that meant the trip nearly didn’t go ahead at all. The girl in the procurement department who booked the flights got them a bit wrong. My flights were ok, but my colleague was booked to fly out on the Tuesday. Perhaps she saw I was going for only 2 days and thought that he was going for the last 3. But that’s not the case – he’s going all week, with me coming back on the Tuesday. Luckily there were seats available on the flight, but it did mean my colleague paying £50 to change his ticket. So he’s none too pleased. The girl at the desk was really helpful though.

The flight was fine. Air Southwest only use small planes, but they are comfortable, and there’s plenty of leg room, so I could stretch my legs out. A half-hour flight to Bristol, where we dropped off some passengers and picked up a few others, was followed by another 45 minute flight to Manchester, with no problems.

The airport itself is huge. Well, that’s an understatement. Had I ended up going on my own, I’d have been completely lost! It took us about quarter of an hour to find the train station, from which we caught a train into the city centre. We then got a taxi to our hotel – the Britannia Sachas. Nothing special, but it’s adequate for a business trip. All the corridors look the same, another reason for me to get lost if on my own! But the receptionist was very nice and helpful.

We went for a quick walk around the high street before tea, but there’s nothing too special to look at. It’s just like London, only it has trams as well. They even have a large Ferris wheel like the London Eye. It’s a very busy place, even on a Sunday evening. And it’s very multicultural, just like London. My colleague spoke to a man in Curry’s Digital (formerly Dixons, who have now merged with Currys) for a while, and he said there was an Apple store nearby. But we never found it in the end.

Tea was in the hotel’s pizzeria (not just pizzas, they do other stuff like steaks). We had a pizza and Budweiser each – the meals are included in the hotel bill, with the exception of alcoholic drinks, which were £3 each. The staff don’t fully understand English, but they do well enough once you’ve repeated yourself once or twice. After tea we went upstairs and watched some TV, although there wasn’t much on worth watching.

The room itself was a twin room, and again not too bad. The shower was a bit awkward to get used to, but doesn’t take long to get the hang of. The beds weren’t particularly comfortable either, but we managed alright, and it’s never the same as sleeping at home anyway. I got some sleep, even with my colleague snoring in the next bed, sometimes quite loudly!

Tuesday May 9, 2006

The Mac training course took place on Monday and Tuesday, and was only 5 minutes walk away from the hotel. The folk at MacPeople are very friendly and welcoming. You get breaks in the morning and afternoon, plus half hour for lunch, which consists of sandwiches and crisps. There were 6 of us on the course altogether – the other 4 were mainly from PC Support backgrounds who were now having to support Macs as well, and at least a couple of those worked in education, who Macpeople regularly see people from.

We obviously chose MacPeople because they specialise solely in Macs. Other people generally teach PCs, and add on Macs as an after-thought. They don’t know the real tricks and tips that people need, or how to best guide people through the system. MacPeople do, and it does show in their teaching.

The course was about Mac OS 10.4 (known as Tiger), and covered a variety of topics:

• Installation
• Users
• File System
• Permissions
• Applications
• Command Line (Unix)
• Networking Configuration
• Accessing Network Services
• Providing Network Services
• Peripherals
• Printing
• Startup Sequence
• Troubleshooting

The aims were to gain knowledge, learn procedures, and get used to best practice. It seems a lot to get through in 2 days, and none of it was done in major detail. But it did adequately show what was available for setting up, general use or for troubleshooting in each case.

The tutor was really good, and more than happy to let people talk about the topics as we went along. Slides were used, but we all had folders containing them in front of us, against which we added notes as well. So at least I could see what everyone else could.

There were also practical exercises which we did on our Macs. That’s where the only problem arose for me. I took the machine with the 20-inch screen, but that didn’t like the installation discs we were given for the initial section. So the tutor had to get someone to look for the correct disc, which took most of the day. Luckily, my colleague had borrowed a laptop from a guy in IT at work, so I had a look through the exercises back at the hotel and caught up quite nicely. The tutor did, however, offer to talk me through them during the breaks on the second day if I’d needed to, so they weren’t unhelpful in any way.

The second day therefore went better, because the computer was now working fine. And the second day was the most interesting, particularly the command line element. Given that we use Unix at work, and not just on the Mac, it’s good to get a start on it.

The whole course was good though, as it was all pretty new to me, and I do understand Macs better as a result. My colleague’s also lent me a Missing Manuals book on Mac OS 10.3. One iteration less than the  course version, but it serves to help with 10.3 upwards.

I’d never heard of the Missing Manuals series before, but it’s extremely good. It basically acts as a replacement manual for the Mac. It’s effectively the manual you should have had, considering you don’t get much with Macs, and the Help system isn’t very good. It takes you through everything, from basics to more advanced material. It doesn’t assume you are advanced, or that you have used Macs before, and it doesn’t talk to you as if you’re stupid. You’re free to read at whatever level you want.

It’s a good book to have beside you as you experiment. The language is friendly and witty, nothing too serious. There’s nothing it doesn’t cover in some detail, and there are other books available on all sorts of programs and systems, there’s even one about Google! They do their best to keep the books up-to-date, encouraging readers to point out errors. And on top of that, they even give you free software or shareware applications to enhance your experiences, either on a CD-ROM or via their website.

We didn’t do much on Monday night. Tea was a carvery (as it is every night except on Sundays, hence the pizzeria the night before). It was ok, like everything else, although nothing special. But at least it was included in the price of the room.

Incidentally, breakfasts over the 2 days were a bit like that too, in that you went round the table and chose what you wanted. We had a cooked breakfast on both days – sausages, bacon, beans, hash browns, toast, etc, and I had apple juice to drink.

We just watched some TV on Monday evening, not that there was anything interesting on – our viewing consisted of a Real Story documentary on people in debt, a woman’s visit back to Iraq, and Wife Swap, including one family who let their kids drink alcohol at the age of 9 without thinking anything of it!

Of course, we had to check out on Tuesday so that my colleague could get his single room, and also because I was going home later that day. A lady at MacPeople booked a taxi directly to the airport on our request, as walking through the airport from the train station would have been a nightmare, it’s too big! It cost me £25, but I had the money, and it’s worth it to avoid being completely lost. I did end up missing the troubleshooting section at the end of the course, but I’ve got the slides on it anyway, so I didn’t miss too much.

It did mean I got to the airport about 2 hours early, but that also enabled me to get something to eat. And I was fortunate enough to find Harry Ramsdens, so I had a large plate of fish and chips, yum! After that I bought a paper to read for an hour or so before checking in. When I explained I needed help finding my way through to the plane, they were only too happy to help. I was guided through from then on, even being seated on the plane first! Everyone was very friendly and helpful, and it really made things much easier. My department manager picked me up at Plymouth when I arrived at around 9:15pm and, thanks to quiet roads, I was home before 10pm.

So there you have it, my first training course for work. And it was very worthwhile!

Wednesday May 10, 2006

Work’s been pretty quiet on the whole since I got back. The P60s are on their way out to people, so that’s hopefully the last we’ll hear of them. It’s just as well things are quiet, as we’ve finally got around to changing my network ID to a Printing one, as opposed to the Financial Services one I’ve had for ages. But it does mean I can’t access some areas of the network that I could before. Some were fixed today, but there are still some that need to be fixed.

I also had a play on the Mac with the manual I talked about before – that kept me busy for 2 days, as it was pretty quiet. It’s interesting to play with it – I even found out how to use the screensaver as an animated desktop background, although you need to turn it off if you’re doing anything that needs to use the graphics memory. Which, as we do printing, is most of the time, so I won’t be leaving it on.

This weekend I’m going to stay with my friend in Exeter, who rang me while I was in Manchester. There’s a quiz night this weekend, plus it will give me a chance to see her new flat (she’s been there a month) and her new boyfriend. He won’t be able to come with me and her to see my best mate in Bournenouth over the Bank Holiday weekend, so it’ll be a good chance to meet him. We’ll be coming back on the Sunday that weekend, as she has to go to work on the Bank Holiday. So we’ll probably go up on Thursday or Friday afternoon, whatever she fancies.

Sunday May 14, 2006

Well, that was a good weekend away. Yesterday I met AB and AL in Exeter. AL is a really nice bloke. He’s got mild cerebral palsy, but you don’t really notice it. He’s very outgoing and likes talking to people, but he’s not outgoing in a loud “listen to me” kind of way. He just likes to get to know people, so that’s cool. He lives near Plymouth, and works for an engineering company. Him and AB see each other about once a month, and she’s happy. They met through a free dating site called Loopy Love.

We went to Burger King for lunch, and then to a pub to watch the FA Cup Final between Liverpool and West Ham. We were all rooting for the Hammers. I’m not a huge footie fan, but West Ham have done well to get so far in the FA Cup. And they put up a good fight too. They went 2-0 up early on (one was an own goal on Liverpool’s part), then Liverpool pulled back to make it 2-2. West Ham then scored again, and it looked so good for them. And then, just before stoppage time, Liverpool equalised. That forced the match into extra time, and nobody scored within those 30 minutes. So it went to the most horrible way of losing – penalties. And Liverpool won. Still, it was a very good match, and West Ham should be proud of themselves.

We then went back to AB’s new flat to drop stuff off before going to the quiz night. AB’s new flat is better than her old one. It’s nice and close to the town – about 5-10 minutes walk away in fact, much better than before. It’s on the ground floor this time (she was on the first floor in her old place). It’s about the same size as her old flat, but the rooms are bigger because there’s only a small hallway. There’s more room to move in the kitchen and the lounge, and her bedroom’s a bit bigger. She’s even got a larder in the kitchen, which is very handy.

We then met up with ST for the curry and quiz night at a local pub called The Globe. It’s a nice, cosy place – it’s not really a student pub, of which there are plenty in the local area anyway. They do a lot of stuff there too – as well as the quiz nights, a lot of local bands play there (rock, blues, jazz, and other stuff), plus the quiz nights of course.

The curry and quiz night was being held to raise money for Exeter Hospice, and they got nearly £400 in the end. It was held upstairs, while a live band played downstairs (doing some good rock covers, from what we heard). We got our curries first – there were 4 of different strengths and flavours. I had a mixture of all four, plus rice of course, and had Budweiser to drink. I didn’t finish all of the curry, though, it was too much in the end!

The quiz came next, and there were about 10 teams taking part. We eventually called ourselves Computer Says No, after the Little Britain catchphrase. Other team names included Dirty Y-Fronts, Desperate Housewives and I Can’t Believe We’re Not Better (which turned out to be quite apt for them!). We had to think up one-liner jokes during the evening, but we didn’t do very well in that area.

In the quiz itself we did pretty badly to start with, and were near the bottom of the scoreboard early on. One round was about the history of Exeter, which we knew nothing about! We did well on the brainteasers round though. The guy in charge (who was a good host, as he was pretty funny and obviously enjoying himself) gave teams the chance to sing for extra points. We initially didn’t want to, but AL persuaded us to. And our short rendition of The Wheels On The Bus earned us an extra 9 points (out of a possible 10). I think we got that many points because we were willing to make idiots of ourselves by singing a kids song to a crowded pub of people! We did well on the subsequent brainteasers round too.

A round about the Queen also stumped us, but the last round was music. That included listening to tracks and naming artists and titles, or related films. We did very well on that round. Our score was further boosted in two ways. First, the round had 20 questions, instead of 10 like the others. And secondly, we played our Joker, which doubled our points. We could have used it on any round, but hadn’t fancied using it for the previous categories. So we had to use it on the last round anyway, and the gamble paid off. In the end, our team finished in 3rd place!

There was also a raffle, and all 4 of us won something in the end. I got a big candle, in case Mum and Dad wanted it, plus one of those cylinder things with a curved track going round inside, with some dark liquid (like oil) running down it (a liquid spiral timer). I’ve already got one somewhere, and didn’t fancy anything else up there at the time, but it’s pretty cool to watch sometimes.

We had started shortly after 7pm, and the night finished as it was getting on for midnight. AL went back to AB’s flat, while me and AB walked ST home as it was dark. ST’s got a nice flat, which she’s been in for about 2 years now. It’s got nice big rooms, and is on the ground floor of a house, so she’s got someone upstairs. She knows her neighbour a bit, which is good (AB knows her own neighbours too).

Me and AB then went back to AB’s flat, and we just lazed around a bit before going to bed. Today we got up around lunchtime, again not doing much. AB’s Dad came round to do some bits for her though, including new curtains and plugging in her internet connection. He then gave me a lift home, as he lives near me, which was kind.

And that’s about it. The week after next, AB and I will be going to Bournemouth to see my best mate SM at the university there. He’s got an exam tomorrow, so I’ll hopefully catch him on Skype to see how it went. It’s a pity AL can’t come too, he would have enjoyed himself as well. If AB brings him down to my neck of the woods when she visits her Dad, then I’ll probably meet him again then. But anyway, I’ve already booked the coach seats online for AB and I – with disabled discounts it’s about £10 each. It should be a fun trip.

Friday May 19, 2006

Well, it’s been an interesting week, fairly varied. Work’s been fairly busy, so I haven’t had much time to play on the Mac this week, but there’s plenty of time for that. It’s a big manual, so I’m only about halfway through it.

Talking of Apple though, I’ve got an iPod Nano! I haven’t fully unwrapped it yet, as I’m converting all my music to MP3 first, and it’s taking a little while. I’m only able to do one folder at a time with the Creative program on this machine, but each folder is pretty quick. So I’ll start using the iPod this weekend. It’ll be handy for travelling, and perhaps listening to podcasts when I go to bed. I’ve also got a protective case and a mains charger (you have to charge via your USB port otherwise).

I’ve also upgraded to BT‘s faster broadband – up to 8Mbps, but they’re only estimating 6Mbps on my line as the best. It’s still damn quick, although they do say it will take a few days to stabilise so that you notice the difference.

And, something I forgot to mention last week is that I’ve now got blinds in my study! Finally, I can block out the sunlight that can stream in and reflect off the worktop. They’re blackout blinds, but I can still open the window, and have the blinds as far open or closed as I like. We’ve got blinds on all the windows in the house now, in fact. The ones in my bedroom are great because they still let light through, without letting anyone see you. Mum and Dad looked up a local guy who does it – he did a good job, and at a reasonable price. And some more good news is that I’ve won 2 more £50 Premium Bond cheques!

I’m using Messenger more these days, and I had a good chat with one of my old school friends on Wednesday. We even recorded quick audio clips to see how each other sounded. I also captured a webcam image for my display picture. I couldn’t send her a live video stream, as her university’s firewall must have been blocking it, sadly. She’s doing fine anyway. Another friend also had a quick chat too.

I didn’t use Messenger much before, firstly because I was on dial-up, so it slowed my connection a bit, but also because I don’t always know what to talk about! I’m not great at having text conversations, it’s easier to talk. That’s why I like talking to my best mate SM on Skype. But it’s still good fun once you get going, so I’m not complaining. Talking of my mate, he had his exam on Monday, and feels it went well. So that’s good. AB and I will be going up there on Thursday – hence getting my iPod for the journey.

On TV, I’ve got to see the first Cybermen episode of the new Doctor Who tonight. Thank God BBC3 repeats them! I missed it last Saturday, being away, and my recording buggered up on Sunday’s BBC3 repeat (the digibox sometimes mucks up the connection between the TV and VCR). I can then see Part 2 tomorrow night.

That’s all the interesting stuff I can think of right now. I probably won’t write the next set of entries until after I get back from my weekend with AB and SM. He’s coming back with us on the Monday for a couple of days, as his regular eye checkup in Exeter has been scheduled for the Tuesday, which is useful. So I’ll probably do something in Exeter with him on the Bank Holiday Monday – Pizza Hut and bowling is probably the plan, reliving old times! It’ll be a good few days in any case.

Wednesday May 24, 2006

This past week at work was fairly busy in the end, with purchase orders being moved to the new email system, and the first big round of payslips for us to print. They’re much easier to read in the new format.

But forget work, the most important thing is that I’ve been off travelling again.

I went up to AB’s in Exeter this evening, and we went down to The Globe again. They had a Dixieland-style band on there. Although it’s not the sort of stuff I usually go for, it was good toe-tapping stuff. And they played a couple of songs I knew in their Dixie style, such as Hello Mary Lou (Goodbye Heart).

Thursday May 25, 2006

AB and I travelled up on the coach to Bournemouth today, and the journey was fine – 2 hours and 40 minutes, with no changes. I listened to my iPod Nano on the way, and had no problems with it. I listened to the new Suzi Quatro and Rolling Stones albums, then just picked a few random songs I fancied listening to.

We met SM just after 2pm and did a bit of shopping at Asda, then took it back to his place so we could also drop our luggage off. We then went into town, where we had a walk round the shops, as AB wanted some stuff. SM also took us to Shakeaway, a milkshake place that does over 150 flavours! I tried chocolate fudge brownie on this occasion, and it was pretty nice.

After our shakes, we did a bit more shopping, then went to the arcades. I actually managed to beat SM at air hockey, 3 games to nil, that’s very unusual! He showed us the talking popcorn machine just outside the arcade as well – apparently that had freaked him and another friend out when they were using the coffee machine beside it, as it invites you to use it every now and again!

After that, we had tea at a pub called The Harbour Lights. I had half a roast chicken, although it was big enough to be a whole one! And it was very nice, which is just as well considering we had to wait half an hour for our meals. For dessert the three of us shared a Curly Wurly Mega Thingy Sundae, which was pretty big and very filling. SM had to finish it off in the end, AB and I couldn’t manage it! It’s described online as having “Chocolate & vanilla flavoured ice creams, chocolate fudge cake, cream filled profiteroles, more & more ice cream, lashings of cream, chocolate & strawberry sauces, chocolate buttons & crunchie pieces. Finished with a wafer & Curly Wurly Bar.” It’s as tasty as it sounds!

That evening we popped into Dylan’s (the university bar) for a drink. A pre-World Cup friendly was on TV in D2 (the downstairs part), so AB watched that, while SM and I had a game of pool upstairs, although it was difficult as the lighting wasn’t great. We had a go on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? on the games machine too, but didn’t do great.

As for that night, we just lazed around. SM showed us a website a friend had recommended to him called Ill Will Press. It features a cartoon squirrel called Foamy, with a few associates, and he basically rants about all sorts of things. It’s not for kids, but it’s pretty funny.

SM’s also recommended a site called Tickle to me, which he and friend do tests on. It was once called Emode, and it is a site I remember, so I will have to get back on there. You can share test results, so it’ll be interesting to compare our results.

Friday May 26, 2006

We didn’t get up until midday today, but in the afternoon we went into town and had another milkshake. I had Bounty this time, another nice one, with bits of coconut coming up the straw every now and again. We then had a game of crazy golf, which I lost. But not by much – there was only 5 points between all 3 of us. It threatened to rain, but never did in the end.

That evening SM cooked sweet and sour pork, which was very nice. His friend T came round to say hello, and went with us to Dylan’s for a couple of drinks. She didn’t go out with us after that though – she’s waiting until after her last exam before she goes out on the town again.

We had intended to go on to The Old Fire Station (the uni nightclub). But we ended up going to, and staying in, a place called Bar Me for a couple of hours. The music in there was pretty good too, with Don’t Stop Me Now, Eye Of The Tiger and Livin’ On A Prayer all getting played. We didn’t do much after we got back from there, just lazed around before going to bed.

Saturday May 27, 2006

We had another lie-in this morning, before popping out in the afternoon. We had lunch at KFC, which we hadn’t done for a while. We shared one of their new boneless boxes which, as it sounds, is a box of boneless pieces of chicken, including their popcorn chicken. So that filled us up nicely. We then met T and went for a walk by the seaside for a couple of hours. After she left us, we walked back into town for our final milkshake of the weekend. SM and I had caramel shortbread, which was my favourite of the three we tried.

In the evening we met C, another of SM’s uni friends. We went up to Dylan’s, only to find it closed, which was annoying. So we nipped up to Londis and got some drinks, before heading back to SM’s and ordering a pizza. We had intended to have pizzas at Dylan’s, so we decided to order them instead. Domino’s had a Football Fanatic pizza for the World Cup, and we wanted to go for that, plus one of the others, so we would have 2 pizzas between the 4 of us. However, not only did they not have meatballs, but they said it could take at least one and a half hours!

So we cancelled that and ordered a couple of pizzas from a local shop instead, which came in just over half an hour. While we had our fill – which we needed as by now it was quite late – we played SM’s Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? game on the PS2 and then watched his DVD of Have I Got News For You (Guest Presenters – Volume 2).

Sunday May 28, 2006

The journey back to Exeter wasn’t too bad. I had my iPod on shuffle mode this time, which kept me entertained. But we were near the back of the coach near the toilets, so it wasn’t pleasant whenever the door was opened! It was a bit warm on there as well. SM’s library audiobook tape started playing up a bit as well – as he was also travelling back with us for his eye appointment. But we managed, there wasn’t anything too bad to complain about.

We all lazed around a bit for the afternoon while AB sorted her stuff out. We then went to her local Chinese restaurant for our evening meal, where I had sweet and sour chicken. The staff were extremely polite, checking to ensure we were happy and serving everything well. The peace was interrupted at one point by a few guys who sounded like they’d had a bit too much to drink, but they calmed down after a while.

We went to the pub afterwards and had a few games of pool, where I beat SM yet again – he wasn’t having a good weekend against me! We listened to a jazz/blues band upstairs, but didn’t think much of them, so we didn’t stay there long. Not all of their bands can be to everyone’s taste, after all. We watched Dead Ringers on TV, and that was about it. I let SM have the sofa bed – I’d been sleeping on the floor in my sleeping bag in his uni room anyway, so one more day wasn’t going to make much difference. And AB did give me a blanket to lie on, which helped a bit.

Monday May 29, 2006

AB had to work on the Bank Holiday today, but she was happy with that, especially as she gets paid double for it. So SM and I went to Pizza Hut, which was very busy, what with it being half-term as well. But we got a seat eventually, and had the all-you-can-eat buffet as usual. We had to cancel our side order for cheesy garlic bread after not getting it after over half an hour, but that was the only problem. We had dessert as well – he had a sundae, while I had chocolate fudge cake (very rich and very filling, but still delicious!).

We then went for a walk by the river for a while, before meeting AB once she had finished work at 3pm. We then went ten-pin bowling – we all did pretty well on the first game, then badly on the second! SM beat me on the first game though, so he got his own back for losing at air hockey and pool over the last few days. We then had a go on the games machine as well, getting hooked on Millionaire for a few games. We eventually managed to win £2 for getting 8 questions right!

AB’s support worker then met us, who was going to help her with some housework, and we walked back to AB’s flat. We popped into Blockbuster on the way, so AB could pick out a film for her and SM to watch that night. She chose Flight 93, about the 4th plane from 9/11, where the passengers overthrew the hijackers, crashing the plane before it got to its target. Those people were certainly brave, but I don’t think I’d want to depress myself watching a film about it. Anyway, I decided to make a move and get the next train, so I came home, and got back about 8:30pm, which was good. I didn’t want to get home too late.

To finish, here’s a funny piece of news from over a week ago. A guy called Guy Goma went for an interview at the BBC – but got interviewed on BBC News 24 as an IT expert by mistake! He didn’t get the job he was after either, but people are petitioning online for him. He’s even auctioning the shirt he wore on TV that day for Oxfam, which is jolly nice of him. They showed the clip of his interview on Have I Got News For You, and you do feel sorry for him. He’s taken it in good spirits though.

And that’s it, that was a nice fun week. Hopefully we’ll all go down to Bournemouth for SM’s birthday in November. It may be that I’ll have to book into a hotel – AB will probably stay there with her boyfriend AL as well. But that’s a long time away yet. Right now, it’s back to normal for a while.