Thursday, March 03, 2011

That went surprisingly well!

I turned up at BBC Nottingham late, having missed the train and cycled in to the city, but they gave me the task of teaching the sports presenter how to memorise royal weddings, and it came out sounding good on the radio.

Also as a follow-up to last night, the prize I won turns out to be a cheque for £1,000. Maybe instead of giving it to charity like I said I would, I'll take it to Las Vegas and attempt to win a fortune. Did I mention that I'm going to Las Vegas? Well I am. So there.

Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Everyone wants me all of a sudden

Tune in to Radio Nottingham at the crack of dawn (7:15ish) tomorrow morning - they're talking about memory for no particular reason, and asked me if I wanted to join in. And since I'm in such a cheerful mood this week, I said okay. Now I just have to remember to get out of bed in time.

I also got a letter today from the bank, forwarding a letter sent to them by Cerebra, a charity for brain injured children that I've been giving small amounts of money to by monthly direct debit since longer ago than I can remember (I sometimes look at the list of direct debits on my account and usually have no idea what half of them are. I should probably do something about that, really - evil people have probably been taking my money every month without me knowing or caring). Anyway, this letter says I've won a prize in their fundraising lottery, and since I never told them my new address when I moved house two and a half years ago (or maybe even the time before that, five years earlier), they went to the trouble of writing to my bank and asking them to forward the letter.

I didn't know they were even doing a 'fundraising lottery', and I'm not sure that I really approve of charities giving money to people like that. If I give money to a charity, I expect it to go to brain injured children, not to fat lazy slobs who can't even be bothered to work for a living and have got plenty of money anyway. That kind of person gets my goat no end. I was going to tell them to keep the prize when I call them back, but actually now I come to think of it, I'll take it and give it to a different charity, one that doesn't give prizes to people. That'll teach them.

The prize is probably gift vouchers or something, donated for free by some business, but that's not the point.

Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Things come in threes

My boss, who's been needing a kidney transplant for about five years, has finally got a matching donor and was whisked in for surgery today. So please all send positive vibes in this general direction and hope it all goes well. Also, another colleague has gone off on maternity leave starting tomorrow. Really, the office is going to be empty by the end of the week at this rate. I'm also feeling a million times more cheerful and less stressy ever since I handed in my notice, it's really quite miraculous.

Monday, February 28, 2011

Hooray for me!

Because I've handed in my notice from the job that has been somewhat driving me to distraction for the last few months, and I'm going to be an unemployed vagabond again for a little while, paid for by my memory championship winnings.

This sabbatical is going to be shorter than the last couple of times I did this exact same thing (why people keep employing me is a mystery, but past history has taught me that they inevitably do), I'm only going to leave it two months, three at most, before I start looking for another job. But I do really need the break and change of scene. I've spent too many evenings lately just calming down from a stressful day at the office, and that's really not healthy for a delicate would-be hippy like me.

Also, have you seen that advert for some anti-aging cream or suchlike, that says "Don't take drastic measures - use our anti-aging cream!" And then at the bottom of the screen there's small print saying "Not equal to the effect of taking drastic measures." I didn't know that 'drastic measures' was a quantifiable scientific thing, but I think I'm going to have to take them. I found a white hair in my moustache! I'm resigned to being increasingly white of beard these days, but my upper lip has remained resolutely a luxuriant dark brown up to now...