Day 281 - 31st December 2007

2007 ends here, I suppose I should be summing it all up and what have you, but it’s also my last day here in the mountains and tomorrow I have a long journey ahead of me despite it being New Year’s Day.

It’s been a year of great change for me and for all the people I know; France will never change though, I still had, let’s face it, a shite New Year watching crappy variety TV (oh how they so love their cabaret over the channel) as I have done for so many years now. Of course, as I type, it’s not even 2008 in Britain yet which is a bit odd; it’s a shame that Jools has only just kicked off, I would have watched him if I didn’t have such an early start.
Still, I can’t quite believe that at nineteen years old I have just spent New Year’s Eve watching monkeys juggling on French TV; it’s such a depressing thought. Home on Friday, not long to go now; the train ride should be more interesting than the plane I think, I’m strangely looking forward to it. Actually, I’m looking forward to getting back to university, back with the flat mates and back to work; a pretty sad case really, but next year I’m back in blighty for Christmas so everything will be fine with the world again.

Day 280 - 30th December 2007

This, I kid you not, was the view from my bedroom window when I woke up this morning; the cloud was practically coming into the room and it was shitting down with rain. Not good conditions for going into Spain as planned, but it’s just as well we didn’t go as my uncle had invited people round for lunch without telling us.

The guests arrived at midday on the dot and left at five o’clock this afternoon; a true marathon lunch then. I didn’t want to be sociable any more, my brother was just bored and my dad felt like he was wasting his holiday; at least my uncle was happy doing what he does best (and I think loves most), bumbling about panicking about guest for hours on end, constantly checking that he’s remembered to bring the cheese to room temperature.

The rain has long since backed off but not surprisingly nothing was really picture worthy so it’s clouds for today I’m afraid; the food was actually edible at the meal this time so I couldn’t even get a picture of people trying desperately to repress their disgust or discreetly giving their portion to the dog.
Tomorrow is the last day of the year; well there we are then.

Day 279 - 29th December 2007

The weird fog we experienced hanging over Spain a couple of days ago was back again today, but not in such great quantities this time; you can actually see the sky here with the fog low down in the distance. Huesca was an odd place; I had been before but couldn’t find any sort of town centre, so I came back with my dad after having seen pictures on Google earth of it.

The first thing that struck us on arrival was that it was snowing, but then we slowly realised that there was nobody in the streets; not one person. We found the centre fairly easily and yes, there is a nice cathedral but in the hour we spent there we saw the grand total of six different people; the place was a ghost town and we had to get out.

So we went back up north towards home and stopped off at the old favourite, Jaca. This place is quiet, yet it feels so alive, it’s rustic yet oh so clean; a great place full of interesting shops selling all kinds of unique stuff, mainly edible. Despite being closer to the mountains there was no snow here, no fog and it wasn’t as cold; surely that can’t be the reason this place has loads of people in the streets and Huesca has none?

It’s funny really, I’ve been to empty towns before, but none the size of Huesca; it’s such a big place for there to be no one around, you get the feeling something’s going to go horribly wrong and nobody’s told you. Anyway, my uncle has decided to up the weirdness so my dad and I are off again to Pamplona tomorrow to get away from it, Spain again I know, but a different direction this time. We won’t be going if the predicted snow falls, doesn’t look like it could get cold enough though; right now the clouds have descended upon the house and I can’t see more that fifteen feet out of the window, I’d better close the window then I suppose before it starts to rain.

Day 278 - 28th December 2007

Dull days are frequent here in France and this one, despite making another trip into Spain this morning, was no different. To help the boredom I thought we could watch a film, so I sat down with my brother and stuck it on; he decided to carry on playing championship manager on his computer in front of the TV, classy.

One of the great annoyances about being here is that if you ever want to watch something on TV in peace, then everyone has to be in bed or away. Actually, I’m lying to you about the ‘away’ part of that sentence, because my own rule was broken today; my uncle went shopping but forgot his manbag so he called us to go and bring it to him, yet another film remains unwatched.

Luckily for me Britain lies 1 hour behind France and everyone goes to bed at ten o’clock, which is nine o’clock on BBC1, so I can watch most stuff undisturbed now. Tomorrow we’re making a third trip to Spain, to Huesca, the last time we went we couldn’t find a town centre, there is one though; we’ve seen it on Google earth. It’ll be just be and my dad again I think; I hope the weather holds out, I hear snow is on the way.

Day 277 - 27th December 2007

The trip to Zaragoza was marred by dense fog this morning in Spain. We still went though, and I’m really glad we did; it’s been a fantastic day at last. On the way down into Spain we hit fog for miles and miles but suddenly the sun decided to burst through it all, creating the greatest visual display I’ve seen in a long while; it had a certain brilliance about it all, like it shouldn’t really be happening. I couldn’t get a picture because I was in the back of the car, but we were surrounded by bright white; as if we’d gone to heaven.

I love this city anyway, but on a freezing cold sunny winter’s day nothing much beats it. I could have chosen a picture of the bull ring or the great cathedral, but you can get those online; this one of the main street looking down through the fog into the sun is my favourite, it just about sums up my day. There’s something about that one guy standing there in the middle that makes it for me; plus all the people around, staring into the light.

I could go on about what I did there but it’s not that interesting really lunch was nice and the trip home was painless. This time my uncle wanted to come though so it did slow things down a fair bit; he seemed somewhat obsessed with programming his sat nav to get us there and back. Needless to say it didn’t really work that well, I wasn’t exactly helpful though; I thought it’d be fun to change the language into Spanish so we could ‘fit in’ more. It got turned off fairly swiftly.

Day 276 - 26th December 2007

It’s Boxing Day and my immediate thought is that Christmas is over, this isn’t quite true however; there’s still New Year to come! This is a great thing, but I am slightly worried that it could end up like Christmas day. All I can say is that I can’t believe how close we’re getting to 2008 now, time is flying by far too quickly; goodness only knows how quickly university will pass. This holiday doesn’t seem to be flying by though, you can’t always get what you want I guess.

Our local friend visited today and made some of her ‘famed’ pastry things. Don’t tell anyone, but I don’t really like them, I think that they look like dead bits of skin and they taste just as bland; I’m not meant to be saying this though, how could I? She seems to think we’re all so deeply and madly in love with her exaggerated ‘local charm’ that it would be a good idea to pop round maybe three or our times a day; just to say hello. My uncle loves it and yes, she is a nice person and so is her husband; this is why none of us have the heart or the tact to tell her to sod off. At Christmas time it’s not so bad because I’m only here for a week, but in the summer when she comes round that often for a whole month; you start to wonder if she actually does anything else…

Anyway, we’re meant to go to Spain for the day tomorrow, to Zaragoza, I hope it happens; I need a change of scene.

Day 275 - 25th December 2007

So this is Christmas? I always thought it quite a depressing song, as much as I like it, and rather not in keeping with the season but this year it seems to have summed mine up rather nicely. It’s pretty easy to see why though, how many people spend Christmas with three other blokes they never see all year round in a house in the mountains? Not many I reckon, and that’s because it doesn’t work.

I don’t like running through presents, but I do like hearing about what others got, so for your benefit I’ll mention one thing; I got a dead cool guitar game for my DS which I’m pretty much hooked on now and a couple of CD’s. My brother however, got Need for Speed for his Wii and a couple of wheels to go with the controllers (or Wiieals as I like to call them); this present just about saved Christmas for all of us. I didn’t realise just much fun this could be, what’s best is that it all works; really, really well! When asked if he liked it, even my dad said ‘Wii’ (sorry); by the way if you’ve got one, I fully recommend that you make some friends (if you’re reading this then you probably haven’t got many, unless I’m one of them) then invite them round to play on it.

I’d rather talk about the Wii than this year’s Christmas; hey, Doctor Who was good though. Actually, I really loved it, maybe it’s because I’d been gagging for it since I got here, but I was stunned by it all; brilliant television. I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, I’ll just have to wait and see, in the mean time, I think I might get some kip; Merry Christmas everyone.

Day 274 - 24th December 2007

Joy of joys; it looks like Christmas might just be a bit crapper than I originally thought. My brother noticed the lack of presents and thought it wouldn’t do us any harm to go out and do a bit of last minute secret shopping on Christmas Eve, and why not? On any other day in any other place this would have cheered it up no end, but for some reason my uncle decided to cook Christmas dinner for tonight so we could see it through until midnight; some Frenchy tradition. This never works and tonight was no exception, everyone was too tired and fed up by the end of it they all went to bed; me included. This leaves tomorrow, the day itself, looking pretty bleak. It’s going to take a miracle to turn this one around; it’s not quite impossible yet though…

So there lie the presents, contents known to all already sadly, apart from the green one underneath the pile labelled towards my brother; that’s the mystery one and I’m really hoping the present inside will be so good we’ll forget our other festive woes.

I suppose, for the record, I should say that the meal wasn’t very good; not down to anyone’s fault really, just a bad turkey and bad ingredients, generally bad luck I suppose. I remember a couple of years ago we cooked a massive joint of lamb instead of a turkey and although my uncle was reluctant to go against the tradition; it was far better than any turkey we’ve ever had. With a bit of luck in a couple of years’ time when I’m back in France for Christmas I’ll be reading this back over to myself and I might just remember about that...

Enough depressing talk about Christmas day, surely it won’t be as bad as I’m saying it will be, I think I’m just being pessimistic; even if it is, I’ll do my best to make the most of it whatever the weather…

Day 273 - 23rd December 2007

Ah, the view from my window, a firm winner for when I’m in the mountains and there’s nothing to take a picture of. It’s a shame I took it when I did, the weather has been pretty good until now; still no sign of rain or snow mind. It is, nonetheless, good to be here despite the slightly odd family situation and the ever looming depressing Christmas. I managed to watch the last Top Gear in peace, a miracle if there ever was one; maybe I’ll be just as lucky with Doctor Who and extras.

All this talk of the weather and Doctor Who is oh so British, but I’m beginning to rather enjoy the old ‘lost Briton abroad’ thing. Despite being half French, I still never feel quite at home here, so I thought to myself; why bother trying? Who needs to strive to fit in when they’re on holiday? I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before, but I suppose this has never really been a holiday for me, more of a family duty which even now, after having been given the choice to go or not, I still feel would be rude not to fulfil.

Christmas looks set to be pretty dull again but I’m sure I’ll occupy myself; I noticed they’ve started keeping geese next door, could make for a good lunch if I can chase one down. At least that would shut the bastard things up, I can’t get any sodding sleep thanks to those aggressive birds of Satan; there’s nothing quite like waking up to, or being woken up to, the sound of a flock of wailing bloody geese trying to rip the bollocks off some poor dog next door through the fence. I need something to shut them up; I wonder what can kill a goose? I know; a tiger, more tigers equals less geese, it all adds up to the perfect plan! Ho ho ho.

Day 272 - 22nd December 2007

The French seem to not be able to do Christmas like we do, which is a shame, and this is only all too evident in the house Christmas display. It’s dreary, dead and dated; everything needed for a bit of Christmas cheer. At least we’ll get all the TV though, I’ll be watching Doctor Who, Extras and I just saw the TOTP2 Christmas special; it doesn’t make me homesick, just happy.

Today I didn’t get much done apart from some shopping, which isn’t particularly exciting. Tomorrow there’s 5 ¾ hours of James May, Richard Hammond and Jeremy Clarkson on T.V in a row, culminating in Top Gear; arguably one of the greatest shows ever. It’s sad I’m even talking about this, but there’s not much else to talk about; I think we’re planning to go to Spain for a couple of days on Boxing Day so things might get more interesting then.

Day 271 - 21st December 2007

When people claim that all the French are good for is being on strike, days like today don’t exactly bode well for their defence. I went to a shopping centre this morning to pick up some presents for otherwise forgotten family members and my uncle, and what do you know; there was a picket line outside the car park. Luckily we got in alright, but we did have a struggle to get out. Goodness only knows what they’re all striking for; I made a special point of not giving a shit.

After lunch in my old favourite restaurant, which was unusually packed, I then went off to the Pyrenees with my uncle in the car. This was a day earlier than planned, but I thought it’d be nice to go along with him instead of leaving him to do the seven hour trip alone. So it’s from here that I’m typing this, no internet, although I do get BBC1, 2 and 3 by some miracle. Actually, I’ve been hearing rumours of some form of wireless internet adapter thing my uncle has; maybe I’ll give it a spin tomorrow.

It’s cold here, being up in the mountains, but it doesn’t come close to the harsh biting cold that you so often get up in Lancaster; tomorrow my dad and my brother arrive so the house should warm up a bit more…

Day 270 - 20th December 2007

It was really quite nice of John Lennon to build an airport for me to fly to France from; I managed to get here in one piece to today which is always a good start to Christmas.

It's funny really, I do always think of Lennon songs when I'm in Liverpool airport, maybe I'm a victim who's been sold the brand too hard, there's even a statue of him there; 'so this is Christmas' was the line running through my head today of course.

Anyway, France seems fairly nice, there's talk of going to the mountains tomorrow which marks an early end to the internet; time to don the pen and paper once again then I suppose...

I can't say I feel at home here at all, but I'm not sure I ever really have done; it's nice here but I can see myself not being too reluctant to go home on the 4th Jan. What's more is that I'm actually looking forward to the journey back, it's going to be an epic train ride instead of a boring flight; finally a break from the norm!

First things first, the Pyrenees lie ahead and I think it'll be nice to go there again; it's always a bit odd now most of my family have died and there's only four of us left now though, it's such a big house to fill with no one really about. I hope to God it snows.

Day 269 - 19th December 2007

Well, tomorrow it's time to go to France which gives me a good excuse to miss the school award ceremony in the evening; not that I ever needed one.

I was surprised then, that they still wanted me to come in this morning to pick up my certificates, surely they could send them off in the post? Anyway, for one last time I went in on demand and what do you know; I got a special award!

It was presented to me on behalf of the language college, officially titled 'contribution to language college', and I met up and had a chat with some old teachers. Even though I having long been scathing of awards before, I did feel quite honoured about this one. It was nice to see some of the old bunch from way back when, I didn't feel particularly sad though; it's only today that I realised just how much that place has made me the person I am today.

As previously mentioned, it's time to go to France tomorrow, so I've been packing all evening after having been to get some late night shopping done in Shrewsbury. I'm looking forward to getting to France now, who knows what might lie ahead there? Actually; I do...

Day 268 - 18th December 2007

Loggerheads, the place I have long called home but now I'm not so sure. That's where I got to today, and it's where I am right now typing this up.

I spent most of the morning cleaning up, hoovering and emptying stuff that would go off during the holidays out of the fridges. Once I had packed and my mum arrived, we went down the motorway to an institute for the blind and partially sighted, where we bought a giant scrabble, some giant cards and a talking alarm clock for my Grandfather, whose macular degeneration is allowing him to see less and less.

Now I'm back on the old stomping ground; Spooks has finished on the typical cliffhanger ending and so has Oz and James's wine adventure; what am I going to do on Tuesdays now? Tomorrow my old sixth form college have called me over in the morning to pick up 'some stuff' apparently, I assume that it's whatever I was meant to get given on the presentation evening which I'm skiving off by going to France on Thursday.

Back in year 8 I went to one of these evenings where I was awarded a lovely medal and goodness knows what else. You have to sit and applaud people you don't know for hours on end and when your time comes, nothing happens. This event left a nasty lasting impression on me and I haven't been back to one since; I seem to derive some pleasure from being the guy listed as 'absent' when they give out the goods. Who knows what is coming to me tomorrow, I don't think it'll be that exciting, but I think I've found a time to finally give away my Ben Oliver 'Artiste' clock...

Day 267 - 17th December 2007

To get a job done, and to avoid the inevitable loneliness, I went off to the Trafford Centre today to do some Christmas shopping. Surprisingly, the deep sadness I had felt yesterday had gone by today, and although I really miss my flat still, I was a happy man once again.

Getting to the Trafford centre was an epic in itself, what with various buses, trains and trams involved. Although I had been there once before, I had completely forgotten the sheer scale of the place; it just stretches on and on...

I didn't know where I was half the time, but there seemed to be enough room for a full-sized Selfridges, John Lewis and M&S! Every now and then I'd walk into a big cruise ship scene, or China town, or New York, or New Orleans, or an Arcade, or a bowling alley, or a cinema; the list goes on...

This kind of place makes you wish you had more money and it was a nice place to be, but for me it doesn't quite top Birmingham; I just don't like knowing that there's nothing to do outside. Everything was nice and Christmassy though, and on a freezing day like today, outside simply isn't the place to be.

I won't go on too long, but I did get the chance to try out an iPhone, it's impressive stuff I must admit. I was always slightly sceptical, but no, the only real flaw with it is that you have to have an O2 contract to be able to make it work; enough to put me off. What really amazed me was the other stuff though; the iPod touch, although it doesn't have enough memory for what I want, is extraordinarily thin and the new iPod nano is really tiny, despite it looking big on TV.

Anyway, on that rather nerdy note, I need to go to bed now; I'm suffering from what I call 'city tiredness', when you walk for miles all day and only realise how knackered you are when you stop. I'm off home tomorrow afternoon too, so tomorrow morning shall involve a quick pack up, a clean up and a quick review of the fridges and freezers to see what stays and what goes.

Day 266 - 16th December 2007

Darkness has fallen upon the flat; that's because there's nobody left. One by one the people I live with have disappeared for the Christmas holidays. I'm only off on Tuesday and it's very odd being here alone; I've been walking around and I haven't seen a soul for hours now!

For the first time ever, I felt really, really sad. I seem to have got over it now though; it's only a month after all. I think everyone would agree that this is the first time they felt like a month was too long for a holiday...

Tomorrow I'm off to do some Christmas shopping at the Trafford Centre, right now though, I'm watching the last ever Parkinson show. He's had Michael Caine, Billy Conolly, David Attenborough, Peter Kay, Judi Dench and David Beckham on, a good line up but you'd hope so; he's been on TV over thirty years!

Day 265 - 15th December 2007

Ah Blackpool, Blackpool, Blackpool. It's always been high up, almost top, of my list of places to avoid at all costs.

However, no matter how bad the place, being anywhere with the flat is a true pleasure; so we decided to go on a quick road trip for some chips. Yes, it's a hole and yes it was dead, but I still had a nice time; plus I saw Europe's biggest laser, you can see it in the picture (the green dot at the top of the tower). We didn't really stop, which is why I got a blurry picture, but I think it paints a nice image of the place, rather than the somewhat lifeless town waiting for summer...

I said that I went with the flat, but I tell a lie, the term is over and there's six of us left now, tomorrow everyone goes home apart from me; I'm staying back until Tuesday to do some Christmas shopping somewhere on Monday. Tomorrow is destined to be a weird day, the flat next door is already empty and I'll be truly sorry to see the others go; I'm having trouble deciding what to call 'home' now...

Day 264 - 14th December 2007

Another horrible, busy, tiring day has just passed. Thankfully, it's the last one for a long time; it's the last Friday of term everyone!

No more work for a while now, and it's a good feeling to have. I go home only on Tuesday though, so I'm readying myself for a day of loneliness.

I did a concert today too, which completely knackered me out bringing the tuba back; that's why I'm not out with the others tonight, although I did go out for lunch for someone's birthday. Anyway, despite no practice, it all went pretty well.

There's a lot I can go on about, but before I go to bed I think I ought to mention that England have a new manager now, Fabio Capello. This could go either way, he's a hugely successful manager already; who knows what the future holds now.

Day 263 - 13th December 2007

A cloudless sunrise on a crisp day followed by a great sunset; sounds great, but these were sadly not quite enough to make my first ever good Thursday.

Yes, it's an inevitable truth, Thursdays are gonna be pretty awful whatever you throw at them. Even a free cooked breakfast in the morning didn't quite set me up properly for the torment that lied ahead.

Luckily, it was an 11am start instead of 10am, but I had solid lessons until five O'clock as ever. This is a slight lie as I got let out of one early; a time filled up by running back home and grabbing the tuba to take it to the other end of campus in twelve minutes flat. I made it by some miracle to my next lesson, but I think I had a small heart attack on my arrival.

I won't go on, I suppose I already have, but tomorrow is the last day so it can't be all that bad. Before I go off to bed, I want to talk a bit about the picture.

You may be able to remember my spoof campaign to become Cartmel 'Fuhrer', posing under my alias, Dick Flannel. I didn't think much to it when all the posters were taken down after the election day passed, but I did notice that one poster had disappeared fairly quickly off the front of one of the buildings, only about three hours after I had put it up; I just put it down to some killjoy, I couldn't have been more wrong.

A friend of mine lives in this building and it has a lift in it, one day when the lift stopped for someone to get on, he noticed the missing poster stuck on someone's bedroom door opposite the lift. This person has declared their love for me on a door shrine, I don't know whether to laugh or run. Oh well, at least they haven't all gone in the bin. If you're out there 'Amy'; I love you too.

Day 262 - 12th December 2007

The bacon double cheeseburger; widely regarded as the 'holy grail' of the burger industry, I decided to attempt to reproduce this symbol of burger perfection. In the picture lies the finished product, it looks pretty good; it tastes bloody great.

The tallness was a slight issue as I couldn't initially get it under the grill, but the problem was quickly solved and I had managed to make yet another great tea.

By some miracle I managed to do an essay in a day, but I'm not convinced it's of brilliant quality; oh well, it's not going to be the end of my life.

Right now, I'm watching Ocean's 12 and I'm typing through the annoying break they put in for the news on ITV1; why show a film if you're going to stop for half an hour to have the news?

Last night we watched Groundhog day, I'd seen it loads before but it just reminded me about why it's one of my favourite films; we all came out feeling really cheered up, brilliant.

Tomorrow is Thursday which is always bad, but I can stay safe in the knowledge that this is the last Thursday before Christmas. Anyway, time for the conclusion now.

Day 261 - 11th December 2007

Unexpectedly, today was a bit odder than most days. We had a party before the Christmas holidays in my Italian lesson so people were drinking at 10am; lovely. What's more is that there was lots and lots to go round, about six glasses of wine each, I stayed for one then went home, but the teacher did it three times over for each different group! I went upstairs at 1pm to collect a paper and there they all were, red faced lying on the sofas!

This was all very nice, but we had an assessment with her later on, in an hour in fact. It was a 'Question Time' set up, which would have been great if we could get a word in edgeways. All the groups had a go on the panel and she was quiet until ours, which was a topic she enjoyed so she decided to go on for a bit, luckily the examiner gave us some marks for the sentence we got in each...

This made for quite an odd day I must say, considering I also finished watching 'The Godfather' before the assessment. However, on the way to the party was when I saw something truly picture worthy. Yes, it's the car so cool it had it's own fridge on the Top Gear cool wall. The proud owner of an Aston Martin DB9 decided to grace our humble car park today, I quickly took a picture but it was there all day! If this isn't automotive perfection then it comes really, really close. There aren't many cars that look like you could drive them around the world and back and thrash them round a track on weekends; this one does. The swooping lines, the grill, the back, the lights, this car looks every bit as good in the flesh as it does in the picture.

When Jesus comes back to Earth, he'll want to drive around in one of these even if it's in a million years from now.

Day 260 - 10th December 2007

What exactly gets classed as 'work' nowadays? I'm not sure I know anymore as I slip off to bed to watch 'The Godfather' as part of research for my mafia looking into stereotypes.

Aside from that, the French grammar test this morning had a few stinkers in but I think it went OK, and the Spanish culture exam was rather odd but I managed to make it up based on personal experience; I think I might just pull it off.

No amount of exams could have made today a bad one though, once again the sun shone and made me remember why I so love winter. Crisp, cool, yet beautiful, just how I like it; can't say how long it might last, they just predicted -5 on the TV tonight! So long as it doesn't rain then we're all fine, fat sods like me are insulated against the cold.

Tomorrow, more stuff shall happen for sure. How interesting this will be remains to be seen, but it shall nevertheless get written about as ever. Until then, it's time to watch the film; I hear it's an 'epic' which means I could be up for a while yet...

Day 259 - 9th December 2007

Oh que la vie est belle. Yes, the sun shone today. I didn't feel like I couldn't go out, it's been a good Sunday.

Sadly, nothing happened again, although I got quite a bit of work done. Tomorrow I'll be taking two tests, one of which I think'll be OK, the other is destined for almost a surefire fail. Oh well, I haven't met anyone on the course yet who thinks they can pass; you never know, they might take a class average if we're lucky.

There's not much more to be said. Goodnight.

Day 258 - 8th December 2007

Now, I know it looks like sick but believe me; the dish pictured here was truly delicious. Yes, maybe there was too much, but I stuck some in the fridge so you can rest assured that I didn't actually eat all that.

I haven't given it a name yet, the ingredients are top secret, but I'm thinking of baptising it 'Maurice'. Yes, I'd love a plate of Maurice please; tasty.

So, apart from creating Maurice, nothing much happened of any real interest. We went out for a pint at a great pub on the canal, now I'm off to bed. What else is there to say? Life is nice but dull and the weather is shite.

Actually, the weather is becoming rather a problem. It's now starting to get to the point where it would be a wise move to stay in instead of step outside; next week looks pretty bleak too, should be fun.

Day 257 - 7th December 2007

One day, one essay. It was a challenge to get it done, but I did, and I'm quite pleased with the result.

I also had a listening test which was quite tough, but I think I did fairly well. Altogether a good day then, apart from the continuous crap weather.

I stayed in with some mates tonight, although some of the flat did go out; I haven't been out in a while, mind you, I did go for that meal on Tuesday, but the uni definition of 'going out' is actually clubbing.

It's very late now, so I'm off to bed; tomorrow I can take it easy, just as well I guess...

Day 256 - 6th December 2007

Thursday bloody Thursday. When will this run of crap Thursdays end?

Today, for some reason, I was really tired during my last seminar; I started to feel a bit weird! At least I got a good mark for my coursework...

I don't know who came up with my timetable, and I don't want to bang on too much about it, but when the weather is so shite, one can only complain.

It's not easy to make out in the picture, but the path that bends off to the right is actually made purely of water. It's been raining hard for six hours now; at least I was lucky though, it started when I just got in, not when I just went out for once!

What a huge relief to find out that Thursdays are funny on BBC2, Buzzocks and Lead Balloon soon cheered me up, and I think I'm really starting to get into the Mighty Boosh. Oh joy, more TV less work.

Day 255 - 5th December 2007

Isn't something meant to happen on the 5th December? I can't quite remember but the date rings a bell; I'm sure it does.

It's getting late to try and start guessing now, the day's almost over!

Wednesdays, like I say every week, are always great; even shopping didn't seem like too much hassle today.

This relaxing kind of day is just what I love, but it doesn't make for very interesting pictures. This led to the construction of a rather odd picture; try not to look too much at the Thomas the Tank engine advent calendar. Actually, it might just detract from the frosties and the cowboy hat.

Day 254 - 4th December 2007

It was a easy day today, what with a film viewing and a cancelled seminar; I can't really complain. I got my poster through the post today which was nice too; I've got two on the wall now, it's really made the room a nicer place.

Spooks is getting really good now, it's becoming truly unmissable TV; everything is getting so tense it's almost unbearable!

What is bearable however is seeing Stoke win 0-3 to Sheffield United. A great result which now puts us up to fifth place in the league; premiership here we come...

Day 253 - 3rd December 2007

Yesterday I thought that today would be a good day. I was almost right.

For most of the day it was cold and windy, then when I stepped out for my two surprise nightime lectures it decided to shit it down. What's more, the guy in the last lecture over ran by a very long way.

I could go on with the depressing tone, but we did go out for a meal which was nice. The picture I took on the stairs seems to make the place look like a diner, but it was actually quite a nice place. Well priced, good food; who can complain?

Some people expressed regrets about not going to the Christmas ball, but sod 'em; tonight was better than any Christmas do I've ever been to, they're never quite as good as people make out. Again, it's the old case of having to be pissed to have a good time; one of my pet peeves.

So yes, a good night was had by all and I really need to go to bed now; it's not that late but I've a tiring day. At least I can go to bed safe in the knowledge that Christmas doesn't seem to be too annoying this year...

Day 252 - 2nd December 2007

Christmas. For me, the build up started yesterday on the 1st December, which is my rule; anything about Christmas before then just annoys me. Dressing up as Santa for three hours does kind of start it with a bang, but coming home today I found a seven foot tree standing proud in the kitchen, which only heightened the Christmassy feeling. I like this picture, it has a certain air about it; makes you feel all warm inside.

Now, imagine if you will, that you had a massive group of people who were all piss poor but up for a good time at a Christmas ball. You'd maybe book somewhere nice and cool, or go local to save cost. Whatever happens, you'd have to make sure it was cheap whether that means compromising the food for a good location or going local and having decent trimmings. I can't quite grasp then whose idea it was to charge college members £35 to go and have a meal. What's more is that it's all happening in that world famous party venue; Chorley.

None of us wanted to pay £35 to go to the Chorley metropolis, so we thought we'd go out in town as a flat instead. The Italian tomorrow is booked, I think it'll be a great time. I really like going out with the flat, but I don't always like the nightclubs, so this is perfect.

Barring the night out, I think tomorrow will be a good day anyway; dunno why, I just feel like it will be.

Day 251 - 1st December 2007

Ho ho ho kids! Yes, that's right, it's Santa Claus time. This morning I had a nice lie in and played on the PS2 for a while, then it was time to get ready. I went off to the hall where the fete was taking place, snuck off into the toilets and tried on the choice of Santa outfits.

Unfortunately, I had forgotten that Santa didn't wear rugby shirts underneath his red jacket so I had to wear a smaller jacket backwards underneath the long cloak one which you can see. This didn't help for the heat issue. The hall was boiling hot and I had two beards on, I can't think of a time I've ever been hotter.

That was the bad side of it, which means I now come to the good. I wasn't expecting it to be in any way fun at all, but I was oh so wrong. It sounds foppy I know, but when I saw the smiles on the little kiddies' faces light up, it made me truly happy again. Anyway, the hot red face looked like rosy cheeks behind the beard, and the sweat looked like 'twinkly' Santa eyes, so what's there to complain about? The suit was great, the kids were great, the day was great.