My friend Rachel was accepted into Oxford Uni today, so congrats to her (if she ever reads this!)

I’m hungry.  Somebody feed me.

Last night I spent out in Leeds, first in Jongleurs comedy club, and then into Bar Risa (their counterpart) for Michelle’s birthday. The comedians were… okay. Everybody else thought they were shit hot. I guess I’m hard to please when it comes to comedy! Which brings me around to my other area in which I’m a snob – Bar Risa were presenting a band. To be honest, they were good. What annoyed me, apart from their slant toward generic pop/indie genres, was their sound and kit. The guitarist, while being evidently talented, had a PRS guitar shoved through a myriad of fx pedals, plugged into a half-decent amp and mic’d up to a shitty cab. The drummer seemed to have a 3/4 size kit with some cymbals so small I’m surprised he had the accuracy to hit them. They also had the kit mic’d up which, for the size of the venue, was pointless. All you could hear was drums. I guess the sound guy didn’t even know since he was stood in the wrong place to actually hear what everybody else was hearing. Again, everybody else I was with thought they were great. They were talented, but I guess they’ve not seen many good bands.

Today Rik and I went car shopping. I took him to the biggest car place here which has apparently been closed for months, which I only learned today. We went to Batley and looked around one place… the sales rep seemed pretty pushy so we had a quick look and then left. I need to find out where all the dealerships went.

Saturday I remembered I was supposed to collect a PC for Ste from work the day previous, so at 4:50pm I broke the land speed record and saved the day.  Phew.  That night was spent being fed by Ste (again) and playing some Viking and GH2 and GH3 before heading home at 2am.  Since it’s about an hour away, and in another county, I got home around 3am.  I then remembered that the clocks went forward, and 3am became 4am.  It was even stupider o’clock than I’d thought.

Sunday we went to see Gogol Bordello, gypsy-punk beat combo extraordinaire.  I have to say that I think they’ve got to be one of the most entertaining, if not the most entertaining bands I’ve ever seen.  I severely exceeded my jumping quota.  Apparently Simon from work was there, but despite his efforts I didn’t see him.  Seriously though, if you ever get a chance to see this band, go.  So much energy.

In other news, I’ve been struggling at play catch-up at work after James had skivalitis on Thursday and Friday.  In his defense he processed some claims.  I spoke to a customer I was dealing with a few weeks ago who happens to be an old TV presenter from Magpie, the cool kids’ Blue Peter.  She’s sound enough.  I have many other customers to call back tomorrow.  The joys of pretending to be management – yay.

Good Friday I would have probably gone into work if I hadn’t remembered (or rather have Nikki remind me) that I couldn’t give her a lift home on Friday because we’re not working.  So Friday I spent sleeping mostly, and then over to Carl and Nikki’s for fake spaghetti bolognese (fake because it was made with pasta twists) before heading to the pub to see my friends’ band.  Later I gave Carl and Nikki a lift back home where I stayed for an hour or two.  In that time we must have had a snow storm or something as I left to find everything covered in white.  In true Bradford style the roads hadn’t been gritted, so I spent a fair time driving home on the motorway at 25mph or something.  Saturday and Sunday were spent doing nothing in particular.

Today I went biking with Geoff.  It’s a fair while since I used my bike (which means I should really get somebody to service it) and as a result I’m (still) unfit.  I did a quick health check on brake fluid, tyre pressure, etc.  I have some weird-ass pump with a pull cord.  I filled the tyres a bit and then did myself a mischief whilst removing the damn awkward nozzle – I took a chunk out of my finger and lost a pint or so of blood, but in the words of Dilios, God saw fit to grace me with a spare.  A few in fact, so we headed off still.  We saw the canal boat on which a friend of ours lives.  I’m not entirely sure how someone can live in such a small space, but I die grass.  We cycles along the canal from Geoff’s house, onto Bingley and by Five-Rise Locks (bloody steep!), through Shipley and then across the river and pedalled up a dirt track.  About half way up I gave in while Geoff ran circles around me on the bike.  We had to turn back and do the uphill section along the canal.  I got back, and was quite ill and threw up.  I blame Geoff for this since I felt fine before I said “if you feel like you’re gonna chuck, best to do it while you’re cycling!”

Anyway, a few mins of fresh air, a sit down and plenty of water later I felt fine and stomached a cup o’cha.  Same again next week?  We’ll see  lol  I need to get out every day I think.  I feel better now, despite my sore behind.  My finger’s still screwed though.  Work tomorrow.  Bah – I wish I hadn’t cancelled my holidays.