In hindsight, my birthday was a decidedly tolerable affair. The restaurant meal was full, buzzing and generally managed to chat to various people. After coming home (and counting the spoils - I did say it was a financial investment) my parents invited over the Hydes and some other neighbours for champagne and cake which a nice, more intimate environment. Chyde also brought over a bottle of The Glenlivet so he stayed late and we watched 28 Days Later while he helped me finish off the rest of my old bottle of Talisker. A great end to the day.

Having pretty much given up hope of finding more work before university, yesterday I received from my agency regarding a possible job that had just come up. Apparently it was Acrobat-based, in which I have no experience, but because of the computer test scores I had, they were willing to let my go for it. It's for Barclay's Insurance in Croydon, which is perfect travelwise. And then they said those beautiful magic words: £10 an hour…