October 17th

For the benefit of www.historymatters.org.uk...

For me October 17th 2006 started at 7.30am when I awoke in a daze wondering who was ringing me at that time; but I then remembered that my phone is also my alarm clock and that was a more plausible reason for it vibrating on my bedside table. (Just to clear up any worries, my alarm does not make the same noise as my ring tone. However, I have no excuse for taking a while to notice this).

I didn't have time to mourn the fact that no-one was ringing me after all as it all came flooding back to me that I had planned to have a leisurely breakfast in front of the TV. My plan was foiled however when I realised that there was no milk. Bummer. Never one to be defeated though I headed off to my local convenience store, with a view to rectifying this problem.

Besides milk, I also purchased some apples and some bananas and some gum. Oh and I had decided that I fancied some eggs, so I carefully selected a free-range box, paying careful attention to the best before date (at that point I had no idea how long eggs keep for and I didn't fancy feasting on 6 in 24 hrs).

I couldn't resist the lure of the baker next door and purchased what later turned out to be a rather delicious iced doughnut. I was mildly annoyed that I was charged 60p when the sign quite clearly said 55p but didn't demand my 5 pence back despite feeling that it breached certain principles (it was, after all, only 5 pence).

So, with a bowl of cereal, a cup of tea, a fried egg sandwich and a glass of grape juice (which would have been orange had I not opened the wrong carton) I watched the video of BBC One's Robin Hood from Saturday.

Then just as I was leaving my housemate surfaced and we enjoyed a brief chat. I began to fear that I would be late for my lecture but I am pleased to report that instead I set a new personal best for getting in to the Uni. Ladies and Gentlemen, I made it in 17 minutes. This was more by luck than judgement given that each of the buses I needed to catch happened to be waiting at the stop when I approached, but it made me feel good nonetheless.

My lecture was a complete waste of time. I couldn't see the board, and despite having a note-taker to copy its contents down for me the lecturer spoke too fast about things I didn't understand.

I then headed to my office and ate my doughnut at my desk whilst checking my emails. I then made a lot of progress with my coursework before heading to the Chaplaincy for the ecumenical Communion Service and lunch. This week it was taken by a Methodist Minister. Given that I went to a Methodist Chapel on Sunday I began to wonder where my allegiances lay.

Lunch was nice, as ever in aid of Oxfam.

The afternoon was not blogworthy, consisting of four hours of lectures and computing labs.

After a quick bite to eat and a chat on the phone with a friend I went to the Chamber Choir Rehearsal, which I enjoyed. As an added bonus I found that I can wear an Oxford BA hood at the big service next week...so long, of course, as I can obtain one first (which, sadly, could be a mission).

Someone called Barry very kindly gave me a lift home, and threw some intelligent conversation in to the bargain. I conversed again with my housemate and watched the News. This was followed by an interesting program on C4 called 'the Holy Hottie' about an ex-porn star who set about making it her mission to preach the Good News to America's sex industry. It was a good program (save for a few dodgy puns) but I was too tired to see how it ended and opted for some sleep instead.