Day 1208

Went down to the Jobcentre to sign on - no trouble. Went to the library, looked up the Carry Ons in Halliwell's film guide, made a list of dates and casts (had to go and buy a biro - lack of foresight).

More ANSI C, wrote my first variable-arguments function - worked first time!

Went round to see my parents: those calendulae down the side of the garage coming on well, nice golden flowers.

Watched a prog about catalogue shopping in the evening: don't expect my order at least till Friday, more probably next week.

Day 1207

Did a spot of ANSI C; must do a bit of Visual C++ revision or I'll forget all that complex stuff.

There was an article about the Carry On films in the paper; from it I compiled a list of all 29 genuine films (and Columbus).

Got to sign on tomorrow, how exciting eh?

Day 1206

Had a sale promotion from Kays, so 'got' a nice pair of branded (never order anything unbranded over £15 from a catalogue) boots for £32.

More ANSI C, good progress. Had to re-install Microsoft Golf due to a runaway QuickWin prog.

Watched an old Minder as part of Channel 4's 'Vintage Thames' thing. Not often I watch Channel 4, especially after last night's chance viewing of Ellen where burglary was treated as un-American. Surely crime is the purest expression of the market 'ethic' the stupid bastards worship so much, if reports can be believed.

Day 1205

Into town, looked in at the Jobcentre and the library. (In future, assume I did Mon, Wed, Fri unless I say so - who am I talking to?)

Did some solid ANSI C work.

Watched Punt & Dennis and Alexei Sayle in the evening. Changed the background sounds in MS Golf to the Carry On clips I managed to digitise after all that work yesterday.

Listened to Tony Benn's diaries on R4: was he being paranoid or was there anything behind it?

Day 1204

Grey, hot and humid, not too pleasant. Went out for a bike ride to clear my head after last night and to measure how far we walked last night. Ironically, got a flat tyre, had to walk all the way back from M's new place.

T rang up in the afternoon, had a good talk; she sent me a test fax - worked well.

Spent the rest of the afternoon trying to record some Carry On catchphrases I'd taped as .WAV files - traced the problem to a faulty ¼"-to-3.5mm jack adaptor. But I did work out how to tape in stereo from a SCART socket.

Pris later. Wonder how the by-election'll go?

Day 1203

Went to the Jobcentre and the bank and finally put in T's 50p lottery cheque. Good thunderstorm about midday, some very loud thunder and heavy rain. Got very dark.

Worked at ANSI C; prepared tea (cold pie and salad, as the thunderstorm failed to cool things down - lovely) and ate it with Man Of The People, the Star Trek: TNG ep where Deanna Troi was simultaneously afflicted with nyphomania and rapid aging. (!)

M rang up about 7.45 and told me she'd moved. She came round and gave me a lift to have a good look at the place. Very mature this mortgage and flat stuff, I'd better catch up. She was obviously proud of the place and for a fact it was compact but nice.

We set off for the Green Man (M admitted she'd kept that dark as she knew if she'd said so I wouldn't've come) about nine and got there half an hour later after a strange dim summer-evening walk along a new cycle path, 'liable to flooding' as the signs declared, through the fields between the water meadow and the bridge.

At the pub met Jo Jones and Harriet, then had a long, intense conversation with M about everything from Tony Blair and Kenneth Clarke to the housing market and human racial history and differentiation. Best talk and evening I've had in ages.

The guy who used to keep the bookstall at Lowlands popped up again yesterday, on the letters page of the Guardian this time - that's 3 times now, with his two R5 phone-in calls. About the Internet this time and very true. Must tell T.

Day 1202

Finished the C++ book! Over 60 pages of notes. Did it in two weeks too, not bad. Accordingly resumed the ANSI C book.

Those things I planted down the side of my parents' garage, calendulae I think, are coming along very well. One's flowered.

Must take those cheques to the bank tomorrow.

Day 1201

Got a lift into town for an early look in at the Jobcentre, walked back. Much C++ work, nearly finished the book. And when I do, there's the ANSI C book to get back to... Hopefully I can spin this out for the rest of the 72 days before Effolk. I've learnt tons.

Got a reply to my reply on Compuserve - nice to discuss this stuff with someone for a change.

Assume the TSB have accepted the direct debit for Compuserve? It's nearly four weeks now. More importantly, is £6.50 a month worth it? It's £1.60 a week, the cost of a week's tabloid papers - good value. 20 minutes' forum access a week is £1 extra, makes it £2.60; the Guardian and Independent On Sunday for a week cost £4.15, so that puts us up to 50 minutes' forum access - gets better value the more I consider it. Must make sure I've got cash in the bank to cover, though - £35 at the weekend so no trouble.

Watched Panorama about Temazepam abuse.

Day 1200

Lots more C++ work - on Ch. 20 now. Success too with my own 'proper Windows' app - it wasn't working yesterday because of missing capital letters. Because it was a run-time problem no compile or link errors were flagged, but nothing happened when the app ran. Sorted it now though.

A good day.

Day 1199

Got straight on with the C++. Can't get my first home-made proper Windows prog to work though. Why?

Checked the SF lit. forum on Compuserve, found out that Jack Vance is now almost blind and uses a computer with voice recognition. Apparently he wants his books to be judged by themselves and doesn't want his personal life discussed. Anyway, the bloke who posted that message speculated about JV's politics. I was interested as it's something I've often speculated on myself, so I composed a rumination about it and sent it in the evening (18 seconds - not bad).

Day 1198

Went into town to the Jobcentre and the library, nothing spectacular. Much very hard work on the 'Learn C++ in 21 days' book - I've got to take it back on the 31st so I should just make it. It's typing in the example listings that takes the time, but you can't have anything better to aid understanding of a language than an example prog. Over 50 pages of narrow feint notes so far too - very hard work, as I said.

Day 1197

More very hard C++ work, also carried on with a little project of my own for purging all those files C++ creates, with good progress so far.

Catalogue order came about noon: shorts good but had to go out in the afternoon to return the boots as one had a staple sticking out of the sole.

Just heard O.J. Simpson's wife was white - I'd assumed all along she was black, like him. Wonder if that'll change my attitude? Mind you, I was already sure he was [affected by subsequent court decision].

Day 1196

Very humid and unpleasant. More C++; hope I can finish the book before I have to take it back to the library.

Watched the last Blackadder Goes Forth - very touching.

Eleven weeks till Effolk. I'm a bit worried about what it'll actually be like, whether there'll be seminars etc. Can't say I remember worrying about that before Lowlands. But my C++ studies have reassured me about whether I'll be up to the course - it's difficult to assimilate sometimes but I'm making progress.

Day 1195

More C++; the real work is typing in the example listings. Difficult concepts but manageable. Cooked tea, watched The Bill, checked my thread on CompuServe.

Day 1194

Went to sign on - no trouble at all, only waited about 2 minutes.

Put in lots of hard work on the C++. M rang up in the evening with a query about the tube from Ongar (she's trying to avoid the rail strike tomorrow).

Day 1193

Still more C++ - hard to grasp sometimes but very interesting. Reorganised the computer room, rode down to Homebase for a phone socket doubler so I can have the phone and modem plugged in at the same time.

Day 1192

More C++ notes and test programs - made progress, but it's very complicated. Played a good game, World Empire, I got from the Windows Shareware book; listened to R4 play about Live Aid (10 years ago this week).

I got that X-Files ep guide T wanted from Compuserve yesterday, but it's very big and could be troublesome to fax or post. I'll ask her if she wants a condensed versh.

Had a letter at midday in response to my fax to the letters page in the week about the repeat of last year's Doonesbury: a mistake by the syndicators, apparently.

Day 1191

Worked extremely hard on the first Windows chapter of the C++ book, took 12 pages of notes. Sent T a fax at her work. She rang in the afternoon to acknowledge receipt.

Day 1190

Hard work all day on the C++. T rang up during the day to request X-Files info from Compuserve.

In the evening watched the last in the series of Men Behaving Badly. Since the last ep of the last series (the one I watched at T's) it's been really good. As C said, unusual for a series to improve so late on.

Btw, that rumour that a fifth Blackadder was planned, set in the 60's was true, though the plan's been abandoned: it was to revolve around a group called The Blackadder Five with Baldrick as the drummer, but the actors got too famous and gave up the idea.

Thursday Pris again. Must say I'm surprised to see it back - not complaining though.

Day 1189

Went to the Jobcentre, can confirm a proper waiting system is in place. May mean a longer wait but will eliminate the hassle.

The Psion Windows link stuff I ordered arrived. Worked very hard at the C++, made good progress.

Watched that Sid James doc.

Day 1188

Worked very hard on the C++ book, reached a block in the afternoon which I'm still puzzling over.

Day 1187

Extremely hot. Into town in the morning, found exactly the right Visual C++ book. Studied most of the day, exercised.

Got replies to my Quantum Leap and Vance/Roddenberry questions - not much support for my theories on either.

Day 1186

Extremely hot today. More Visual Basic for Applications experiments.

M rang up while I was eating tea to suggest an experiment; after a few false starts got a connection and conversed.

Day 1185

Didn't wake up till 11.45; did some successful work with Excel Visual Basic. Went out, got a couple of magazines with free CD-ROMs. Experimented with those, watched the Lottery draw (not a single number for our syndicate) and Saturday Night Armistice (good in parts).

Day 1184

More computing - cautious experiments with Visual C++. There was a letter in the morning from Effollk confirming my place - sent an e-mail to ask about finance details. My first experiment with Internet e-mail - hope it works.

A letter from T arrived, she seems pretty positive.

Rang DCA, spoke to that American woman: needless to say there's no 'DCA Communications'.

Had a peaceful evening watering plants and watching The Bill and Alexei Sayle.

Day 1183

Term only finished four years ago and already I'm bored. Yes, four years since I left Eastchester. Also only 90 days till Effolk.

Took the collection to the bank, looked in at the Jobcentre where everything had been rearranged. It might just be possible the no-queue signing on might be over! Wonder if it's anything to do with Portillo being kicked out of Employment? Greasy bastard.

Got on with the ANSI C, made good progress. Discovered that Visual C++ can also function as C with the Windows software developer's kit. If only I knew where to start!

In the evening a peculiar phone call from someone claiming to work for 'Communications' in DCA, although they didn't know what DCA stood for and had to ask, saying was this the address to forward a letter for D?

Discovered by chance that Pris is on tonight! If it's a return to twice-a-week we could see the end of it in anything from 4 months to a year.

Day 1182

Cashed my Giro, went over to the building society near Asda to deposit £25.

Made notes on C/C++ differences, all very interesting. Went out at 6.30 for the Greenpeace collection, from 80 houses got 30 responses totalling £15.77, including 2 people who put their name and address in the box for information. Given that I've been worrying about it for 3½ months, ever since I agreed to do it, it all went very well.

Did some ANSI C on the 486, was hampered by different .MAK file arrangements. (The C++ functions as C as well).

Day 1181

Four years since I graduated. Did some constructive C and a spot of C++ experimentation.

Got onto Compuserve in the evening an downloaded a couple of Quantum Leap .WAV files; set up Windows to play the leap sound effect at entry and exit. Politely declined a conference session with some bloke, citing my phone bill.

Unaccountable scanner problems on the 486, scans coming out all black. Better with my old scanner on the Amstrad - using the new device driver I downloaded, 300dpi scans of great length were possible with no trouble.

Day 1180

Mum let me borrow her car, so drove down to sign on in fine style. No trouble, out by 10.10; four more to go.

While I was working on my parents' computer Miss Foxberrow, headmistress of my primary school, rang up to speak to dad (she's in the same choir) and we had a long talk about unemployment and courses. I told her M, who she remembered, had put me on to the course idea and had done pretty well out of it herself.

Did some fine greyscale test scans; the 400dpi ones are good but frighteningly large. Studied the C++ book along the way - fascinating; must take some notes and try the examples. I ought to carry on with the ANSI C book some time too.

Quite a good, hard-working day really.

Day 1179

Went down to Lakeside, got a 256-grayscale scanner. Got it back, fitted it, worked like a dream after I changed the IRQ from 11 to 7.

Got to sign on tomorrow (5 to go) but no point thinking about it now, it's worse than actually going.

Day 1178

Cloudy when I woke up at eleven after a much-needed 9 hours' sleep. Did some computing, investigated picture downloads - judging by the file descriptions some of the stuff is well dodgy. Keep away.

After dinner went and did the shopping, read the CompuServe book and a C++ book. Interesting language.

Distributed the Greenpeace envelopes after tea; clouds had gone in the afternoon and it was a pleasant evening.