Day 662

Round to parents'. Apparently C came back at 4.30 am after watching the Superbowl round at his friend's. Long time since I stayed out so late myself...

Watched Pobol y Cwm.

Day 661

Tried to plot the local TV masts but could not find the Maplin catalogue. Went round to my parents' to put some stuff in the loft - I took the opportunity to rummage about and found 2 of the missing White Dwarfs from the 70's issues (1986?)

Day 660

Went into town, copped 75p in library fines after queueing for ages.

Day 659

New Viz and Private Eye today, so had an enjoyable morning. Watched Alexei Sayle which I videoed yesterday, quite funny. Red Dwarf in the evening, ditto. So we know what happened to all the other Cat-people, but why is Rimmer the hologram and not someone else?

Day 658

Very windy, Storm 10 on the shipping forecast, ~ F8 on land. Cold too.

Watched Minder in the evening (another good one), taped Alexei Sayle, watched Ben Elton: the latter on very good form, saying J. Major was the generic nasal sketch character. Too true.

Day 657

Read a cartography book I got from the library. Drew a large-scale distance map of the 9 different route combinations between the Victoria Rd car park and River Terrace Road.

Watched Star Trek and On The Line.

Day 656

Rearranging the furniture and tidying up has really made a difference to this room.

Round to my parents' in the evening: as Quantum Leap started a bloke came round who turned out to be Mr H from across the road's son. He said Mr H had pegged out, as I suspected a bit when the ambulance came last week. Pity. He'd been there since long before we came in 1970, when I was just 5 weeks old. He was 91.

Day 655

Got a lift into town with C, went to the library. Only got the address of the library school at Aberystwyth, but better than nothing.

Watched Red Dwarf which I videoed on Friday. Also a documentary about Graham Taylor which had some revealing moments about team-talks and what they say on the bench.

SF/fantasy reading in the evening as usual. It's a mostly harmless and necessary escape from the harsh boring realities of the Interregnum.

Day 654

It was on the news that Brian Redhead had died, which is a pity.

Glad I've got the Great Temperance back on track, even seeing Christina only took me over by 1 unit. Speaking of which, I hope she doesn't come pestering me to come out from now on, that would be a pity.

Got to sign on tomorrow, ought to make some notes on library courses at the library (!) too.

Day 653

Went into town. In the afternoon, read a book on coincidences I got from the library. Went round to C's in the evening, watched Spinal Tap on video. That makes the 38th time I've seen it, still funny even if I can anticipate all the jokes.

Day 652

Christina M rang, inviting me round. Went: talked to her and her flatmate Gina, drank more than I intended, but never mind. Listened to endless tales of sexual exploits etc. My natural tendency to take everything at face value left me a bit depressed by all their boasting, still, makes a change to go out.

Day 651

Six years since I went to that uni open day. Six years!

Watched Pobol y Cwm, and in the evening Minder , the 100th edition and pretty good.

Pity about Thursday Pris being axed.

Day 650

Finished the big drawers clear-out. Went round to my parents' and made green bean and blue cheese quiche for tea, a great success.

In the evening the telly version of On The Hour was on - not as good, as always. Like Radio Active, it's a waste of time adding visuals to perfectly good jokes that don't need them and are actually funnier without them.

It's been quite a while since I heard from D & T. I must admit S's 'You were right' letter put me off them a bit. But I think rather than malice causing them to take advantage of people, it's expediency in the face of desperation, albeit caused (usually) by their own inadequacies. Which is nothing very unusual.

Still pleased by the return to temperance. It's often 10 pm before I think of a drink. I never thought I'd get down to 21 u/wk, let alone abstain for 19 weeks. All pretty encouraging eh?

Day 649

Made a places-(nodes)only version of the distance map with QEdit so I could print out 'blanks' when I need them. Then had (or embarked on) a grand clear-out of desk drawers, converting half-full notebooks into scrap paper and chucking out loads of rubbish. (Why do I never run out of scrap paper?)

Watched Pobol y Cwm. in the evening a very good Quantum Leap, the leapee escaping from the waiting room and having to be brought back

Pris later. Having it only once a week is a bit of a downer but I suppose it reduces the temptation to drink more on Thursdays.

I'm quite pleased by the way I've got drink levels down back to temperance since the festive season. You could say the inner imperative has changed: from 'Drink as much as possible to escape adversity' to 'Drink a little to relax to face adversity better'. Which can't be bad.

Day 648

Watched Pobol y Cwm.

Get the feeling I've got too comfortable here despite all the hassle and boredom. Living somewhere else entails the possibility of another disaster like 1989-90, and less backup vs. crime etc. I get the feeling a move'll have to wait on a motive. If I do things without a real motive they turn out rather badly - like uni.

I tell you though, one thing I miss about uni is the social contact; to some extent I had that Jan 1992 to Sep 1993, while M was here, but since she's been away things have got a lot more boring. It was good being able to go round hers and just arse about. Was that period a chance I missed or just an alleviatory bonus? It was good either way, especially now I miss it.

Day 647

Spent some time going through almost all 1296 combinations on a bike lock which the combination of had been forgotten. Found it.

Snow/hail shower about 1.30 pm. Tried to work out a better display format for my distance map of the local area.

Day 646

Formed a syndicate with C to put on a correct score treble on the football at Ladbrokes. We stood to win £1600 from a £1.50 stake, but didn't. Ah well.

Day 645

Went round to my parents' and watched Alexi Sayle which I videoed yesterday.
Red Dwarf in the evening: an early series but the triffic bits already showing through.

Day 644

Is the FRPG glamour starting to wear off?

Problem remains that there still isn't anything I want, really, that I haven't got already. And there hasn't been since August 1988. The social thing was why I wanted to go to uni (I got it all right) and that experience put me off it. So I lack incentives badly.

I wonder if meeting up with S would provide anything? I could mention it to her I suppose, I meant to ring her up last weekend too.

Day 643

Cashed my Giro in the morning, was going to walk to town but took my bike instead. Wet and windy, got absolutely soaked.

Watched On The Line about greyhound racing.

Day 642

Watched Pobol y Cwm again. Then darts practice. At 5.10pm scored my first 180.

Day 641

Walked into town at 9.45 to sign on - cold and foggy.

Watched People of the Valley in the afternoon, which is a Welsh soap opera Pobol y Cwm. It is in Welsh but has subtitles, I was pleased to pick out many words. Of course subtitles always give you a false impression of how much you know of a language, but it's interesting.

in the evening watched Horizon about conventional weapons that are inhumane, or rather more inhumane than the others.

Day 640

Got to sign on tomorrow, what fun.

Day 639

Watched a prog in the evening about these big cats that're supposed to be roaming Bodmin Moor.

Day 638

A letter from S - she didn't like my plan to combine visiting him with visiting D and T, she says she hates them because they owe her £200. She suggested we meet but as she said, logistics and economics seem to shit on her. I wish I hadn't told her all those lies last year, still, don't suppose it matters too much.

Went round to my parents' to hear they'd been burgled. The CID came round briefly to look for criminous signs.

Day 637

TWELFTH NIGHT. Took down the Christmas decorations. Now we can get on with 1994.

Day 636

Annoyed because Pris will only be on Tuesdays now. I might write to Anglia and complain.

Wisteria Lodge on R4 in the afternoon, more liberties with the story. Inspector Baynes was presented as sour, not like the book where he truly earns Holmes' praise.

Day 635

Went round to my parents' to find general consternation caused by an apparent break-in. In the afternoon a locksmith bloke came round to advise - it was Ray Gill! He said the job was OK but tended to get depressing, aftermath of burglaries etc.

Day 634

Bank Holiday today.

Day 633

Read Charles Dickens' book about his early years, really interesting.

Nice weather again, a bit of sun after a dull Christmas week.

Wonder why I couldn't raise D and S on New Year's Eve? What does 'number unavailable' mean. Nothing tragic I hope!

Day 632

Got rather pissed last night, lay in the dark till 2.40 listening to CD's. The skill I acquired of operating the CD player in the dark in the first year at uni is still with me!

Up at 10.30, watched The Chart Show - technically excellent Peter Gabriel vid Kiss That Frog, fractals much in evidence. Read odd E. Nesbit The Enchanted Castle, much stranger than any of her others.