Productive weekend

For once I feel like I've been doing something with my time off: today I actually pulled myself out of bed at 8.30am (this is unheard of for me on a Saturday), to go down to Greenwich with Simon. Okay, so he was going to collect an eBay purchase, but while we were there we took the chance to go and look around the Royal Observatory and the National Maritime Museum. And both are free!

The post-Christmas weeks have been a bit strange; what with the first anniversary of Mum's death, the snow (which I'm grateful has now cleared) and the inevitable lack of money that follows the festive season, I've been feeling a bit blue. I finally feel like things are looking up though, and today's trip definitely helped. Tonight will be my first trip to the pub since New Year's Eve, which might explain my cabin fever somewhat... and tomorrow I have plans to make myself go and talk to the allotment people at the end of our road, in an effort to force myself to spend more time outdoors. Sad to say, this could be one of the more productive weekends I've had in a while. I think this means I need a life.

Now, roll on February!

Manchester needs to move

I've just come back from a great weekend in Manchester, during which I discovered two things:

• Manchester is approximately 362% nicer, cleaner and friendlier than London
• Manchester is about two-and-a-half hours too far away by car

Given this assessment, I think the only workable option is for Manchester and London to switch places, so that I will only have to spend about an hour getting to Manchester from my house, and will therefore actually be able to see Manchester-based friends on a more regular basis. Therefore, I am adding the Manchester-London Reversal Project to my Total World Domination Plan(tm) and will implement it as soon as the plan comes to fruition, alongside the Guitar Solo Vetting Scheme and countless other life-enhancing changes.

Under the project, Londoners will be given the option of 'staying' where they are to live in Manchester, so long as they agree to discard their old London ways, in particular:

• Forgetting that places outside of London (and especially north of London) actually exist
• Barging into strangers on the street/tube and refusing to apologise in case it holds them up for a second
• Charging exorbitant amounts for beer and, well, most things

There will be other conditions, the most important of which will be a requirement for all Bands I Want To See who book London gigs to also play in Manchester during the same tour, and others that I will add at a later date (when they occur to me). All in all though, I don't foresee to many problems with this one. I'm looking forward to bringing the project forward and rolling it out. Going forward.