Old sleeping habits – Means staying up way past midnight; sleeping for more than 8 hours; sleeping in and afternoon naps. Bliss. However, I remember a journal a health economics journal which said that over-sleep was worse than sleep-deprivation for life expectancy.

Revision for an accountancy exam in two weeks. Actually, most of the course is self-study, so technically revision has not started yet. The recommended study guide is spread over three days, but assumes that you work for 10 hours a day.

Wii Mario Kart – This is the 4th iteration of Mario Kart that I have played (SNES, Gameboy Advance, Gamecube and Wii). A motion-sensing steering wheel is now the method of control. It takes time to learn how to use it after years of using a standard controller. Funnily enough when I first played Mario Kart on the SNES, I tried to tilt the controller in order to control the kart. (I wasn’t a smart 9 year old). Now technology has caught up with my childish intuition.

More time has been spent on Mario Kart than revision.

Snow isn’t fun anymore – Returning to Liverpool means I don’t have to use public transport and get to drive everywhere. However, it has been ridiculously cold and the roads have been frozen. Not being able to stop while going at 5mph is terrifying. Driving through snow for 20 miles is horrible. You trudge at 20mph without and sudden movements. You’re not sure if you or the car behind you can stop.

Snow isn’t fun anymore, but snowmen still are:

• Not leaving enough time to go to the post office and then finding a queue of ten people with only three staff working. This gives a ratio of 3.3. My personal rule is, if the ratio is more than 2 then it is not worth waiting. This rule does not apply at theme parks.
• I got to New Cross station and found late and cancelled trains. I really should have checked the National Rail website before I set off, but I had got used to the trains being very reliable. However, the combination of a new timetable and icy conditions meant that New Cross station had been like this all week. Ironically, the new timetable increased the frequency of trains.
• And I should have got a taxi back home. The train was slow and the walk home was covered in ice. Not easy with a suitcase.

Actually, writing about the journey home is an excuse for me to publish a photo which I took today:

While admiring the view, I asked the question: who got my work Secret Santa gift?

A bet for Liverpool to win the FA Cup AND for England to win the World Cup. I should be £125 richer at the end of July. As a clue, the accompanying card reads: “Miracles do happen at Christmas”.

Nottingham
My sister graduated, which coincided with a return trip to Nottingham. It was surreal walking past students house that friends used to live in. Now there are faded stories about the time we lit a bonfire in the garden and burnt things. (OK, that was just the once on the corner of Faraday Road / Derby Road).

Liverpool
Always good to see the guys, despite our increasingly busy schedules. It’s the last summer before everyone starts their adult jobs. Yes, the six-year medical degrees have ended, but not before the drunken press up with a 75kg Indian standing on your back contest. Sam beat Graham 4-0.

Luton
Where I audit and fix printers.

Angel (North London)
Most sane people are finished with exams after university. I even had a sadistic enjoyment from setting my English students tests. But I decided that I needed three years of professional exams in my life. It’s a constant and unyielding pressure. I’ve spent three weeks at college in Angel. I just found out that I passed the mock exams from last week. I don’t feel any satisfaction – it’s just relief.

Why do I do it? Obscenely ridiculous post-qualification salary.

Karaoke
Actually, the my real motivation for work is the chance to sing karaoke on a regular basis. I’ve sung Take That’s “Back for Good” three times in July. Happy times.

Now I’m off to Canada for two weeks holiday. They say that Karaoke is banned there. Unhappy times.

I was shocked to discover that there had been a Chinese Triad knife fight at one of my favourite Chinese retaurants – Chilli Chilli.

Chilli Chilli Restaurant

It’s made national and international news. Some links:

• The Sun
• The Daily Star
• Liverpool Echo – The original article in the Saturday Echo included an (impressive) misspelling of the proprietor’s name.
• Liverpool Daily Post
• Liverpool Click

The police wanted to shut down the restaurant. But that’s an irrational reaction.

• Statistically speaking, the triads aren’t likely to do the same thing twice. The restaurant is now safer than ever.
• A bouncer has been hired.
• The restaurant still offers the most authentic SiChuan food in the North-West.
• I’ll continue to go there and continue to invite my friends. I think I might be eating by myself.