Congratulations Paul!!!

A letter dropped gently onto the doorstep on Friday morning, addressed to a Mr Paul Hatchard and inviting him to an interview for a place on the University of Exeter's PGCE course. I offer him my hearty congratulations, and await a similar letter addressed to Mr Phil Hatchard with great anticipation.

I met up with Adam yesterday and went for a bike ride out to Woodbury and Budleigh, stopping at the Rolle Arms in East Budleigh for a pint of Otter and a roast beef lunch. A lovely way to spend a Sunday. In the process I made an interesting discovery - the lowest gear on my brother's bike isn't quite low enough once fully laden with ale and cooked cow. There's a thesis in there somewhere.

I managed to rush back home in time to go to the theatre for the pantomime rehearsal - I'm only in the crowd/chorus, but it's a bit of a giggle. I walk on and ogle a couple of slave girls, and then we all sing Chop Suey, a frankly unsingable song with dreadful lyrics and at too high a pitch (and if I try to drop an octave it's too low). It's got nothing to do with my not being able to sing.

Later we all get to sing to Widow Twankey about how she/he/it is in the money, which is much more enjoyable. Adam has promised to come and laugh at me. Friends, eh? Can't live with 'em, and fortunately enough, I don't live with Adam, so that's not really a problem.

I was browsing the Exeter University Guild website the other day, and realised they don't have a Stop AIDS Society. It occurred to me that it might be quite a good idea to try to help start one, so I registered on the site and posted on the forum. I was mightily annoyed, though, to read a Guild vice-chair's rather curt reply. He explained that the university already provide many such services to the university's students, and so it's unnecessary to have a Stop AIDS Society at the university. I couldn't find anything about all these services on the Guild website, however.

There was no mention of raising awareness about the wider problem, which is what I actually meant by my original post. Perhaps I wasn't clear about that and have misjudged him, but quite frankly, I have far more sympathy with the welfare of people who have no access to accurate information on a disease that is decimating their community, than about students who have the information at their fingertips but who choose to ignore it.