the brownies passed the bounce test - in that when she bit into one her whole face lit up and almost made me blush they were much better than the mid week batch (secret being more and better chocolate and waitrose rather than morrisons cherries) i might sell the recipe to M&S (these are not just brownies these are alcohol drenched melt in the mouth pure seduction brownies.. or something like that). she liked the pressies too and we have a date for next week

more good news today when i read my contract for the new book to find they will pay me a hefty advance! It does rather mean i have to deliver on time but i have 2 years so should be ok. with two books now on the go im hoping the teaching calms down in 2008. the second year and first year stuff is fairly sorted but i still have lots to do for the year threes and i have my portugal conference paper to write and 2 articles. probably be better if the bouncing muppeteer didn't succomb to my charms if im going to get anything done (no that's a silly idea!) what i need is a plan and i think sunday might be the day for sorting all that stuff out.

its pissing down outside and so im kind of hoping that SheWho doesn't invite me out to the pub with her mate..

just a bit of festive cheer for my northern friend who thinks Im a scrooge. well i do like xmas and i did go shopping in milton keynes this afternoon but it was hard to get excited. perhaps its my situation (singledom) but everything looked dull today and i was very unispired. i bought lots of books 'cos they will suit some of the family but for those that don't read i was a bit stumped. bought a CD (kate nash) but not sure who for. bought some wrapping paper and a couple of little things for my friend's birthday tomorrow. had to fix the brakes on the car (well not me exactly - the garage did it i just had to remeber the four digits of my pin) so perhaps the expense put me off. i didn't even buy myself any clothes. it was a bit of a damp squib overall, never mind i'll make a list and try again next week.

the brownies are in the oven - much richer recipe than the other day so i hope they come out ok - 5-10 minutes and we will know. popped in to wish her luck this afternoon but otherwise minimal contact (take note whatdidyoudotoday). text from She inviting me to afternoon tea tomorrow - what does she think i do all day? I have classes and students all afternoon and can't just drop everything because she's got a day off.

sperz are losing 2-0 to Aallborg... c'mon you danes!

great presentations for the most part today, and it is always nice to be able to give out good marks. the meeting afterwards wasa little tetchy - setting exams always seems to bring out the pedant in the room. never mind, mine are now approved and i can get on with the last couple of weeks of term. our visiting speaker was interesting - he is writing a history of the intelligence service (not spooks the other lot) and although he overan his talk by almost half an hour it didn't feel like it. i wanted to stay and ask questions but had to be back home to meet J (my ex for those not up with events) who was dropping off the keys. i rushed out early only for her to cancel for the second time this week. she is tired poor thing and instead of rearranging ive just told her to put them in an envelope and drop them through the door. it is frustrating because she really should have sorted all this out ages ago - and have arranged to move her stuff before too. im being too nice about it all - telling her to take her time etc. she wanted to meet for a drink this week but im not making an arrangement if she is going to be this unreliable - if she wants to stay friends then she is going to have to work at it.

ive not mentioned arsenal so far because im still a little disapointed at the perfromance last night. ok we were under strength, ok we had already qualified, but what was the defence doing? lets hope they bounce back against villa at the weekend and that Fab isn't too badly hurt - we lack guile without him and Hleb.

let me finish on a positive note before i go off for drinks/food with my little brother: saw the bouncing muppeteer at her work today and had a very relaxed chat (mainly about the myths associated with sneezing) and it just felt right. gonna soak those cherries in brandy ready for the creation of the perfect brownies tomorrow night. did i mention that she is gorgeous? i expect so

busy day setting exams and sorting out admin task while helping students cope with their anxieties about presentations tomorrow - im sure they'l do just fine but they don't have as much faith in themselves as i do. chatted to the most well balanced of the 3rd years and perhaps revealed too much about my own anxieties but i think its ok, she's not a gossip. funny how its easier to chat with some of them about relationships than it is to talk to my colleagues. my american cousin is having grief from an external colleague - another academic in his field - it seems like he is the victim of an unprovoked attack on his character, really vindictive and unpleasant. a year ago i would probably have thought he had it coming but i like him more now so feel for him. this business can bring out some very strange jealousies.

started the day my bumping in to the muppeteer again - just outside my office.. twice in as many days, it must be fate! lovely chat about nothing at all really but it set me on course for a good mood all day. now back home its arsenal on the telly (itv4) against sevilla. once again wenger is resting players (gallas, ade) but hopefully cesc will be fresh and keen to do well in front of a spanish crowd. we have qualified already but it would be fantastic to see a great gunners performance.. bound to be 0-0 then

early lecture this morning followed by a long drive to cremate my aunt. family funerals: the only time you get to meet your cousins and your cousins' children. my aunt was 74 and had been sick with parkinsons. i didn't really know her as my extended family isn't a close one. i recognised faces from my dad's funeral several years ago - and many i didn't (her friends i expect). winter funerals (like summer weddings) are apt. the cold weather fitted the crematorium and lots of people in mourning - flowers the only colour. it was an awful service, all new fluffy religion and terrible muzak. the poem read by three of her children was well done though. i felt like an observer not a participant. everyone looks round afterwards.. who's going to be next they are (possibly) thinking. anyway, i never liked her and im not religious but rest in peace auntie joy

house meeting when i got back - what a palaver. i almost wish id never started the whole process all those years (6?) ago. now im the main mover and have to organise everything. at least the travellers are moving back in so i'll get more help from now on.

met the bouncing muppeteer first thing () which lightened my mood even if she seemed fed up. then i got lots of texts from her this evening so im pretty loved up again still being good though. right it must be time to check on the new recipe chocoalte and cherry brownies - im experimenting because chocolate and cherry brandy are her two favourite things. if i can somehow create a melt in the mouth blend of those two things she'll have to fall for me!

back from the land of leeks and castles having ahd a lovely time with the travellers. got messages from the muppeteer (who's feeling down poor thing..) and She Who (who is also away) so feel much more loved than i did a few days ago. need to be careful about starting the whole cycle off again though... but now im texting the muppeteer again which is fun (she is drinking ..it always helps..i am sober )

few words on the football - just to echo what my blogging friend has to say really: arsenal are infuriating - takinga ll game to score two late goals BUT last season we would have drawn the match or even lost to a late pesky heskey header so its an improvement. everyone is waiting for us to slip up.. even wenger possibly. how far can this team go? i think its still a season or two short of reaching its potential and also 2 or 3 players short of being wenger's greatest side. if theo comes good, if we can keep cesc, if RVP is as good as arsene thinks he is and if we spend some careful money in the summer this could be a fantastic side next season.

that is the theme of this morning.. i can't move my head very much on account of my brain having shrunk to the size of a pebble and the danger of it rattling a round and banging in to the sensitive parts of my skull - which are legion. errr too much beer and wine after a long drive at the end of long week. Boilk!

also i saw the muppeteer yesterday - and asked her to come see me in my office (oooh Sir) and she did - on time - it was lovely to talk if only briefly and we have sorted a few crossed wires out and are back on the slow path to see whether we want to be more than friends. frankly my ticker can't cope with much more than friends anyway at the mo and she is busy busy for at least another week. so i feel loads better (mentally at least)

when the travellers awake and have been fed and watered we are hopefully off down a mine for the afternoon - oh the rich pageant of life!

come on you gunners!
come on you U's!

here are three images from the british museum - three things that i liked

this one is one of the benin bronzes from 16th century africa (stolen by the british naturally) i love the detail on these guys and they would have been set on the buildings in benin city

this is a shield found in the river thames and presumably celtic - much earlier and for my money much more beautiful than anything the romans left here

finally this statue of aphrodite - in the room just outside the parthenon collection (more stolen treasures from greece) - its aphrodite (or venus if you are roman)surprised whilst bathing

all very different which do you prefer?

so mclaren has gone.. jimmy mack when are you coming back..err never i expect so long and thanks for all the dross, just wish he'd take lumphard and his ilk with him. anyway that's enough football its not what i want to talk about today

what i want to get off my chest is my frustration with some people. ok, so yesterday im out all day but as i leave work to head south for (v disappointing terracotta warriors..) i see the muppeteer and say 'ello', i get a weak smile and hello back. no email later, but there is one today apologising for the lack of contact and putting it down to being busy and stressed and ill and the like. well ok, work can get on top of any of us but when she was feeling crap and i was really busy i made time. i guess that means i care and maybe she don't - reality check sunshine - deal with it. today she said she'd pop over, she didn't, so before i left i popped over to hers. but hey, she'd gone already - no 'bye' or 'sorry not to make it'.. there i was sitting around waiting for godot or whatever. so now im home i have gone down to the armoury with the big set of keys, opened the store and have taken out my plate and mail and will wear this for the time being. i am now armoured against the worst the female kind can throw at me. this might all change if she pops over tomorrow but im not arranging my day around it like i did today.. she knows where i am (where i live even) from now on she makes the running.

as for She well, i am taking antlady's advice on that.. She (not the very lovely antlady i hasten to add) is having problems with her bloke and i perhaps she is finding out that it isn't always easy to spend time with old flames and not expect your current lover to get upset/jealous/possessive. whether she will ever acknowledge this to me or accept that i had to stop seeing her when j asked me to is quite another matter

so there you have it - women are trouble and best left alone - but i've known that since i kissed amanda in the playground aged about 8, im not about to change the habits of a lifetime!

sorry but i am going to have to muse some more on my condition this afternoon. i have written my lecture - in the end it think its quite good or at least its ok and interesting and the powerpoint has a fun start so it should keep them interested for a bit. i don't know why i worry quite so much but i do.

i hate being ill - did i mention this? - and i hate the lows that come after the highs of the past few weeks. no contact at all today from the muppeteer - and more to the point i doubt there is going to be any unless i instigate it. which makes me kind of sad and - yes admit it - a little cross. after all i did say that if she didn't want to play she didnt have to (or words to that effect)maybe this is simply cathartic - im getting angry as a way of dealing with my heartfelt disapointment that she doesn't seem to want to see me. after all she is lovely and bright and ticks so many boxes. ho hum. im concious as well that i am muddling her and my feelings for her up with Her and my frustration with Her. none of which is fair on any of us.

my aunt died at the weekend - she's not my only remaining aunt i have at least two - and i would be lying if i said that i was close to this one. but its another elderly relative down and another funeral. incidently in talking to my cousin - who broke the news - it appears i am related (however distantly) to oliver cromwell's chaplain. explains my republicanism if not my aetheism but i digress..

i haven't felt down since J and i split up until today and part of it is to do with being ill and with being tired (damn that alarm)but i think mostly its that im still searching for mrs/miss right. i don't want mrs willdoatapinch or missokbutwearguealot and certainly not ms itwasgreatforthefirstyearbutthenitgotstale - no i want this time to find the perfect person. so if you happen to be reading this and are single open minded unbothered about having children independent enjoy being spoiled from time to time and fun to be with then feel free to get in touch - oh it would help if you at least didn't mind rats..

can't deny that this morning im not feeling my usual happy self the weather is all wet and dull with little prospect of it cheering up. today i have to finish my lecture that i wish i'd never started, then i have exam questions to set (which i hate doing) and the oldbailey reports to mark. if im in post next year this will be better because they will all count. add to all of that the fact that i still have a cold and its landed on my chest which hurts and ive got a cough and that some stupid alarm kept goiing off last night and making me up every hour. what is the f@*kin point on having an alarm if it just sounds and no one comes?

She is coming to dinner - should be pleased or even excited but im not. im cross with Her. last time she made me feel that everything was my fault, then she came over all lovey and yet has says nothing about it - like it never happened (which is exactly how she reacted last time!) i think She constructs her own peculiar reality to allow Herself to come up smelling of roses every time. she even managed to slag of the doncaster belle when everthying about that situation was Her fault. she is, as my towcestrian ami suggested, no good for me. and i have to be up early tomorrow to go to london. did i mention i was feeling crappy? hurrumph

really didn't want to go in today but struggled there nevertheless (mentions in the new years hons list please ) small and cold group of second years was my reward - not hugely enthusiastic but who can blame them at 9am on a monday, what a stupid time to have a lecture! made gross error of sending the muppeteer a message first thing and then allowed myself to worry about the lack of a reply for the rest of the day. have now made a deal with myself that i wont be doing that again. got a reply eventually once i was home - she had been busy and it was so i think we are still on our rather bumpy journey pretty much intact. im still feeling ill (like most of my blogging friends it seems - tho mine is hardly self-inflicted unlike some people we could mention ) so i shall try and take it easy again tonight - just a few game sof badminton with one of the towcestrians then early bed...

every time i go to see the U's i pass by this old gibbert. it would have been used to display the dead bodies of hanged felons in the eighteenth century and before. i think it may be one of the very few remaining. now its next to a chinese restaurant (or similar).. enough to put one off one's prawn crackers..

its also my first picture post.. go me! now i know how to do it expect more 'exciting' images of the life of a lecturer in crime..

im mainly reading in bed today. its wet and cold outside, im feeling full of cold and ive got a long and (hopefully) interesting week ahead so im spending the day getting rid of the 'flu'. i might read some stuff for work but i might not. i am reading mark haddon's curious incident of the dog in the night-time which the bouncing muppeteer reccommended as the best way of understanding my asperger's students. its brilliant, very funny and sad and certainly chimes with some of the behaviour i have experienced. i wonder if there are any asperger's bloggers out there? later i might watch henry v but mainly, as i said, im staying put

what an awful game at the abbey! Northwich came for a point and nearly got that, cambridge simply descended to their level of football - all kick and rush with no direction for large parts of the game. and the crowd seemed subdued as well - partly because it was soooo cold but surprising given that it was the largest gate of the season - over 4,000. at the end of very frustrating half Rendell finally broke the deadlock and in the closing minutes the U's went close to adding a second. but then just after the restart of a game we all thought cambridge would now win at a canter northwich split the defence and scored. gloom descended. it looked like another draw until leo and wilmott came on to change things. willmott took a good ball to the right wing and crossed perfectly for rendell to get his second. after that cambridge should have had at last two or three as boylan and willmot both missed good chances. in the end 2-1 was ok and we went home happy.

spare a thought for poor old scotland - dumped out of euro2008 by a dodgy referring decision after coming from behind to be drawing 1-1 against italy. add to that russia failing to beat israel and it looks like england will scrape in and it all seems very unfair.

im too ill to go out with the big man tonight so its a vid and an early night for me..

woke up with a cold - don't think its flu but it could develop into the dreaded 'manflu' - whatever it is my throat hurts my nose is running and i feel rotten. still swallowed beecham's best and am off to try and play badminton. gives Her a slight advanatge i suppose. should i stay in bed for the rest of the weekend - nah, go to cambridge, bounce a bit, eat curry drink beer and sleep/rest all day tomorrow i thinkD

well all the debates on prisons today neatly coincided with my seminar on 18th and 19th century imprisonment. perhaps it was the topicality of the subject that made the first years so talkative this afternoon or perhaps it was just becasue - for once - the reading was fairly straightforward and they understood it. most seem to think we are too soft on criminals and that bringing back the tough regime of pentonville circa 1842 would act as a suitable deterrent. none wanted to reintroduce capital punishment but they advocated chemical castration for paedophiles and rapists - what do people out in the blogosphere think? Id be very interested to find out.

cooking dinner for the globe trotters since they didn't make it out last night - fish pie for em and him, veggie shepherd's pie for her.

still feeling good today despite a mild allergic attack - no muppetter for the weekend but still plenty to occupy myself and curry tomorrow night for the tall one's bidet. see you all later

im in chipper mood this evening - had to make a second post to just take in the day's events and feelings. half seven and im just about off out with the globetrotters, m&s, down the boozer for a pint or three. ears ringing from last night and dead on me feet i still managed a pretty sorted lecture on punishment and a great seminar thanks to a lively bunch of students. they got well into the difference between rampant poxed and fetid newgate and sanitised and monotonous pentonville. been great if i could have told them me own experiences on the subject but that might have to wait for another year. got back to find messages from the muppetter and She Who. both very friendly like and made me feel all warm and toasty in this freezing cold snap we are having. today i am enjoying singledom - if i could just get the love bit sorted (i.e. how not to let the ticker get blown apart) then i think i might even do the sort of dating my american cousin goes on about. he means sleeping around i think.. its not me but i wouldn't mind a bit of fumble anytime soon. relationship? not right now.. sex? that's a different matter.

other email was from a publisher. they are going to contract me to write the ripper book for publication probably 2010 which is just brilliant. it mighteven make some money which is hardly going to be the case for the monograph. i know i have to write the thing but the future suddenly looks really positive. possible new contract, two book deals, articles on the way, reviews coming out soon, teaching going better than ever and one new one old friend on the radar. not sure i should have had that gay and frisky, its made my head spin a little. boosh on the net tho was fun.. the hitcher back and larger than life. i do hope tomorrow carries on the theme of positivism. no muppeteer i know but im seeing Her on saturday, if only briefly.

here we go then my review of the sex pistols at the academy, brixton. first off the support band - the cribs - were shite. what an awful row, the sounded like wannabe strokes but they just couldn't hack it. the sound was awful and they simply cranked it up and they had next to no stagecraft. but perhaps that's why they were picked - or perhaps they are paul cook's illegitmate offspring. worse than them though was the DJ. onstage with his decks he just played an unremittingly boring drum and bass track for what seemed like the whole of my life. in the end the crowd were booing and i just wished i was close enough to throw something at him. i thought the crowd were way too tolerant. the captain and i agreed that if it had been '76 he would have been dragged from the stage and disemboweled.

finally he pissed off and vera lynn's there'l always be an england came on - we sang along, glad to have finally got rid of the bastard. perhaps it was all a calculated wind-up by the world's greatest wind-up merchants, who knows?

then the pistols took the stage - johnny looking great in oversize shirt and staring eyes, the rest looking a little old but not too old. Lydon decland "I'm a fucking cunt!" and they launched into Pretty Vacant. just brilliant! I left the captain to his vantage point and charged into the melee. problems, holidays in the sun, liar (dedicated to Malcolm naturally) followed and I made somewhere near the front of the mosh. it was fairly orderly chaos compared to 30 years ago and there were a fair sprinking of young faces but mostly it was old punks rediscovering what its like to be alive. EMI, stepping stone and no fun were sung back at Lydon who compalined of having a sore throat - he was on form if that is him without a good voice then he must have been in training 'cos he was good. a backdrop of her majesty descended and we were invited to sing the opening verse of god save the queen - "you missed your chance, you've gone soft - you're the ones with the fucking mortgages that's why I'm up here.. you're all too scared" mocked Rotten. He is, as ever, right but we jeered him back nevertheless and he loved it.

they played for about an hour and a half then went off. i thought the crowd were pretty slow in calling for an encore - like they didn't know what to do. whatever they came back and did bodies and anarchy and fucked off again. i made my way up to the mixing desk to find the captain - then they came back out and dedicted Roadrunner to their mate Denton (his name emblazoned on the republic of california flag above the stage - along with arsenal, lydon is a gooner after all). fantastic. rotten's parting remark was to say how lucky he was to play with the best band in the world and on this performance (and rotten is a consumate performer) you couldn't argue with him. and he just had time to take the piss out of jonathan ross spotted by the sidelines.

a simply awesome evening, they were much better than i expected and were a reminder of why we need the pistols. they just cut through all the crap and mediocracy that surrounds popular culture and music and popiltics and society. never mind the bollocks... here's the sex pistols. england's dreaming.. we mean it maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan

its a bit nippy back here in my bijou flat but having waited around for a first year for three-quarters of your earth hours and having achieved a fair amount today i thought it was time to 'work from home' for the rest of the day. so i am going to write this blog then read about convicts before watching the rerun of the arsenal game on setanta. tomorrow its a police conference (probably a little dull but you never know), a board of studies meeting (def dull..) and then i'm off to the smoke to see the pistols at the academy (def NOT dull). so tonight i have to work out what to wear - get it sorted and organise my arse to get back here then drive/train to london to meet the captain and get to brixton. its sounding like a hectic day already but i cant get out of any of the daytime stuff.

which means that it would probably be better if She can't make it round tonight. She said she probably can't but then when can she see me - having texted this morning saying 'when are you free?' i replied any day apart from wednesday... the only day she can do is today. im not holding plans up for the weekend cos she will probably be busy and anyway its the big man's bidet on saturday and there's a match at home. we shall see what happens. the object of my real affections was back in touch again today - ful of cold poor thing -so i tried to cheer her up and think i succeeded. got dangerously close to her office today but managed to reign myself in with the latest copy of english historical review (its a sort of academic cold water cure for over excited historians). then i had a visit from a lovely canadian student from last year - all grown up in her business clothes which was nice, then a phonecall out of the blue from a friend in east london that i haven't spoken to in years. an invite to a party that sounds great but conflicts with the jaunt to welsh wales so i can't go never mind i might drop in on her when i take the students round whitechapel in the new year. all that and i wrote a review as well and part of a lecture (on convicts as if you're interested)

let's see what the evening has in store then...

well i missed it but that didn't stop the gunners sailing back past united to the top of the premier league, 3-1 winners away at reading (Flamini, Adebayor and Hleb). missed it because i went to the annual university charity quiz with two colleagues, my cambridge mate and the campus bookseller. we finished mid table - partly due to the strange scoring system which favoured teams that could reel off a string of names of local villages - a parochial quiz if ever there was one. its all for charity though and we had a good time.

had nice email chats with the muppeteer who has bought some very nice boots and arranged to see her a week on thursday - seems like a lifetime away but im playing it cool and not letting her know that. i have fitted a lead in my office with an alarm so that if i find myself being drawn to her office it automatically lassooes me and fixes in me in my swivel chair until i calm down. on the other front She didn't email me or reply to my text today so not sure what's up over there. not like Her to ignore a message about football..

time for bed now folks - hope you sleep well (hope i do as i have a busy day tomorrow)

lovely day yesterday spent with my friends in the east. warm chats in the kitchen before a couple of hours of vigorous shifting of wood pile while dogs ran amok and chickens looked nervous. eldest son still manages to be terribly serious, really balanced and thoughtful, intelligent and diligent but still somehow a rock musician and 'normal' (whatever that is) teenager; daughter is ditzy in a lovely way, but obviously very bright and as friendly as her sibling. both are very relaxed and comfortable hanging out with their parents in a way that we have come to not expect in the age where all young people are an accident waiting to happen or unrully, lazy, asbo jobs. must listen to the horrors apparently, the daughter thinks they are the best thing around.

wooah just back from watching cambridge progress to the 2nd round of the FA cup. tight well contested match at the abbey saw aldershot take the lead against the run of play late in the first half after the mighty U's had squandered a host of chances. it looked marginally off side and this provoked a stream of abuse at the ref and linesman who frankly had a poor match. after half time it seemed set for more of the same until boylan equalised - then on came leo fortune-west to out muscle the keeper and send the ball dribbling over the line.:D 2-1 and we probably deserved it but it was a good advert for the conference and a great atmosphere (not sure the ref and linesman and the away keeper would agree though..)

friday night spent in the dreaming spires with my american cousin, his 'missus' and her friend (brought along for my benefit) - latter was v nice but not my type and not - to be honest - the bouncing muppeteer so i enjoyed the evening but romance was not on the agenda. he and i talked a lot - about politics, work, religion, our shady pasts and love.. something he seems to have a problem with. mad if you ask me because his girl is lovely. i ended dreaming about her (no not like that..) and woke worried - initially - that she and i had shared ' a moment' (if you will) and that we were somehow plotting a life without him. none of which was true but hey, if he continues to play fast and loose with her affections and she gave me a call id be crazy not to go for it. i like him a lot more after yesterday he is really a v nice man and i hope they work things out - his problem is his roving eye and his attractive personality - not the worst problem to have i suppose.

now im home and have fed the rats - not terribly upset it seems to have been abandoned for 36 hours - and i just want to curl up, open a bottle and get something to eat. a night of tv and sleep beckons methinks, before a day of wood clearing and rat cleaning tomorrow.

well all three large groups did an excellent job of staging eighteenth-century trials in classes today - I'm really chuffed with them! first up was a piracy and murder case from the 1730s which brought out the stark reality of how one-sided these events could be. in the second - a sodomy trial of the City marshal Hitchin - the students addressed the issues of evidence and the subculture of homosexuality in the capital. then finally we had a very complex case of unlawful arrest of a lottery office clerk by two constables trying to extract a fee. so that allowed discussion about policing agents and the shady world of lottery insurance. i hope their written work is as good and i also hope that more of them are prepared to talk in class becasue this was a revalation. three cheers for them and two for me for redesigning the assessment from last year - it was more interesting and more enjoyable.

quiet day on the emotional front today - a good thing - with the muppeteer away and no contact with She.. off out in a moment to catch up with my mates in the pub. Cheers!

nil-nil but a draw is enough to let arsenal qualify for the knock out stages of the champions league so we can relax - if we beat Bucharest then we should finish on top as well. but it was dull and i had to listen on arsenal tv 'cos stupid Sky put it on Sky One so the pub (that has Ntl/virgin) couldn't get it. She couldn't get it either and She was p**sed off D

im fairly relaxed after my hour on my back looking like a pin cushion but im not entirely well yet. frankly i expect this is what happens when you get to my age - you feel increasingly unwell until one day you don't. because you've died. health is for younger people i expect. i used to be indestructible in my early twenties so im probably paying the price for that now.. never mind eh.

student presentations tomorrow - the mock trials with me as the judge. im looking forward to it even if its three hours long. at the end of the day i have I&j and several pints of ale on the horizon.

well that feels more like a useful way to spend the day digging up the stories from the eighteenth-century city. one awful child abuse case from 1788 and more grist to the idea that women featured just as prominently in the lower courts as men, there are as many female thieves at the guildhall as male ones. other than that just a constant stream of fairly dull email and the odd titbit of interst. looks like my sunday will be spent helping friends shift a woodpile under which a colony of wild rats are living.. what fun eh?