After catching my train to London on Thursday, I ended up meeting Swanny outside Euston and then going back to his house before heading over to Southend with Devito, Mike and Wadd.

Due to public transport being rubbish, we had to take a mixture of bus and train, but after 45 minutes and the contents of Swan's bag (beer) we arrived ready and waiting at the station to get over to Sean's. Now something I've come to learn about when I meet with friends from the southern counties is they have no comprehension of walking distance, and "Oh yeh, it's just down the road" actually means you could take a two week cruise around the Med in the time it takes to walk anywhere.

We did get there eventually, and after the guy at the offy tried to rip us off (I thought he looked a little like Pugsy from Soccer AM, but thinking about it, it probably was Pugsy from Soccer AM) Mrs P served a fantastic amount of gammon and mash and the festivities got underway.

Blane (Sean's brother) and Aidee joined us for some card games, but it soon became apparent that the younger, male part of the Perrotton family are adept at what might elsewhere be described as "cheating". Apparently in Essex it is perfectly acceptable to check other people's cards then hold up your fingers behind their head to indicate what's coming next. After about half an hour I started to get suspicious, and after thinking I had successfully rumbled their little raquet, tried my own tactics and learnt two important lessons; your best friends are out to screw you over and never try to out-cheat anyone from Essex. Bastards.

We ended up in some club called Mayhem after finding the first club we tried was full. In an attempt to make sure we didn't lose Devito (it's bad enough in Loughborough, but when you take him somewhere he doesn't know, you have to be particularly careful) we made sure he was not left unaccompanied at any time. The night was good fun, and apart from witnessing the odd yob-lobbing-a-pint-glass-at-someone's-head trick, we survived quite well. Several further lessons were learnt that night:

• Don't buy Sambucca in Mayhem because it is a direct cause of poorness.
• Telling Essex girls you're from Birmingham is not a good chat up line.
• Telling Essex girls that you work in a Safari park is, apparently, believable.

Despite our best intentions, and managing to keep Devito under surveillance for the best part of the night, somewhere on the hour long walk home (great) he got lost (surprise). To put into context the length of time he went missing for, the rest of us went to bed at around 3am, whereas Devito finally found Sean's house and rang the doorbell at 7am. Poor old Devito. Not only did it take four hours for him to finally get back home, his attempt to sleep in a shop doorway got him thrown out by an irate shop keeper and it was only because he had the nouse to buy a map at 5am that he ever found out where he was. He also lost his phone.

In the morning Wadd and I had every intention of going home. It took a giant fry up, a train journey to Illford and a trip to another off licence to persuade us otherwise. After leaving Sean's we ended up at Swan's again and started playing more card games, watching family guy and eating large plates of Mrs S's spag bol.

We started off in a bar that I can't remember the name of and there was a lot of body frisking (does anyone honestly think I could pull off packing a gun?) crazy dancing and meeting of people (mostly Swan's sister's friends). Later on we moved over the road to time and into Time and Envy, a club with legendary status amongst most Essex folk I have met.

The place was fairly busy, a very good Friday night, and yet again I found myself educating myself in the ways of the world. For future reference, it is always a good idea to ask girls if they have managed to keep their dinner down rather than wait to be told it. Especially ones who drink Bailey's by the half pint and consider an orange pepper a suitable alternative to a kebab. It really was a fantastic night in the traditional meaning of the phrase.

In retrospect, asking Mrs S, "Did you have a good night's sleep?" this morning probably was both unnecessary and badly phrased. I probably should have said something like, "Thanks for putting up with us last night, none of us can remember if it before or after 5.30am when we shut up." I think my lack of eloquence was at least partly due to the large number of noisy and angry midgets having a Royal Rumble in my head at the time.

I finally got on a train home at 2pm this afternoon, but am so glad that I am weak and capitulated to the second night out. Ah the memories.

Cliché of all clichés, The Great Escape always follows Christmas, and this year I am making my own - escaping the piles of turkey, cold stuffing and reheated boiled veg. Although really this is actually quite nice food, I'm still making a run for London to meet up with Devito, Swan, Sean and Mike for one night only.

There are no hard and fast plans yet - I could be heading for Uxbridge, Illford or Southend at the moment - it should be a good little venture.

Last night I met up with John, Tom and Steve at the Crisp. The usual discussions ensued and there were plenty of gross out medical stories to go around. There were also congratulations in order, Steve announcing his engagement to girlfriend Louise - I think that's the first person I know from my friends to do it, so it was a bit of a surprise, but definitely good news.

On the way out I spotted Harriet and Laura with a few friends, and they asked me to come and sit for a while. There was plenty of Stourbridge related banter, and it was a good catch up with them too.

Today I ride to London.

Well, I thoroughly enjoyed that. The food was good, the company was good and the presents were good too.

The Higgs residence was the preferred venue this year, so both sides of the family descended upon our house yesterday. I was enthusiastically woken by Sister One at 9am (unusually early for her, ever) and we swapped family presents. I was most impressed - three good books, a case for the laptop, some music, a couple of novelty items and some money to spend in the Bullring.

Although people moan about getting useless presents, I have genuinely strong vendetta against these items and get angry when I am given something that I know will just be thrown out, and even more angry if the person who bought it knows it too. Although it seems to counter the spirit of things, I would rather have the money, or nothing at all. My motivation lies purely in the amount of waste generated by crappy little gifts that are bought for the sake of buying and unfortunately are a total waste of the world's resources. Especially cheap injection moulded novelties. I'm not kidding about how annoyed I get - especially when I know that there is always something meaningful or useful you can buy if you think/look hard enough. Damn you Victor Papanek for putting me on a high horse.

Thankfully my relatives exercised a good level of thought this year, and there was very little that irritated me; infact I was really pleased with the crop, and I think everyone I bought for was too. Sister Two probably got me the most interesting/unexpected gift - a Fratelli's limited edition vinyl that alighted both my musical and design interest (see photo).

Of course the main bulk of the day was dedicated to over indulgence and there was a cornucopia of food and drink. Buy 4pm the only think between me and the land of nod was two mugs of black coffee.

After everyone had gone there was the obligatory evening tv (mostly because by this stage, the extra weight of your internals has pinned you to the sofa) and we watched the Vicar of Dibley. I often think that programme gets overlooked in terms of comedy gold - I know I never used to give it full credit - but it's actually very, very good. Last night's episode was well worth the time.

At the moment I'm trying to figure out the intricacies of my life for the next week - with new year and a beckoning from London folks for me to make an appearance I'm thinking it's becoming all too complicated already...

Last night we fought the fog to get up to see Jasper Carrott's Rock With Laughter show. It's become a bit of a staple in the Midlands' Christmas Calendar and basically it's a beneficiary variety show for local charities.

The benefit of having Carrott organising it means that he can pull some strings and get some good names in (we're not talking stratospheric, but still pretty good) and the show is a mix of both music and comedy. On stage last night were Jimmy Carr, Lenny Henry, Carrott, Jethro and an unbilled and suprise appearance from Jimmy Tarbuck. Musically, I wasn't so fussed, but for the sake of illustration the line up included Suzie Quattro, Journey South, Bjorn Again (the big Abba tribute) and the bloke from Wizzard.

It was a good night and well worth the pittance it cost to get the tickets.

Tonight James and Donk came over to the 'Bridge for a pint and a curry. We ended up in Balti Bazaar amongst some big 40th birthday party, and had to wait a rather long time for food. It was good to catch up anyway and there's likely to be some second meet up soon. Rich still appears to be pushing the rowing and Davies still appears to be pushing the drugs (he's a pharmacist for the benefit of the unenlightened), so nothing's changed really.

I also upgraded the Macbook today and replaced the standard 512MB of memory with the full 2GB. Performance has improved phenomenally, so I'm glad I did. I only ordered the RAM yesterday, and so was surprised to see it arrive this morning especially since I had selected the free postage/3-4 working days option. My thinking is by spending big on it now it will mean I get the benefit from it for longer and also save money by not upgrading in two stages.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and I have yet to wrap a single present. Better get cracking.

Making a departure from the usual drivel that I pump out into the blogosphere, this post is dedicated to my experience with a product. After my time at university learning how to design them, I am now rarely drawn towards making critical evaluations of products, that is unless they are somehow Apple related. It's usually iPods, Macs and other white shiny things that get my attention, and when Nick from MP3 Additions emailed me saying he'd like me to review one of an accessory for him, the palms of my hands got sweaty and I started to salivate. Pathetic.

Anyway, I was promptly dispatched a sports case for my old 3G iPod. Now I cherish my 3G. When the 4G came out I was slightly jealous to see a thinner model, then when the iPod Photo came out I lusted for a colour screen. But by the time the 5G came out, I was over that, and I started to ooze with Apple nostalgia, instantly yearing for little red glowing buttons once more.

You are hard pressed to find accessories that fit the 3G today, and so I was automatically intrigued by the 'Marware Sportsuit Convertible' case. Essentially it is a 'graphite' (grey) neoprene case, with option of belt clip or armband (for really sporty people) and a removable shell that fits onto the front and can also serve as a carry case for headphones and other small accessories.

The case itself is well built and has a nice feel to it. Getting the iPod in was pretty easy, but it did take a minute to get the PVC screen protector to line up with the buttons, and as you can see from the photo, it doesn't always sit flush. The longest grip edges are made of a synthetic rubber while the iPod is held in the top by a velcro and leather grip. There are a couple of other materials in there too, but it's all of decent quality with good attention to detail.

My usual iPod routine takes one of two directions. Firstly there is walking with headphones, and secondly there is using my iTrip when driving in the Pocket Rocket. Well, it soon became apparent that the second option was not really going to work with this case. I quickly found the Griffin iTrip wouldn't sit comfortably on top of the leather grip. On the first generation iTrips this wouldn't matter so much, but on my newer one the LCD screen is totally obscured by the redundant leather tab.

But I wasn't too concerned by this. I was more interested by what this case might do for me when I was walking, as that makes up 75% of the usage time for my 3G. I currently use a two-part authentic Apple carry case that was thrown in when I bought the iPod, and despite having a really nice feel to it, you can't see the screen when it's in the case. The Sportsuit provides a solution for this very nicely. Although PVC wouldn't have been my first choice for a protective-screen material, and I'd have tried to have made it a bit thinner, the buttons and touchwheel can be activated as normal and the screen clarity is good.

The vacuum-formed and neoprene covered convertible 'lid' is an excellent addition to the product. It can be easily attached and removed (like all the fabric parts on this product - it velcros together) and provides plenty of room to store my iTrip and headphones in one go - a perennial problem which I used to solve using by carrying everything in an old shaving case, but which now I can ditch.

With the hood on, it's an all-in-one player and storage solution; without the hood it becomes an easily accessible, splashproof and durable iPod case that is a good level up from what I am used to when I'm walking. The armband is a little redundant to me, but the bulldog clip feels sturdy and it didn't fall off my belt when I sat down. The accessories list says you can buy a specific belt clip, but if you really want to make sure it doesn't fall off you could just loop your belt through the two seatbelt straps on the back of the case and save yourself a fiver.

The rubberised cover for the cable connector port is very nicely executed, although it isn't much use to me as the case makes it too bulk to fit in the dock. Branding is discrete (the way I like it) and the overall feel of the product is not dissimilar to some kind of climbing accessory. In fact, if you are more outdoorsy than me, this is going to be an ideal candidate for that type of activity.

It's well stitched and feels like it could add some protection if you dropped it. Neoprene was a good choice of fabric, but more caution should have been exercised when using it on the front. Where the screen protector meets the case is the weakest part of the product both aesthetically and physically, which is a shame because it is also the most visible. I've worked with that material before and it's a nightmare to get it to do what you want, and this is the one part of the product I think that really misses the mark.

Overall, it's a very decent way to store and use your iPod on the go, although you will definitely get more benefit from if you are the active type, and also if you are not too picky about the finish on the front. For people like me who sit in cars, it might not be your first choice case, but if you walk, cycle, hike, climb, ride, sail (well maybe not sail - it is only splashproof) this is a good little number if your first choice of iPod is stuck well back in 2003.

Since they have have been so kind, and it's the season of good will, it's only fair to ask that if you are looking to buy this or another case for your iPod, MP3 Additions sell a wide variety of products for all generations, so go and have a look there first.

And not just this week. I thought last week disappeared too quickly as well. Despite all my grand plans for getting stuff done before Monday, it looks remarkably like most of it is going to be unfinished. Not that this should bother anyone else, but I know it's going to leave me fidgeting over Christmas and I don't like that.

I've realised it's been just over a year since I went on my mammoth research phase and got up to speed with web techniques and things. Nate Koechley said this had been "the year of the script". Well for me it certainly wasn't. I've been more concerned about other things - not that its been too detrimental by the looks of things. Some recent projects have allowed me to be more experimental with my design work and I've had some real success. Although all the dynamic stuff is great, there's nothing like pushing the envelope with what you already know, and I've enjoyed all the learning curves I've tried to jump.

My new years resolution is to hone my JS to a half-decent level. I'm sure that where IE5.* used to be my biggest frustration, next year it's most certainly going to be IE6 (it already is). Today I came across several fantastic gems that will make life so much easier in the future and I can't believe I hadn't stumbled across before. Everything points forward and that's a positive thing.

I apologise that I forgot to post this earlier, but for ex-Lufbra types here's some entertainment from the homeland... Loughborough Flashmobbing (there is more on YouTube if you search).

When I walked into the Union on Saturday morning to see Spongebob Squarepants sitting having a coffee with some friends, I really did worry that the effects of the night before had been heavier than I had thought.

On Friday I went up to Loughborough to meet up with friends and tackle some work. First stop was Mick, who I haven't seen in a year and a half, so there was plenty to catch up on while we went over the plans for his new site. After a three and a half hour meeting, I think went straight into a second meeting up at the EHB, which lasted another two hours. Although it wasn't strenuous, by the time we got to five o'clock, I was looking forward to social activities.

Mike and I headed over to some house party and after failing to find any sellotape (looking to play Edward Ciderhands) we simply drank what we had and met up with everyone else in FND. I hadn't expected to have a particularly big night, but it accidentally (but predictably) turned into one.

Next morning was fairly lazy, but at noon we went to Varsity bar to meet up with Johnny, Duffy, Day, the Swede and his brother, Ben. Plans were made for the evening and the rest of the afternoon was spent watching Family Guy. Swan arrived. We bought a couple of crates, had kiev sandwiches (nicer than you might expect, although not really haute cuisine) and went out to Lloyds where we drained them of Vodka Red Bull, and then Rain, where we did the same.

I spent a lot of the night trying to sell one of Mike's house keys to a stranger, but it didn't work. A new drinking game called "Keep your mouth open as wide and for as long as possible" was invented, but due to my inability with sport, I wasn't very good at it. Although we were clearly the happiest people in Lufbra, we probably didn't look particularly sophisticated.

The next morning there was a good three hours of bant swapping mostly on the topics on how big Day's face is and when the police will be coming to arrest him. This continued through lunch (Subways in KFC; not sure the staff were entirely happy) and one final drink while watching the match before getting on the train home.

I am so glad we can still do these meets. Looks like there maybe another in London next weekend...