Well gosh - I'm a little behind, but I don't really aim too high these days anyway, so never mind. Still, I'd better blog the weekend before the next one comes.

It was quite a good weekend. John came to visit. I left work at half three on Friday in my very bestest shirt to meet him by the memorial thing on the steps of the cathedral, which was the busiest I'd ever seen it, barring the presence of a fair. Took it easy that evening - wandered back home and watched Donnie Darko and Evil Dead 2, both of which were, I think, appreciated in their own way.

Saturday was Exmouth day. John had to wait unil I got back from confession after the 10 o' clock at South Street, and the plan was that he went to St. Leonard's, but he got the service times muddled so he went for a walk instead. He had arranged to meet with his old housemate Jo (not Joe) at the Boston Tea Party, so I met him there rather than going home and waiting for him. Jo was the only one of his housemates that I'd never met, only it emerged that I probably had, as she went to Collingwood. Bonkers. I had Keemun tea, and we talked about various things, some of which were pantheism and people we remembered from Collingwood. I didn't remember very many. Anyway, Jo seemed very pleasant. She even texted me today - not that I mind, but I don't usually get texts from people I've only met twice. We said we were going to go to Exmouth, and she said she might meet us there later with her friend Amy.

Well, go to Exmouth we did after that, in Irene's car. It was an okay drive until a 4x4 started getting really close to my boot, the closest I've ever seen. I was both nervous and irritated, as he clung to me fairly relentlessly and never overtook. After a while it got too much, and I turned off into a cul-de-sac near Exmouth, as I really didn't want such a terrible driver behind me. It didn't do me much good though, as he followed me in. He was clearly psycho material, as he was waiting down the drive for us to come out again. So I was quite nervous. We waited in the cul-de-sac for a while, myself being nervous, and John being relaxed (too relaxed I thought), and gradually said psycho edged out a little, but presumably only to lull us into a false sense of security. In the end, a resident came out and asked what was going on. He was very helpful, in an abrasive sort of way, and determined to come with us to talk to the other driver. He didn't want to budge, and we think he moved further down the road, to carry on following at a further juncture, but friendly local chap directed us down local roads, and we lost him. It really put a damper on my day.

John and I just walked across the beach basically. Whe we got to the end, we climed some steps leading up to a coastal path leading to another beach fairly close. This is where the trees overlooking Exmouth beach were. I've not been a great climber of trees in the past, but these were very inviting, and once I was up, it seemed logical to text many people, to say I was up a tree. So I did. Walked along the beach some more, sat on some rocks, and walked back. We had dinner at the generic seaside entertainment centre, where The Barron Knights apparently play sometimes. I had egg and chips, but I had no salt and vinegar on them, because even the vinegar was Nestle. Hopefully the unlabelled brown sauce was not, and I expect Panda Pops are unaffiliated. We were gonna crazy golf it, but it was then that Jo turned up a think. We found her after a while, despite being told that she was "near the dunes", "near a flag". She was not accompanied by any Amy that I saw, but a Matt, who I have met a couple of times, but looked different due to shades, and two other people, only one of whom was called Wes. As has happened before on Exmouth beach, I found myself embarked upon a quest to dig the hole to end all holes. It didn't quite do that, but it was rather good. I basicaly killed an afternoon doing that.

I can't have made that bad an impression, as I found myself at Matt's house that evening, again with Jo, Wes and John, watching the tail end of Coyote Ugly and a classic episode of Coupling which involved a fictional bar full of Australians and a "French bitch". I seem to remmeber having a very enjoyable evening and talking a lot of crap.

After mass, I drove down to Dartmoor with John, and Norris came as well. We just sort of walked. Norris was our tor guide, but he just took us along the path and not up any tors at all. I didn't really mind; walking in that weather was pretty knackering anyway.

We drove home so that John could catch a train back to Wimbledon. It was good to see John.

I'm no longer responsible for stationery - woo! Now I have to photocopy cards containing pay histories of employees when pensions request them. I'm not sure whether this is better or not. I expect I shall soon find out. I'm selling some videos at the moment too, well most of them actually, if I can. I've seen most of them enough to know them well enough to do without them until I get 'em on DVD I think. I am also now doing a weekly e-mail for CTaCH as a kind of prayer diary. It's all go.