Day 1027

The end of an incredibly long January. Did FORTH experiments and a good bit of Latin. In the evening decided to summarise 1987-88, long missing from the meta-history. The 1987 diary is very funny and touching. Good friends, a piss-up now and then, unintrusive authority, long conversations. I'd forgotten, and how nice they could all be. It was a good time; those were the days. Even with the election.

I've looked at the course ads in the Guardian 2 days running - I must be serious!

Day 1026

Signed on without too much hassle, had a look in the library. River very high and thrusting at the pillar of the viaduct. Inquired as to the fare to Stratford at the station - £5.70.

The Bywater angle does seem to have come to an end, or at least a state of extreme attenuation, with so long since M left. All the more reason to move on. Rang up about a career development loan - might inspire me.

Listened to Private Lives on R4 and found it rather mannered.

Day 1025

Watched Rik Mayall's The Big One - very good, very funny. This and his last series are the best thing he's done since The Young Ones. Made a bright moment in an otherwise mostly very boring Sunday.

Got to sign on tomorrow - wish there was an idea I could think of to get out of this situation. After 1303 days of it - and I was only at uni for 1012, remember - it's suddenly getting very irritating and boring.

Day 1024

Computing, Latin and other weekend activities. Listened to great R4 play in the afternoon Friday's Child, c18th stuff and very funny.

Read about Barbara Castle, now 85 - she said she wasn't content just to be a symbol, she had a job to do 'to beat the bastards'. Right idea. Come on Tony! His Clause 4 stuff going down well so far.

Day 1023

Had no reason to go into town - went for a 2-mile walk instead. In the afternoon Quantum Leap on vid, the first repeat I recognise, the one about Mexican American footballers.

In the evening, The Day Today. Also revisited Bottom - rubbish. They've really lost it since the triumph of The Young Ones.

Day 1022

Windy again: computing with a view to a Psion assembler (long-term project).

January seems to've gone on for ever and ever. Cricket on R5 again so easier nights these days anyway.

Day 1021

Miserable weather, wet and grey, and a hangover to go with it.

Went round to Mum's: at work she'd heard a rumour that a top civil servant, who sees the Leader of the Opposition before elections, has been meeting Tony Blair. Could a snap election be in prospect? (Though Major must be off his rocker if it's true).

Watched last week's Quantum Leap (college fraternity/1967 Vietnam protests) and Star Trek: TNG - quite good.

Was listening to Man U v. Crystal Palace in the evening when Cantona got sent off and got in a fight with someone in the crowd, so watched Sportsnight to see all the detail.

Better get a new diary book out of the next Giro. Hopefully I'll be able to record a favourable change in circumstances in it.

At least the weather improved - interestingly windy now.

Day 1020

These last two days have shown me the folly of slipping back into bad old ways - this latest lapse has cost me £8, which is more than I can properly afford.

Neil Kinnock's by-election has been fixed, he took the Chiltern Hundreds on Thursday. I'd forgotten George Orwell's real name was Blair - does it mean anything?)

Day 1019

Went into town in the morning - bright and windy. Got a no-nonsense book explaining C for experienced programmers (like myself!)

Rang the surgery in the afternoon and it was confirmed that the blood test had shown up nothing. Perhaps it is all auto-suggestion after all...

Day 1018

Wrote in TV-listings format to T.

Day 1017

Up in time for Kershaw & Whittaker on R5, which has become a bit of a fixture in the last 6 months or so on Saturdays. Did a lot of Latin, tidied up my table. Listened to both R4 plays.

Day 1016

Spent a lot of time today fruitlessly searching for a library book. Frustrating. Watched The Day Today - scrappy, but good in bits.

Day 1015

Hard work on a 24-pin triple-density .PCX printing prog - much difficulty. Foul weather in the afternoon, strong winds and heavy rain. Taped Quantum Leap.

Ipswich have signed Lee Chapman for only £75,000. He's never been in a relegated side...

Day 1014

Cashed my giro, went into town for supplies and the library, put £5 in the building society. Went round to mum's and paid the last £13 on the multimeter money they lent me.

Day 1013

Went to the doctor. He said he could not relate my symptoms to anything but sent me for a blood test just in case. He was pleased with my progress.

There was a good letter from T, and she rang up just before I went for the test. She was very amused by my mock local paper letter. Might do TV listings next time.

Got a lift to the hospital, only had to wait 5 minutes for the blood test. Funnily enough the blood test dept was in exactly the same place in relation to the entrance as the one I went to at the hospital in Eastchester.

Had to walk miles in gales and freezing rain to find a phone box, but got a lift back in the end.

Will Hutton on R5 now - great stuff from an economist who wants more politics in economics.

Day 1012

Got a lift into town with mum: started her car first time after she couldn't.

Got a right bastard for the 'Restart' but got away with a vague scheme thing. Went to the library, helped a woman with science enquiries - then couldn't find my purse and walked home very fast suspecting her. The purse was of course on my bedroom floor, I felt rather mean.

Day 1011

Troubled by symptoms again though the night passed well with the help of Unnatural Acts tapes.

Made some progress with Microsoft Access (an appalling language to use).

Labour have promised to bring the railways back into public ownership if the Tories get privatisation through: about time too. Apparently there is overwhelming opposition to a sell-off. Dare anyone say 'sea change'?

Had a bath to prepare for the 'Restart' bastards tomorrow. I hope it goes OK, I really don't want to have to go through all that Jobclub charade again. Who knows though? Last time (or the time before) they put me onto a job - but then look how that turned out eh?

Day 1010

Was troubled by a recurrence of the Dec. 24th/summer 1994 symptoms. What do they relate to? Could it be some diabetic thing?

Day 1009

Went to town for evening primrose oil and the library, got the new generation Forth book out again.

Went out again in the afternoon in freezing drizzle to the bottle bank at Asda (to dump Christmas empties) and B&Q, for a general look round. Watched The Day Today and the Peter Cook tribute in the evening.

Tony Blair is now 43½ points ahead, on 62% to the Tories' 18½. It's the biggest since Gallup started polling in the 30s. Does this sort of phenomenon evaporate over devolution? I doubt it (touch wood).

Some research into police reports down the library revealed that the average person in this county gets murdered every 167,000 years, and is involved in an aggravated burglary every 35,700 years. Reassuring.

Day 1008

Did some Latin, started the Hitler book again. The slow progress of January is a sign of its success. I'm feeling as if I've gone through alcohol dependency and come out the other side, in 1988 or somewhen. It's an odd feeling and raises questions about whether I've made any progress. I've got T, I suppose, which is a lot. And D, albeit at a distance.

In about 3 weeks I'm going to need a new diary book - £7 at least. I'll assign it to the Jan.30th Giro, assuming the 'Restart' on Monday goes OK. I can always try and borrow the money - I don't want to end up writing on loose sheets (though I think I did a copy from an exercise book when I visited Leah's in July 1989).

Day 1007

Went into town - got a couple of 3.5mm sockets to make audio measurements easier. Came back, got the mono PCX prog finished off, with multiple pages, very fast, and in only 9K. Incorporated the new prog into my dBase picture database.

Looked up earthy Latin words: the dictionary I got for Christmas gives Latin translations for Latin words, like 'cunnus = pudendum muliebre.' Coy. Watched Star Trek: TNG - not bad.

Abstinent evening went rather slow but it's passing. I suppose I'll get used to it in time. January is going really slowly, presumably as a result.

Day 1006

Rare news these days: Labour divisions! Tony Blair's Clause 4 stuff. Why he made an issue of it last year in the first place I don't know. They should just add 'where suitable' at the end, and take out the 'hand and brain' stuff: as Tony Benn says, a miner uses his brain, a writer his hands. It was written in 1918 after all and sounds like one of the more speechifying bits from Philanthropists. The 1979 position was ideal - just the natural monopolies Been feeling a bit more political recently, what with Roy Hattersley reading his autobiography on the radio.

Nice quiet day: wrote a no-nonsense mono C .PCX viewer. Watched last week's Quantum Leap, an absolutely triffic one What Price Gloria? where he was a (woman) secretary in 1961. When QL manages to evoke place, time and structure/system it does, and comes up with compelling telly. I forgot I was watching telly in fact. Which is the highest praise you can give any programme.

Tons more scanning in the evening at all resolutions, and not a crash in sight. I've scanned 1.2M of magazine material with no probs at all now. Why it's being so co-operative I don't know. And I wish I'd discovered the total acceptability of 100dpi for big pics earlier.

Day 1005

Went to the doctor - he was very pleased with my progress generally. Later did a ton of scanning with no problems - started configuring dBase to keep a database of pictures and display them via my Pascal .PCX program.

Very cold day, Peter Cook died, unfortunately.

Day 1004

Rode to the Cockerel at Enway and back in about an hour, not bad for 9 or 10 miles. I'm not sure about riding to T's: I'll have to come back as well which could be too much.

Read old computer mags all day, did a good QBasic version of the 'tank arena' prog in my old Advanced ZX81 Programming book.

Got to go to the doctor's at 9.15 am tomorrow, hope I don't feel too unwell. At least I sent off a job enquiry on Friday to help with the Restart on the 16th. And didn't my multimeter arrive quickly - and for £10 less than listed!

Day 1003

Multimeter arrived, less than 23 hours after I'd ordered it. Excellent. Tested it thoroughly all day - the frequency counter gave some interesting results: a steady 6.3 MHz in front of the 486 and 1.5 MHz in front of the telly.

Watched Star Trek VI in the evening: not bad, letting themselves go a bit to good effect.

Day 1002

TWELFTH NIGHT. Into town for a wine box. Round to my parents': gave dad the money for the multimeter and ordered it via Maplin's DTMF Keycall. It took a few goes (the Psion DTMF tones only work at certain distances from the receiver) but I got it in the end. It was £10 less than I expected too, which could mean another Maplin misdescription or could be a bonus. We'll have to wait and see - at least at the speed they deliver we won't have to wait long.

In the evening watched The Day Today.

Day 1001

Did a lot of work on JLOT, read old computer magazines. Calculated that a £300 computer like a Dragon in 1984 has an equivalent inflated cost now of £720, for which you could get a basic 486 now.

A letter from T came: knocked up a quick reply in the form of a joke Mugsborough Obscurer front page done on Page Plus.

Day 1000

Worked with dBase. Dug out that old Ashton-Tate mag on the subject that I got at the 1984 PCW show, but needed more info: walked into town in the freezing cold to the library for two fat dBase III Plus books. Didn't take my bike as I've only got a front brake and there was a lot of ice about.

So many changes today: I haven't been into town in the afternoon for ages. Lovely sunlight for it, even if it was cold. Read old computer mags, couldn't find my Pascal PILOT prog, started rewriting it in C. This was after a low point around 9.20pm.

Watched Star Trek: TNG - Ensign Ro - quite good.

First alcohol-free day since Oct. 27 1993, as far as I can remember.

Day 999

Got my hair cut, blithely avoided tips, they'll have to make do with my good wishes. Which might be more valuable. Put £20 in the building society: if everything else, including the Restart, goes well, I can order a top-notch digital multimeter/thermometer on the 18th.

Worked with Microsoft Access in the afternoon, what a struggle. Without a manual it's almost hopeless.

In the evening got to work with dBase III Plus, which proved much more tractable than Access. Interesting stuff, will repay study.

Day 998

Tidied up and repaired tapes. More scanning, with only one crash. Been using 100dpi to scan big 9"x4" figures - not bad resolution for pictures that size.

Washed my hair before getting it cut tomorrow.

Is it wrong to put T off till Feb. so I can buy a new multimeter mid-Jan?

Had a bit of fun in the afternoon with the film of Bless This House - comfortable 1972 stuff, not bad.

Day 997

Did more very successful scanning. It started snowing about 2.15pm and put down a couple of inches by 4pm with a strong north wind. Saw a clip of Harold Wilson going into no.10 in 1964. Inspiring.

Got a 'Restart' two weeks on Monday: hopefully the slackness of the job scene at this time of year will get me off the hook. I also said I'd visit T around the 22nd but I might put it off till February.