The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

*WARNING* This is going to be a long post, I'm in full on geeking out mode having just got back from seeing the afore mentioned film. If you're the sort of person that like to skim through my longer pieces of drivel (Rosie) then you might want to skip the first bit since I'm just going on about how much I love Douglas Adams and the hitchhikers guide thing in general before I get to the bit about my day and the film a bit later on (I've marked it with a *). You've been warned.

This is the story of my trip to see the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. One the most remarkable, certainly the most successful books, radio series, films, towels, ever to come from the pen (or more accurately, the apple Mac) of an earth man. The earth man's name was Douglas Adams and if you don't know anything about him, you should check the link. Douglas Adams is my favourite writer. Ok, he didn't write my favourite book, but the way he writes, his view of the world, his sense of humour and love of everything to do with the Beatles, make him my favourite writer, despite the fact that he didn't write Lord of the Rings, which is the only bad thing I think I can say about him. DNA (his initials), like Eddie Izzard, is the sort of person that you always have a sneaky suspicion that you're the only one that really 'gets' how good he is. Sure other people find them funny and interesting and enjoy what they do, but they don't get it quite as well as you do. You really understand where they're coming from and what they're about better than anyone else and because of this, your love for them becomes somehow very personal.

I have loved the HG2TG since I first read the book on holiday in Cornwall when I was 14. Someone had told me I should read it and so, in an act of juvenile rebellion, I stole a copy from a bookshop in Penzance, for which I am now very sorry. Sorry that I stole it that is, not that I read it, because it is a quite brilliant book. I read it from cover to cover four times in a row, so had I paid, I'd have got my money's worth from it. When I learnt that there were more books I got them (this time through the boring and legitimate use of cash) and read them. I loved them too. Then I found out that the books had come about because the HG2TG had originally been a bbc radio series, so I found the tapes of that and listened to them. They were funnier than the books and I loved them too. I then discovered (and I think you can guess what's coming next), that there was also a tv series. So I brought that too (I'm sure Douglas was able to buy a lovely new piece of software for his Mac on just the money he was making from me at this point). The tv series was good, but in an early 80's doctor who type way, it didn't really do justice to the books and radio series. Since then I have read all four of his other books and every Douglasy bit of stuff I could find.

*So, to sum up the last couple of paragraphs, I'm a HUGE Douglas Adams fan. So when I found out that they were finally going to make a film about it two years after Douglas' very sad and early death in 2001 (he was 41) I was both excited and worried. Excited because after nearly 15 years of Douglas trying to get the film made (he likened the experience of getting a film made to cooking a steak by getting a succession of people to walk up to it and breathe on it) it was actually going to happen, and worried because Douglas wouldn't be there to make sure it came out how he wanted and that it would be left to someone who, as good as they were, were never going to be as godlike in there genius as Douglas. I didn't need to worry.

The first indication that things were going to be good came with the news that Martin Freeman (Tim from the office) was going to play Arthur Dent. This is the sort of casting where everyone goes "Ahh yes, of course, that makes perfect sense" but that no-one had thought of before it was announced. The second indication was that Stephen Fry, Douglas' long time friend, was going to be the voice of the guide, which once you've seen the film will make sense. Then the trailers (which if you've followed my links earlier you'll have seen) came out, and they were perfect Douglasy moments.

And so to the film. Actually, before we get to the film a bit about my day:
Had a lie in. Went to the hall. Had lunch. Cleaned the bins. Went into town. Had coffee with Rosie. Got NME. Walked the 20 min to the cinema.

So, finally to the film. Actually, to be more precise, to the film experience. I love the cinema. I love seeing films on the big screen and sometimes, occasionally, if you're lucky, you see an awesome film. And if you're even luckier you'll see it on one of the bigger screens. And if you're even luckier still you'll be sat in the middle, middle of the cinema. And if you really want to push the boundaries of being lucky, there'll be some awesome, exciting trailers on before the film too. The chances of all these things happening together in one film experience are of course astronomically small. Tonight it did.

I sat down with my coke and popcorn in the middle, middle of the cinema. The lights went out. And, with no preamble of annoying adverts for Orange or Renault meganne's the new Star Wars trailer came on! I'd not seen it on the big screen before and it looks amazing and wonderful and I can't wait. Then the Batman Begins trailer comes on and I get to see that for the first time (again, cool, amazing, can't wait type feelings). By now I'm rocking backwards and forwards in my chair with sheer geeky delight. And then, then the film comes on. And it was wonderful.

It opens with a wonderful song from a group of dolphins. It then goes into the story that I am so familiar with. Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Trillian, Zaphod, Marvin and the guide are all familiar but this film makes all the familiar jokes and situations seem fresh and new. It allows me, with my near word for word knowledge of the books and radio series to enjoy Douglas' genius as new, and for that alone the film is brilliant. But it doesn't stop there. Some people have been really annoyed that the film hasn't precisely followed what Douglas wrote before. However, I don't quite get that, since the radio series, tv series and books are sometimes slightly different and sometimes entirely contradictory. What the film does is make the HG2TG work as a film, and with such a wordy source material, that is no small feat. Not only that, but the added romance between Arthur and Trillian really added something to the film for me, and since this actually happens in one of the hitchhikers books (although in a very different way for very different reasons) I can't see what people have a problem with.

What this film really does though, is capture Douglas' wonderful, funny, beautiful view of the world. Yes it made me laugh out loud, smile at some of the in jokes and enjoy the spectacle that is the film. But what this film did was remind me what a wonderful world this is we live in. The original radio series ended with Arthur Dent sat on prehistoric earth as Louis Armstrong sang that song. This film celebrates life. It celebrates the beauty of this planet (despite it being blown up 10 minutes into the film). The wonderful yet total ineptness of us as a species. I left the cinema in such a good mood, I walked home (an hours walk) through the rain, smiling to myself and listening to Louis Armstrong sing 'what a wonderful world' on my ipod.

I'm sure that not everyone will get this film. Some people will see it as strange. Some people will find it clunky. Some people will see it as a sacrilege of Douglas Adam's work. For me, it's wonderful, life affirming and above all Douglasy. And it ends with a flash of the smiling face of Douglas Adams. Perfect.

Knackered

Today's been ok. College was as dull as usual, but I'm used to that.
Absolutely knackered now though. I got home, got some fish and chips cos I couldn't be bothered to cook, watched the football and fell asleep.

Just woken up and thought I'd quickly check my e-mails and the Guardian website before I went to sleep (one of my daily rituals). Found another great article that I thought was worth reading, this time by Richard Attenborough, the director (of Gandhi among many others), actor (he played John Hammond, the old guy in Jurassic Park) and all round good guy.
Richard Attenborough

Oh, and also, the trailer for the serenity has been released. The new film by the genius that is Joss Whedon. Check it out, looks good:
Serenity Trailer

The Longest Day

That's been a horrible day.
This morning I had to tell my bosses (one of which is my flatmate) that I was leaving. That was at a meeting that we left for at 9:00. It went ok I guess, could've been better. Could've been a lot worse.
Then on the way home we broke down. Flat tyre on the minibus. And I'll tell you something. There's no way any of the grand prix teams could have got the wheel off in 10 seconds. The bolts were rusted on so we had a huge struggle to change that.
Then spent the afternoon setting up the hall. Then two clubs. Then I had to tell the rest of my team that I was leaving, which was horrible and I dealt with it really badly since it turned out they already knew.
Now it's 9:30 and I've got to get a waste of time preaentation ready for tomorrow.
I'm exhausted.
BUT that's it! It's official. I'm moving back home (London) and I can't wait. I'm going to miss one or two people up here, and I really don't like that I've had to leave the project after only two years. But it's the right decision. And I feel a huge wave of relief knowing that that's it.
So, going to eat. Go for a walk to get my head together. Work on the presentation. Go to bed. Watch the West Wing and waste a day at college tomorrow.

The Power of Music

I guess from my previous post it's pretty clear that I'm not in the greatest of moods at the moment. This was not helped by the fact that I have a meeting tomorrow that's going to be really difficult cos I have to let down some people that I don't want to let down. And also by the fact that I'd just spent 2 hours of my life, for reasons that are unlikely to be made clear at this point, in a room full of old women trying to play music I don't know on the piano.
So I left the hall in an unsurprisingly bad mood.
I put my ipod on. It was on Random. The sun was shining. 'My Generation' by the who came on and I sang along to the 'why don't you all f......ade away' with real meaning. Then 'Hey Dude' by Kula Shaker came on and I walked down the street playing air guitar. THEN the Beatles came on singing 'Good Day Sunshine' and by this time, as I walked into the flat I was skipping (almost literally) along to the music, smiling and feeling good about things. Not sure how long this will last (probably not long), but I've still got my ipod on random, through my stereo, loudly, and just for the moment, life seems ok.

3 Films and a Rant

This weeks been fairly dull. Not really done anything except work and watch a few films (I'll tell you about then in a minute).

But just for a second I want to rant about ITV's formula 1 coverage. What was it about? 4 laps to go, two cars almost touching as they fight for the lead. They're coming up on traffic, the climax of the race, the battle of the season so far and what do they do? They cut to a 5 minute commercial break! by the time we're back, they've passed the traffic and we're on the last lap. We've missed 3 of the tensest laps in formula one for years. I've accepted that there's going to be commercial breaks during formula one, but surely they could USE SOME COMMON SENSE where they put them. And it's probably worth saying to all the companies that paid to advertise at that point that every single person watching just hated them for existing so they wasted their money, whoever they were.

Right, now I've got that off my chest:
First film I want to talk about is a new cinema release I saw with some friends Tuesday night, The Interpreter, with the marvellous Sean Penn and Nicole Kidman. It's about (and I know you'll die with shock when I tell you this) an interpreter played by Nicole. She works at the UN and seems to speak about a hundred different languages. She overhears a discussion in a language from her home (African) country about an assassination attempt and tells the police and Sean Penn's character takes it on. I don't want to ruin the plot for you, but the rest of the film deals with the result of overhearing this conversation and it's links to Nicole's home country. It's a tense thriller, beautifully acted. But more than that, it deals with the question of diplomacy vs war/violence, still an important question for the world (and the US and the UK in particular) to be thinking about.

Second film I saw before that on DVD. Kevin Smith's (of Dogma, Clerks, Chasing Amy fame) latest film, Jersey Girl. When this came out it suffered from the fact that both Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez were in it so suffered with gigli comparisons, but that was unfair, especially since the main female lead is Liv Tyler and Jennifer Lopez is only in the film for a few scenes, because this is a fantastic film. For those of you who don't know Kevin Smith's films, they are incredibly geeky(possibly why I love them). They're about people who make comic books, they're full of Star Wars references, they're geeks films. This film isn't. Actually it is, but not in the same way. It doesn't reference any other films or comics and Jay and Silent Bob (characters that have appeared in some way or another in all of Kevin Smith's previous films) don't make an appearance. This is about what happens when the geek has to grow up. Ben Affleck used to a big promoter in the city. He was very good at his job. But, when his wife died in childbirth he ended up losing his job and moving from the city to New Jersey, moving in with his Dad and taking a job working in drains and driving a cart. 8 years later, his daughter (again a performance from a kid that isn't annoying) is older and he wants to move back to the city. And that's what the film's about. Ben Affleck (who is really good in this film) has to come to terms with the fact that he's not going to be the big promoter with the big apartment, famous friends and a $100'00 a week salary. He has to let go of his younger mans dream and accept the person that he's become, and the truth that what he is, is actually worth more than he wanted anyway.
Surprisingly, most of Kevin Smith's fans didn't like this film, and I'm guessing that's because they still dream of being actors, film makers, rock musicians and don't want to admit that, for most of them, there's going to be a day when they realise that they're never going to play Wembley Stadium, or get a film released, even if deep down they know that already. Personally, I loved the film. Sure I'm a geek. Sure I'd love to play Wembley stadium, write a film or a book. But I'd just as happily wake up one day with someone I love (especially if they happen to look like Liv Tyler), with the kids sleeping (or more likely downstairs watching tv) and with a wry smile, realise that that was worth more than all the dreams I have now.

The final film is Dog Soldiers. I watched this last night. It is a great film, if you like werewolves, a bit of gore and a bit of horror. It's a sort of mix between Alien, Predator, Evil Dead and Zulu. There's no depth to the film, no hidden message. It's just a great ride. Tense, jumpy and fun, with no CGI in sight.

So that's been my week. 3 films and an annoying formula 1 race. And I don't even like formula 1 that much.

Ever Just Want to Get Out?

Finished club this evening at about 6:45 and am just in the mood to get out of here and do something, just feeling a bit clostraphobic at the moment so I'm going to have some dinner then then head into town and sit with a coffee and a book.

And a couple of things if you're interested. Firstly, here's a great article by Roy Hattersly on the state of the election at the moment, which sort of covers what I was saying the other day, just with more insight and intelligence.
Roy Hattersley Article

Secondly, I realised the other day that I haven't said anything about the film I'm most looking forward to this year (and suprisingly it's not Star Wars). The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is one of my favourite books, radio series, towel, and the film version comes out on April 29th. It stars Martin Freeman (Tim from the office) and Stephen Fry (as the voice of the guide). Just to show you why I'm so excited, here's a link to the fantastic trailers :
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Trailers

Oh, and finally, I've learnt how to put links in my blog, cool eh.

A New Coldplay Song

I don't want to know how my friend got hold of this, but he's just sent me a copy of one of Coldplay's new songs. It's obviously been recorded live so it's not the greatest quality in the world, but it's fantastic. It's called 'What If' and it starts with the usual Coldplay type piano ballad verse with the lyrics asking what if... (there was no right, there was no time, no reason no rhyme etc). It's beautiful verse and the lyric goes on to show that he's asking questions about a relationship (Gwyneth?) he's in so the whole question what if becomes about what if she decided that she doesn't want to be with him anymore. It's a song full of insecurities. When you're listening to the verse you think you've heard it before, it sounds like you'd imagine a new coldplay song would sound, and to an extent it is. But when the chorus kicks in and Chris Martin shoots up to his falsetto voice it suddenly sounds different and new enough to not be boring and move from beautiful to incredible. The song builds and builds towards the end, by which time the full band is playing and it's become a dissonant, clostraphobic mess reflecting the insecurity in the lyrics. Then the sound's just left to fade away. I can't wait for the album if it's all as good as this.

Oh, and the breathings a lot better today, thanks to everyone that asked.

Breathing

Today's been a fairly good day. I had a lie in. Got up, watched Before Sunset (an absolutely brilliant film, as good as Amytiville Horror is bad), watched a couple of episodes of Scrubs (still great) and went to a friends for dinner which was nice. This evening though my asthma's been playing up and I'm sat here sounding like Darth Vader after running a marathon while holding his breath. I'm sort of used to it by now since I've had it since I was 4, but it still really annoys me when I can't breathe properly, it just makes everything harder to do and knackers you out. But for now I'm going to sit down and finish off the book I'm reading (Stephen Frys 'the liar' which is funny if sort of weird, a bit like him I guess).

The Amytiville Horror

Went to see the Amityville horror last night. It was a waste of time. It was jumpy enough (to the point where there were some people screaming at certain points) but it was a film that had nothing original AT ALL in it. You knew the story before the first shot was finished. Every horror cliche was there. The little girl ghost who is not all bad, the eveil ghost with a black hat and hook. The stupidity of the characters as they run upstairs rather than out of the door. The house built on an indian grave yard. It was all there and all horribly predictable. So don't bother going to see it, the only scary thing about it is that it was ever made in the first place,

Scrubs

Now, maybe I'm the only one who doesn't know this, but Scrubs is a brilliant tv programme. I watched an episode on tv this afternoon for the first time, thought it was excellent so I've downloaded the first few episodes and they're brillilant (which I might have already menitoned). I loved Garden State, it was one of my favourite three films of last year (along with Shaun of the Dead and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotlees Mind) and Zach Braff was brilliant in it. I didn't know anything about him then other than that he was in Scrubs, but I'd never watched it cos I thought it looked like a naff U.S comedy and it was on Sky One, and the only thing I've ever liked on there is the Simpsons (i've got all of Buffy on DVD so I don't need to watch that on tv). Now I've watched it though, I can't believe how much I've enjoyed it. Does everyone else know how good this programme is and no-ones ever bothered to tell me? That's the only reason I can think of for never having heard anything good about it.
Maybe you're wondering why I keep going on about films, music and tv programmes I like. It's because there's so much crap out there, that when you finally find something that makes you smile, that you empathise with and that actually makes you think, that's something really big. It's sort of like falling in love, just without the awkwared does she love me stage that usually ends in dissapointment anyway.

A General Election's Coming

In case you either hadn't noticed or don't know, there's a general election in the uk on May 5th, and this is a rant about all the things that are annoying me about politics in our country at the moment, so feel free to skip to the last paragraph (where I've written a bit about my day) if you're not interested in politics (you'll have your own section of rant especially for you later on too) or if you just can't be bothered.

Over the last few days the main parties have been releasing their manifestos and there's been the usual bickering about 'black holes' in the various different budget/tax plans. The usual claim from the tories that they'll be able to do everything that Labour says it'll do and cut tax (which is clearly crap), labour saying that they're going to run a positive campaign just before pointing out that the tory budget doesn't add up and the Liberal democrats saying sensible things but telling people that they'll have to pay for them and no-one really caring what they say anyway.

What's really pissing me off at the moment is the tories and paticularly Michael Howards inistance on continually talking about immigration policy, and more specifically that we should basically stop immigration into the country (a slight exageration, but only slight). Despite the fact that he's being completely hypocritical (his parents are immigrants), he's also being completely naive if he doesn't realise that by airing the ideas he has, he is actually inciting racial hatred. What pisses me off even more is the fact that the reason he's doing this is that polls show that this is one area that the tories are actually polling well in. What does that say about our country? At best it says that we're worried about housing and population growth in (lets face it) a small country. At worst it says that we're not willing in any way, shape or form to help out anyone that needs it, or give anyone a chance for a better life. What worries me most is that when people (and I include the tories in this) think and say these things, they're not talking about all the Australians, Kiwis, Europeans, Canadians etc that have settled here, but about people of different colour. I hope that's not what they mean, but I fear it is. What do we do if that is the attitude of our country? Other than emigrate ourselves, I really don't know.

Tony Blair.
What can I say about the guy. In 1997 he was a hero. I'm sure it's no coincidence, but that year was the first time I voted, and it was the first time since I was born that Labour took power. I thought he was going to turn all the crap that the tories had dumped on us over the previous 18 years around and to a certain extent, he has. But what was the first thing I can actually remember him doing? After going on about "education, education, education" for the whole of the election, he got rid of student grants and brought in tuition fees. I only mention this because it was the first time he dissapointed me. Since then though, I actually think he's done a good job. He's certainly not left wing enough for my tastes, but he has certainly improved schools, the nhs, the police, the economy (although I figure Gordon Brown who I like much more should get most of the credit for that) and pretty much any other area that governments are supposed to be good at. There's definitely still a lot more improvement needed in all those areas and maybe the last few years haven't been as impressive and things have moved a lot slower than in labours first term, but I think we're generally moving forward (if very slowly). Sure he's had failures (the Lords reform being one that paticularly annoys me) and he made a huge mess of the war. [We should never have allowed ourselves to be bullied into that by the vile dictator George W Bush. But at the same time, I can't help thinking (and Bill Clinton apprently agrees with me here) that by being alongside the states we did slow down and temper the US response. I don't think that justifies it, but I do think that Tony Blair did what he honestly believed to be right, even if I disagree with him.] Would I rather him not be prime minister, actually yes. I think he's become a caricature of himself and that it's time (infact probably past time) that he stepped aside for someone else (Gordon Brown!). Does that mean I can't vote Labour? of course not! I still think that of all the current leaders (Tony Blair, Michael Howard and Charles Kennedy) that Tony Blair is the best choice. And even if I didn't think that, Labour are the only viable option for government at the moment no matter who's in charge (with the excemption of Mandleson). Sure, I like lots of the things that the Lib Dems have to say, and at times they appear more left wing than labour, but, and it's a big but, I don't actually know what they stand for. They have yet to convince me that they can govern and Charles Kennedy is not a leader, despite being a nice guy.

And a quick final rant. There's too many people saying that either they don't care about politics or that they're not going to vote. Whether you like it or not, politics controls much of the lives we live and more importantly the way we interact with each other, care for each other, interact with other countries, make poverty history and pretty much anything else you can think of. So, despite the fact that it's mostly talked about by pompous old men, take an intrest, even if its just fleeting, for the next few weeks.
Deep breath.
Rant Over

Today's been fine. Lie in, luch meeting in town, kids club in the evening (I didn't kill any of the kids so that was successful). Listened to U2 alot. Got home. Spoke to some friends on the phone and on MSN. Read todays paper, got annoyed, wrote my Blog, went to bed and watched an episode (possibly 2) of the West Wing.

In A Dull Lecture

I'm only in college one day a week at the moment, but the lectures are still fantastically boring, we're doing basic stuff that I covered about 5 years ago. However, technology is a wonderful thing and thanks to the wonders of wi-fi i can sit in my lecture and look as if I'm busy taking notes whilst actually talking to friends on msn, browsing round my usual websites and now updating my blog.
I was supposed to be staying late in college tonight to write an essay, but am so bored by it all that I'm just going to head home. And the fact that there's a champions league match on the tv this evening has nothing at all to do with that decision.
And just in case anyone's interested, I watched the finale of series 6 of The West Wing last night, and it's quite good after what's been a dissapointing couple of seasons without Aaron Sorkin's (the creator and writer of the first 90 shows) input. And if you've never watched The West Wing and have no idea what I'm talking about, you should find series one on dvd (you can borrow mine if you live anywhere near me) and watch it. Be warned though, it's addictive.

Home Sweet Home?

So the last couple of days have been fairly eventful. I got off the train at 7:00 Friday night and went straight from the station to a local curry house to meet some friends who were up from london for a couple of days. It was great to catch up (and eat a great curry, at the Himalaya if you're interested) and I spent the rest of the weekend with them. Some of it was work, but spent some time showing them round edinburgh, which was really pleasent, and drinking coffee at Neros, which is always good.
One of the things that came out of the weekend, was one of my friends inviting me out to Cyprus for a holiday at the end of May, which I'm obviously taking him up on since it's an incredibly cheap holiday. My friend Emily was born in Cyprus and her family live out there and own (among others) a beautiful house by the beach which I've spent time in a couple of times before. I'm really looking forward to going back there, and spending a week lying on the beach, reading, listening to music, swimming and eating at really good, really cheap Cypriot restaurants. The previous two times I've been out there were fantastic. The first time we went Steve and Em were just friends, the second time they were going out. This time they're married. Which has nothing to do with anything, except that this time I'm going away with two married couples, which could be weird but they're all really good friends, so it'll be good fun, I hope.
Going from Sheffield, to a weekend with friends and then back to work today has helped to convince me that it's time to move on. I've just never settled here, and I'm ready to move on. If this seems like a recurring theme at the moment, it's cos I've been thinking alot about it. So on another subject:
I went to see Sahara last week, and really enjoyed it, and not just because Penelope Cruz is in it. It's a really good adventure film, sort of like Indiana Jones, but with some James Bond thrown in. Go and see it.
Also, I've spent today listening to Athlete's new (came out in January) album again and if you can get past Joel sliding up to every note, it's really worth listening to. It's one of those albums where you think that every song was written about either how you're feeling now, or how you've felt in the past and was written specifically for you.

Memories

It's been a week since I last wrote anything. The simple reason for that is that I've spent the last week at my Mum and Dads taking a week out. The fact that my Mum and Dad have internet at all is a miracle; that it's slower than an asthmatic ant that’s had all its legs broken and is pulling itself along with its feelers means that if you can check your e-mails without spending 30 minutes waiting for a page to load you've done well so there was no chance of me adding to the blog. So, to the literal 2 of you that have been eagerly anticipating my next post... ok, idly wondering when I'd post again, I apologise for the delay.

The idea of me going away was to hopefully spend some time trying to come to a final decision about what I'm going to do come June when my course ends, but I ended up having a great, if strange week. My Mum and Dad both work in schools and were therefore both on holiday, so we spent the days going around different places that I haven't been to for years. (I spent my evenings having a drink with old school friends, which was nice).
What's struck me most this week though is the way memories can hit you. As we went to the various parks and country walks, round places that haven't changed in the 26 years I've been going to them, I was reminded of so many different events and people; grandparents, first kisses, summer days playing cricket, old school friends, family arguments, ex girlfriends. But it wasn't the memories of these events that hit me, it was the way being back in those places, being reminded about those events, made me remember who I was then, and what I'd felt. It was like an echo of who I'd been, and occasionally it felt like I was that old 'me' again, like a soft focus flash back in a cheap made for tv movie.
If this sounds all a bit sentimental and ridiculous, that's basically because it is both ridiculously sentimental and basically ridiculous, but its been that sort of week.
If nothing else it's convinced me that there's no way I want my life to stay the way it is at the moment. So it's helped make my decision about the future a lot easier.

A Busy Few Days

The last few days have been really busy. I've been helping out at a kids holiday club all week (apart from when I was ill) which is not my favourite thing in the world (I can't deal with gangs of kids without the use of a baseball bat). The positive side effect to this is that I've had the afternoon and evenings off and so I've had an interesting few days.

On Wednesday I was about to write a huge rant at the stupidity of the Scottish BBC for not showing the England match live, but as I walked out of the coffee shop (where I'd spent a great afternoon chatting to a good friend and drinking good coffee) I saw the football about to start through the window of, what looks like, a very run down pub. But since I like run down pubs and England matches, I didn't really think too hard (at least 2 seconds) before heading in... and having the greatest evening I've had in ages. We won the football (although it was a fairly uninspiring match) but the pub was fantastic! At one point, there was me, the bar staff and the manager just sat down, listening to MY IPOD over the stereo arguing about which was the best Oasis album (obviously a choice of two, Definitely Maybe and Morning Glory). And the rest of the evening was like that! It was like living for an evening in a (admittedly very geeky) version of Cheers, where everyone knows your music. So I'll be going back there at some point!

The last couple of days have been fairly dull though. I was supposed to be meeting a couple of friends in the centre of Edinburgh for a huge underground open air pillow fight. But unfortunately I had to spend the afternoon editing a video for someone so didn't make it. Today we had to pack down and clean after the week, so finished late, and been collapsed at home in front of the tv watching Natalie Imbruglia (extremly beautiful) and Eddie Izzard (extremely funny) on Jonathon Ross and eating Curry. So it's ended well at least.