Teela-Nee #

22 February 1999

Awoken at 08:19 by the unmistakable ​teela-nee​ sound which indicates an incoming GSM text message. Being half-asleep, I stupidly considered that it might be important and require my immediate attention, so I got up and went to find my phone.

WEEKEND 26MAR IS BEST 4ME

Uh-huh. That’ll be Rich, then, confirming dates for our Ben Lui trip. I knew he’d be easily persuaded to come along, once Brucey and I had agreed on it. Superb, can’t wait. Still, not really worth getting out of bed for.

Monday, then. Day off work, to use up my last holiday from 1998, and I’ve nothing much planned. I’d probably be better off at work, but it’s a matter of principle - 25 days holiday I get, so 25 days I’m gonna take. May as well just sit back and relax in front of the TV… ​Trisha, Vanessa, Esther, Kaye, Jerry Springer, Montel Williams​ - geez, whatever happened to real daytime TV? I watch five minutes of Trisha, an episode titled “Get out of my face!” before flicking the standby button.

Fortunately, there’s a knock at the door, and the postie hands me a book I’d ordered from Motley Fool UK on Friday - now there’s speedy delivery for you! So I flick through the book inbetween email downloads. The absurdity of this situation isn’t lost on me - here I am, taking a day’s holiday, only to spend it sitting in front of a PC emailing my colleagues. Sometimes I really start to worry about myself..! There are emails from others too, though, mostly asking what the plan is for my impending birthday - “Is it still on? If so, what is on? And where?!”. Buggered if I know, I suppose I’d better think of something quick. This is another situation where having my own place would be useful, especially if it was reasonably close to some clubs, or at least civilisation…