Whilst I was fighting with

Whilst I was fighting with my PC last night, the local constabulary were arresting someone outside my door. Couldn’t determine what he had done, and I couldn’t exactly linger in the doorway without being obvious. Shame, as I was eaten up with curiosity.
Earlier in the evening, a policeman had looked in my door and asked me if I was alright. I had my front door wide open to try and let some air through the flat, and I guess it might have looked like I’d been burgled (my hall isn’t that messy, though!).

For those following the exciting

For those following the exciting saga of my dysfunctional CD-ROM drive at home, you’ll be pleased to know that, thanks to some fraternal assistance, it is now functioning. It took a while to figure out how to open the case, but we got there in the end, and two attempts at cleaning the lens were required, but seem to have been successful.
Much of last night was spent playing with .dlls and WinAmp plugins, but I seem to be winning.
And in other news, the highly exciting project I’m working on for this site is progressing. I expect to launch it at the weekend or early next week. Watch this space.

Sometimes, if I think of

Sometimes, if I think of something to write here when I’m away from a computer, I set a reminder on my mobile phone. Obviously, at some point during the very drunk stage of last night’s party, I set myself a reminder for “people watching”. I have no idea at all of what I was going to say.

Yesterday, as I sat on

Yesterday, as I sat on the train to Brighton, I couldn’t help but overhear a conversation (they were almost shouting) between two people (a man and a woman) who were comparing their drug habits. They seemed proud to have been addicts for more than ten years, and derided someone, saying “she’s not an addict, she’s only been a junkie for two years”. And they didn’t have a good word for the “filth” and the “screws” either. How strange to discuss this in such a way and in such a place.

The party. Yeh, the party.

The party. Yeh, the party. Right.
Well, let’s start out by saying that I am still, technically at least, drunk. I can’t remember the last time I drank that much (and I’m struggling to remember this time, to be honest) but I do know this: the party was excellent.
It was a combined birthday party and housewarming for Charlie, at her home in Brighton. The only people I knew before I arrived were Charlie and her friend Marie (and Blini the cat), but during the course of the evening I was introduced to a huge number of people (most of whom I soon forgot the name of – I wish I could retain names!) that included Rich, James, Chris (nice haka), Steve (a blogger!), Angie and Phil – these people being the ones I spent most of the evening talking with. The weather was perfect (it was more of a gardenwarming than a housewarming), there was plenty of excellent food on the barbeque (though, bizarrely, hardly anyone ate anything before about midnight) and there were enormous quantities of wine and beer. I have no idea what time we called a halt (I know that I was fighting a losing battle with sleep by that stage – gone 4am I think), but the whole night consisted of great conversation, laughter, massage, toe sucking and – well, just about everything you could wish for at a good party.
Those who stayed over all surfaced (somewhat blearily) quite early today, and we all did a bit to help clear up. Then we sat around in the garden eating croissants and pain au chocolat and drinking coffee, and generally trying to bring the world back into focus.
I left around lunch time, and walked into the centre of Brighton (succeeding in not spending money in the shops – top result!) to meet up with Neil, Emma and Emma’s dad for lunch. This was followed by a stroll along the Esplanade in the very hot sun – there wasn’t even a breeze to take the edge off the heat. We sweltered along to the end of the Palace Pier, where Emma and her dad rode the rollercoaster (whilst Neil and I, wusses that we are, looked on). Then we retired to a beachside bar to watch the thronging (and bethonged in some cases) crowds – the beach was packed.
A top top weekend.

Great party. Slightly jaded this

Great party. Slightly jaded this morning. Full report later, though I seem to recall trying to use Waplogger, but not being able to remember my login – a sure sign of excess consumption of red wine.