the Daily Grind: March 2003 Archives

The second sunniest February on record for the British Isles has ended with a spectacular drop in temperature, not to mention clouds, rain and general misery. Admittedly, it's still pretty warm, and we've had so much good weather for the last month that no one really has much of a right to complain. Except me, so bring on the sunshine! It's time the British government entertained dragging these islands toward the equator.

I now stink of cigarette smoke, having just arrived back home from a college graduate Quiz Night that was otherwise pretty enjoyable. Frankly, whatever measures they take to ban smoking in public places - la California - is absolutely fine with me. In fact, while we're at it, I think it's only fair that smokers be made to subsidise the cost of washing powders and dry cleaning.
The quiz consisted of several rounds, from trivia, through to music (listening to opening bars), film (details from the Diner scene in Pulp Fiction), Who Wants to be a Squillionaire and true or false rounds. The turnout was massive - eighteen teams of four people each, which made for some stiff competition. Did I mention the free pizza? 21 of those... not really enough to go around, especially since I can eat more than a whole large on my own (I was controlled... only two slices). Mmmm... anyhow; the lowest score was 29, and the highest,72.
Our team's score was ...71! Yes, we, team "Snafu: The Erogenous Hippo", came a close second to team "Norfolk & Chance" (say that in an Irish accent and you'll understand why that's amusing - no\'fuk\'n\'chance). So congrats to them, and congrats to Pippa, Phil, and Erin for bringing our team in at second place; we got a meal voucher for India House, one of Cambridge's better curry houses. Top prize was a round of cinema tickets for the Arts Picture House, which is pretty good, but I'm well chuffed with our takings; anything that brings me closer to my chicken saag and chapathi makes me one happy fellow indeed . Oh, I is in a good mood now! Still waiting anxiously for some Nepenthes (a family of tropical climbers that I grow) seed to arrive; I've been so keen to get them going that I've even prepared my culture medium in advance - I'm sowing them in vitro, on 3/4 strength Knudsen's C, in a bid to produce a few more plants than I'll get by doing it on soil. Still nothing in today's post. Nuts. Right, time for some shuteye - I should really douse myself with Febreze... this smoke is atrocious

Try to get a little work done at home in the morning and something always buggers it up; somewhere through the walls of this shared house an alarm is going off. It has been going off for fifteen minutes and shows no signs of letting up. At this rate it's owner had better be dead, because no one has the right to sleep on through such an annoyingly shrill ringer!