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Hey,

It has been a busy-ish week the previous seven days. Once again I have found taking notes to be the best way of keeping track with my mediocre life. Is it a bad thing that my memory is so poor that I need to take notes so that I don’t forget my own name? Maybe…

On Wednesday I went to Nikki’s house to watch the premier of the road trip that my friends went on during the summer. The trip took them round the country whilst I, although invited, declined to stay in Fort William. I regret this. The trip looked awesome, from going to “Storybook Glen” to their own Christmas dinner in Glasgow in July. Hopefully I will do something similar with them next year, possibly abroad.

That evening, on a spur-of-the-moment sort of thing, my friends and I decided to take a trip to Inverness to catch a film. With a bit of time to kill Cameron and I found us at the Morrisons outside the Eastgate Shopping Centre and, because my life is sad, I went to the Fish Counter. I am aware that, if I was ever popular, that popularity has vanished. What I will say though is that it wasn’t a touch on my – er, I mean Fort William’s – counter. Store 178 for life.

The film we went to see was “The Ugly Truth”, which starred the guy from “300” and the girl from “Knocked Up”. It’s a rom-com, a predictable one at that, a plot I won’t go into because when you eventually come round to renting the DVD you too will get it. This is not to say that it is a bad film, because it’s not. In some scenes it is quite funny. It’s just the ending is well, for want of another word, expected. With pay day not til Friday and with us hungry, we opted for one large pizza from Pizza Hut. However with no large bases left we got two medium pizzas for the same price. Good, stomach filling times.

Pay day did arrive on Friday, with those hours of overtime coming to fruition. The only snag being Mr Taxman decided to be a right tool. Out of my earnings I was deducted – tax and N.I. combined – roughly £200. This feels harsh but I should get a rebate for most of it when the time comes round, which I think is April time. So in a way the Government are saving money for me, technically? Friday night was also the night of Caitlin’s 18th birthday party, which had a 70’s theme. Personally, I hate themes. I hate dressing up, it makes me feel ridiculous. I feel like being a fishmonger is a form of fancy dress alone. But I made effort to dress up. Well, kind of. I went as a young Paul Weller, with leather shoes, trousers and a Ben Sherman top. I felt it was a clever choice but bar five people I got the general shout of,

“Here, you well didn’t dress up eh!”

After hearing this for two hours I changed not my clothes but who I was meant to be. For the rest of the night I was a man from the future. It was a very good night though it must be said. Drinks, friends and (cheesy pop) music meant it was a good way to end the working week.

I played cricket on Saturday. I lost at cricket on Saturday, away to Ross County. We are getting better though as a team and just for the record, we are not bottom of the league. No, no, no. We are second bottom. This summer has been a big learning curve but we can only keep improving. I was meant to go out on Saturday but tiredness and Match of the Day kept me in. This means the Ossians pact remains strong. Twenty-three days now. More paperwork from Glasgow University turned up on my doorstep on Saturday. From what I gather from my provisional timetable I don’t appear to have any lectures on a Monday. This means it’s a long weekend every weekend! (On second glance I do have classes on a Monday, but none on a Friday. Heck, I will take that!)

Work on Sunday was tough because I was by myself at the Fish Bar. This meant that I had to prepare salmon myself. I filleted seven salmon on Sunday and, if I am honest, I am quite proud of it. It’s a skill I may never need again once I leave the shop but still. I might make it my party piece. Later on that night Liam came round for a few hours of Kopparberg and Xbox. I am a man.

And that, my friends, has been my week. Only three weeks or so left in Fort William and then I am gone. To be honest, it hasn’t really sunk in yet. As my friend Lorna once said about leaving school, “it will be weird without a bell telling me to go”. She was right, probably. A wee mention also to Callum before he leaves to go to Guyana on Thursday for a year to teach maths and physics. Oh, as well as circus skills. All the best, son.

DC

Ps Craig, welcome to blogging etc!