Thunderbozz

There was a very real risk (thanks to an almighty cock-up between John Lewis and Sony) that I wouldn't have seen my laptop this side of Easter. Luckily (and I'm sure it was nothing but luck which finally resolved the situation), it was repaired and returned to me in the nick of time. As a result, nigh-on one month after it died on me, I am once again able to spout my worthless musings on to the interweb again. ◊ Isn't it strange how really useful things have the tendency to appear when you need them most. Like "the Restoration period" being featured on the front page of Wikipedia the day before my exam on it. Or two characters on Third Rock From The Sun talking about Hamlet the same week I had to read it. Or – and this one was especially useful – ITV1 screening Mansfield Park last Sunday, just in time for my seminars on the book. On all three occasions, these happily random co-incidences have saved me a lot of bother. Well, all except the Hamlet one... it&#

Hello again. The lack of updates is once again connected to the fact that my computer is broken. This time, the thing wouldn't even turn on, so it's been sent back with an angry message. Faced with losing all my stuff (this time not backed up), it's also been sent back sin hard-drive: one way to guarantee they won't wipe it. This weekend saw the inaugural Flat 3 Poker Night, and as a result I'm now a big fan of the game. Rob Webster's visit to the steel city was occasion enough for us to crack open the poker set, and what a good idea that turned out to be. The first game, a five-player, five-hour affair, was unquestionably lost by me (first to leave the table) although in fairness it was the first time I'd ever played. It was, nevertheless, good fun and an excellent learning curve: justice was restored when yours truly came out victorious in the second game. Sunday also saw the first game of chess I've played for at least ten years. I lost full stop...

...that people are never so trivial as when they take themselves seriously.” I quite like the fact that some people think I'm a complete tosser. As long as there are some people who don't, of course, it's nice to be able to think that you've made such an impression on someone that they are driven to hating you. This week, I hijacked our group's mini-presentation in one of our seminars to prove a point. I had been struggling with some of the aspects of that particular module, so was determined to capitalise on what little I could grasp (and how!). Thus, our group presentation became my presentation: hopefully, this will spur on the members of our group who have trouble speaking out when they have a really good idea, and those who just have trouble speaking . In other news, my laptop is broken again , and Dartford are having a tough few games. In this fortnight, we're playing three of the top teams, and so far only managed draws with two of them. Saturday's g