Your Own Personal Harry

That surmises my day very well. I did nothing at all until after lunch, when dad sent me on an errand to renew his books, and I made a deposit at the bank. I was also wearing a shirt, a fact that attracted much interest later.

During snooker with Worsy in fact. Our summer series continued, but not in the same vein. Normally its quite close, but today, Worsy was too inconsistent, and I was in excellent form, so I won 3-0. Now its 8-2 to me overall. Obviously it was my shirt wearing antics that affected his concentration.

The rest of the afternoon sort of petered out. Dinner was woefully inadequate as my crackpot insane father measured out exactly half the quantity required. Fool. After that I killed time for a few hours, before articulate at Wills' with Paddy and Keir. Twas a fine old game. Me and Wills came within a single space of a shock win over Paddy and Keir, but aside from that it went straight to form. Somehow Paddy never loses. The ultimate test will be pairing him with Jonny.

And that was that. Tomorrow, I think I am at work, which hopefully means mum will be packing my bags for me. Otherwise they wont get packed. I'm far too lazy to both work and pack in the same day. Then its off to Kent on Wednesday. If the routes arent flooded that is. 

Well, as may have been guessed, my weekend was absorbed by Harry Potter fever. First at work, which whilst maybe not quite as busy as expected, was still busy enough to force my boss to go to Woolsworths, buy up their stock, and sell it on for 7 quid more. Smart work. I also managed to get through some 200 pages of the book, largely by not doing my job properly, and serving customers only occasionally.

I got home, and was suddenly overwhelmed by tiredness, so I slept for an hour. I had already decided that I would ditch the Bunker, which incidentally proved to be an excellent decision, and read the new Harry Potter to the finish. Which so happened to be 1.53am. I have to say, I think it is my favourite of the series, though I am unsatisfied with one aspect of the ending. As ever, it was full of surprises. Definitely the best book, though I am sure it will scare some little kids, as its by far the darkest of the books.

Anyway having finished it, I gave it to soph as she got home from the bunker, and feel asleep. Today has been rather boring by comparison. Soph delivered her holiday present to me. Its a sweatband saying 'Best Bruv'. I'm sure Simon will be squirming with jealousy. I also went into town and got two Starlings tennis balls for my game of tennis with Perro in the afternoon.

Starlings tennis balls have a well deserved reputation for being shit, and these two proved no exceptions. Judging from their bounce, or lack of it, they had been made lead rather than rubber. The unnatural heaviness also meant we had to really whack them to get them over the net, leading to the other problem. They burst. All in all, a fackin waste of money. Let Starlings sue. As for the tennis, I played pretty well, winning 6-0 6-1, and would not have lost that game had the ball actually bounced properly.

We then walked home, meet Sam, who disturbed Perro with tales from his debauched universe, and then left. I had a fantastic dinner, then almost went to the pub. I saw the bouncers and then remembered I had neglected to bring my passport. This, combined with a sudden change of heart, made me abandon Worsy and Sam to whatever fate has in store. I went home, and watched the end of Rome, which decided to trample on history, not for the first time. Seeing as they changed a story to make it more palatable though, I was surprised. Normally the oppurtunity to show a child being murdered would not be missed by Rome. Getting soft in their old age.

And now to try and find something to do. Tomorrow will be another boring day, possibly featuring some packing, before my final day of work on Tuesday. Roll on my 5 day holiday. Even if it is Kent. 

Well Tuesday was spent working, or rather reading a book at work, whilst occasionally serving customers. Then in the evening me, Callum and Worsy joined Sam and Ian for a night out being delinquients. Eg. Drinking on the beach, which was extremely pleasant, depsite Sam playing his Banjo song. It was a pleasant evening of drinking and attempting to sink the HMS Carlsberg which Callum had put out to sea. Then we drifted off and ended up at Alices house, which was the first time in 4 years for me. She had a headache but let us in to watch Terminator 2 for a while, and generally behaving compulsively. I compulsively went home soon after.

Wednesday was insanely dull during the day, but I wasnt invited down the pub for the evening and duly turned up, though with only enough money for a singular pint. There was some metal band on, which were actually good by Crown standards. Aside from the music, the evening wasnt that great, as most of the time I was bored, and subjected to another evening of Kweir's 'Cwap' impressions of my good self. Oh and to Miles' random groping. Still I had the fun of a hopelessly drunk Jono Battrick-Newell trying to convince me that I was lashed when I was perfectly sober.

Thursday started with dull work once more, in which I did much more reading, and not much more. The evening featured the pub once again, as it was Miles' birthday. We all chipped in to get him a massive cocktail, which along with his habit of downing special brews, contributed to Miles actually getting drunk, a rare occurance. It was rather funny. The rest of the night wasnt so funny, although there were some jokes about my friend Doctor Tab, and Worsy seemed to be scowling at everything which was amusing. After a few hours, I went home, and luckily was sans hangover.

Today I finally managed to go a day without visiting a pub. Or doing much at all. All that has occurred was a game of snooker with Dad, who I thumped comprehensively 3-0. I was in some pretty good form in fact, making some shots I would never normally get. And that was all. Well not quite all, as I got my first book on my politics reading list, which is great. Now that is all. Tomorrow I have the insanity of working in a bookshop as Harry Potter is released, and then I am almost certainly not going to the Bunker afterwards. Mostly because no one else is. 

Today was a day of laziness and sport combined. Not much happened until after Lunch when me and Worsy continued our Summer showdown of snooker. I won both frames narrowly, mainly thanks to nerves of steel. 5-2 to me now. After that I was lazy for a good while, in fact, for the rest of the afternoon, until after dinner. When me and Jonny had a tennis match in which Jonny squandered his 5 early break points, to allow me to win 6-1 6-0. That said, it was a very high quality game by our standards. In particular I am delighted with my forehand which is back to my very best. If I get some lessons for my serve and backhand I might become a decent player again. Watch this space.

Tomorrow is work, earning money for nothing, because we are no longer attending the Bunker. Its 'all about the music' or something now, when it used to be about getting off your face and making a fool of yourself. Though the main reason we are not going is everyone else has decided not to, so I wont go alone. Summer is in danger of petering out.

Saturday was spent being worked reasonably hard at work. I did manage to storm through my latest Economist though. And that was that. Following dinner, Callum came round and we hit the pub. Starting in the Hood, where Callum quickly managed to cover his crotch in his lager. There we were joined by the other scumbags taking part in the evening. I also purchased a fake rose by mistake.

The Crown was next. Keir took to mocking my apparent speech impediment. 'This is cwap'. I would like to point out I dont actually have a lisp. I am very unusual in that my r and w actually sound similar, causing confusion, but I have no lisp. We also christened my fake rose 'Tony Blair' due to the association of roses and New Labour, and because it was phony, just like our departed Prime Minister. After 3 drinks, we left.

By this point I seemed quite happy, which is very unusual. Tony Blair became an offensive weapon, and then became twisted beyond repair by Keir. Meanwhile the night continued in bizarre fashion as Morgan joined us for some drinks, and Jonny Lawson and Paul Windross turned up somewhat stoned. After a couple of Sambuca shots(not necessarily paid for by me), I was actually feeling genuine euphoria. It was pretty amazing. Eventully went home about 1 and stayed for an hour dancing to myself.

This morning I was hungover. It was a hangover that stayed in my legs, as I found walking difficult, but was otherwise fine. It eventually passed, though not before I became starving after skipping breakfast. What did not come to pass was my planned Tennis duel with my Dads friend. So I played Charlie instead, which I would have won with total domination but for the terrible balls we were using. They were abysmal,a nd cost me a game as one ball literally changed direction after a bounce, with no spin on it whatsoever. We ended up smacking them into a hedge, where they belonged. I then searched for gaffer tape but failed, so went home and had a nap.

This evening has been quiet. I made myself some dinner and then watched Rome, read about Carthage and Ecstasy and am now going to bed. Tomorrow I have no plans, which means I should make some. After all, I am leaving in 10 days.

Today was a featureless landscape until lunch, when me and Paddy headed to Norwich for some pointless music shopping. Which we duly did, though only after Paddy insisted on playing me some of his ridiculous prog rock. King Crimson sounded like the soundtrack to Worsy doing LSD.

Having got there we met Worsy and headed off to Circular Sound where he eventually managed to locate the right cd, and but it in my cd case. Great stuff. Then while browsing other shops for Fun House by Iggy & The Stooges, Paddy bought the YMCA and Bohemian Rhapsody on vinyl. What a nerd. A gay nerd I might add. Disclaimer; Paddy has not confirmed he is gay. In fact he has on numerous occasions issued statements to the contrary.

After that we went crazy in the Forum with cd's I went temporarily insane in HMV and we went home on the train. I ended up with The Vines debut, Black Sabbath Vol 4, Heroes by Bowie and Louder Than Bombs by the Smiths, of which I have played only the Vines, which was actually pretty great. I am surprised. Tomorrow is work, which means I will be reading on the job again.

Today I was working again. Naturally it was dull, and I found myself almost all on till duty. Huzzah. Sam visited and regaled me with entirely fictional tales of ecstasy use. I also found time to read about 50 pages of To Kill a Mockingbird, which is actually much more impressive than it seemed at the time. But its really easy to read so thats how I managed it.

That ended at half 5, and the next few hours were spent recovering, eating, and most importantly, mucking around on the computer. Then it was Badminton with Kweir, Paddy and Wills for the first time in a hell of a long time. Naturally I lost all my games, except when in a doubles team with Keir. Keir meanwhile went somewhat insane after losing to the largely flukely Wills. I accept defeat graciously in comparison.

Tomorrow will feature a trip to Norwich to get the correct cd, because some idiot in an independent shop cant fucking well but the right cd in the right case. This is the reason they remain an 'independent' shop. Its not some kind of ethical bullshit, its because customer service is shite. Just because they are getting killed by the megastores buying in bulk, doesnt mean they can take it out on me. I'm not HMV.