Day 1141

About 9.15 the post came, first with £63 from the tax and second with an offer from Effolk. I immediately decided to accept and could hardly take in the news. So went round to my parents' and got on with painting the fence and garden furniture.

About noon rang T with the news; she was very pleased and it was her that sent for the prospectus on February 6th.

Went out in the afternoon to post the Effolk acceptance. Had a small glass of white wine, Navarth-style, about 5 pm, as a strict one-off; rang up Wilton Books to order the ANSI C course book.

Back round to my parents' in the evening for champagne. Let's hope it turns out better than the last time, nearly a year ago, that we had champagne.

Watched the first of the new Men Behaving Badly - better than I expected.

So, this is in 1995 like getting my A-level results in 1988, it is another chance: to make up in 50 weeks for the waste I committed in 91 weeks at uni. And this time I am prepared to work damn hard to get it done. And I will stop fearing that unexpected ill-luck will trip me up; at least this way I'm happy now rather than if or when I'm proved wrong. But I hope not to be.

'Free! Free! Free! Back to Arilia! Back to the world of air!'