Day 128 - July 31st 2007

Early this morning, I went to the supermarket to stock up on stuff and things in general. A successful trip was had by all, plus I found an FM transmitter thingy I wanted for my MP3 player.

Anyway, at lunch I went around a bit in search of pizza. Everywhere was closed so I went all the way to the port of Carro, where I was told to wait 15 minutes. I went on a stroll around the place until I came across some lovely boats in the port.

I took a picture, thinking to myself that I've had worse pictures than one of some yachts bobbing about in the Sun. That is until I went to collect the pizza and my crude and infantile sense of humour simply forced me into taking a picture of some iced creams called 'Pussy'.

This picture might appeal to a wider audience, who knows? At the time I just knew I had to get me some pussy. So I ordered myself a pussy pop straight from the freezer; it tasted like chemicals but who cares; I just licked some pussy! I ought to stop now with these puny, pointless, pathetic pussy puns; they are quite funny though. Many people will think less of me for this childish behaviour and they should; full stop.

Day 127 - 30th July 2007

Once again, the Moon was out tonight; I'm quite pleased with the picture I took of it though, in a minimalistic kind of way.

This picture is the result of a day where I went shopping with my brother, we bought some stuff and came home. That was it really, so what is there to talk about?

My Dad came in today moaning till kingdom come about nothing in particular which annoyed me really. This is quite unusual as I am rarely annoyed, but tonight I actually considered going home.

It's not that bad of course; I just can't help thinking that I could be enjoying myself on holiday a bit more instead of sweating like a paedophile in a nursery all day drinking endless bottles of water.

Day 126 - 29th July 2007

I woke up extremely early to get back home from the Pyrenees today, which meant that I was in Provence by 11:30am; that made today a very long one.

However long it may seem, nothing much else happened; we got in, fixed the holes in the swimming pool hopefully for good and I spotted some cats that weren't there before.

We've come so far in so little time, it's hard to believe that we were trying to blow up chickens only last night; it all feels so long ago.

It's so hot here compared to where I just was too, so hot as to be uncomfortable. It makes you reluctant to do anything at all really, but tomorrow I'm going to go off looking for some stuff, like an FM transmitter for my MP3 player. I won't be alone; my brother's with me now so it's not quite so dull!

Day 125 - 28th July 2007

There are eight of us here, which makes breakfast quite interesting; I went down to the bakers and basically emptied it of bread and buns.

Otherwise, not much else happened, I went into town with my dad just to get some stuff then we just chilled out really.

In the evening we had another barbecue with our friends. During tea, some chickens decided to invade us and we noticed that they would eat anything we threw at them, including meat; rather odd for vegetarians, they must be very stupid. Anyway, we thought about what would happen if we threw a banger at one so we lit the fuse and lobbed it. They all ran away apart from one; who decided to peck at it! It just put it down in time for it to detonate; otherwise its head would have been blown off and the picture of the day would have been somewhat more sinister than it is.

After some singed chicken backsides and much laughter; it was time for us to say goodbye. The early start tomorrow means that we won't see each other again, so I took a picture of the lot.

Day 124 - 27th July 2007

What a great day today was. First of all, there was the seven hour journey over to the Pyrenees; I love journeys! Then, we met up with my brother's friends who were living over at the house for a couple of weeks jumping off mountains. I managed to catch them landing, the picture is of one of them coming in.

We had a lovely barbecue in the night and we found that they had bought bangers. For some reason, they decided to blow up an Apricot; the whole street is covered in them now!

Staying with the loud noise vibe, we then went and set off some fireworks, great fun; not for those in the neighbouring campsite I suppose! Anyway, it's nice to be able to have a laugh with people who might actually get a joke for a few days. Also, it's so much cooler here I can sleep at night; I'll be sad to leave on Sunday I think.

Day 123 - 26th July 2007

Ah; the Moon. I just love it when it's still day but the Moon is out, so I took a picture. It seems so far away in the photo, but I could see such a lot of detail at the time; it was crystal clear. In fact, a few stray clouds would have made a nicer picture I think.

I didn't get up to much again today, apart from to go to the beach. I stayed in and watched Cock and Bull Story; I loved it loads more the second time! I've got to get up early tomorrow morning, we're off to the Pyrenees for the weekend to pick up my brother.

I don't know if I'll be driving or not, but it does make me think about driving in France. The roads are clearer, but the drivers here are so stroppy! Just earlier on, I got honked at the petrol station when I was just filling up! Then, afterwards, someone started giving me hassle at a red light; for not going! Of course, I forget that in France red means rev her up and green means gay. In terms of physical area, France is way bigger than the UK, but there are almost the same amount of cars in both countries, making the roads much less densely packed; motorway driving is not too stressful. That is until you realise you've just paid £60.00 in toll fees for a 2 hour journey, not a place for the poor then.

Day 122 - 25th July 2007

Yet again, I had another day which I enjoyed but isn't that interesting to talk about. I went to the beach, although I feel slightly guilty when I think about those back home in the floods. It pains me to say it, but more rain is on the cards for the UK, hopefully the floods will stay off this time.

Otherwise, progress has been made on my Tellytubby massacre film, I worked a lot in a cafe by the sea; lovely, but I felt quite tired today so I scrapped the idea of another day trip. I took a picture of some of my thoughts. This evening, I went to a restaurant with my dad; just the usual place really.

I don't think anything else has happened much; I still spare a thought for the people in the floods though. Maybe soon, there will be something not only worth talking about, but actually reading about too!

Day 121 - 24th July 2007

I spent the day at the beach today, doing nothing much at all. It was nice, but there was a strong wind blowing. This isn't very interesting at all, I had a great time, but it's still just as dull!

Back in England, I hear the floods are receding but there is yet more rain on the cards. It'll be over one day or another I'm sure.

Tomorrow I want to go and see some more places, so I will. I haven't got anything to talk about at all right now, so I think I'll leave it at that.

Day 120 - 23rd July 2007

I said I was going to take a day trip, and I did! There it is look, the amphitheatre at Arles; one of about a million photos I took in the city. I compared it with my pictures of the Colosseum and it actually looks slightly bigger, although this is probably because of the funny angles and wide-angled lenses. It's not as high as in Rome, but it is still in use; unlike in Italy. This could also be a reason for why it looks so big; I'm right at the top of one of the towers.

There was lots of other stuff to see there, I didn't visit the Van Gogh museum because I don't really like Van Gogh; I did go and see the thermae, basically Roman Baths; these were ruined, and you could wonder around what had been dug up.

I have always been impressed by big structures like amphitheatres such as this one, especially when you see that it's still in use today! However, at the risk of sounding like a philistine here; once you've seen one Roman ruin, it becomes very hard to distinguish it from the others (in many cases anyway). Also, I couldn't help finding that when I was in Arles, I felt like I'd seen it all before. Yes, the place was, as they say, 'oozing with character' but it felt like the same 'character' as loads of other places dotted across France and Italy. The big famous monuments are unique to each place, but the small details; such as what the houses look like, are so often very similar to each other on the Mediterranean. I think that's what I love about Spain and Britain, they're full of little things that are very unique to the place, even though they might not be of huge cultural importance.

As an aside from slightly slating off places that some would call perfect holiday destinations (I like to call it the unspeakable truth, sorry if I sound stuck up my own backside), why do all the buildings in these places have to be crumbling slightly? If you have a house in France, Italy or Spain and it's anywhere south of Geneva, then it has to look like you don't care about it. Anything that dares to look like it's not falling to pieces, even just a teeny bit, gets a whole load of complaints! It makes for fantastic pictures, but would you really want to live in one?

I am starting to worry about what is going on back at home in England. The flooding over there has developed into being the worst case of flooding ever seen in the UK, and it's meant to be summer! It's not stopped raining since late June, and the water just keeps on rising. People have now been cut off from tap water and electricity, nobody has even dared to think about the aftermath yet; it's so far from being over. I should be glad that I'm in France while this is happening, but a strange part of me wishes I could be there and I'm not sure why. I do have genuine sympathy though for those out there stuck in the floods, it's even made the world news now; I really hope it ends soon.

I put the radio on today to find out that all phone-in quizzes on the BBC have been stopped! It was so odd, but they are under an internal investigation for setting up dodgy callers on programmes, including Comic Relief of all shows! Maybe they might suddenly see the need to get rid of Lenny Henry! Strangely enough, I saw a bit of his stand up routine on TV before I left; he tells racist jokes and mocks black people in the crowd for a living! It's OK though, because he is black himself, so we assume people do not take the slightest hint of offence. Of course they bloody do, except it's not Jim Davidson doing it, so it's acceptable.

Talking of which, here's a question to end all questions. What's the commonest material on Earth? Jim Davidson's! I like that one, so clever, works on so many levels; well, at least two.

I've gone on for ages today and I've got loads more to talk about, like the news that Pierce Brosnan is going to do Thomas the Tank (he just loves doing those steamy sequences), and that Tintin is secretly a racist. As it happens, he is (back to the racism again, it's getting a good mention today!). I went through 'Tintin goes to the Congo' and the natives are portrayed, well, unfavourably; they've even had accents written in for them! Right, I really should stop now, time to go to bed.

Day 119 - 22nd July 2007

I had a somewhat duller day today; although I did put the swimming pool up, it sort-of puts itself up so it wasn't really that much of an effort. My uncle came around for lunch so we spent lunch time ferreting around over nothing at all!

The good news is that I noticed 'Extras' has been put on TV over here, so I've been watching that; naturally it's not going down well with the French viewers, I think they take it all too literally, I read a review which said 'it's nothing compared to Mr. Bean or Benny Hill'. That sums it up really, mind you, some people must enjoy it; it wouldn't be on otherwise! They've kept it in English though, which has mercifully bypassed one of my pet peeves: dubbing.

Tomorrow, I think I'm going to go and do some proper tourist things, I fancy a visit to Arles. That might make for a decent picture; there's the French equivalent of the Colosseum there. That reminds me of when I was in Italy two years ago.

I was on the bus in Rome, it was a little electric bus which goes around the windy streets of the old city; I wanted to go and see the supposedly world famous Colosseum. I say supposedly because whilst we were chatting, one guy in the group asked me, 'Is this the right bus to get to the colossus then? We tried to get there yesterday but we ended up at the Parthenon.' This was a sticky situation, as I didn't want to seem like a know-it-all; I was only 16 after all, so I said 'Yes, this is the right bus to the *cough* Colosseum. Oh, you saw the Pantheon did you? I really loved visiting the Pantheon and I'm so looking forward to the Colosseum.'

Personally, I didn't think that this sounded too snooty at the time, but now I think about it you could almost hear the italics on Colosseum and Pantheon in my voice! What was I supposed to say when somebody calls it the colossus, and then proceeds to tell me that they visited the most famous monument in Greece whilst trying to look for the famed Roman 'colossus'! I didn't think we got that friendly, but one of them gave me a hug when we got off the bus; is that what America's about? If so, I'm not sure whether I'd like it or not!

Day 118 - 21st July 2007

Today was far more interesting than a pizza. I went off this morning to help my uncle shift around some beds in my nan's old house to make room for a load of friends coming over. I had never really met them before; they were my friend's sister's family and I vaguely knew who they were.

They had come over from the Pyrenees and as it happens they were lovely! I suppose I could have taken a picture of them, but I didn't really do much else than talk with them; so there's not much to say about it! The picture is of the view from upstairs in the house, where we were beating the dust out of some old cushions; somehow one ended up on the roof in this process! Oh how we laughed!

OK, I understand that this is not very funny at all and I apologise for that; it seemed funny at the time. Just looking at the sea in that picture; why is the sea more blue here in the med than up in Scotland? It's actually cleaner in the North Sea, so I wonder what makes it so blue here and quite green in England? I suppose it's mainly the weather, if I did some research I could probably tell you; but it was just a thought.

In my latest potential eBay exploit, I have noticed a gap in the market on the site for monocles. I was looking to purchase one this afternoon, and I wanted to replace the lens with a tinted one; thus making a sunglass. This is completely bloody useless but it could be aesthetically pleasing. Anyway, I noticed only a few originals, otherwise they were dodgy comedy plastic ones. All the good ones had bids on, so there must be a demand. Just you wait; I'll have the eBay monocle monopoly in no time at all!

Day 117 - 20th July 2007

How I love pizza from the south of France, in fact, it's better than anything I ever had in Italy; and I lived off the stuff there! Nice as it may be, there is something rather depressing about it. The whole point of me writing everyday is to take a picture of something interesting I have seen during a day in my life. It has got to the point where the most interesting thing about my day is a pizza; and I'm on holiday!

The radio didn't work off the internet either, and that's usually what keeps me sane; French media can only be really described as poor and the radio is just unbearable. Oh well, at least it's not like in Spain, where TV programmes just come on with no notice, half way during adverts!

Tomorrow doesn't look like it's going to be much better at all, stay tuned in case it does though!

Day 116 - 19th July 2007

Ah, I love the beach. The smell of the sea, the kids running around, sandcastles and of course, the bloody-great power plant giving love and cancer to all. You see, this is what I really don't like about this part of France; it's so hard to get away from this kind of thing. It's hot and polluted, and all the buildings are crumbling.

That's the thing too, what is it about France that there has to be so many crappy old crumbling buildings? Anything outside the city seems to be so badly maintained...

Anyway, I did have a nice day with my MP3 on at the beach, despite the only clouds in the sky being man-made. My plans to tour Spain are rather scuppered by the fact that my dad needs his car back to shop etc... Fair enough, I'm not bitter at all, there's plenty to do round here. The thing is though, the more time I spend in France, the less I like it. When I say that, I really mean the south of France. Everyone always says 'oh, it's so lovely, everybody is so laid back' but the truth is, nothing ever gets done. I went to the shop today to stock up on bottled water (the tap water here is undrinkable, I think the picture probably explains why) and they said that they didn't have any! When I asked why, I started to see the stroppy Mediterranean temperament kicking in, as if I was trying to pick a fight by asking such a question. Not a bottle of water in sight! Why? They couldn't be arsed to get any until the end of the week, that's why!

This is the only place that, through my lifetime, I have actually grown to dislike! If I could, I'd spend all my holidays in the Pyrenees; no doubts whatsoever. Life is much better there; and so much less hot. Some people reading this in England will be frothing at the mouth at me by now, I get it all the time. 'You're so lucky to be able go there all the time, how can you say such a thing?' or 'Sometimes, I think that you don't even know you're born.' This is a tragic thing to say, but I have travelled a lot all over Europe, and I have loved every minute of it. Sadly though, the lasting effect it's all had on me is that it's made me realise how much I like Britain. I've probably said this before, and I apologise if I have but so far Britain is the place I'd choose to live in out of all the places I have been. That's why I want to keep travelling, because there's nothing quite like coming home.

Day 115 - 18th July 2007

The picture shows that I had a go on a Wii today. Fantastic fun! I didn't do that all day though, I also sat around a lot trying to cool down. I managed to get through 13 bottles of water today; I've been to the loo once! When you're in Britain, you always forget how bad it is in places where it's actually hot.

I tried to clean out the swimming pool again, it's still a hot and sweaty pain in the arse. Swimming pools are a crap idea.

I can't even think about what to write, I'm sure stuff has happened, but I just want to go to sleep in a cold bath.

Day 114 - 17th July 2007

Goodness me it's hot here. I went to the beach today which was nice; the sea was manky though, I don't know what turd was inside it! Come to think of it, it might actually have been a turd.

I didn't really do much else, until this evening where I went to see the new Harry Potter film. It's funny really, because I've never seen one of these films in English apart from the first one!

Some might say this is a good thing; it really isn't. I hate it when the voices are dubbed over, it all looks very strange and has this way of sapping any character or humour out of a film. One example that really stuck in my mind was when someone said 'you've got the emotional capacity of a teaspoon' sadly, teaspoon translated as 'small, spoon-like object'; you can see where I'm coming from. The film was good, though you'll need to swot up beforehand; if you don't know about Harry Potter you won't know what the bloody hell is going on! I could talk all day about it, but I'll just say that I wish I'd seen it in English really.

I wanted to get a lovely picture of Harry with his friends, but it's illegal! This is a picture of the ticket then, if you look at it; 5 euros is only about £3. "Whoa that's cheap" I hear you say. Well it may seem cheap, but the room was not air-conditioned and the seats are barely tiered. Trust me, I'll go for a multiplex any day if it means I don't sweat like the people in the action scenes! I might also complain about the tall man that sits in front of you, but let's look at it from the other perspective. I actually happen to be the guy who sits in front blocking your view! That's doesn't happen at the multiplex either, it's like a football stadium at those places.

I think Ricky Gervais once said that all popcorn should be banned from cinemas; it's like sitting next to someone grazing next to you. Before, I would have disagreed, but in a full house full of people who are all munching away; he couldn't be nearer to the truth! I'm never going to get anything again now I've realised how horrible it is for others!

Day 113 - 16th July 2007

As I mentioned yesterday, I am now in France. What I didn't mention was the weather. You might be able to see from the picture that here it is lovely, if somewhat too hot and in England it is nasty and raining. This is great, but I have this skewed vision of Britain never really getting a decent amount of sun; I'm always on holiday when it happens!

The white thing which rather destroys the picture is a dilapidated swimming pool. When I was here at Easter, this had got frogs living in it. Luckily; the frogs have gone now, possibly into the neighbours' stew, and I've started to clean it out a bit. Tomorrow, the pressure washer comes out; I can already feel the power baby!

I'm going off to see Harry Potter tomorrow, so my plans to go away travelling are being put on hold. At least I've found stuff to do now though; I think I'll go around the local area, the beach is not quite walking distance, so it'll be nice to have a car!

Day 112 - 15th July 2007

I went on holiday to France today. Anyone who has been following this will have noticed that I took the same picture from the same place at Easter. I can assure you it's not the same as before, I actually wanted a picture of the John Lennon statue at Liverpool airport, but there was a queue of people posing.

This time, I went Ryanair to Nimes which cost about £60 return; a good deal by anyone's standards. There was an hour's delay, which came as no surprise but I sat by the emergency exit where there is loads of leg room.

I am writing quite a lot earlier today than I normally do, it's a strange habit I always slip into in France of eating late around 8.30pm then going to bed at about 9.15pm if there's nothing on TV; which there never is. I then realised that that's why I'm always doing this so close to midnight every night; I watch loads of TV!

I'm going to have a rest tomorrow, then after that I simply don't know what to do for the month. I'm sure I'll go somewhere, I can only go for a week at a time though, my dad actually needs to do some shopping so he doesn't die, so I can't go buggering off with the car for too long!

Day 111 - 14th July 2007

Today marked the end of yet another thing I have loved doing; it was my last gig with the brass band. We went out to a venue near Shifnal and found out it was a garden party being held by the High Sheriff of Shropshire; who on earth is that?

As it happens, the party was full of very important people, mainly high ranking policemen, judges, politicians, bishops and lots of people with loads of money. It was a stately hall, and what a jolly affair it was too. We were about 1000ft from the actual crowd, more background music really and we weren't allowed to take parents in or even get any closer to the party!

As my good friend here is modelling, they did have a nice lake; not the only one I bet!

That's it really, I'm packing to go to France tomorrow and I'm keeping the weight down, Ryanair are rather stingy when it comes to bags. Next time I write, it shall be from France!

Day 110 - 13th July 2007

It's Friday the 13th, and for the superstitious amongst you; yes, it did rain all day. This limited my choices for actually doing anything interesting.

There is some good news though, I have finally finished working on that bloody database! What's disappointing is that I haven't quite got it how I wanted it to be in the time given, but it's now usable and tidier. I think I actually started to go insane with it all today, I started to think up dance moves to all the James Bond theme tunes!

This evening I watched Night At The Museum, and I paused on this shot of Owen Wilson when I went to get a cup of tea. It's not a good impression, I know, but I only had one chance! Anyway, the film had loads of good jokes in it, but as a whole it was quite bad. It was so formulaic you could just see it all coming from start to end! Like I said, good jokes, crap story.

Day 109 - 12th July 2007

Went to Birmingham today and played at the symphony hall. It took a while for me to get to the coach at Sainsbury's in Shrewsbury, but I did in the end! I won't go into any details, but by the time I'd managed to get there, it felt like the end of the day; we hadn't even set off yet!

It was fun though, we were on first at about 6pm, as you can see from the lack of audience. I took a picture of the stage, with the gear and the organ in the background, but you can go and see that if you like. The picture I used today was the one from the stage, just as we were getting up after the performance. I don't think I was meant to take a picture; but this could be the last time play here, so who cares?

After that, we went off into town before the adjudication. We actually went to the Bullring and I got us all some doughnuts from the Selfridges food hall, they were great! There were loads though, so I did give a few away to strangers when we were full and feeling very sick.

I could go on for hours about it all, but looking back; it not that interesting really! I'm so tired now, that tuba is so bloody heavy; I'm not sure I've ever had to carry it for so long before!

Day 108 - 11th July 2007

Finally, the days of sitting at a computer, copying and pasting data are over! I've started to ring round the hospitals, looking for specific contacts; which means that I actually talk to people instead of myself!

I had a band concert tonight, in fact we're off to Birmingham to play in the finals of the Festival of Youth at the symphony hall tomorrow; this was a bit of a warm up gig. We do this every year, and it's really one for the very young ones and their parents. This means that we all sit through an hour of kiddies playing Acapulco-bloody-bay until we come on and run through tomorrow's routine.

I am looking forward to tomorrow, it's always nice to get out into Birmingham and away from Market Drayton for a day! Here's a picture of my Tuba in the cupboard, I would have taken one at the concert; but I'd have had to ask the permission of every parent in the place, there were too many youngsters for that to happen! I'll try and find something good tomorrow, no promises though...

On the way home, we fell in behind a small white van on a roundabout (the size down from a Transit) and all was fine, until I looked into it's back window and saw a man there! He was just lying there, eyes open but not moving; staring straight at us looking blank, his face framed by the van's rear window. It was so disturbing, we really thought it was a body! I wanted to get a picture of him, but we were off the roundabout in a flash.

Otherwise, it looks like Gordon Brown has decided to scrap Tony Blair's plan of super-casinos.
I'm actually very happy about this, although the jobs won't be created and the planned area will not get re-developed, I don't think that we should be promoting gambling as a nation; this project was backed by the government! It always seemed strange to me that a government who never hesitates to bang on about 'political correctness' and 'moral justice' should advocate one of the great destroyers of lives, gambling! I see this 're-think' (i.e. binning) as a wrong that has been righted.

Of course now everyone thinks that the government is a shambles and that they don't know what to think; the truth is that we no longer have the same government. The party name has remained, everything else has changed; Brown's religious background would have probably put him against gambling, and he has done what he thinks is right now he is in power! What's so wrong about that?

Day 107 - 10th July 2007

'Keep going, yeah, keep going. No, wait, STOP!' BANG! CRASH! 'Oh Bollocks!'

That was the sound of today's wake up call. I wondered what was going on so I looked out of the window to find my mother rebuilding the wall between us and the neighbours. As it happens, the wall was very loose and it collapses when you get out of the car, so all of this isn't actually as worthy of you've been framed as it seems!

Sadly, apart from my brother leaving to go to Paris with his Godmother, that just about sums up my day; boring. Database work is really turd, there's no doubt about it.

Day 106 - 9th July 2007

Nothing happened at all today. I usually always start by saying this then I think of something interesting that did happen and talk for hours about it. This is not the case here. I woke up, I worked, I went to the post office, I came back. After that, I did some more work. I then watched a film, 'Mystery Men', which was average, like today(although it did have it's moments, unlike today).

That was the day as it was for me. In the news? Nothing. Sport? Nope, nothing there either.

Where do I go from here then? I hope I don't have to quickly pose for a picture at the end of the day many more times, that would be very dull!

Day 105 - 8th July 2007

It was the Church Stretton food festival today and I was playing my tuba there. This was a bit of a strange event, Church Stretton is only a small place and we were surprised to find a £2 fee for parking! This was a flawed concept because if you parked on the street, about 1/2 a mile closer to the event, then you didn't pay a penny!

After lugging my Tuba all the way to the 'event arena' (if you're not into this kind of village stuff, that means 'field') I found that there was an extra charge of £5 to get in! I had a musician's pass so I got in free, and I was wondering about the remaining three members of my family; we just made up some excuse about it being necessary to go in with me. Hey presto, £15 saved!

The actual thing was basically a big field with loads of tents up selling food. It was quite a jolly day, BBC Radio Shropshire were there, doing gardener's question time and I even met Laurel and Hardy. I was actually half expecting Inspector Barnaby to come along any second. If you see him at such an event, run away; there's going to be a murder soon! The weather held off and the concert went well.

Today was also Lewis Hamilton's first Silverstone grand prix, he came third; a good result, but McLaren seemed to be off the pace today. He still hasn't been off the podium in his whole F1 career yet though, plus he's still leading the championship by quite some margin. Alonso came second and Kimi won, he had a great race.

Let's not forget that it was the Wimbledon men's final too. This somehow finished on time, the final being Federer vs. Nadal; as expected Federer won for the fifth time in a row, it did go down to five sets though. I can't help thinking it would have been three if Nadal's match hadn't been cancelled yesterday, he did seem a bit fresher than Federer. Not fresh enough though, it was a truly brilliant game and the best man clearly won.

Back to work tomorrow, how lovely.

Day 104 - 7th July 2007

Today started by going to Shrewsbury to do a fundraising concert with the brass band. When I got there and we started to set things up a bit, this man in a yellow jacket (like a builder) came up to a nearby granny and offered her some tobacco, still in the packet. I thought that this was weird enough until a fake policeman turned up. I'm not sure what was going on between these three; but it was really quite strange. They just parted in different directions. Everyone seemed happy, so it didn't strike me as being too suspicious, just one of those things you see in life!

Otherwise, all went well. Due to the conditions, I was in black trousers and I didn't really have space for my camera in my pocket, so I missed the picture of the strange scene unfolding. I was already disappointed enough by this until I then saw 12 people walking by wearing roundhead helmets, sporting pikes and muskets! One of the men even had a blunderbuss! As it happens, it turned out to be civil war re-enactment day and when I left town, I saw hundreds of roundheads and cavaliers all around town. It would have made a fine picture though; such a missed chance!

When I got home, I saw Lewis Hamilton grab a pole position at Silverstone for tomorrow's race. He seemed behind everybody else on pace until the final lap, where he beat them all in one foul swoop! The nation anticipates the Grand Prix with great excitement now; what will Lewis do next? Venus Williams has won the women's final at Wimbledon, so it looks like it's all going to finish on time. Federer faces Nadal tomorrow, it seems they were let off the delay, Nadal's opponent pulled out due to injury, putting him in the final by default!

Of course, the other main event was the live earth concert. I wanted to see this, but I wasn't really looking forward to it very much. It has to be said that this gig will not go down in the annals of time as a major changer of nations. I did enjoy the completely unbiased view of the commentator, Jonathan Ross, who took the piss out of pretty much everybody; along with some sidekicks like Dara O'Brien and Doctor Who. The whole thing seemed to have an air of eurovision about it, as if it hadn't got anything to do with the BBC, they were spectators as much as we were. There was some dumbasses swearing live on stage, being broadcast around the world, at about 4pm. The whole day was building up to Madonna coming on to do her thing. The whole event was about everyone saying how much they couldn't wait until Madonna came on, so I laughed out loud when she walked on and opened with the words 'jump up and down, you motherfuckers!' You could almost feel everybody backstage wilt, kids had tuned in just to watch her and she came out with that!

I don't ever want to see a bloody concert 'to deal with the issues' ever again. This was filled with rock stars reading an auto-cue and giving out useful information and 'inspirational messages'. That's why I was so pleased with the presenting team taking it all a little bit tongue in cheek; we were spared the lectures from them. This must have been partly down to the lack of Fearne Cotton, who seems to seems to suck the life out of anything. You usually can't watch TV for more than half an hour until she comes on in one way or another.

I was watching this next to my brother who for some reason seem to be reading the Pele autobiography. I was treated to a barrage of information about the rather self obsessed Brazilian (one of the chapters is simply entitled 'Icon'). This, combined with watching Keane cock up all their songs on tele, made for a depressing few hours.

Day 103 - 6th July 2007

It's never a nice thing when all there is to talk about is the weather; today it rained so hard that the rest of my family came back from Scotland early. I worked, then I did some more Japanese; I learnt some great phrases, so I took a picture.

I nearly shot myself when I found out that the database had lost over a day's work when trying to synchronise with the main offices. Anyway, I've started again; it's really quite irritating though. For fear of sounding smug, I must say that it'll take more than a dodgy database to finish me off!

Otherwise, there was no rain at Wimbledon today; there is no interest anymore either. The nation is gripping itself to see what will happen at Silverstone this weekend for the British Grand Prix. The qualifying starts tomorrow, can Hamilton do it again? It'd be great if he could finish on the podium at home, who knows, he might even win!

Day 102 - 5th July 2007

Once again, it rained a lot today. This time, I had to go out in it to the post office though; the picture shows the state of my trousers, even with an umbrella. I think it's quite strange that it hasn't stopped raining since Rhianna got to number one with her song 'Umbrella'. She's been there for seven weeks now, and she's managed to break goodness knows how many records. That's statistical records, not LP's! This shall meet with much resistance, but I actually quite like the song. I'd really love it if there was no rapper at the start and if she didn't say umbrella in a funny way!

It's Alan Johnston's second day in freedom today. He was released yesterday, on the 4th of July; American independence day. Unless there are any further developments, I'm not going to mention it much more; he has said himself that he doesn't want too much publicity.

Last night, as promised, I found out what happens at 1am when the mysterious 'smile TV' comes on freeview. I'm never going to do such a thing again. What a bloody let down, people of Britain, after 1am, freeview channel 37 must be avoided at all costs! Go to bed! It's basically some girl dressed up like a sabre toothed tart you'd see in Drayton on a Friday night with a permatan, sitting on a couch, talking on the phone with no sound! She glances at the camera, but why would you watch a conversation when you can't even hear what's going on! It's says 'for those who like to smile'. I do wonder if it gets more 'interesting' as the night wears on, I very much doubt it though. Outside my window it's pissing with rain and it's blowing a gale like Martin Platt did before they broke up; I'd still rather be out there pissing in the wind than watching that load of cods.

Day 101 - 4th July 2007

The BBC reporter Alan Johnston was freed very early this morning; I've finally taken the banners off the website and my MySpace page! I think I have mentioned him before, probably not much though; he has been in captivity for 114 days. That's 13 days before I started writing and taking pictures, so it's been quite a long time.

Otherwise, it rained yet again, and my family have gone off to Scotland until Saturday. I've been working on my own all day, then I did a bit more Japanese. I then got very bored so I made a paper thing, which I took a picture of.

People who live on their own must go out such a lot; it's so lonely and boring being in an empty house! I have even started to talk to myself; I'm not sure if this is a good sign or not really. Come to think of it, I think the paper sculpture says it all. I'm going to stay up until 1 o'clock in the morning to find out what on earth happens on Smile TV. If you have freeview and you have looked down the channels a bit, you'll have noticed this channel which says it only comes on at 1 in the morning. It says 'for those who want to smile'. I'm in no rush tomorrow, so this is my chance to find out. I'll try to remember about it tomorrow, so I can write about it.

I just saw Tomb Raider, it was really quite daft; I actually saw it at the cinema ages ago when it came out, and all I could remember then was Angelina Jolie's assets bouncing about the place. I can't say that I noticed anything else when I saw it again tonight! I don't really no why I watched it, why is there nothing on TV when you need it? I did start to watch Taggart, but it's so corny I just couldn't bear it for very long! It's not very funny when there's nobody with you to rip the piss out if it!

Day 100 - 3rd July 2007

Today, it rained again nationwide. Wimbledon was screwed and we all got wet. The two weeks at Wimbledon, much like the Glastonbury weekend, seem to carry this curse; the rain-gods frown upon us at these times. The good news is, my Ben Oliver boxers came through the post, aren't they fantastic?

Otherwise, it was the end of the pretend murder investigation today and probably the last I'll see of anybody at school ever again. I say that, but I'll probably be eating my words some time or another.

The main news is that I've been writing and taking pictures for 100 days now! So much of it has involved the words 'boring' or 'dull day'; I really need to get my arse into gear! Has anything much changed? I suppose a lot has, but it doesn't really feel like it. If I've learnt anything from this so far is that I really am wasting my life away. 100 days have gone so quickly, next it'll be 200 then 365, then 1000 and before I know it I'll be stuck with some job on some industrial park giving 'inspirational talks' wondering where my youth has gone, asking myself why every single picture I take is the same.

Psychologists reading this will be having a field day, but I wouldn't say it's desperate, just a sad day. Anyway, when I'm feeling down, the thought that there are a pair of boxers with my face on them in existence cheers me up no end.

Day 99 - 2nd July 2007

I got up this morning and went back to school to help out with a murder mystery which has been put on for the year 9's. I don't really want to say to much as I may give a lot away, and it's not all that interesting if you haven't been involved! The amount of preparation involved was tremendous though, it's the most believable thing I've ever witnessed; the kids have really got into it, success!

I went to my friend's house where we played with his dog before my bus left. The picture shows him jumping up for a kiss, it's not as weird as it sounds!

I left to get the bus and when I got to the bus park I was told 'sorry mate it's overheated and broken down, you'll have to wait for the next one.' Fan-bloody-tastic. I almost took a picture of him, and I would have done if the bus was on fire or something, but it seemed fine! Anyway, I was meant to be working in the afternoon so I had to take a taxi back home.

That about sums it all up really, I just worked for the rest of the day. Have you ever tried a coffee & walnut flapjack? It sounds disgusting, I know, but I had one this morning and it was great! You should try one! If you invented such a flapjack then I take my hat off to you.

Day 98 - 1st July 2007

Another dull day for me I'm afraid, so I started to arrange the bears on my CD rack; it's not tasteful but it is kinda funny in a sick way.

It rained very badly today, which probably didn't help the people who are flooded, there were no terrorist attacks though; so that's one good thing.

Otherwise, in the F1 Lewis Hamilton came 3rd; yet another podium to add to his collection. He hasn't been off the podium in his entire F1 career so far! Ferrari were good today though, I think it's just because it was in France; it's a very strange track there. That may have been the last ever French Grand Prix, looks like it's been scrapped next year.

It would have been princess Diana's 40th birthday today, so the princes held a massive 6 hour gig at Wembley stadium, I saw some of that and it was OK. I worked a bit this afternoon, and I watched Steven Spielberg's Munich this evening. Great film, but it's very long; if you watch it you'll want to start earlier than I did!

Smokers beware, you're no longer allowed to smoke in public places, you haven't been for a whole day now in fact. I wonder how the ban is getting on...