Month: September 2003

Dinner tonight at the Royal Oak at Lavant with Jo, Andy, Julie, Andrew and Sasha. A slight sour taste from the fact that forty quid that I put into the kitty for the bill seemed to go missing. I’m not accusing Hayley and the staff of anything improper, but we felt uncomfortable about the whole thing, and it is likely to deter us from eating there again. I hope it’ll be resolved.
Otherwise, a great night with good food and good company. But being seventy quid out of pocket after drinks, cab and missing money doesn’t make me feel good.

Someone, somewhere, has been born today who will be famous, a great scientist, politician or thinker, or in some way touch the lives of others in a positive way. Yes, let’s think positively, ok?

John Ritter, RIP.

Belatedly, Edward Teller, RIP. Whatever you think of his work, it undoubtedly was a major influence on 20th century politics and the Cold War.

The Man In Black, RIP.

This weekend, I must:

• go for dinner with some friends this evening, which will include being with someone that a couple of my friends are trying to match me up with, but in whom I have no interest whatsoever
• do some laundry, tidy the flat and various other mundane chores
• try to finish building and launching PFE’s website
• get some films processed
• try to organise lunch with Sarah if she is around
• go on a date on Sunday evening with someone that interests me sufficiently that I want to go on the date, but has a couple of attributes that make me think that it might be better if I didn’t (watch out for me either saying on Monday that I should have known better, or floating on cloud 9 in that way I have)
• get some beers in with the usual suspects
• extend the weekend by going to London on Monday to spend the day with my cousin, Gemma, and do a couple of art-related activities before filling ourselves with good food and red wine
• book my flights to the US for early October and send replies to the invitations.

A pretty full weekend, it seems.

Meg is worrying about turning thirty. Well, she may not be worrying as such, but it is certainly on her mind. Personally, I think life just continues to get better, but then I’m having a good time of things at the moment on most levels. I’m sure not all people feel that way, but I see no reason to be negative about the prospect of turning thirty. I don’t think I’ll feel too negative about turning forty when that milestone approaches, either.

I’ve just listened to the news on Radio 4. The news items were as follows:

• The ongoing political turmoil surrounding the war in Iraq
• The memorial services to mark the second anniversary of the September 11th attacks
• The murder of the Swedish foreign secretary
• The agreed compensation deal between France and Libya for the victims of the bomb attack that brought down a French airliner over Niger
• The decision by the Israeli cabinet to expel Yasser Arafat, and the likely consequences of that decision

It is incredibly hard to be optimistic about the world’s future.

As pointed out elsewhere (ScaryDuck, for example), you could do worse than read this today.
I don’t know. Two years on and those who were foolish enough to think that things would get better must slowly be coming round to my way of thinking.

Busy busy today. I had considered going to Norfolk today for a small regional trade show, but I’m glad I didn’t. I’ve achieved a lot more here in the office.