Day 265

These are empty days, between the two great festivals. In the afternoon programming.

Day 264

Did a bit of programming in the afternoon. Wonder how New Year's Eve will work out? Last year wasn't up to much.

Day 263

Woken up at 10.45 by M coming round: greeted her in my dressing-gown. Agreed to go to Lakeside with her. Got stuck in traffic on the M25 - just heard on the news that the queue was eventually 6 miles long! - so only had time for a quick look round. On the way back got stuck in even worse traffic. Still, we had a good conversation: she revealed the names of the boys who kissed me on Christmas Eve. The square-faced one who looked like Roger Irrelevant was Terry.

In the afternoon Carl came round and we went down town: got the latest Psychedelic Furs album World Outside with my Christmas record token.

Day 262

Went for a walk after dinner: the sun had come out at last and it was cold but pleasant. Listened to Brave New World on R4, did a bit of programming. Not such a bad day for a Sunday.

Day 261

Afternoon rather slow. At 8.15 to the Green Man with M and S. Found the evening rather a trial really. Now I'm going to do some reading and 'forget this filthy century'.

Day 260

Round to parents': they gave me a book about Weffolk weather. Apparently the county is notable for thunderstorms.

To M's after the Queen's speech. She didn't even notice last night that the police had been there.

Quite a good Christmas.

Day 259

Fully appreciated Christmas Eve afternoon. Listened to the R4 play. Yet another temporal paradox saving-your-ancestors type of thing.

At 8.30 to the Green Man with M and her brother. General festivity. At the end M spent 1/4 hour leaning illy against the front of the pub - the police came past but appeared to trust my assertion that I would take care of her.

Back by 1.20am. Was so self-controlled as to have a cuppa when I got back rather than a can. Just as good a Christmas Eve as all the others, if not better. Goodnight! 1.44 am.

Day 258

Christmas Eve Eve. Put up decorations. At 2.20 walked to the tech through fog and great cold. Whiled away the time with Latin, Patience and reading the library books I got during my break at 5 pm. Noticed a couple of envelopes addressed to me - one demanding my NI number, another with a cheque for £4.19 in it. Not much use to me at the moment. Still, no poxy placement now till Mon. Jan. 11th.

Left at 7.56, Carl gave me a lift from the station straight to Sainsbury's, which was quite quiet. It was even colder and foggier by then.

Day 257

This was also a milestone, tomorrow being Christmas Eve Eve. Funny how the milestones stick when the significance of Christmas has declined. Walked through lucid frosty pre-dawn morning air to the tech. The time went very slowly till I slipped off at 10.50 to the county library for twenty minutes. Then played Windows Solitaire, watched satellite telly - Neighbours in German ('Des, Daf is todt' / 'Eileen ist in zehr guten Hande'). Also more Latin - this placement has improved my Latin no end.

At 3.10 Sasha hadn't arrived so I locked everything up and left. At 3.30, when I'd got home, the green suit bloke rang up wanting to know how they could get in: I told them to go to the Estates Office (which is what evil Ailsa told me), and as they didn't ring up again I presumed everything was OK.

Only one more shift to do, tomorrow: and it's only till 8pm not nine, which is a great improvement. Wonder if it's worth going to the Workshop tomorrow, if I left at 2.15 I could get there, fill in a timesheet and piss off again and still get to the tech by three.

M has to work till 9 pm tomorrow, which makes me feel better at least.

Day 256

The High Court ruled that the pit closures were illegal. Cashed my giro. Went into town. Picked up the placement keys from Sasha.

In the afternoon to my parents', decorated both Christmas trees with my brother. Letter from D this morning, wishing me a Merry Christmas and being pro-Serbian and really rather witty. Don't like the reports of systematic rape coming out of Yugoslavia. A pity that the Serbs, who were so hard done by in WW2 by the Nazi puppet Croatians, and so get my support, may have acted so wickedly. Wasn't all of them by any means of course

Only 2 placement shifts to go before Christmas.

Day 255

What'll next week bring us? Christmas of course. I just hope I don't build up Wednesday evening at the placement into a massive paranoia. Be of good courage. It is another patience-building experience.

Tory BR chairman attacks Tory privatisation.

Day 254

Did some programming.

Day 253

In the afternoon tidied up and vacuumed the room. In the evening to the Green Man with J. Back at 11.15, watched Madness videos. Don't tell me there's nothing coming...

Day 252

Went round to my parents' and got the Christmas tree out of the loft. Then into town to the placement: talked to Sasha again. Afterwards the time went quite quickly - beat Reversi by 30 after losing by 52. Read more Latin, listened to The Young Postmen. Got a bit nervous about 7.30 but told myself to be of good courage. It worked. Put some addresses onto index cards. Left at 9 pm

No evenings on the placement till next Wednesday (who the f's going to come in to use a language library on Dec. 23rd?) and then none till Jan. 11th - and that'll be a morning.

Unemployment topped 2.9 million today - highest since Apr. 1987. Don't tell me there's nothing coming...

Day 251

Today was always a Christmas landmark... But this week has been the slowest for months. To the tech in the afternoon. Left at 8.56 after a long afternoon of compiling lists, showing the French tutor how to work the video, working out mark averages, playing Windows Patience (won twice) and Reversi (won twice - once by 6 and once by 30). Tomorrow I'll take my personal stereo so I can listen to the radio. Carried on with the Latin course, so at least I'm learning something.

Last of this week's sessions tomorrow. Next week I'm doing Tuesday 8.30-3pm and Wednesday 3pm-9pm.

Day 250

After lunch walked to the tech, via the Workshop for a blank timesheet. Had a very tedious time waiting for 9 pm to come, beguiled the wait with Reversi and reading a Latin course. Dealt well with all the people (2) who came in. Finally nine o'clock came - thank god the clock there is four minutes fast. I locked up, left, and walked home.

Day 249

Walked to the tech, arrived at 9.05. The woman Ailsa Michaels was pleasant and unpleasant by turns - at one point she criticised, in rapid succession, my face, my hair and my coat. Her words offended me, and while she canted about roles, presentation etc I stared her right in the eye and considered whether or not to tell her that that was no way to treat a volunteer and that she could stuff her placement. However, as she continued to hold out the prospect of a job I decided not to say so. I can always tell her all that later.

Talked to another volunteer, half-Hungarian Sasha - he was very interesting and agreed with my opinions about Eastern Europe. He's been working in Hungary, the average weekly wage is £20 and fascism waits in the wings.

Otherwise the day was really boring, only 1 person arriving as I sat at the desk. With the help of a dictionary read a French magazine. The green suit bloke came in, talked to him for a bit. Left at 3pm, walked home.

Day 248

Went for a walk, read the paper, did a lot of typing for dad, who came to collect it in the evening and paid me £10.

Must be up at 8.15 for my new placement. I hope it goes well. Wonder if there's really any chance of a job out of it?

Day 247

Spent a pleasant morning programming. Waiting for Grandstand on BBC1 I watched the end of Bird's Eye View on BBC2 (the programme that had Gordon Jackson's Eastern Approach earlier) with Muckle Flugga lighthouse and Out Stack, the northernmost point of Britain.

Day 246

As the green suit bloke hadn't rung by 11.30 I went round to M's to see her new kit-built computer. Very impressive.

The GSB eventually rang up about 4.30 saying I should go to the placement at 9 am on Monday. No buses to catch this time! He also hinted there was a [small but] real chance of getting a job out of it, so it's certainly worth a try.

Day 245

The green suit bloke rang up to tell me about a placement at Mercia Polytechnic. I thought, oh no, how can I dress smartly if I ride my bike. Luckily, shortly afterwards M rang up saying she was going into town, and she gave me a lift to the Workshop. It was inconclusive but promising - I must go to M.P. tomorrow to see some woman about it.

Day 244

Prince Charles and Diana are to separate. So much for 'a fairy-tale story of love'. At least they won't have to argue about who gets the palace etc. 'Dukes and kings in fancy dress. Silly rigobands at a carnival'.

Was just setting out to collect my giro when my mother drove up behind me. She kindly gave me a lift to the post office. I gave her the the first of six instalments of £13.33 to repay the money they lent me to pay off my Access card. Then into town to get tickets from the Green Man.

News jammed solid with C&D. Sorted out why I couldn't assign one far pointer to another in C. Why? Well, char _far *p, *q makes p a far pointer - but q defaults to near. You have to put _far before each one, like you do with * in fact.

Bloody Workshop tomorrow - hope it isn't raining. A very bright Full Moon in a clear sky at 8 pm seemed to bode well for seeing the eclipse, but it completely clouded over by 10pm. Ah well.

Day 243

Defrosted the freezer, went to the library. Read a book which claims the EC is a Nazi remnant plot.

Day 242

Did a bit of programming. M rang up. Went round and discussed the near-impossibility of getting funding for that Dulchester master's degree course.

Saw my parents. I mentioned the extra money I'm getting from the Workshop, and they suggested that they lend me £80 to pay what's left of my Access credit card debt, and then I could pay them back at £13.33/fortnight for the next 6 Giros - till the Workshop finishes. It seems they're impressed with the diligence with which I've been paying off the money they lent me for the hard disc (£5/fortnight).

Day 241

17 months on the dole. Read the paper, went for a walk, programmed - did the skeleton of my night-out-in-Mugsborough adventure, an idea I've had for some time.

Day 240

Got good book from library about a former right-wing fanatic who changed his mind and became an infiltrator in the NF.

Day 239

Phoned the bloke at Weffolk university who Dad said he knew. He had no idea who I was and even when he did cotton on I had to improvise and ask for a Cognitive Science course description for 1993-94.

Carl rang up at 6pm asking me to print his CV if he sends it - agreed. Then J rang and we went to the Green Man. I quizzed the landlord about these Christmas Eve/New Year tickets. Will go down there Wednesday and get them. All this planning really does erode the fun of the CE/NY thing.

In the 1940s the Croats torture and kill half a million Serbs in Hitler's concentration camps - in the 1990s the Serbs take revenge. Only the latter attracts censure...

Day 238

It was raining pretty determinedly so I stayed in and programmed and did various tidying. It stopped about noon - in the afternoon went to the Workshop, gave the green suit bloke my CV, put in my time sheet.

Day 237

Very windy all day. Floods round the country. Tidied up my scrap paper drawer.

Day 236

Market research woman came round and interviewed me for an hour. Vented my spleen on various issues - it's not often people come knocking at the door asking to hear my views!

Went into town to Boots for washing-up liquid. In the afternoon rang the Workshop to check on progress, they rang me about an hour later to ask for a CV, I said I'd bring one on Thursday.

Christmas trailers already on telly.

Day 235

Walked into town for Christmas shopping. Mum - bath stuff, £2.47; Dad - scribbling diary, £2.99; Carl - book token, £5.20. This year's budget of £11 is 10% up on last year.