Happy Birthday to Ryan, who was 21 on the 4th, but celebrated with a party last night somewhere in the Ruislip/Uxbridge/Ickenham area. As the whole event was slight blurry, it would be unwise to think I could judge the exact geography of such happenings.

Transit to London is hard. Tickets have to be booked in advance (admittedly for a fairly reasonable fee on the National Express coaches) and departure needs to be early; around about 10am, which roughly translates to an 8.30am awakening, which is never desirable.

I got into Victoria at around 1pm and immediately made plans to meet up with Pete (Crocodile Dundee) from the the Higgs/Davies US Tour 2005. We liaised at Picadilly Circus and quickly made our way to a local bar for pre-lunch drinks. Unfortunately catch-up was short as he'd got tickets to Chelsea vs. Huddersfield, and Kristie wasn't available. I had been planning on a visit to the Design Museum, but over lunch I mulled over my other options and thought it might be worthwhile speaking to Brown considering he lives in the general area. As I finished my Big Mac on the corner of Leicester Square (I couldn't find a Subway anywhere, and food was presently the highest thing on my list of priorities) I noticed the back of someone who I was sure shouldn't be there. It was in fact Frenchy, ex-Towers/Lufbra type, ordering a McFlurry or the like for his kid brother. The surprise was mutual and we caught up on the past six months before going our separate ways and I attempted to contact Rich.

The immediate response to my call was that he was standing on Wandsworth Common about to watch Butts play rugby for some random Old Boys side. It was only three-ish at this time and I decided there was enough time for me to get over to Clapham. Two underground connections and bus journey later (my accidental oversight of the critical word 'overground' had some repercussions for the station I eventually ended up arriving at) I had arrived at the ground to watch the last 20 minutes of Brown getting frustrated that he wasn't getting a game.

The game didn't turn out to be particularly joyous for either Butts or Brown, but we headed on back to their house ('The pink one with "We Know It's Christmas" written on the front window'). The place is quality, nicknamed the Flamingo Something-Or-Other and with plenty of scope for party related activities which apparently are regular and extravagant occasions. A recent night had played host to a 'Blind Date/Ready Steady Cook' night, where three mystery girls and their vegetables (friends of a girl met on a bus journey from Brixton) were invited around for Brown, Butts and Chris to impress them with their culinary skills. Brown's description of the next morning was the house resembled a pile of 'mess and girls'.

An interesting use of Bluetooth to control the stereo has got me inquisitive.

Onwards from here, I finally joined Devito, Sean, The Swan and Jono in a pub called the Champions at around sixish, and over a number of pints and the second half of the Luton-Liverpool game, slipped into a state of intoxication.

By 8pm we had been ferried back to Devitos to change, dapper-up and get over to the lounge and bar hired out for the evening. Most of the time was spent dancing, drinking and schmoozing relatives (of the second and third ages). Barry White was on the decks and it all made for an entertaining evening. Swan let one 75 year old woman re-live her youth with a slow dance and Devito's granddad showed us the fingers when he managed to coax one of the girls to the dance floor. Devito himself, spent time being ushered between relatives and instructed to talk until each of their respective bedtimes, and in between sprinkled the rest of us with profanities.

By 2am it was probably for the best that we were packed into the car and herded into the living room to bed down. Devito had already passed out face down on the floor by the time I arrived and so I rightfully stole took possession of his duvet. Later that night I spent a good five minutes trying to push open a wall on the landing which I mistakenly thought was the bathroom door three feet to the left.

By morning we were all good. All the moments from the night before were rightfully relived over bacon butties and after an hour or so Mrs G. kindly gave us all a lift back up to The Palace. QED.

Tonight I am thinking about work, while wholly avoiding it. Swan, Mike and Devito have already headed out townwards, the Palace is quiet, maybe now is when I should start...

Strictly today is the end of the standard break. Lectures begin again on Monday, but first thing tomorrow morning I will be heading down to Uxbridge in London for Devito's 21st birthday gathering, which means the day-to-day passing over of work has to stop here.

First thing to do this morning is sign off some proofs, then hopefully I can get on with sketching and coming up with an idea for a major project. Daunting stuff, as six or seven hours of the hardest work will struggle to make up for the three weeks of none.

Yesterday I took time for another swim, a much needed haircut and going out for drinks with Tom, John, Liam and Steve down the Crisp. Once again the world was set to rights and I don't doubt for a second that Tom and my own conversation over pizza at 1am was the most highbrow conversation going on in the room. These sorts of conversations should not necessarily be left for the drunken musings of Loughborough Industrial Designer and an Oxford Microbiologist. Funnily enough, the subject of 'OSH' never reared it's head the whole evening.

My new UPS arrived also, and my Bluetooth dongle, so now I can happily switch off the power and get 10 minutes extra before the WDM dies (will help if Sean manages to overload the George Foreman again), and also make sure my phone stays synchronised, although I'm still not entirely sure of the settings yet.

I was interested to see that Sony have launched an e-Book, and for the first time I was genuinely interested in what they have to offer. They claim that the electronic ink (it's not a standard backlit screen) is as sharp as text and from the looks of the site it could do quite well; almost certainly better than previous attempts at this sort of technology. Only time will tell if it sells well, but I could definitely see benefits, especially when trying to avoid yet another chance to strain your eyes.

I find myself ever more often writing these entries in the early hours of the morning. This is usually due to fiddling around with other pointless things, or more recently, when I finish working. I would like to be shut of my 'paid-work' by now, but I am not. Unfortunately and as always, things crop up that you don't expect and you get delayed. It's all a bit heavy. I spoke to Devito today and he said all my recent stuff has been heavy. I know, it annoys me, and the minute I cheer up you will be able to tell.

Aside from work, I took time to go swimming in Kidderminster to try and exercise the other muscles in my body, and the other interruptions of the day were mostly phone calls. I spoke to Devito, Swan, Sean and Broomy. I also got a txt from Browndog, but have yet to reply. I've booked my ticket to London for Saturday, and if all goes well I might get to see some people while I'm in their neck of the woods.

I have decided there are a lot of things I need to put in order to do with the business. It's all long-sighted though because everything else going on right now. I did enjoy having some good conversation yesterday though when most of our relatives from Mother's side descended upon our house and we did Christmas all over, at least, before I headed back upstairs to get on with fighting The Inbox.

For anyone who wasn't on the face of the planet last night, it was New Year, and therefore all the obligatory annual rigmarole came about where people say for months they are going to do something then it doesn't happen or instead they find themselves on the night in question struggling whether they go to the pub, or stay in, or whatever. Thankfully I had a night planned, although initially I was a little sceptical of my ability to hold a seven hour conversation with just the one person in a place I don't know. But it was all fine in the end.

I ended up at Gwyther's at about 7pm, and although New Year is much later than 7pm, we headed to the pub straight away in order to avoid the 'crush' or even a queue. Matt used to work in this aforementioned pub, and therefore getting served faster than instantly wasn't a problem. I would go as far as to say, this may have been one of the major contributing factors to the mother-of-all-hangovers I had this morning. The other main factors were the alcohol and the shameless devotion to being merry for the new year, which I most certainly was.

After an hour or so post 'the big event', I decided to go back as tiredness was taking hold of me and leaving Gwyz to perv over the barmaid (who wasn't anywhere near as bad as the Kiwi girl we got talking to at the end of the night, who really should consider wearing a bra) and spent 20 minutes (an estimate) trying to figure out how to get into the house without the key. Eventually Gwyth realised I was still not inside, and so ran back from the pub to let me in.

At 9.30am I woke up; wished I hadn't; got up, went downstairs, had a bowl of cereal and waited for The Father to arrive with a lift home while gulping down the average annual rainfall of Scotland. Once home I took to my bed, slept off the headache and two hours later was sitting back in front of the WDM working on more Stuff.

Tomorrow is Mother's birthday, and much to my disgust, Interflora refuse to deliver the day after New Year's Day (at the right price).. So instead birthday present shopping tomorrow. Also we have Uncle Stanley and Auntie Judy, Cousin Tim, Uncle Mike and Auntie Gay all in attendance, so big family stuff going on.

But for now I need my sleep.