9 December - Santa Run

A post-drunken early morning start is never welcome, but there was some consolation in that the earliness was in aid of running 6km in Battersea Park dressed as Santa Claus, with 1500 other Santas. 2 of them (almost) naked. After this the day just improved - walking around various parts of London, generally exciting tourists and young children alike, and posing for photo-ops. I felt festive like never before.

The day culminated in Ciara's Birthday cocktail party, which in turn culminated in Tim's paraleticism on Ciara's bed.

6 December

I went to see a talk by a Children's Author about how to get published. It turned out to be useless in this regard, but was pretty interesting anyway. The best moment for me was when he said - in total seriousness - that, soon after Salman Rushdie had published the Satanic Verses, he felt he wanted to write a more controversial book than he had written so far, at which he produced a copy of "Jesus' Day Off".

Monopoly Pub Crawl

For Nige's birthday a bunch of us did what the title suggests: 22 properties, a drink in each. Even starting at 10:30 in the morning (in theory - most of us didn't make it to Old Kent Road or Whitechapel in time) it's still a pretty tight turnaround to make it to all of them in a single day. I have to admit I missed a further 3 properties to - yes, I know i'm terrible - eat some food. I caught up later though. Watch my descent into drunkenness.

20 November

"Yes to Physics! No to Closure!"
"Yes Yes Yes to Physics! No No No to Closure!"
"They say Cutback, we say Fightback!"
"Cutback?" - "Fightback!"
"Cutback?" - "Fightback!"
"Cutback?" - "Fightback!"
"They say Fightback, we say - no - We say Cutback - no - They say Cutback, we say Fightback!"
"Cutback?" - "Fightback!"
"Cutback?" - "Fightback!"

Amidst the worst chants in history, me and Emilie went demonstrating against the ridiculous closing of the Physics department at Reading Uni - one of the highest research centres in the country - just months after it had been told its future was secure. I felt like a radical activist! It was fun demonstrating, and I am now officially a part of history.

By the way, our chants did nothing - they announced the closure that afternoon.

Old School

Yup, as Old School as it gets: we (Me, Emilie and Nicky) went to see The Bluetones. I can't believe they're still together. I can't believe they're still touring. I can't believe the lead singer looks younger than me, despite being probably twice my age. That's what a rock n roll lifestyle will do to you.

Seeing as I only know 'Slight Return' and - um, what's that other one called again? - I was not expecting the best gig ever, but they were actually fantastic! I recommend going to see them even if just for the singer's witty comments between songs, and you don't tour for 40 years (or however long it is) without being an incredibly tight band indeed. I also heard what has to be the worst heckle in history: "You've got something in your eye!"

11 - 12 November

The first of many upcoming visits to London - went with Emilie for no particular reason than to see chums who live there. We went (about 10 of us) for a beautiful Thai meal, before going out to various pubs/bars and a club (where we met an Irish guy who imparted to us the wise words "sfdf...vrvg.vsfrver...verver....thn...he'sh....cor blimey that was a good'n"). The absolute best moment of the night, though, was finding a Chinese Takeaway restaurant called "Man Ho".