September 3 (Friday): Das Bus. To begins with the morning moving very slowly. Why do I feel so low? I get ready and just about manage to leave by 8.00 in order to get the interview at Rose Calendars on time. I worry about the traffic but on the whole I am travelling against it, it going in the other direction. I manage to find the place on the business park pretty easily and I arrive almost ten minutes early. The company is opposite an old client I used to visit at W&D and do their annual stocktake on June 30 each year. It was in fact the client I visited the morning that B and I went to look at 16 Hollytree Court with the estate agent. And then I see Capita around the corner and just know that that is where Sarah from hell works. Small place Colchester.

I do the interview and again it is not one of my best, where on earth was my spark? I go in with my voice dry and find myself unable to speak, commanding an authorative (or even adult) voice/tone. The man interviewing me though is very likeable, physically he is a combination of Gerard Houllier and Elvis Costello and he talks the hind legs off a donkey about calendars. The interview seems to go well, I think I ask good (if not the right) questions but do fail to get my personality across (which Stevo later tells me is a good thing).

When I finally get into the office (9.45 without excuse) it turns out that Emma has chosen to move out of our office and sit over the road, in my own office. “What? The really nice office?� I hear you ask. Her apparent moving out of the office gets taken very personally by Stevo. Apparently she did say “it’s nothing personal� but Stevo does add, after my couple of months of smart comments in that direction “you are a good judge of character�. All in all though it disgruntles the office and makes us wonder just what is up, smart comments ahoy occur.

At lunchtime Stevo drags me and Sandip to Edwards when really I don’t want to eat out and can’t really afford. It’s a pointless exercise and I say next to nothing whilst macking some ladies from Wellington House.

In the afternoon I speak to Chris (who is now back in town with Sofie in tow) and he offers to cook tonight (Mexican) and suggests that I come over before we hit the town. Good call. I manage to talk Mark along also and get him in.

After work, I tear home and head to Chris’s. On the way I pick up Mark and his mum tells me I have lost weight (again). Word. We get to Chris’s and the food he has made/prepared is fantastic, enchiladas and more, it tastes fantastic, cooking is Chris’s real gift.

Eventually we pull out and head to town, leaving Sofie behind (her choice) and picking up Ben in the process. Initially we head to the Hogshead which is its normal heaving self on a Friday night. We bump into Mark’s brother Steve and knock about with him etc for a while. I find myself taken aback by an amazing looking Asian girl hanging out in Steve’s group but I never get an in (yeah right, as if I’d do anything). We sit outside and it is comfy but Chris seems kind of eager to go to the Hole In The Wall for reasons unknown to the rest of us. We do however all head over there for him (at this point we almost lose Mark to the evening but I manage to talk him into remaining because I know he will be able to talk me out of the Arts Centre later on). We get to the Hole In The Wall and it is pretty much empty, which for a Friday night is pretty inconceivable regardless of how doggy and horrible the place actually is. We wind up sitting outside (not too cold yet Mr Nature) and we run out the rest of the evening with yuks and (surprisingly) good conversation. Closing time occurs and crunch time arrives. All good things come to an end, I manage not to get talked into going to the Arts Centre with Ben and Chris (although immediately upon leaving for home I get pangs of guilt and feelings of missed out pleasure).

When I get in, there is an Oasis documentary on Channel Four about Definitely Maybe being ten years old. The documentary is awesome or at the very least manages to make early Oasis (look/sound) awesome. Which at the time, I remember them being.

B pops up on MSN and we wind up the evening talking bollocks until 2AM.

np: Oasis – Slide Away