Nick Jordan

Having gone down to the area on Saturday for a party and stayed overnight, I spent today mooching around Rochester, which is a delightful place. The cathedral is small but very beautiful, the castle likewise and the Guildhall Museum is way better than most town museums, and free to boot. There’s a serious possibility that I might move down that way at some point. Not for a couple of years at least, I reckon, but after that it may just happen. I shall just have to avoid Chatham which, judging by the bits of it I saw, is really not a nice place at all.

Usually I ride my motorcycle in pretty much all weathers. Come rain, sleet or shine I’m out there. Up until now, the only thing that’s stopped me is seriously icy roads in the winter. I have to confess, however, that the recent heatwave has left me going to and from work by tube. After a couple of days when I arrived home literally soaked in sweat and then had to put an extremely smelly and still damp helmet and gloves on again the next day, I decided that it’s just not worth it. The tube may be fairly unpleasant at the moment but it’s much nicer than sitting in traffic on top of a hot engine in jacket, gloves and helmet. So, I admit it. I’ve wimped out.

Appealing to the big kid in me is very easy indeed, and StreetWars does just that. Essentially, it’s a three-week-long tournament in which players try to ‘assassinate’ each other with water pistols. The last person left wins a cash prize. It’s simple, it’s fun and it’s a fantastic idea!

It appears that Hugh Laurie is going to be paid an enormous sum of money for the next series of House. All well and good, but what amused me was Stephen Fry’s comment: “One of Hugh’s great achievements as Gregory House is that you really believe how smart this character is.” Ouch.

Amnesty nets over 100,000 knives. It’s all very nice, I’m sure, but perhaps a bit pointless? After all, the kind of person who hands a knife in to the police under this sort of amnesty is hardly likely to be the kind of person who’d use it as a weapon. If you have a knife and you don’t want to be prosecuted, then just leave it at home. You’re not breaking any laws if you don’t carry it around with you.

I’m at home today, as I was yesterday, recovering from the weekend and pottering about. If you know me, you probably know that I went to Cambridge at the weekend for a wedding and if you don’t know me you almost certainly don’t care. Suffice it to say that I had a wonderful time, got moderately drunk and danced (if you can call it that) very badly indeed.

Anyway, I had the good sense to take a couple of days off afterwards so I’m doing some chores around my home, reading my book and enjoying a bit of time to myself. Not a bad way to spend a day.