Today in history

It’s something I’ve been meaning to do for a while. Go back through the diaries which exist on the computer (there are some bits which are only on paper, some bits which were lost in various crashes over the years and some gaps where I couldn’t be arsed writing) and point out any nuggets of marginal interest. I’ve finally been moved to do so (finding that today’s file wasn’t password protected so I could actually get into it). So here are some things which happened on the 8th of February.

1994 – I was pissed off about only getting a C in my mock General Studies A-Level. I remember mentioning Doctor Who in an essay about a cultural fair of some kind. The teacher who marked it wrote something very sarcastic in the margin. He taught biology – he got his kicks from a stupid moustache and making school kids feel sick. Bastard. I tore the entire paper into little bits during break and binned it. I felt better for that. Though still aggrieved at the explanation that the teachers marking hadn’t used the official marking scale because if they had everyone in the year would’ve got an A and so the reputation of General Studies would’ve fallen even more. So they marked more harshly as a result. I was pissed because it meant I got three A’s and a C in my mocks and that was irritating. Like most entries for 1993 / 94 it contained more about the girl I was in love with than anything else. I dreamt about her again on Friday night. It happens every so often.

1995 – This was the day I first met soon-to-be housemate Kevin. Kevin was (and from what I know still is) possibly the most remarkable person I’ve ever met. Capable of mind-boggling stupidity and breathtaking intelligence, Kevin will drink himself stupid on Friday night, lose either his keys or his wallet, get up on Saturday and go to the gym or read a book on astrophysics, lose whichever of his keys and his wallet he still has after last night, do something fabulously geeky like watch Star Trek or spend time in a Terry Pratchett chat room, go out and drink himself stupid on Saturday night, design a computer programme on Sunday and then come Monday morning be back in his job as a manager for a company doing highly secret contract work for the Ministry of Defence. We spent absurd amounts of time watching ECW videos during our house sharing days and I still remember the time we took a picture of him impersonating the Sandman. Only with a broom instead of a kendo stick, an unlit cigarette and a can of Fanta instead of Bud. The only down side of reminiscing about Kevin is how he’s a success and I’m a failure. But that goes for everyone I’ve ever met really.

1997 – It must’ve been a non-footballing Saturday as I remember watching the Italian Job in the afternoon. I’d never seen it and Eddie Izzard’s vivid reconstruction of key scenes during his “Definite Article” video (which is probably the best stand up comedy video ever released so buy it if you have not already done so) made me feel I’d missed out. Indeed Izzard comments at one point “If you’ve not seen the Italian Job then this is all meaningless. Mind you, if you’ve not seen the Italian Job you haven’t lived.” He was right.

2000 – I had to go and sign on. I was rather annoyed at the pointlessness of the process as I’d been to the very same Job Centre the day before for some kind of interview and yet they made me come all the way back the next day just to sign a piece of paper. I was also reading Giles Brandreth’s diaries at the time. Another thing I’d highly recommend. Giles has a reputation as a smug and rather annoying twat but he’s actually a very funny man and his book about stand for Parliament and then life in the chamber is fascinating. Even more so when you remember that his time coincides with the Major Government which stumbled from one crisis to the next and never looked likely to last into the next month let alone the next year.

2002 – We had a tradition at The Old Place of ordering sandwiches from a nearby boutique every Friday. I used to have a bacon and melted cheese Vienna (£2.60 for a huge sandwich – good value in any language). I didn’t enjoy it this week and, more importantly, I noted that it was to be my last one. I had a holiday booked for the following week and a bit and that was to be my test – starting on day one of said hol (the 12th) I was going vegetarian. It was fitting that I neither enjoyed the final bacon sandwich nor that evening’s final ever beef burger at a local eatery. Food aside, I was also engaged in a mission to find out exactly what I’d need to get broadband from ntl: They had bombarded me with leaflets about it but no where did they actually say what was required. I was, and still am, technically competent so balked at the idea of paying a little man fifty quid to do something I could do myself. Or would be able to do if ntl: would give me a clue about what was required. I eventually wheedled (from unofficial websites note, not from ntl themselves) that I needed a network card, a cross over cable, an RJ45 cable and a connector to join the cables together. The rest is history.

Alas there is no more. The diary petered out in early 2002, made a brief revival in late 2002 and then went away again. Maybe I’ll do this again some time, when I haven’t got a better idea for what to write about.

8th February 2004