Month: January 2003

That looks suspiciously like Santa snogging Joanna! Outrageous!

How ScaryDuck set fire to his chemistry teacher.
My A level physics practical exam featured an accident too, though far less exciting than this one. As is often the case, we had to take turns using the equipment, working in rotation around the room. As might be typical of my luck, as I walked across the room to the last experiment, Neil, who was ahead of me on the circuit, neatly rolled the thermometer off the edge of the workbench and on to the floor.
Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever dropped a mercury thermometer. If you haven’t, I don’t suggest that you try, as liquid mercury has some amusing properties, the main one being that it is impossible to pick up. I know, you think it is difficult to pick up a five pence coin from the post office counter (how do they make counters so hard for picking coins up from?) but that is nothing to mercury on a tiled floor. You see, mercury forms these neat little globules that have a very low coefficient of friction – meaning that if you just touch one of them, it runs off across the floor at an amazing rate, and simply refuses to be collected into any sort of container. This provided Neil with huge amounts of mirth as I tried to conduct my experiment under something approaching exam conditions whilst the teacher and school lab technician scrambled around on the floor by my feet, trying to gather as much mercury as they could.
I blame Neil for my D grade.

Just been to visit a very important person at the bank, and had some encouraging words – which is ..um.. encouraging, and has improved my mood no end.

oh carp! Having rushed around to take down the Christmas decorations at home last night, leaving the flat looking somewhat dismal and bare, I’ve just noticed that the Christmas header is still at the top of this page! argh! Bad luck for me! or something.

I suggested recently that o2 might not respond to my email to their helpdesk with any alacrity. I take it back – they have been reasonably prompt and very helpful. I’ve now changed tariff so that I should have GPRS service functioning from midnight tonight, and the GSM service remains free of charge. yay!

I’m never sure that online petitions are worth the paper that they are not written on, but this one is worth looking at, even if only to raise your awareness of the issues involved concerning live music performance.

There is a lot going on, on- and off-line, that at another time I would write about here, but now remains unwritten due to a combination of lethargy, illness, workload, distraction, love, teabags, vegetable soup and excessive thinking. Something is wrong. I don’t know what it is. I don’t know how to fix it. But I can’t ignore it. I’m not even sure that it is really that important, or just a temporary blip, but it is certainly not pleasant and I wish it would go away so things would be like they were before.

I need cheering up. Maybe a banana will do the trick.

Busy busy – will write more later.

I’m back. News in bullet points:

• TFF: 36 points and 54 points for the last two weeks, taking my score to 573. Could do better?
• Was up half the night last night with food poisoning (I think) – I’ll spare you a description of the symptoms. Consequently, today I am a bit tired and under the weather. And chances of an early night are diminishing as I have some important tasks to carry out for The Project.
• Spent the weekend with Joanna enjoying crisp winter sunshine in Bath, staying in five star luxury at the Bath Spa Hotel and taking in the abbey, roman baths, shops, seafood and mexican eateries, riverside walking, Sydney Gardens, Museum of Costume, strange tourist buses, the impressive crescents (albeit from a distance) and more. Links later.
• The 2003 winners of the B3ta awards have been revealed – much time-wasting fun.