Don’t You Threaten Me With A Dead Fish! #

1 November 1998

The B&B we stayed in was great - the proprietors were really welcoming, given that we were a bunch of five lads out on a bit of an alcoholic weekend. As requested, they woke us for breakfast at 8am, although I wasn’t really feeling up to the full cooked breakfast that I had foolishly opted for. Still, the porridge was gorgeous - an alternative hangover cure, perhaps?

I couldn’t face any walking. Indeed, only Brucey and Rich did so, climbing two munros from a start point which entailed me driving them along an icy, mountainous single-track road. I think I scared them somewhat - my driving doesn’t exactly instill confidence, even when I’m not hungover.

After dropping them off, Lexy, Andy and myself returned to Killin, bought some newspapers and retreated to a pub. I realised that my clothes were not exactly clean, and I was dishevelled and unshaven. As Lexy gingerly approached the bar, I couldn’t help but think of the scene in ​Withnail & I​ when the pair are attempting, unsuccessfully, to buy lunch in Penrith.

“Do you sell tea?”, Lex asked of the barman.
“TEA? What are youse doin’ coming into a pub asking for TEA?”, came the reply.
“Uh, we had a bit of a heavy night last night…”
“Aye, I suppose I can get you some tea.”

There was an interesting article in the Sunday Times about the increasingly popularity of mathematics. Apparently students are taking the subject at higher levels in increasingly larger numbers. There was a photo of a nineteen year old Edinburgh student, Jennifer Myers, whom Lex though was ‘quite fit’. Indeed, he came up with a plan to write to her, suggesting they ‘got together to help promote maths amongst the young people of Britain’. Hmmm…