This week has flown by. I’ve no idea why, but it’s just gone. Today helped - I spent most of the day in Birmingham on business, where I located this larger than life Google Maps marker, or at least that’s what it appeared to be. Do I win a prize?

I finally caved in an sorted out setting up internet on my phone on Monday. Until now, I’ve used another hand held device, my PocketSurfer, but really I don’t need to be carrying that thing around all the time, making sure it’s charged etc etc. Plus it was due for renewal, and using my K850i is sort-of less fiddley, so I’ve ditched the old device, at least for the moment. I’m running Opera Mini which I’ve found is just as nice as everyone has ever told me it is, and have been delighted to be able to use it quite a lot this week. I think the thing that surprised me the most was how goddamn easy it was to tether it to a Macbook. My mouth is still a little bit ajar with the shock. I don’t really see myself using it for that sort of thing, but there have been those odd emergencies in the past…

Also, I found out something of interest regarding why you can’t watch QI on iPlayer, or in general any programme that was made before a certain date in 2006. It’s because the original licences don’t allow it. This is why when it comes to watching some programmes you get an unhelpful ‘Not Available’ message. I could have guessed it was something to do with licensing, but at least it means any new episodes won’t be affected.

I’ve recently picked up a renewed interest in Expression Engine, it’s going to be interesting to see if I ever use it for anything commercial. A couple of articles in recent days, and a little exploration of the more in-depth menus proved a good stimulus, although I’m still not convinced that I will reap the benefit of the extra cost on many of my projects, so it’s yet to be seen whether anything will come of this new-found curiosity.

If I haven’t mentioned it to you in person already, I’ll do it here, but I’ve been very impressed with what Andy Clarke has been turning out at ForABeautifulWeb.com. It’s quite refreshing to move on from what seemed like a period of stagnation in the web design community, and his blog is my current hot tip.

I’m very much looking forward to Quantum of Solace.

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Will turned 23 last week, so we had a bit of a packed out Saturday celebrating. Starting with clay pigeons in the afternoon followed by a trip into Broad Street (my first proper excursion there for a number of years). I think my sharp-shooting skills have improved on last time and I finished a more than acceptable third out of the ten or so of us. So there’s a bit of boasting for you.

The night was also good fun - I have to admit I’m sceptical when it comes to nights out on Broad Street - I can’t help but think it’s a bit like having a night out put together by the people who manage package holidays, but I have to admit it exceeded expectations, was a fantastic night and I was impressed with the Gatecrasher refit of what once was ‘The Works’.

It did take an age, but enough pestering from fellow Multipackers amongst others, I ended up on Twitter this week. I’ve had an account for ages, but it wasn’t until now that it’s seen any use. I have to admit, I can see how an addiction can develop. I think the two biggest drawbacks of it are, firstly you have to fit whatever you wanted to say into a fraction of size of how you wanted to say (the same pariah as you encounter with text messaging) and secondly, you can’t make individual twitters semi-private (or if you can, I haven’t found out how).

You see, I have an uncontrollable urge to swear sometimes. I want to say things like ”****ing NoChex. What a bunch of ****s”, where any four letter word noun or adjective befitting of NoChex could be entertained.

Unfortunately, sensible me knows that is a bad idea, because one day I may have to communicate with the ****ing ****s at NoChex again. They then may have read what I have written about them and their ****ing policies - something they might like to ****ing outline to me, or at least allow me to talk to one of their ****s about. ****s.

And so on Twitter, saying that sort of thing in public would not only be in bad taste, but incredibly difficult to convey in just 160 characters.

If somebody at Nochex does read this and wants to know why the asterix key on my keyboard needs replacing, please contact me, as the email you sent me this morning was particularly condescending and I’d love an opportunity to explain my sentiments.

FWIW, I spent two hours in a seminar this morning learning lots of interesting things about the state of world finances.

Also, for anyone who wants an update on my miserable state of health right now, I’m single-handedly sponsoring the livelihoods of half the workforce at two very well know throat-sweet companies, and am viewing the world though a sticky cloud of paracetamol dust and the atomised contents of my nose. The only upside is that I have had a legitimate reason to consume half a jar of honey in any hot drink in the past two days, and will continue to do so until I elicit enough sympathy and regain a good mood.

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I’d definitely say the highlight of the weekend was slamming my middle right index finger (mostly the nail part) in the front door this evening. I have never been so thankful for frozen peas and arnica in all my life.

Apart from that spectacular and ultimately regretful piece of malcoordination, Saturday and Sunday have been generally all-round less painful. Multipack turned three this month, and so to celebrate Trev  bought a large bag of lovely, crunchy badges with the logo on. I had to leave the meeting early, so missed out on the planned meal, but as usual there was plenty of discussion although once again I proved my ineptitude by forgetting to take any photos, so I can’t prove any of it took place.

The reason for the early departure was another spur-of-the-moment roadtrip; this time Bristol to see James and the new flat. Coincidentally it turned out both Andrew and Paul we’re coming down at the same time, so it ended up as a bit of an unplanned Australian adventure reunion. A few beers in Clifton and some late night Mariocart was definitely a good way to relax, and being probably the last bright weekend we’re going to get this year, I was pleased to get a sunny drive there and back. I managed to completely miss the Grand Prix as Helen and the others indulged in watching an entire three hour X-Factor marathon this morning - a programme which I have discovered is capable of bringing out in me, a Cowell-like vindictiveness and ability to criticise a singer’s choice of song and dress, that until now I wasn’t aware of.

My finger still hurts and I will continue to moan like a hypochondriac child until what I will over-embellish as ‘the horrific bruising’ decides to subside.

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It’s been a while since I last was in Cheltenham, but (not much) earlier this week Flash asked me to do a presentation on logo design to some of the fifth form at his school, and as that sort of thing is good fun and pretty interesting, I agreed and spent yesterday evening helping out in a bit of a workshop session.

Thankfully the good weather once again this week made it an enjoyable drive, and the school itself is really nice (well it would be, it’s Cheltenham don’t you know).

One thing I had forgotten about for two years was the smell of DT workshops, and it call came flooding back (that mixture of sawdust and carcinogenics). I was also treated to a specially put on meal for this week’s winning team of Flash’s ‘Apprentice’ competition (wine and all).

All in all, yet another slightly out-of-the-ordinary event for this week. Good stuff.

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On Saturday afternoon I was trying desperately to avoid getting on with things - the weekend isn’t for working and you can only wash the car so many times.

I quickly came to the conclusion that the cure for my boredom should be cheap, simple and quick to get into. It was at that point I drove to Southampton.

Maybe my plan didn’t meet all the aforementioned criteria, but it worked out just fine. The beautiful weather made for great driving and three hours and a bit later I was in a pub with Dan and Steve, who I’ve not seen for a good few months, and it’s been over a year since we met on their home turf.

On Sunday Dan and I played a sneaky nine-hole at the local golf club, had some lunch, bought him a Mac, watched Massa ruin his race at the GP then head on home in time for tea.

I was a little surprised how much I managed to eek out of the weekend. Usually, if I plan to do something big or chunky timewise, I am bound to think it must be tackled on Saturday morning otherwise it simply won’t fit, but I was wrong. A late Saturday departure and six hours driving in glorious sunshine there and back made the whole weekend last much longer.

I might try that again sometime soon.

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Not content with just a holiday this week, Will managed to persuade me to drive him, Henry and Taffy down to Silverstone today for the penultimate race of the UK Formula Renault season. Luckily we had additional passes today, which meant the full BRDC hospitality. Spent most of the day in the Clubhouse surrounded by the driving elite (Damon Hill etc). You can’t complain.

Adam suffered mixed fortunes, finishing second in the first round, but then unfortunately succumbed to some really bad luck in the second round which means it all comes down to the next two races.

The final meet of the season is at Brands Hatch in a few weeks time, when the Championship will conclude. I’m not sure if I’m going yet, as it’s a bit of a trek, but either way I’ll be watching carefully - it’s set to be a nail-biting finish. Come on you Christo.

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For all the years of cheap lager drinking that went on at university, I have always preferred a pint of something with some flavour and body to it, so I’m a little surprised that I’d not made it to a beer festival before, but then again I didn’t really know anyone who was interested.

It’s become apparent in recent months that George is a very big fan of proper beer, as is Tom, and they both are fully paid up CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) members, and I jumped at the idea that a Saturday afternoon could be spent in a tent in the middle of Worcester Racecourse surrounded by a silly amount of good quality alcohol.

It turns out it was a bit of a washout outside (though not as bad as last years complete submerging of the festival in the floods) so most of the time was spent hopping between the occasional bit of hard flooring over the mud, clutching at the ever-precious sampling glass.

I really don’t know how many barrels were in the place, but there were a lot - and a massive choice of bitters, milds, porters, ciders, perries, pilsners etc etc. I’m not exactly sure how much we got through in the four hours we were there, but needless to say we didn’t have many tokens left between us and it certainly was very enjoyable. Strangely enough, I didn’t feel it at all this morning.

Might be tempted to do one of those again in the future.

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