Despite the relatively small amount of sleep, I arrived in the office on time. I spent the day working at a colleague's computer as mine was being refitted and made nicer. It was interesting to work at a guest machine, since I had fewer of the things which distract me to... well... distract me. I ploughed through some of the tasks that the team have assigned for the next couple of weeks. We had a man on holiday and the aim was to meet our short-term target even though we were short. Ideally we should beat it. Previously, we were going off track long before we'd even gotten to the hard bit where you try to finish everything off - this lead to lots of overtime. Trying to get ahead of the game in advance seemed a good move. We managed it too. Only slightly, but it still counts.

It had been a draining week and I had a date with a lovely lady in Southampton. I wasn't staying in the office any later than I had to. In addition, my last task finished pretty much at the time I might have considered scooting off. I went to my car and pointed it south. I had 5 hours of driving ahead.

I took a stop around 6.30pm and bought a heap of unnutritious shite to eat. I added some chocolate-covered raisins, which almost count as healthy because they're fruit. This is, of course, the sort of nonsense I tell myself while I'm buying shite in the motorway service stations. It managed to fill my stomach and only cost LOTS OF MONEY.

The journey went reasonably quickly, partly because every mile was a mile closer to a good destination, and partly because I had my usual brood of musicals playing. I'm getting quite good at singing along with the "Fu u u u u" song in Jerry Springer The Opera. I really should recharge my MP3 player or put some more CDs in the car to listen to. Still, if it works...

I arrived in Southampton to a warm reception and got chance to relax and enjoy a weekend's good company. I was tired but in good spirits. I think I needed to wash away the week's exertions.