Boing

Colindale, London, England // 11.30 am // Mostly cloudy 8ºc / 46ºf

So apparently today is the first day of spring. Doesn't really feel or look like it at the moment. I'm sitting here in the living room bloody cold. Granted, I'm wearing shorts and a t-shirt, and the heating hasn't been on for a few days (until a few minutes ago) but it'll still be a while before we're all wearing shorts and short sleeved shirts in the sunshine. In fact, I'm sure I saw some snow forecast for next week!

It was a really long, hard week for some reason. Come Friday, I was absolutely done in. I didn't get a great deal of sleep through the week though, for various reasons. I can't remember which day it was now, but the day of the plane crash in Amsterdam meant absolute chaos at work, and I had my busiest day there since I started at the company. Still it was good experience, although a few alcoholic beverages were certainly required to get over the day!

On Thursday night I went to visit a radio station in East London, with the aim of bringing my show Grooveline back to the masses, plus helping out at a worthwhile radio project. It went really well, and I met the station manager, got a tour of the station, and handed in a show proposal. It seems quite likely that'll I'll get a show, and I've got to go back in again on Tuesday to record a demo. I'm planning to make it a one-hour show. That's completely different to what I've done in the past, where the show has ranged from 2 to 12 hours. But I'm actually really excited by the prospect of producing a tight, concise good sounding quality soul music show. My friend Robin Blamires on Smoke Radio has proved how you can make a 1 hour show sound great and fit a hell of a lot into it without making it sound rushed or stressful, and it's fair to say that the structure and idea of the new Grooveline will be very much based on Robin's show.

It'll also see me bring back two of my old features, plus a new one. Additionally, the radio station provides each show with fantastic, dynamic and easy to update show pages, which I will do my very best to keep up-to-date to complement the show perfectly. And one of the best features of the show page, which I'm very excited about, is the possiblity of listening again, on-demand, to the previous four weeks of shows.

So the first demo will be recorded on Tuesday, and we'll see what they think of that. I'm just looking forward to getting back into the studio, for the first time since last August.

Yesterday I went to the Irish pub in Kilburn to watch the Celtic game, where we absolutely thrashed St Mirren 7-0, which is absolutely brilliant for our goal difference compared to Rangers. I actually believe that game will win us the season. Meaning, I think we will win the league on goal difference only, and by a few goals and no more. Mark my words.

Didn't do as well with my betting on the other SPL games though, getting only 1 out of 4 results correct. I now have £39 in the betting kitty from my original fiver.

During the game I got a really emotional call from my mum, who is caring for John during his treatment for cancer. For the first time since it all started, I cried yesterday. I just felt so helpless being so far away, but I know they appreciate they can call me and let everything out anytime, and I know they can't really do that with anyone else. It's the very least I can do, and I'm going home for a weekend at the end of the month, but it doesn't seem enough. I'm working on making that better.

Last night we headed over to West Ealing to a housewarming party of one of Elle's friends. It was quite a quiet affair, but a good night and a chance to meet some really nice people. Getting back from there at 2.30am was pleasantly easy too, with two nightbuses.

I've just had a visit from our local councillor for the Burnt Oak ward. I think she was pleasantly surprised that she could have a conversation with someone who was actually remotely interested in politics, and someone whose vote she could rely on. Plus that fact that I'm fairly young. I've never worked out if I'm allowed to vote in the Scottish Parliamentary elections. The fact that I've not lived in Scotland for over 7 and a half years might count against me, but it's something I've never checked out for sure.