Nick Jordan

It’s the time of year when the Queen dishes out the gongs, mostly to people such as civil servants and captains of industry who have done nothing more than their jobs. As a passionate anti-Monarchist I can’t possibly approve of this. I’d love to see the current system scrapped and replaced with something more meaningful, where only people who have made genuine contributions are honoured.

It also seems to me that by accepting such things as the MBE, CBE and OBE, one is giving tacit support to the notion that it’s OK to have an empire, which as far as I’m concerned is dangerous nonsense.

It’s that weird time between Xmas and New Year and, unusually, I’m off work. This means that I’m just lazing around the flat today, reading, listening to music and pratting about online. A couple of days of this and my batteries will, hopefully, be recharged enough for me to take on 2005 with some semblance of gusto. I won’t be making any resolutions this year, I don’t think, as it’s pretty much an exercise in futility. I shall just try to have a good time and ensure that those around me do the same.

I shall be away for a few days from today, so updates will be even less frequent than they are now. I’d just like to give everyone the compliments of the season and hope that those who celebrate at this time of year have a very good time.

I appear to have done all my Xmas shopping. I’m usually panic-buying on the 24th, so this is a really nice sensation. Now, if I can just attract some sort of wrapping fairy, I’ll have cracked it.

I’m not going to comment on David Blunkett’s resignation yesterday except to say, “Woo hoo!”

Last night I had the pleasure of going to see Steeleye Span at the London Palladium. The gig was part of their 35th anniversary celebrations, which meant that they had some guests playing with them, including Martin Carthy and Ralph McTell, both very fine musicians in their own right.

While the gig was generally very good I did feel that their playing lacked a little sparkle, although they were much better than they were the last time I saw them, some years ago in St. Albans. Nevertheless, a very good time was had and I’d definitely recommend going to see them if they visit your neck of the woods.

I’ve become totally, helplessly addicted to Sudoku, a Japanese logic puzzle which can be anything from ridiculously easy to fiendishly difficult. The concept is simple: take a nine-by-nine grid of squares and divide it into nine three-by-three squares using bold lines, chuck in a few numbers to start off with and off you go. Each row, each column and each three-by-three block must contain all the digits from one to nine. It sounds simple and it is, with the easy puzzles giving you plenty of information to start you off. The more challenging ones give you fewer numbers to start with and have them carefully arranged to cause maximum headaches.

I’ve been doing the Times’ daily puzzles, which start on Mondays with a nice simple problem and finish on Saturdays with a prize problem, and I’ve also been scouring the net for more in order to feed my growing habit. This thing could eat my life very quickly if I let it.

You know that you’re in for a good day when one of your colleagues hands you a couple of egg, mayo and sausage sandwiches while another fetches you a cup of tea, all before you’ve even started work. If only every working day began so well.

I watched Torque on DVD last night and throughly enjoyed every unlikely moment of it. The fact that if you really tried most of the stunts involved you’d wind up either dead or permanently disabled, the fact that the plot was trite, the fact that the dialogue was laughably macho, even that of the token females, none of that mattered. Why? Because it was pure unadulterated fun - escapism of the finest sort. The joy of unbridled, testosterone-filled action is one of those things that you either get or you don’t, and I got it.

Yesterday I met up with two of my old schoolfriends, one of whom I hadn’t seen for nearly thirty years (am I really that old?). We had a fantastic time wandering around London and reminiscing, and I was able to find out what became of a lot of people with whom I’d lost touch. People were mentioned who I’d not thought of in decades, and others who I’d often wondered about. They say that nostalgia isn’t what it used to be but I’m here to tell you that it most definitely is.

Y’know, I really wish that when people left their desks, especially for lunch or long meetings, they’d take their fucking mobile phones with them or at least switch the bloody things off.

I had an email from my brother this morning telling me in particularly gleeful tones that he’s bought a trike. For those not in the know, that’s basically a motorbike, but with three wheels. He knows it’s something I’ve always wanted, the bastard, hence the smug email. I think that sometime early next year I’m going to have to pay him a visit and persuade him to let me take it for a run. Possibly a very long one. Possibly even back to my place.

I watched the truly awful Chain Reaction last night, largely because there was bugger all else on the TV, and despite having seen it before. Even the presence of Morgan Freeman and Rachel Weisz couldn’t drag this film out of the mire that the appalling plot and typically wooden Keanu Reeves dragged it down into. I really should have just read my book or listened to some music but I simply wasn’t in the mood. Moods are like that. They make you watch crud.

I was supposed to go to my third tutorial last night but, well, you know how it is. It was cold and dark out and I’d had a bad day at work so all I really wanted to do was veg out in the warm and watch crap on the television. So that’s exactly what I did. It’s not as if the material we’re covering at the moment is difficult or anything, so I really didn’t feel that I was missing out. In fact, an unscheduled evening at home was exactly what I needed.