The 30th July is Sister Two's birthday. Some last minute shopping at Merry Hill last night was able to rectify the the shortage of presents and so this morning she received all the bits and pieces from various family members and friends.

The middle part of the day has been pretty straight forward and I cruised on with the file upload system in Askyric which is coming on nicely, if a little slower than hoped. I also had an impromptu call from DDS again with yet more entrepreneurial enthusiasm. I am getting rather impressed with this whole 'coming up with ideas' thing. If only I could get him to think up what I should do for my major project then I might be better off.

In the evening was the ritual birthday celebration meal, hosted by TGI Friday's. It's been a very long time since I've been (I think the last time was Donk's 18th birthday), but it was a good call and the food was beyond fantastic, seconded by all the family.

On the way back I received notice from Steve Tong that he was in The 'Bridge with Mike and wanted to know if I was at all interested in a couple of sly ones down The Crispin. I naturally couldn't turn down such an offer and it was good to see Steve who I haven't physically seen ever since we left school and he joined the Navy the fly helicopters. It's funny, but I think Steve was the first friend I made at OSH and yet we managed to fall out of contact over the years, even while we were still at school, although that happened in a number of cases I can think of. Anyway it's good to catch up, plan more meet ups and also maybe even a paintball fixture in Blakedown. Cool.

I can see which way tomorrow is going; with the parents off at some gathering it's going to be subsistence living and another good crack at the Askyric code, oh hurray.

I got back from Lufbra last night after whisking up a fast tuna/jacket lunch, waiting for a money drop from Tongy and then catching a cab to the station. This is a flamboyant method of transport for a student, but it was knocking on 2pm and I didn't fancy hanging around for much longer, knowing full well the trains would be slow.

There was an unusually but not unexpected number of police everywhere near the stations, and I caught myself wondering about it a number of times. I truly hope this isn't something we have to endure for much longer. On the remarkable upside I chanced upon a paper stand at the station and caught up on the morning's news; whilst all this other 'terrorism' is going on the persistent problem of the Irish Question finally makes a significant milestone in apparent disarmament of the IRA. Most people in Britain have no idea of the complexity or deep-rootedness of this problem, but maybe, just maybe, we are finally seeing a significant shift. I might even go so far to hypothesise that maybe the way that terrorism has taken a turn for the worse (in the most pragmatic sense; terrorism can never be good) that the dissident groups now understand that it simply is not effective to wage a physical argument, especially with this new horrific standard set. Hopefully my cynicism will be disproved and we will find the people who run the IRA and other violent organisations made this decision on their own, good natured and sensible prerogative.

The train journey gave me time to lap up some interesting design wisdom from a magazine I picked up on Thursday in town. I used to buy Computer Arts and Computer Arts Projects regularly a couple of years ago, and it has done wonders for my self education of the profession(s). However, I stopped buying so often when articles started to repeat and now I just buy the occassional publication when something that interests me appears. The carrot in this issue was the sheer galaxy of pros who they had managed to assemble and hand over valueable nuggets of insider information. I was suitabley impressed and think I've learnt a thing or two. Six quid well spent.

I stopped off at Derby to make an instant change then arrived in Birmingham New Street. It was at this point I thought it might be a good idea to phone the parents and let them know that I was on my way home, and they might like to pick me up. No such luck. The house was empty bar Sister Two and the mobiles were all turned off. I ended up carting my considerable travel case through Brum while thinking of ways of getting home.

To pass the time (and satisfy an ambition), I located the Apple Store in the Bull Ring and took some time to browse the neatly thin shop. I never go in with an ambition to buy, and I never leave with anything either, but it's fantastic to have a play and see what's what in the World of White. I was particularly impressed by the 32 inch dual display workstation. It dwarfs my 19 inch and 14 inch flat panels, but realistically, who has the space? Well, me; if you gave to me them for free.

I eventually arrived back in Stourbridge by train (I gave up on the parents). After 5 hours the whole thing had become a little tiring.

This morning I answered a phone call from an enthusiastic DDS. He has yet another bright idea, this time in the form of custom lab coat sales for our department. I worked on the artwork this afternoon and I think I'm nearly there. Hopefully I won't get lynched by the staff for an element of cheek in the design, but I'm quite pleased on the whole.

I've spent the rest of my time emailing until my heart's content and sending proofs here, there and everywhere. Rich had kindly supplied me with a full set of Magno paper swatches which is fantastic, and Asykric is making leaps and bounds. Tomorrow I will start to build a file upload system into it.

I am certainly busy.

So we're in. Jono and myself are now official residents of Number 67., and it's looking fantastic. Yoli hasn't failed to amaze once again, repainting every single room and supplying to rather nice fittings wherever possible.

I arrived on Monday night to meet both Jono and Louisa (who has been living in while the house is empty and she paints her own room in Oxford Street.) The first job was to get some food on board. Mother had kindly supplied me with a stash of tins, which would have made for an interesting meal - four tins of tuna, a tin of chopped tomatoes, a tin of chicken korma and a tin of sweetcorn. Now even I, not the culinary genius, realise that does not sound the most appetising meal and I think there would even be abject shock from the chefs on Ready Steady Cook if they were presented with the same items.

Tesco provided us with three or fours days worth of rations, and allowed me to test my concept of quantity. It won't really matter that I sort of 'overshot' this time around, as next time we are going to be there a whole year so it's much harder to buy too much than on a four day stay.

The second day I sat inside most of the time reading Harry Potter (which incidentally I have now finished and was quite impressed with) which whiled away the hours I spent waiting for the NTL man to show with all our fancy technology. It only took about half an hour for him to set up the lot, and another hour for the subscription channels to come through. Jono finally managed to get the internet working after my initial failure (shame on the computer dude) and the evening was enjoyed in the aisles of IKEA.

This may seem unremarkable to most, but for me was an experience fraught with personal emotions. You see, despite being an Industrial Designer of sorts, I was, as Jono put it, an IKEA virgin. Overall I was mightily impressed and I ended up buying a new lamp amongst a plethora of items for the house. Clocks, mats, drinking vessels, cooking equipment but disappointingly, no jugs. I couldn't believe a place that size would fail to supply to the market who like to drink more than a thimbleful - as that is the only size of jug they seemed to stock by the looks of it.

I also made time during the day to meet up with Nick who I have seem quite a lot of in the past two days. We have been working hard on bits and pieces for the freshers and his advertising literature. I will explain more later as I've just realised I'm meant to be meeting Broomy before I disappear home this afternoon, and with him being locked away in the labs, it means that I'm the one whose going to have to pay the visit. This story will continue later...

...and so it does.

Nick is pushing to make sure that SX launches with a bang this year, and a has few surprises lined up for the fresher bazaar which should be cool. Instead of the GBP for payment on some of the work, I've been well fed and which has saved me the 20 minute walk back to the house at lunchtimes and therefore made the day a little bit longer to fit all that stuff in.

Yesterday I met up with Catherine at the BHF to discuss their new site. We decided that in light of the projected launch date that the site will launch as a static incarnation, then instead of using the mish-mash of bespoke code that I wrote before, I will implement the newly finished Askyric as the powerhouse behind it. This gives me time to refine the software and trial it before I apply it. Suits me and they still get the site they want, even if the dynamic part will only appear in the longer term.

We did some more shopping yesterday afternoon around at the veritable purveyor of quizzical delights that its Wilko's. Not the most sophisticated shop on the face of this planet, it still manages to provides all those little things we couldn't find anywhere else, or at least, couldn't afford to buy.

I bought all the bits required for a 2-way split extension lead which I've now proudly assembled and pinned over my door (there were no sockets going to my bedside table - a critical oversight which I had to correct) and an assortment of other odds and ends - lightbulbs, bins, batteries and duct tape.

Jono and I managed to assemble the TV case and prop up what we estimate as the 32 inch TV that he has kindly supplied for the use of the house. Also, with a bit of generosity on the part of the NTL technician (we didnt have any cable) we have also been able to wire up the stereo system in the lounge. Number 67 is now a multimedia extravaganza. Fantastic.

Today is miserable. Ever since I was woken by Moyles at 9am, the rain has failed to ease off and I'm fairly sodden after my little walk into Bridgeman. It is slightly annoying to think that the one time of year I can actually avoid my department, I have ended up back in it. It's a bit like when OSH employed me in previous holidays.

Last night I met up with Tongy. He came over and picked me up so that we could head over to his flat and I could inspect the lot. His parent have just bought this apartment around the back of The Rushes in Lufbra's centre and the place is stunning. He's on his own but has a master bedroom, and then another master bedroom (it's exactly the same size, and big enough to host the population of a medium sized pacific island. This is reflected in the rent however. The lounge is expansive and it had one of those modern style open plan kitchens where you can't tell where it ends and the living area starts. The place looks a little sparse at the moment, and he graciously let me sit on the chair to watch the TV. Apparently furniture arrives today.

We went out for a drink down at The Orange Tree. Everywhere in Lufbra looked positively dead compared to this cocktail bar; Newshouse only had the one patron who was sitting at the bar looking rather lonely.

Despite the lack of people elsewhere, Orange Tree was fairly busy, most of the people inside looking like the trendy A-Level type, with a couple of neo-Nazi's thrown in for the craic. It was good to catch up with the boy as after he moved out of Towers at the end of the first year we never got to see as much of him as we used to, me being the one exception that I was on his course. But even that exists no more, as Tongy is taking a placement at Diam International, which although only down the road, probably means that our paths are not likely to cross as often as they would have done last year.

Despite my best intentions, I have now watched two episodes of Big Brother (The Shame). I was trying to avoid this plague of the mind, but I can see myself getting drwan in now. Evasive action needs to be taken in order to prevent brain drain. I'm going to have to avoid the TV as best I can.

I'm heading home this afternoon. I was hoping that The Parents might be able to give me lift (I don't fancy walking to the train station), but I haven't got in touch yet, so they don't know anything about it. I've also got to procure a birthday card and present for Sister Two who celebrates her birthday on Saturday. If I do get the train, Birmingham Bullring sounds a good bet.

One last thing is that after finally getting my radio working this morning (sockets permitting) I heard some new tunes that I will be needing in my collection, so I think some downloading is in order.

Probably the earliest entry I've made in weeks (due to the compulsively lazy nature of holidays), I'm writing a matter of minutes before I whisk myself up to Lufbra. Anticipation is quite high now as Jono rang me last night and was singing praises. Apparently the house is looking brand new - Yoli (our landlady) has done a lot since our last visit. This includes a new kitchen and new furniture - including those double beds.

I was really pleased to hear that they have actually managed to fit a proper double bed into The Swan's room. I felt a bit sorry for him having to set it up every night the way it was going to be, but apparently they've done a bit of jiggery-pokery with the dimensions of the room and he has a full size double.

Having woken late (this time due to not being able to get to sleep last night - unsure why) I panicked to get my collection of transportables together, realising I'd told Jono I'd meet him at the 3.30pm and that meant everything would have to be packed within 40 minutes - including getting some food. Turns out I'd misread the clock, but that's what happens if you don't get any sleep.

I spoke to Tongy last night. He's up in Lufbra doing his placement stuff; sounds like he's having a bit of a rough time with his flat still not being ready for him after four weeks. I offered to meet up some time while I'm about and he seemed fairly enthusiastic - a break may do him good - especially if there is no one else about at the moment. Will probably also drop in on Broomy at some point.

Sister One also made contact last night on MSN. She's still in Canada and apart from email this is the first time I've spoken to her since she got there. Trying to persuade her to get some poutine was pretty hard - I think she was a little unconvinced about going into a fast food take out and ordering something she'd never heard of. She's flying back to Toronto today from Vancouver and then she still has a couple of weeks rest before getting back to the UK.

So here I go; if anyone needs me, call my mobile. I'll be back on Thursday and I probably will check my emails once a day if I get around to it.

It's been pretty miserable outside all day, and thankfully I didn't have to endure being in the rain for long as the trip The Mother and I made to Kidderminster was only brief. As I'm going up to Lufbra tomorrow I thought it might be a wise idea to go and pick up some bedding, as otherwise sleep is going to be not so pleasant.

I moved on with the Tours4 project as I had intended and managed to make significant headway in getting the flyers and posters sorted. I've also agreed a price, which is nice to know, except, like all my work at the moment, I may have to wait a while before I see any.

My desk had finally been attacked and the surface of it is once again visible. I've also consolidated all my old notes on long-standing accounts onto single sheets or The Big Red Book, so now my records are a little more tidy too.

Sister Two has painted the front room. It's looking nice.

Two tasks demanded my attention today, the first being the slavish attention required to progress with Askyric, and the second being the Tours4 project.

I took a step back and realised that the latter of these two projects is bigger than I had thought, but definitely not in a bad way. I'm enjoying this kind of work - brochures, flyers and the like are not what I could consider my usual fayre and this is going to be my widest audience reached by print so far in a campaign that looks like it will manifest itself as about 8500 individual pieces of literature. That may not be big by comparison, but as a first major print commission it does me just fine. I spent the afternoon and evening totting up figures amongst other things.

Askyric on the other hand is taking some time. I'm being cautious to produce a watertight system (far more elaborate and modularised than anything I have attempted previously) which of course takes it's toll on the hours, but my knowledge of the intricacies of ASP are being refined.

Aside from work I spent some time engaged in a nonsensical conversation with Emily on MSN and spent the rest of my time after work watching films - so not a particularly healthy break. Tomorrow really is the big push as Monday through Wednesday/Thursday is going throw a spanner in the works, especially since I'm probably going to be taking on some more work, so some headway needs to be made.

I found this today which provided a good distraction...

Waking at midday today annoyed me. I can just about justify an 11am start as that it is the holidays, and this being one of the last I may ever enjoy at such lengths, means that I am entitled to such luxuries, but unfortunately on working day midday is bordering on the absurd.

Due to delayed getting up and series of little not so much irritating, but stumbling events meant the day probably didn't actually start until 1.30ish. The shower started playing it's usual tricks and mother called up from the kitchen two minutes into mine, telling me to turn it off as her head was getting wet. By the time I had found my way downstairs the house was empty but for myself and half a sandwich which became lunch.

The afternoon I spent locked away doing yet more work in an effort to clear the work before next-week's excursion up to Lufbra which will limit my productivity (web design without a computer is considerably harder).

I fell across a couple of items of interest today. After grabbing my fix of BBC News (and can it not get any worse please) I found an announcement that was fairly dwarfed by various other events but which caught my eye anyway. Entirely digital interest, Microsoft is call their new version of thier OS Windows Vista. Sounds lovely.

Swan gave me a call today. He's got a new phone so I didn't recognise the number. He also informs me that it's on contract e.g. free minutes and he's not paying for it e.g. Bank of Dad. Lucky sod. We also talked about getting up to the house, but it looks unlikely that it's going to happen now we are both booked up after my trip this next week, which he can't make anyway. It's a bit rubbish that I never seem to be able to see most of my friends from uni during these holidays; mostly it's based on logistics which is the posh word for 'I still can't drive'. The other big reason is that most of my friends are southerners, not intentionally of course, but it just turned out that way.

The Father presented me with a mint-fresh five pound note today. OK, you say, a fiver, clearly not blog-worthy, but this one is a bit different in that the queen isn't on the back of it. Instead there is an impression of none other than Jack Nicklaus. Now, this sort of thing doesn't overly float my boat, but naturally The Father was over the moon when he heard there was a limited run of them. As a natural response he bought 50 quid's worth, after all, it only meant he had to ring up our only known relative in Scotland (who must wait by the phone every time it gets around 'golf time' as that's the only time we call - usually asking to stay during the Open) and ask him to go an pick up some from the bank then ship them down. It's legal tender and everything but The Father was extremely concerned that I keep it flat, in an envelope and that I don't spend it or bend it.

I paid off my credit card bill and rejiggled my finances so I'm in the black for all accounts. Today has not been overly exciting has it.