What a day for getting out of the office to somewhere else? In this case I went to two places. I went to the office of a company that we're working closely with in order to immerse myself in what's going on, so I can actually help make it work. It was a very productive meeting which started with my car being blocked in in the office car park back at my employer's, followed by a hurried lunch in a fleeting moment at Waitrose, and then the meeting.

The meeting overran significantly, but that was largely down to my own behaviour. I was somewhat engrossed and keen to find out more. So 6.30 ticked on by without my departure.

However, I had another out of office place to be. I had a gig in Coventry. It's only 90 or so miles, but those miles have to be driven and I needed petrol and I needed sustenance. Actually, the car uses diesel, but you get the idea.

I stopped at Oxford Services and bought something to eat. I visited the toilets in the petrol station where I bought (and when I say bought I mean signed for) the tank full of fuel. The toilet made me laugh. I wish I'd taken a picture of it, but it's weird taking photos of a toilet. They had one of those signs outside showing the number of minutes since the last clean. The sign is digital and says "we aim to clean this toilet every 45 minutes" and then shows the actual elapsed time. It was up to way over 300. Consequently, the toilet was in something of a state. I didn't mind. I can piss on anything. I did find it amusing, though, that their inadequacy was so bluntly illustrated on the sign before you even got to see the full horrors born out of their neglect of basic hygiene duties.

With my food I also impulse bought a Louis Armstrong double CD set. Then I was back onto the road to Coventry. The rest of the journey passed without incident - except... there was... well, the incident of the CD set being devoid of disks was a bit of a bugger. I realised then that I'd have to go back to Oxford services again that night.

I delivered the last sentence to you in a bit of a mock-dramatic way. Like the last line of a novel written in the first person. "I realised then, that I'd have to dig the grave myself and try to die in it in as dignified a manner as possible." Sort of thing. It's not the end of the world to have to take some CDs back to a service station you'll be passing in a few hours. It's just a little out of the ordinary. Still, there'd be a late night snack to look forward to.

Life isn't so bad for me. I have a lot of opportunity.

The gig itself was worth going to. I had a lovely time. I saw some acts I'd not seen before and, though worried about the time, discovered a fairly open-ended timeslot for me at the end of the gig, which I stuck 35 minutes of Ashley gold into. Well, it may have been silver or bronze, but you know what I mean.

I even used a semi-scripted heckler put down. Something to do with being sent to Coventry.

Then the long drive home, with the company of an act who'd missed his train... via Oxford Services.

It's not a bad life.


PS. I since discovered that the CDs provided for my 2 disc set relate to a different Louis Armstrong 2 disc set. It was then that I realised I'd have to go back to Oxford Services... again!!!