It was entirely my fault I admit, and I've been doing this sort of thing too much recently. After getting off the 3pm Scottish Pullman from Edinburgh to London, I wandered down the platform to get all my stuff out of the luggage van. There was a lot of stuff. 2 bags, computer monitor, bass amp, and basses. Naturally, being the idiot I am, I left the most valuable thing (the bass case) to one side and walked off without it. That's £450 worth of basses, a nice £35 case, and the legendary Blob Blox that were just left sitting there. Thankfully, the surprisingly nice and clever people at King's Cross made sure no-one walked off with it, and they've got it.
So now I have to go to London to pick it up. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr............
I went to France. I can't quite explain why, because I'm not sure myself. All I do remember is building a kitchen for a bit, and the weather being rather hot.
So I apologise for going to France, it was minorly unforeseen, and I'll try to not do it again in the future.
So now I'm in Canterbury. Again, apologies. I have to see a bank manager again on Monday and explain to him that me not being a student any more doesn't magically mean I can now afford lots of stuff - I've still got no money, just like any other student. At some point I need a house and a job as well.
I did a silly thing.When I turned my server back on on returning from edinburgh, it was dead. I took the power bit out and tested it, and it was dead. Sighing slightly, I ordered (£70) a new one.
Did it at any moment occur to me to test that the fuse in the power cable might have gone and that the original power bit was ok? No. Of course it didn't.
Now it's plugged in and everything I don't have the heart to take the new one out. It's all shiney, and called Ronald.
Right, some photos are now up. I've put some in the new Amsterdam and Jazzmatazz sections, and added one or two to the Random section. There's more to come, I've not finished wading yet.
Hurrah! Went to London yesterday, and managed to find a house to live in. Just have to sign the contract tomorrow as well as pay two months rent (eek!). It's a nice terraced place in Stratford with two bedrooms, garden etc. I just need to find somewhere to put the bike now.
Went to see Jerry Springer: The Opera last night. Rather a good show, very offensive, very funny. Got the feeling that they had too much money left over at the end and spent it all on the last 5 minutes, but that's all in the spirit of having too much money.
Anyway, I'm in The Royal Republic of Ruislip now. I can't explain that one either, apart from to say that it's a better country than France. Just.
I now need to debate with myself the quickest way from here back home to Stratford, and then the quickest way after that to Manchester. Oh well.
The problem with Cambridge is that I still don't like it here. It's not the place, more the people. It's rather refreshing to get out into the real world where people do things properly, and away from the fantasy world that Pembroke invents for itself where it feels it can do what it likes and get away with it.
Honestly, if you tried to run a country by putting 100 people in the same room, all with their own little agendas and wants, gave them all one vote each, and told them to make decisions, it would collapse quite quickly. That's pretty much how college seems to be run. But hey, I've left now. They're not able to fine me.
In other news, the weather here is still as freaky (crap) as normal. I'll be drinking cheap beer tonight and then returning to the land of the normal people after that. Mind you, I say the land of the normal people but in such a place I can't get interviews for half the jobs I want to do, and I'm "overqualified" and therefore "rejected" for the other half. The paying the bills time of the month is going to be fun.
Right, I must go shout and swear at someone important in college.
I think I should try and explain to myself what I'm doing with my life. It's actually quite a few things at the moment.
To pay the bills: I work in insurance. No, really. I'm temping for Barclays up the road working in their life assurance complaints department. It's something along the lines of a little while back, lots of people were mis-sold endowment mortgages (bad things), and are subsequently complaining. Anyway, the FOS (Financial Ombudsman Service) decide if they people have a point, at which point Barclays figure out how much money they've lost, and write them a cheque. Some poor group of people have to mail out a bunch of forms to the people asking their permission to talk to the insurance lenders. Then that same group of people have to take those completed forms, phone up the companies, get all the information, and then mail out the letter offering the people some money back. That's what I do all day, and it's as interesting as it sounds.
In the evenings, I'm actually doing something I'd never thought I'd do outside Cambridge - I'm working on a show!!!!!! It's with a bunch of people called The Uncertainty Division who are performing until Sunday at the Baron's Court Theatre in London. I'm teching it (apparently), although it's entirely improvised so I have to make it up as I go along as well. It's good fun. Go see it.
At the weekends I go to Cambridge to see people I like.
And that's what I'm doing.
I'm slightly concerned that the civil service think I can't read though.