August already? The year is rushing by and I have quite a backlog of events to write about. I wish I could slow things down or just have more time to make sure everything is covered. I suppose, I should mention my failure to get tickets for Arsenal’s opening fixture at Emirates. A limited selection of tickets went to sale to Red members originally on Wednesday morning. This was delayed until 2.30pm due to technical problems and was then postponed until Thursday morning at 9.30am. While I was able to eventually log on on Thursday morning, each block that had limited tickets would not allow me to book a single ticket. This was annoying, including my session timing out and then having to log back in. After another attempt, the event was disabled. What few tickets had remained had been sold. I was disappointed but not that gutted as there will be other opportunities and other matches. Pav invited me down to The Opera House in Bournemouth for Slinky with a guest appearance from his favourite DJ, Tiesto. This was first time in Bournemouth for clubbing, although I have been down to the beach several years ago. Nigel was in his 1.8 T reg Vectra and I struggled to keep up with him in my Punto on the M3. We got there around 10.30pm. This was pretty good going, as I left Wycombe just before 8pm and got to Eastleigh just after 9pm, not bad considering I was running out fuel.

I am not a big fan of dance music but I really enjoyed the night. It was great fun. The converted opera house makes for a unique venue, with an upper balcony over looking the main dance floor and stage. We spent most of the night here as it was less crowded. We did pop downstairs for a while and tried to get near the front of the stage but it was just unbearable. The heat and lack of air conditioning didn’t really help. The event was a sell out with over two thousand people crammed into this relatively small venue. There was a chill out room at the back upstairs and it was screening several movies over the course of the night, including The Goonies and Clockwork Orange. There were some dedicated clubbers in all their clubbing gear, including the traditional glow sticks. Tiesto’s set was at midnight until 3am and Rich, one of Pav’s friends from Liverpool recorded the whole set onto his mp3 player and I hope to listen to it again when he sends it to me later this week. A great night out and my first ever Slinky experience. It is a shame I did not go there on an average Friday night rather than a big event so I could truly appreciate the atmosphere with a smaller crowd. Don’t worry I haven’t become a converted clubber, but I will listen to some more material from the Dutch DJ.

Was in Leicester last night for Sachin and Rish’s engagement party. Left Wycombe around 3pm and got into Leicester at 4.30pm, staying at the Ibis hotel, right in the city centre. I walked into town as soon as I checked in, just to check out the town. When I got back to my room, I was about to get ready and switched on the television. ITV1 had a snowy picture but you could just about see what was on. The screen was black and a date appeared on the screen in white text. Saturday, 26 October 1985. I knew instantly that this was one of my favourite movies of all time. I watched the opening credits and the main hoverboard chase scene before going to get ready. It was strange going back to my University city after two years, the city and campus has changed so much. Difficult to describe how I felt walking down Gateway to The Quay. My department building, James Went has now been torn down and they are building a replacement, with the steel frame slowly being constructed. Met up with Darren, Sunil and Pritesh when they arrived and we went upstairs for the party. First time I had seen them in nearly three years and about two years since I had last seen Sachin. Had a great night out, it was brilliant to be back in Leicester and see some of my old friends. I took my CyberShotU with me but have yet to go through and download the pictures onto the computer. Will try and get that done during the week and upload them.