November Miscellany

I would like to begin today by saying hello to the CIA. Apparently they have a team that read blog posts and tweets etc in order to learn about social situations across the world. So if the lovely people at the CIA are reading, I hope you are enjoying my work (by the way, secret services from other countries are just as welcome).

So, November continues to be fairly pleasant so far. It’s not exactly been packed full of exciting things but it’s not being awful, which is good enough for me. I’m quite surprised that I’m still in the positive mood I’m in after the frustrating day I’ve had. At half eight, shortly before I usually leave for lectures, it began to rain rather heavily. The only coat I had is not waterproof and the only available umbrellas were rather girly to say the least and not mine to take. Suffice to say I was something of a drowned rat by the time I arrived in my lecture and the several cars which splashed me. Three hours passed by whilst I was in lectures and I swear, almost the moment the tutor said “that’s it for the day” the heavens opened once more. For the second time today I was drenched and to make matters worse shortly after I’d dried off I discovered I had a waterproof coat hiding in my wardrobe after all. Typical!

All this walking in the rain finished off my already dying shoes. I get through shoes at a ridiculous rate, normally needing a new pair around every three months. These now dead shoes were the best shoes I have ever owned. They looked pretty cool with their blue and green colour and I got them at the start of July so they’ve lasted me relatively well. But they are now literally falling apart and water seeps straight into them. The best pair of shoes I have ever owned are no more. *Insert tears here*

My last walk in them was a bit if a shopping spree around town. Many things usually go wrong when I am shopping by myself though today was not to bad. Thanks to a convenient sale at the sports shop I got a replacement pair of shoes for a very reasonable price. And they are Nike ones, check me out with the brands!

I then purchased my second pair of shoes in a day, which I think may be a lifetime first. Seeing as though I am one of the big bosses of rambling society I thought I ought to have some vaguely decent walking shoes and this way my day shoes might actually last a bit longer too. In the outdoors shop entrance there were a load of walking shoes on sale and I quickly chose a pair I liked and could afford. It was only when I was stood in front of the till about to part with my money when the shop assistant (who was actually a woman despite first impression) informed me they are not actually waterproof. But I couldn’t go back on my decision now! These were the shoes I was buying. So sure enough, said shoes are now right here in my room. I’m hoping they will be ok and cannot help but internally justify my decision. Any walks I go on are relatively short and won’t involve crossing rivers or anything so do I even need them to be waterproof? They should keep most water out and it doesn’t matter if I destroy them because they were cheap and I can always by some more. So there you go, they are perfectly ok!

Yesterday was my mother’s birthday and I was a particularly good son. Not only did I text her as soon as I had signal, I arranged for a card and flowers to be delivered to the house. It was a big bouquet of flowers and the card had a picture of the dog she really wants on it, all of which was very expensive for a student who has little money. Then in the evening we had a conversation on Skype which was nice. How many son points must I have got for all that! I think I could probably forget her birthday for the next few years and still get away with it thanks to today. My sixteen year old brother on the other hand claimed he didn’t get her anything because he didn’t have money but when asked about the £100 he had been counting the other day said that was “different”. That makes me the good son I think!

One of the subjects that cropped up in the previously mentioned Skype conversation was that of relationships. There has been a lot of romantic feeling amongst my housemates lately with one thing or another and I then realised I am the only one in the house that has not been in a relationship of some kind since we started uni last September. Thoughts like this always make me feel a bit rubbish really. It’s not that I even mind anymore but it would be so nice to suddenly feel love again. It’s been oh so long. Dear me I sound like some kind of romantic. But you get the point, I don’t really like being Mr. “Single and not a chance of that changing any time soon”. It’s an annoyingly long name and makes form-filling a right pain.

I really am spurting complete nonsense tonight. Hopefully it reads quite entertainingly. And I shall finish with an interactive feature. I am terrible at making any kind of decision some every now and then I like to get you lot to help me out. This time it’s in regards to facial hair. You can all see what it did look like from my profile picture or the Twitter image on the sidebar depending on where you are reading this but what should it look like next? To help me decided, vote for an option in the poll below or write a comment if your opinion in something different. I shall then do whatever it says after allowing a couple of days voting. Thank you, my look is in your hands. Not literally you understand, because that would be weird.

(If you can’t see the poll above, click here.)