Today I got exam results: a C – 56/90 – in Physics and an A – 83/100 – in Maths. Which I am pleased about, yes! I may have scraped my A in Maths but I got it, meaning I don’t have to sit the unit with most of the class in June and hence freeing up valuable time for other revision. As for Physics, it should be noted this does make me the second highest in the class 
and while it’s not great it doesn’t affect my university prospects because no one takes account of my 4th A-Level. So, I might retake it for personal satisfaction (why not?) but it doesn’t worry me.
Yesterday I had the best catered lessons I have ever experienced. Ms Higgs Boson baked us delicious chocolate brownies as a bribe incentive for doing our presentations, while Mr Moore served mugs of tea all round. With chocolate hob nobs. Classy!
A really interesting part of my day today was helping to test a new website from UCAS, allowing prospective undergraduates to compare student satisfaction data. So I sat there, in front of a black MacBook and a mocked-up site, talking a lot about my impressions of the design. For someone who has done web design himself, it’s fascinating!
To be honest I’m sure I wasn’t that helpful because I probably knew a little too much about how the process worked. So I knew to insist that the behaviour of the search feature should fit the user model (“I want to search by subject, or uni, or both!”) and complain that there was too much vertical scrolling through menus before you got to the actual data. The guy observing chuckled to himself when I mentioned that no one ever clicks on ‘skip to content’ links. 
I also attempted – and failed – to click on the big logo in the top left as a way to get back to the homepage. He scribbled it down excitedly. They did have an excellent way of presenting data using colours though, where a stronger shade indicated a greater percentage of people.
It’s just fun because I’ve sat and watched people navigate my own humble web site completely differently to how I’ve designed it. Illuminating 
Agh where has it all gone?! Half term is over 
and I really need to blog it before it all slips from my mind. In quick summary form, because it’s late.
Tuesday – Saw Hot Fuzz with madre. Really enjoyed this, although the ending was a bit over-long. I think this film appeals to me mostly for the scenes of a good old Londoner arriving in the countryside where his mobile phone signal is rubbish, everyone knows each other and there’s a campaign to raise money for the church roof. Frighteningly realistic
Oh and also had a haircut. Big whoop, despite almost all of my friends hating me because I’ve abandoned the ‘left-wing’ long hair. Sorry. It was curling at the back.
Wednesday – Dragged myself to Physics Practical revision day, where I slowly realised it might not be quite as bad as last year but is still going to be a monumental headache. Ms Taylor provided the inappropriate highlight of the day by angrily asking Manoj if Rishal was going to have to “sleep with your woman for you to have your children”. Haha!
Thursday – It proved to be quite the cinematic week as I watched Notes on a Scandal with Tash. At time of going to press, the Oscars haven’t quite started yet, but all bets are on for Helen Mirren to win best actress for The Queen. Well, I agree with my mum – Judi Dench deserves it more. She was wonderfully creepy as Barbara with the difficult task of carrying the film from the perspective of someone who is, quite frankly, a nasty piece of work. Emerged from cinema to meet Katie and my Grandpa who had been watching the new Hugh Grant romantic comedy (yawn) which left them in a rather cheerier mood than us, given the respective tone of their film!
(Unlike Lucy, I don’t find scenes of an Art teacher having sex with a 15 year old boy by a railway line traumatising in the slightest, even if the metaphor of having a train steam past at an opportune moment was slightly obvious, guys.)
Friday – Joshua’s 18th birthday party! I will not accept for an instant that he is 18, of course, because that means I’ll shortly be 18 too, and hence we’ll both be adults. Adults?! Ur, no. That’s not happening. However, the party was fun (for the most part!) and you can read a far more detailed description over on Sanna’s blog. Although she left off the fact that I got the best sofa and that I can’t play snooker. Probably because she was asleep at the time
Ooh and we also invented a new base unit – the fuckload (asterisked expletives are so tabloid). Well, we didn’t quite invent it but we did expand quite a bit on its usage. Examples: “Wow, there’s about 2.7 fuckloads worth of beer in the fridge!” and “The UK produces over 400 KFls (Kilofuckloads) of waste each year”. See, we’re not adults.
Saturday – Bit of a blur in the morning at least. I distinctly remember deciding to do some work in the evening, though have a funny feeling this didn’t happen.
Sunday – I attended a lovely apolitical luncheon at Emily’s with Robert and Saoirse. Also accepted an offer of babysitting! Because of course I’m a responsible adult y’know 
. Finally, it was also a certain anniversary and a certain brother’s birthday too. Hurrah!
“I just got back from seeing a ventriloquist 
wasn’t expecting miniature dragons singing Bohemian Rhapsody…”
Strassman
Well, I said this to Josie on Thursday night and it made her laugh. Yes, Joshua graciously invited me along to see David Strassman at the Pleasance Theatre. It was a strange thing – the actual gags weren’t particularly funny and sometimes felt forced, but I’d never seen a ventriloquist before, so to hell with it. The second half picked up and I continued to have this weird feeling of ‘it’s just one guy on stage all this time’. Definitely enjoyable
Now, Emily has boldly taken up to cause of Lucy deserving more airtime in this blog. I was planning to write about this weekend anyway, of course because it was lavly! (Private joke, move along, move along. Dammit – I can’t say ‘move along’ without singing The All-American Rejects to myself. Even when your hope is gone, move along, move along, just to make it through… But I digress.) After meeting up at Euston station after Lucy’s heroic train journey, we travelled to the exotic location of the Queen’s Park bandstand to meet up with anyone who wanted to meet up with us. Which included: Marion! Amber! Emily (who provided minstrels)! Saoirse! Robert (who provided glitter)! Rishal! Clare! It was a great afternoon, and a really nice way to start off the half term.
(Actually, I think in future, all social events should be arranged like this. Getting married? Pop to the bandstand in a nice suit or dress and see who turns up. You’re even covered in case of rain.)
On Saturday we visited Hampstead Heath, because it was the nearest thing to country I could muster. Also because the top of Parliament Hill is a nice spot. 
It also gave me a chance to make Lucy a proper London criminal with the ‘free’ Silverlink trains. You all know my views on Silverlink, however, so it’s OK. Lucy also believes she bumped into Gail Porter, though I was obviously too oblivious to celebrity to notice.
Lucy then departed on Sunday. (Yes, OK Emily, things did happen in the meantime like watching Diet Doctors and planning her crazed dictatorship of the world, but brevity is important.) I then spent the rest of the day reinstalling Windows onto Katie’s PC5, which I was rather pleased about, because it gave me something to do and created that ‘new computer’ feeling again where everything is clean and fresh and You have 76 updates to instally.
Finally! I would like to take a moment (*clears throat*) to celebrate the expansion of the Congestion Charge in London. Partly because so many people have been protesting road charing schemes recently, so here’s the case for the other side. The charge is a Good Thing (TM) and fairer than many of the alternatives. Taxes on petrol, for example, affect everyone whether they live close to good public transport or not. In London, however, if you haven’t even tried to use the bus or the Tube (or – shock horror – your feet!) to get around you shouldn’t complain about having to pay more for it. Not when uncongested roads help save businesses money in reducing traffic jams, or when the environmental impact of unnecessary car driving has never been so obvious. Invest the money into public transport, and London will be a better place for it.
Plus I don’t drive and get free buses. So, yeah
Saoirse presenting her communist cake
Proof, if proof be needed, that giving shout outs on this blog can lead to great things. At breaktime today, Saoirse presented me with a homemade hammer and sickle cake celebrating the joys of communism. Exactly the right shade of red, and absolutely delicious.
Thanks, comrade!
Linda Moffitt on Colombia: “Such a sweet memory of the four of you meeting up in Colombia!” Dec 2, 07:42
