At home again.

My mother turned sixty yesterday.

We threw a surprise party for her in my brother's restaurant. She knew that the immediate family would be there (we had to lure her there with an invite), but she had no idea that all of her friends would be there too, and she got quite a land when she walked in the door and we all shouted 'Surprise'.

It was nice to be able to do it for her. She had been a bit down about it seemed that the occasion would pass without some form of commemoration, so she got a nice lift to see what had been organised for her, and it all went rather smoothly, as long as you discount the fact that some of the balloons that we had put up on the wall seemed to mysteriously vanish into thin air less than 5 minutes after they had been put up. Go figure.

While on the subject of birthdays, this blog turned 2 years old over a month ago, and I completely forgot to mark the occasion! Oh well, here's to another two.

I rang the payroll department of lloyds pharmacy today, and in spite of the fact that the dozy pharmacy manager told me she had faxed them all my details, they still had an incomplete record of my time there. The guy I spoke to on the phone suggested that I should e-mail them the details myself. I'm inclined to agree. I'm going to wait until the money is gone into my account, and then the letter of complaint will be sent. This is nothing short of ridiculous.

I flew home Friday morning. It was by pure chance I got a message the night before from one of the former tenants saying that they had all got their deposits back, and that the landlord's hold over me had effectively been relinquished. The following morning, I had my interview with the college for the job (which I got), and then went back to the house, got my baggage, and legged it. I left the key, along with a note explaining the absence of the week's rent. I signed it 'with deepest regret'. The landlord has tried ringing me twice since I've got back here, but I've just ignored it.

I got shafted for excess baggage at check-in, to the tune of £50. I quietly resolved that it would be for the last time. Oh, and I bag I got for a 'bargain' at £5, split all along the seams as I was heading out the door of my house. I suppose I got what I paid for...

The results of the repeats are out on monday coming. I have a knot in my stomach. Regardless of whether or not I proceed to third year, I think the best thing to do would be to go back to Brighton. My parents don't know that I had to do resits, and everyone is assuming that I'm going to go straight into 3rd year. Not sure what I'm going to do about this. It would be such a balls to lose a year when everything is finally starting to go well (well, insofar as I have a nice well-paid job this year which allows me to catch up on coursework from time to time while I'm doing it). Oh fingers, toes, cock and balls, all crossed...

P.S. I fucking HATE my parent's dial-up internet connection.