Seven days have passed since my last posting, but you don’t need to have a Mathematics degree to work that out. To say I have been busy, would be an under statement. There just has been so much going on, with the office move and technical hiccups with gremlins in the phone system. Although I did find the time to post on my work blog. Days seem to be passing fast and the amount of work I get done seems miniscule, almost unrecognizable. Do not think I have worked for any firm, where the days pass so quickly. Is that such a bad thing? Not too sure, but wish I felt more productive than I do, at the end of a hectic day, manning the phones.

The mission for this week, was to obtain the video to the Comic Relief single, Tony Christie, featuring Peter Kay, (Is This The Way To) Amarillo?. Yes, the purists among you would have told me to stop being such a tight case, and go and purchase the single. After all it is for charity. But that would be too easy, so instead I decided to hunt this humorous music video down. Well in fact, I did none of the searching and left it in the hands of a trusted friend. Coming back online, after an absence of eleven days, Nav finally came online, after replying my GMail about his recent, AWOL status. It was great to see him back online and catch up. Unfortunately, he had not seen any of the seven hours of nonstop entertainment on Red Nose Day, the previous Friday, so I did my best to fill him in on what he had missed. Pointing him firstly in the carefully guided direction of my previous blog entry. That would fill in most of the gaps. Sending the mp3 audio file, across MSN, we both realised how much longer it would take, compared to our days in the student house, last year. MSN would detect that we both connected to a local network and make use of the 100mbps bandwidth. The file transferred soon enough and Nav too was able to enjoy the splendor of this 1971 classic. Believe me, it is catchy and you too soon will be humming it everywhere you go, driving your work colleagues and family mad. (I, would never stoop to that level, keeping my composure, until I get in the car, of course!). Then I began to explain the video, which my ex-house mate had so cruelly missed out on seeing. Without the benefit of Sky Digital, there was little window of opportunity for him to see it again, even though MTV Hits and Smash Hits have been screening the video regularly. It was time to hunt this mpeg down (well we would accept any viewable video format) and Nav soon locked onto a file, but was hampered by the lack of users sharing on the Peer to Peer network, KaZaa. (Even though he was using KaZaa Lite, the clean, ad aware and spy ware removed version of the software.) The file was MPEG, around 48 megabytes in size and would take around third minutes to download. However, as both his house mates were also making good use of the broadband connection, so the thirty minute download was a very optimism estimate. It was getting late by the time Nav had received the file and enjoyed the comic moment of Heather McCartney in full Dorothy dress, Ronnie Corbett falling off the treadmill, and the return of Geoffrey and Bungle. But where on Earth were George and Zippy? Maybe this is a question I should pose to my dear friend, Sippy. On a side note, a quick note on Rainbow. Check out an episode that happened to be broadcast to millions, but would never see the light of day, on children’s television now. It is quite an innocent script, but just depends on your frame of mind 🙂 Back to my dilemma of getting the video to me, Nav was not keen to transfer the file over to me on MSN, as his upload speeds were not much better than a conventional dial-up connection. So, we arranged for him to transfer the file across MSN the following day, during my lunch hour. Unfortunately, Nav appeared and disappeared that Wednesday afternoon and was not online again until Friday. When he reappeared, I quickly opened a new conversation window with him. Disappointed in the situation rather than being angry at my friend, I came over with a rage, shouting at him to pull the broadband plug on his housemates (in affect disconnect them from the router) and transfer the file to me, then reconnect them up. Not wanting to cause any frustration to his housemates, Nav decided to just transfer the file across on MSN, to check the upload rate and then terminate if it was truly not a viable option. The two attempts were unsuccessfully, even though on the first dry run, we did get a modest transfer rate, it was not sustainable. Nav raced to think of other options. The other idea was to use FTP but that would me, giving away sensitive account details, which can only be changed with great difficulty. The other option, which we had used in the past dropload. Naveen would upload the file, then an e-mail would be sent with a URL link, notify me that the upload was complete and the file was ready to download. This process proved the most effective and time efficient. It took less than six minutes for me to download the file. Transferring the file to my USB key, I was tempted to watch the video for one reason and one reason alone. Although there are speakers built into my monitor, there is no speaker cable connected up the sound card. In any case, I have my volume muted. I just detest the constant pinging of MSN! The reason I opened the file and watched the opening few seconds of the clip on Windows Media Player, was to gauge the quality of the MPEG. It was quite good, so my plans for the evening would not be hampered. When I finished 7pm, I left the office promptly, even if it was rather eerie, to find it so empty and dead, on this Friday evening, boxes to be unpacked over the weekend all over the place. Returning home, I quickly transferred the file over to my XBox and quickly watched the video in all it’s glory, with full surround sound. The mission was a successfully completed. I sunk back into the sofa and smiled, a warm smile. At least one thing in my week turn out the way it should.

Friday brought with it, a sunny afternoon, but being cooped up in an office meant I had little time to ponder the beautiful weather. Today, however was yet another beautiful day. Though I did little make use of the fine weather, I had other more important things to concentrate on. After running a few errands and dropping my Mum and youngest sister into town, I returned home, in time to watch Blackburn play Arsenal on Sky’s Pay Per View service, PremPlus. Yet another convincing performance from a depleted side, with the average age of the outfield players of 22. That is a year younger than me, so really puts the lack of experience of the team into full focus. I am sure there will be full post match analysis on Arse Blog. How was the rest of my day? Well uneventful, if I am honest. I wanted to get some work done, tidy up, file away some of my paperwork but as usually only made tentative progress. As usually the weekend begins with high expectations, but I never get anything done. Then again, what do I actually do at the weekend?

On Friday, I discovered that once again, an appearance would be made on a television news network. This time, however it was not the rolling networks of Murdoch or ITN. Instead, on Sunday the appearance would be on the terrestrial flagship news programme of Channel4.(The same place where this story began, 75 days previously). I felt a small warm tingle in my heart, comforted to know that I would lay eyes on them again, but the context would be somewhat negative and the circumstances difficult. I had faith, that my friend (can I call them my friend?) would be able to once again give a fantastic account of themselves, the fans they represent and the positive message they want to push forward into the debate. I did not think much about the appearance when I discovered it would be this weekend, I had other more pressing things to consider. I came on this afternoon, at the interval between the Arsenal game, to catch up on my e-mails and read my daily blogs. To my surprise, they were online, my heart leapt for joy, but soon came crashing down again, when it came apparent they had set their status to Away. Reading the updated screen name, I noted that they would be making an additional media spot this evening on Sky News at 5.30pm. I knew I had to catch this update on the roundup from the trial. The previous time they had been on, I had only caught a few minutes of the exchanges. Being at my cousin’s house in Hayes and about to leave it was impossible to make out all the discussion, particularly with a young seven month baby, needing constant attention. My Mum had been watching her soaps on Star Plus, but I was hoping that I would be able to pry the Sky Remote from her, to watch the thirty minute slot. To my delight, there would be no need to have such a confrontation, my Mum and my sister, Julie headed out to a friends house, just before 4.30pm giving me the house to myself, and of course more important full control on the television. Tuning in early (as I always do) to hear the news of the Welsh win in the Six Nations. Never been a fan of rugby and hated playing in school. Diamond Geezer has a point that the sport is more of a spectator sport. Whereas, most fans of football (isn’t that the whole planet) actually enjoy having a quick game on the grass, jumpers for goalposts and all. So to be honest, I had no interest in the result of this match, with the odd shaped ball. I was only interested in the trial and being able to see someone again. If you are waiting for me to give a quick summary of the arguments and what was said, I am afraid you have come to the wrong place. There are plenty of other web sites, blogs and forums where that will be discussed and in detail I am sure. Here, on my site, there will only be a sincere appreciation for what one person, one soul is doing to bring about some positive influence, some rational thinking to the trial of an everyday human being, that happens to be greatest living entertainer of all time. I read once, that Michael does his best to avoid the media, and blanket out all the negative, derogatorily comments that are berated at him. If this is the case, he is going to miss, with the blink of an eye, someone, doing so much for his cause. The cynical among you will say that the situation is hopeless, and there is little that a twenty year old Law student can do to change the course of justice. True perhaps, but for someone willing to go to such great length, personal expense and sacrifice to make a difference, is there not an ounce of gratitude? Making my response crystal clear, in a short sharp text message, sent within minutes of the broadcast ending, I wanted to let them know I was thinking of them. The smallest of gestures, but something I wanted to do, to prove that on this occasion, I had been able to catch the discussion in full. Even by sending the text message, I felt empty. I feel, as if I matter less and less with every proceeding week in the trial, as the days begin to darken. Sure, I am a nobody, melting into the background, writing carefully my feelings without giving away too much information. Yet, with such public and easily accessible appearances, most of you should have worked out, to whom these final paragraphs are being dedicated. They may never read them, could be better that way. This is turning into a roller coaster ride but I am not too sure if I am happy with prospect of so many more lows before reaching the highs and exit platform. A straight simple answer would be the easy option, but whenever the conversation goes in that direction, all I get is an awkward silence, or abrupt change of topic. This either is the case of an individual trying their best to hide their own true feelings or unable to be honest with a friend and let them down gently. Either option sounds more appealing than the prospect of further wait. Hold on just a second, it should just be another 75 days or so. Maybe then, we’ll begin Startin’ Something. 🙂