Blog - Dinner with Bird (2008-02-08)
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Blog - Dinner with Bird (2008-02-08) |
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Category: Diary. Posted: 2008-02-16 15:15:54 GMT.
The first thing I did when I got into work was to check the Royal Mail website. It had no record of my visa being posted back to me. I therefore sent yet another e-mail to the Embassy, and left yet another voicemail message. It was a fairly busy day, but I got most things finished by about midday. My boss wanted to help his son move house, so left early. I spent the rest of the afternoon putting my engineering degree to good use by packing boxes. Bird called me yesterday to arrange what we where going to do this evening. I had suggested a curry, but she had a strange idea that, because she'd had two curries this week, she didn't want a third - "strange creatures women". She suggested the expensive Chinese that she likes, but I fancied something within walking distance. Controversially, we agreed on The Toby. Just before leaving work, I bought a Euro Millions ticket on t'internet, because the jackpot of about 93 million had to be won today. I'm not sure whether it's 93 million Euro, or 93 million pounds. Either way, it sounded good to me.
I managed to leave work before five, and was pleased to actually be leaving before it got dark. I still had to turn my lights on half-way home, but at least I left when it was light. Before going out to meet Bird, I quickly checked my e-mail, and tried to buy a National Lottery ticket for the next eight weeks. The National Lottery website was buckling under the pressure (either a DDOS, or simply heavy demand). On Wednesday, Charlie had offered me a spare ticket for a diving conference on Sunday. She called me while I was buying my Euro Lottery ticket, and suggested that I meet her at 07:30 at Waterloo. Before leaving to meet Bird, I found out that it wasn't possible to get from Langley to Waterloo by 07:30 on Sunday, and the only way that I could get to Kingston in time was to cycle to Datchet, and get a train from Datchet. The only slight problem with this, was there isn't a cycle-rack at Datchet station. I would have to either cycle to Windsor on Sunday morning (where I know there is a cycle-rack), or cycle to Datchet on Saturday afternoon, to see if there's anywhere suitable to leave my bike. The second option made more sense (more sleep on Sunday, and exercise on Saturday afternoon). Had I not already made arrangements with Gimmer to go out for beer and curry in Slough, I would have gone to see my parents on Saturday night, because they only live about 15 minutes away from Waterloo. Knowing that she'd be driving, I e-mailed Charlie to tell her that I couldn't get to Waterloo by 07:30, and that I'd meet her at Kingston.
Having not drunk any water during the day, I really should have drunk some water at home, before going out to meet Bird. I did have a quick cuppa, but was dehydrated when I got to the pub at 18:30.
There were lots of people queuing to buy lottery tickets at Langley stores, as I walked past. It seems that I wasn't the only person stupid enough to buy a ticket for the massive jackpot. Bird wasn't there when I arrived, so I ordered a Stella, and sat down to surf the 'net. I read an interesting article on how to increase one's winning on the lottery (not how to increase one's chances, obviously, but to increase the payout if one's numbers are drawn). I mentioned this to Bird when she arrived, and she already knew it. For those of you as ignorant as I am, the trick is to pick numbers over 31, because most people use birthdays.
Not wanting to serve myself, I ordered a curry from the bar menu (£4.99 for a curry and a Stella). When the curry arrived, Bird went up to serve herself from the carvery, and I started tucking into the curry. I didn't expect the curry to be brilliant, but didn't expect it to be as bad as it actually was. It managed to make tomato soup seem spicy. Looking back, I have no idea why I didn't complain. It wasn't even that filling, so I had to order a bowl of roast spuds to fill me up. Being dehydrated the four pints of Stella probably had more of an effect that normal. After talking about holidays, I mentioned that I'd entered the lottery. She said, "If you win, you can have me". I didn't know that she was that easy!
Back at home, I checked my e-mail, sorted my Flickr pictures into albums, and tried to access my Orange e-mail account using Outlook. Charlie had kindly offered to drive on Sunday, and collect me on the way. I know that Gimmer would have just changed our Saturday night plans at the last minute, but I'm not like that. All the online help on the Orange website mentioned menu options that didn't actually exist on the website, and I ended up going around in circles. I gave up, and watched the Ten O'Clock News instead. I watched a bit of the Jonathan Ross show, but there wasn't any totty in it, so I soon lost interest. I then continued trying to access my Orange e-mail account, but still failed. I don't expect that the four pints of Stella helped, but I don't think I would have managed it sober. I then had a quick surf through the PlusNet forums, and called it a night when the batteries on my mouse needed replacing.
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