Nick Jordan

I went to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix this afternoon. I’m not going to go into it all here, except to say that it was a perfectly acceptable couple of hours’ entertainment, darker than the previous films but still nowhere near dark enough for my taste. Still, it’s aimed at kids, so what can you expect?

Anyway, what I wanted to mention here was that, while waiting to buy sweets and drinks (at a truly exorbitant price, I might add) I overheard a woman tell her small child that Diet Coke is good for you. Honestly! What the hell was she thinking? Does she truly believe that simply sticking the word ‘Diet’ in the name and reducing the sugar content a bit turns that crap from incredibly unpleasant and stunningly bad for you to something that’s positively beneficial? Marginally less nasty does not, as far as I’m aware, equate with being actively good. I worry. I really do.

On Friday night I met up with some friends for a visit to the National Portrait Gallery, followed by beer and then kebabs at Leicester Square. It proved to be an extremely good way to finish off a pretty trying week. I love my job but there are times when I could do with a little less stress.

Yesterday I availed myself of Lidl’s regular sale of cheap motorcycle gear and bought myself a new magnetic tank bag for a tenner. It has a useful detachable side pocket and can be unzipped from the magnetic base, which stays on the bike. The act of doing this reveals straps that allow the bag to be worn as a rucksack. All very clever. To be honest, I’m a sucker for anything that has lots of zips and pockets and stuff.

Today I intend to laze around in front of the TV, watching the German Motorcycle Grand Prix and drinking beer, specifically Badger Golden Glory, a lovely summery ale containing extract of peach blossom, which gives it a light, fruity flavour I really enjoy.

Typical. It was beautiful all day, sunny, warm, all that stuff. Then I left the office to come home and the thunder thundered, the lightning lightened and the rain poured down in bucketloads. Then, just to cap it all, there were hailstones all over the bloody place. I thought it had snowed for a moment.

The roads near where I live are prone to a bit of flooding when it rains and I’ve just got used to it, but this evening the water was deep. As I rode the bike through the lakes that covered the road, fearing all the time that it was about to conk out, great clouds of steam rose from the engine, actually managing to obscure my view and fog up the bike’s mirrors. I was really very glad to make it home, sodden but in one piece.

Bloody weather.

Today I bought a new vacuum cleaner to replace the one I had, which died quite some time ago. The flat’s not perfect yet but I’ve already discovered that there’s actually a floor underneath the thick layer of crap. Amazing!