Seachain an duine a bhíonn ina thost

How Christmassy, Frodo is putting up his mini fibre optic Christmas tree in our window. Lovely jubbly.

In true Christmas spirit I've been frantically bidding on eBay for a particular hard-to-find Christmas present. Despite tripling the bid price in the last ten seconds, I lost out on my first try. Now I'm sitting here waiting for another 20 minutes to pass to bid on the next available version. More fun that high street shopping though, right?

It's not all fun and games, though, because it seems like every time I suggest to someone that we do something they conveniently have a Christmas dinner to go to. How much turkey can some people eat? Never mind, I had my own dinner to go to this evening, with our very own Vice Chancellor. It was lovely and informal, it is nice to have senior management we can chat to casually. And there was absolutely delicious lemon cheesecake. I took a slice away wrapped in cling film, although Frodo mashed it because he's a meany. No more eBay presents for him.

Sam's on holiday, but rather than getting jealous I'm going to keep myself busy by calling an Emergency Council meeting and remove section one (President) from Schedule 1: Executive Officers. That'd be way funnier than hiding mushrooms in his office.

For today's media lesson, let's take a little look at the front page article in last week's Bangor and Anglesey Mail. It's about litter in Bangor, so I bet you all know what's coming ... yes! It's those damn STUDENTS again.

The changing of the seasons means that there are plenty of leaves falling, and this has added to the mess in the city.

Just wanted to highlight again that yes, leaves falling is front page news in Bangor.

"You know that leaves are going to fall at this time of year, and most of them are swept up, but in certain areas where students park their cars and just leave them, the work simply can’t be carried out," added Cllr Roscoe.

Those students, it's absolutely shocking, how DARE they park their cars? They should be driving them around AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE so the Council can sweep around them. I always knew it was those pesky students causing leaves on the ground, not trees or seasons or anything. I suggest we sue Sam as chief student representative.

But another thing Cllr Roscoe mentions causes me much greater concern:

Cllr Jean Roscoe, county councillor for the Hirael ward,

[which is where I live, I hope she is bearing in mind that there are Council elections coming up ...]

believes that people still aren’t taking responsibility for their own actions and that the problem will continue until they do so.

"I know people who have dumped their rubbish in the road, and two months later, it’s still there," she said.

So she's saying that she knows people who dump rubbish in the street, yet she is complaining that the Council (which she is a member of, lest she forget) is not doing its job properly?

To go back to Cllr Roscoe and the important issue of leaves on the street:

"It’s a tough job anyway, and time and time again, we’ve appealed to the university to help us with this and it just hasn’t happened."

Gosh, poor beleagured Gwynedd Council. But this is the point where the University press office kick in and drag the whole conversation back to reality:

A spokesperson for Bangor University said: "The university’s staff and students contribute substantially to the local economy, [the] university budget alone [is] over £100m, much of which is spent in the local economy.

"We would welcome the opportunity to discuss realistic workable solutions in relation to traffic with the local authority."

It really is quite frustrating having all the world's ills blamed on students with no thought for the contribution we make to the local economy, so thank you press office for sticking up for us. GO TEAM ALAN!

When my train arrived in Euston yesterday, the train driver announced we had arrived and that we should take a moment to check we had all our belongings with us. Then he said, "If it's your birthday today, happy birthday!" I thought that was bizarre in itself, then he added, "And if it IS your birthday, you share it with the date that Snowdonia was made a National Park". It's those little added extras that make Virgin trains so special.

I'm going home I'm going home I'm going home I'm going home I'm going home I'm going home I'm going home I'm going home I'm going home I'm going home I'm going home I'm going home I'm going home I'm going home I'm going home I'm going home I'm going home I'm going home I'm going home I'm going home I'm going home I'm going home I'm going home I'm going home I'm going home I'm going home I'm going home I'm going home I'm going home I'm going home I'm going home I'm going home I'm going home yayyy!

My lovely societies are being so lovely, too, telling me not to reply to any of their emails while I'm away because I deserve a break. Isn't that nice?

How exciting! A debate!

Dear Sam & Carolan,

We write in response to your blogs (www.samburnett.blogspot.com) and (www.carolangoggin.blogspot.com) dated 25th October 2007 in which you object to being called ‘right-wing’ in the Student Socialist issue 5. We stand by what we said. The record of SU officials at Bangor Uni is unfortunately right-wing – here we outline also an alternative socialist strategy to defend the interests of students.

Disaffiliation from NUS
The SU claimed affiliation fees would be better spent on student societies, in effect forcing students to choose either NUS affiliation or better-funded societies. Students should have both. Unions get funding from the institutions they organise. If they are short of funding they should campaign for an increase.

Which we were doing and have continued to do. It's all very well saying something 'should' happen but the reality was that it was not happening, and that left us with a difficult decision to make as responsible trustees. It's facile to say there was no choice to be made; it is a mark of a good Executive that we faced this challenge head-on and asked students to make a decision on their priorities. It is important that students understand that if we are to pay money here, it means less money in another place.

Thankfully, Sam's campaigning has actually paid off, so it looks like there won't be a problem financially this year. But NUS's long-winded disaffiliation process meant that if we were anticipating financial problems this year, we had to hold the referendum last year.

NUS needs to be campaigning and democratic. Among other problems, students face fees, debt, poor accommodation and low paid jobs. Yet NUS is failing to seriously campaign on these issues – looking instead to small national demonstrations on a Sunday, small lobbies of parliament and ‘wining and dining’ various New Labour ministers.

Hang on, hang on, as a delegate at the 2007 Annual Conference I seem to remember that proposals to have big national demonstrations and campaigns were voted down -- surely it is undemocratic to suggest that the decision Annual Conference reached is wrong? The majority of delegates in the room supported NUS's current campaigning method so that is what NUS will continue to do.

Socialist Students argue for a mass movement to defeat these attacks, built through a national body with a real base among students and pupils, linked to trade unions and with a democratically accountable leadership. Currently we argue that campaigners should link up within NUS to fight for students’ rights. We put forward a concrete alternative to the leadership, and campaign for NUS to become a democratic, campaigning organisation. We contest elections for NUS conference delegates and local union positions, as well as being involved in local campaigns.

When did you or the student union as a whole attempt to argue along these lines?

As a democratic institution, we do what Council tells us to do. Council has not told us to do this. So we haven't. We do actively take part in NUS's events and democratic structures, just not campaigning along the lines you suggest.

Cuts to the School of Ocean Sciences
In the Student Socialist we said the union failed to fight this. This is true.

No it's not, weren't you listening at the GM when Sam detailed all the things we had done to fight it?

Students looked to the Union for leadership. Union representatives could only manage passive support and verbal protests, when students wanted to know “what can we do?” A Socialist-led Union would have made suggestions to students of how to oppose cuts, including holding a protest on an Ocean Sciences open day or outside the Vice-Chancellor’s Office, as well as getting press coverage and supplementary tactics such as protest letters. Mass action requires wide support, but despite exams a two hour protest organised by the union would have found an echo. Such a campaign would at least warn the university off making further cuts.

The University already knows the students were unhappy -- that was made abundantly clear by the students themselves and by the Students' Union. But the fact is that the University felt that these changes were necessary (particularly since the department was set to lose I think £5million over three years) and no amount of jumping up and down and shouting was going to change that. Also, as Sam said, we haven't had any complaints from students about their course this academic year which makes me think that the changes weren't so bad after all (please do correct me if I'm wrong here).

Campaigns like this have been launched elsewhere. At Lambeth College, where Socialist Students was in the leadership of the union, we organised a campaign against extortionate canteen prices. This organised demonstrations of hundreds of people. We are happy to discuss the lessons of this and other campaigns.

Extortionate canteen prices are not quite the same as cuts to Ocean Science: in the first instance, you are asking the University to make less of a profit whereas in the second you are asking them to make a very very big loss, the consequences of which would be felt elsewhere in the University. The University is not a bottomless pit filled with gold.

Right-wing or not?
“Right-wing” is not “an insult” if it’s an accurate description of those concerned, especially when they admit it themselves! Sam’s blog says “I would describe myself as centre-right…”

And where does Carolan's blog or in fact any of Carolan's actions ever say that she is right-wing? I do find it insulting, particularly since you have made no attempt to ever ask me about my personal politics and view-points.

We never described either you or Carolan as “fascist,” it is not us who use this word lightly. We have consistently combated the far right, through organizing many student actions and supporting wider campaigns to undermine the BNP’s vote and lies. When did the student union effectively campaign on this issue?

Ha, you should ask Sam about his infiltration of the party. As I said above, the Executive will do what we are mandated to do by Council. It's. A. Democracy.

Sam tells us Carolan was “indignant,” and she says “In all my born days, I have never ever been accused of being right-wing.” Carolan attacks “people who want to campaign against whatever the status quo is.” Surely anyone who is not right-wing wants to, and does, campaign against a status quo of Africa languishing in poverty, of Asia as a sweatshop, or in Britain of child poverty, low wages, students forced into part-time work and huge debts. This is not a status quo worth defending!

Except that in this instance we were talking about disaffiliation from NUS and claims that the governance review was more bureaucratic, not Africa languishing in poverty. Let's not obfuscate things. I don't mind campaigning against stuff when it really is A Bad Thing but I do object to people deciding that something IS bad just because it's the status quo. Which is what I said.

“Reform of NUS”
You describe NUS as “flawed, but which has now thankfully taken big steps towards reform”. Indeed, you were part of the steering group for the NUS Governance Review (also noted in Executive Council minutes for 05/10/07).

Did I say I wasn't? I also said it at the GM and at Executive and on my blog and I am listed in the White Paper as being a member of the Steering Group.

Brace yourselves, this next bit needs some serious debunking ...

These “reforms” mean destroying democracy within NUS, by scrapping the ‘Block of twelve’ part time elected NUS officers

No, no it doesn't. To quote from the Mythbusters document NUS has produced:

"The NEC voted to dissolve itself to allow for the creation of a new Senate and a Board. The Senate will be the political heart of NUS, deciding on policy between conferences and featuring 15 volunteers from HE and FE, a President, elected officers that lead each of the five policy zones, representatives from Nations, the Liberation and Social Policy campaigns plus non-voting attendees from partner student organizations. Meanwhile, an administrative Board (see myth 3) will be made up of a majority of elected officers and students, combined with experts in areas such as law and finance."

So there won't be an NEC, there'll be a bigger and more representative Senate that actually has some teeth instead, and there'll be a block of 15 instead of 12.

restricting delegation sizes

Where did this come from? Where does it say anything about restricting delegation sizes? That is not part of the governance review.

and transferring the running of NUS to a board of trustees.

Depends what you mean by "the running". If you mean "ensuring NUS does not break the law", then yes, the running of NUS will be transfered to a board of trustees. If you mean dictating what NUS does politically or how it spends its money (outside, again, of legal requirements), then no, the running of NUS will not be transfered to a board of trustees. Best practice across the charitable sector is for legal compliance to rest with a board of trustees. NUS is not a charity, it is a company, so it's even better practice to have a board instead of leaving all legal responsibility to people elected for their political skills rather than any kind of expertise in running a company. Wouldn't it be nice to have, for example, a national union that wasn't hundreds of thousands of pounds in debt?

How can these reforms be left-wing?! Unfortunately it remains the case that, as we said, “NUS is trying to become a more bureaucratic organisation…”

Being left-wing doesn't mean that you have to do things badly, inefficiently, illegally. NUS will be run much more efficiently which means less bureaucracy, or at least bureaucracy confined to the board room, leaving everyone else to get on with campaigning and providing effective resources and support. It means more bang for everyone's buck. Isn't that what CMs want?

In Bangor recently we launched a widely-supported solidarity campaign with Nigerian students arrested for standing up for their rights. We have already contacted you about this – will you support the campaign?

It will be taken to our Executive Committee tomorrow.

As for winning elections, three of us have recently been elected to the student council, Sam should know as he was there when we were elected!

Kind of implies I wasn't there. I was. You really trounced that opposition.

If you still regard yourselves as left wing you should campaign with us, in support of the Nigerian students or perhaps on other campus issues which we could all support. If you still disagree with us we would be happy to debate these matters with you.

Still disagree, sorry. My job is to look after students at Bangor University, and I don't think that I would be fulfilling my role properly if I were campaigning as you like to campaign. The joy of democracy is that I am allowed to disagree with you, and that despite disagreeing with you I have still been elected by a sturdy majority.

And I still have a problem with you slagging off the Executive in a national magazine.

In all my born days, I have never ever been accused of being right-wing.

This is precisely the problem with being left-wing, though: all the other lefties say really stupid things so nobody takes any of us other lefties seriously.

These particular lefties have with one breath accused us of being right-wing for suggesting we disaffiliate from NUS (an organisation which was widely acknowledged as being flawed, but which has now thankfully taken big steps towards reform) and with the next claimed that NUS is trying to become a more bureaucratic organisation so we should elect them as delegates to Annual Conference so they can stop the madness [isn't that exactly the opposite of what is happening?].

It's just so embarrassing sharing a side of the political spectrum with people who want to campaign against whatever the status quo is without any regard for facts or analytical thought. I wish the left wing as a whole was a membership organisation so I could resign in disgust.

I feel peppy. I've just been to the gym and I don't feel as exhausted and sore as I have the past two weeks (not sure whether I'm getting used to it or whether the instructor went easy on us) so I feel like jumping around the place a bit more. I walked back which I felt was energetic of me, now I'm watching Family Guy with Sam while typing on my new pride and joy, a snazzy white MacBook. The only thing I'm missing is my dinner which has to wait until Frodo gets back from rugby training.

Today we appointed two new student activities administrators. It's going to be such a relief having them: the Clubs and Societies one is starting next week and the Communications/Democracy/SVB one (our own dear Jenna) is starting her new post as soon as she gets back from her holidays. I am SO excited, I'm going to get to do so much more exciting stuff with admin support. At the moment it can feel a bit like treading water, just dealing with emails and orders and stuff all day, so it will be lovely to do some strategic and development work. I can't wait!

Damn Firebox. I have no time or money but they've gone and sent me a catalogue full of wonders I just can't resist. Such as this remote control for the cowboy in our house. Or this key buoy so I don't lose my keys overboard (although I also enjoy using Sea Searchers). Or this DIY Duct Tape Wallet (so much cooler when you make it yourself). And for the first time I'm starting to wish Ireland had postcodes so I could get a Postcode Puzzle of Castleconnell. And for Dad, maybe a retro telephone. I hate Firebox.

I'm sooo tired. Went to Manchester yesterday for the Student Radio Association North-West/North Wales Regional Nominations Party (even the acronym is mouthful: SRANWNWRNP), hosted by the lovely Fuse FM. They did such a good job, arranging three speakers for the afternoon, a private room in a restaurant/bar for our meal and nominations announcements and a private area in a really nice pub opposite the BBC afterwards.

The best bit, though, was the fact that Storm got nominated for Best Marketing/Branding and Best Live Event/Outside Broadcast. I'm feeling so proud! Looks like a big gang of us will be heading to London for the Awards Party on November 15th -- should be a fun (if expensive) night out!

We didn't get back til 2am last night and despite sleeping soundly in the car on the way home (thank you Spencer!) I am exhausted this morning.

Tuesday was tiring too: I had my second driving test on Tuesday morning (which, thankfully, I passed this time). It's just so mentally exhausting doing a test like that, particularly with the enormous number of mistakes I was making in my practise hour before my test. I even managed to pull out in front of a bus, which really shook me, but I managed to calm myself down for the test itself. The test was in and around Bangor which was nice, and my reverse-around-a-corner was on the corner opposite Jenna's house I always practise on anyway. So that was good.

Then in the evening we had Council. I quite enjoyed it, except it went on a bit long and I never feel right refusing to discuss something (there was an Undeb Trading matter people were asking questions about, but since Council has absolutely no power over Trading and since it was already 10:15 Sam and I felt there was absolutely nothing to be gained from the discussion) but the tone of the whole event was much more relaxed and friendly than last year. I hate when it becomes Council vs Executive -- we're all working towards the same aims so it seems silly -- and it was refreshing to find that that was not the case on Tuesday.

This week was nicer. On Monday I took the next step in my quest to make the whole world organised by giving each and every one of my societies a nice folder with all the bits and bobs they need in it. They have very kindly been humouring me by bringing them into my office with them when they stop by to say hello. It is lovely.

My brand new database system thingamawhatsit is also up and running (thank you Friday!), so thus far I can tell you that we have 325 people involved in clubs and societies (only a few clubs and socs have registered their members so far but ISN'T IT EXCITING!).

Yesterday I went to London for another NUS Governance Review Steering Committee. It was a really good meeting with lots of discussion and (happily) it even ended early, so I was there and back within twelve hours. A marvel. I'm quite excited about all the proposals, and am working on ways to make everyone else feel excited too. More on this another time, maybe after we've heard whether the NEC like it or not.

I'm also trying my damnedest to stay out of internal politics. It's not fun or pretty and I'd much rather just do my job. Sometimes I wish I was just an administrator, or that I could ignore all the other parts of the Union and just work with my societies (who really are so lovely and friendly and helpful) and standing committees.

Freshers' Week is over and I can't help feeling slightly disappointed. I know it's silly, that probably nobody noticed any of the things I'm worried about, but I'm disappointed nonetheless.

I wanted to do lots of little, easy-to-organise events during the week, but it turned out that even easy-to-organise events become difficult to organise when they're in the same week as Serendipity. It's like a black hole, sucking up all my time and energy, because no matter how organised I have been people still don't read their emails properly so pop in to ask 'just a quick question' or phone up to ask if there are any stalls left and argue with me over whether there really is no space or not ("but what if I bring my own table?").

I shouldn't really be complaining; Serendipity did go pretty well, I just wanted more from the rest of the week. Now term has started properly, and with it comes a new stream of people wanting to start societies (I think I'm on 11 requests so far) or thinking I'm the AU administrator so can answer questions about their grants, their training times and their insurance (is it cos I is female?). I can't wait to have new administrators ...

I did a stint on the minibuses last night. Today I am very tired. I'm staring at my screen but not really managing to do anything about the words written on it. I've just taken a delivery of a popcorn machine and a candyfloss machine with a jaunty pink raffia umbrella but I can't even muster up the energy to tidy it away somewhere so it's just sitting in a trolley in my waiting room. I am such a wimp.

I feel weird: Serendipity is ready to go. I should be running around like a headless chicken, crying, stressing, shutting my door. But I'm not. I'm sitting here with not a lot to do. My Protestant Work Ethic is making me feel guilty, as though I'm not doing my job properly. It's unnerving.

Sam is a corporate whore. Watch out for his blog on the merits of Toshiba laptops any day now (they're sending him one for a week so he can blog about it). This is the problem with having an ego as large as his: once someone feeds it all morals go out the window.

Look at the magical, mythical tree thing:



It's the most famous thing that's happened in Bangor for ages, probably even out-performing Prince Charles. Which is nice, because we like the Botanical Gardens, so the more interest people show in them the better. Radio 2, Radio Wales, the Guardian, the Daily Mail, the Daily Star ... the meeja have been queuing up to catch a glimpse at our SuperTree. Just a shame we've missed the chance to make Treborth Tequila.

Serendipity is approaching fast and I am having to tell lots of people they can't have stalls. It gets very frustrating how much people demand of you and how often they change their minds. The space we have to work with is definitely not big enough so I can't keep everyone happy and I've had to be horrible and turn away charities because we need the income from commercial stall-holders. But I think the worst thing is that all the preparation I put in doesn't really make a difference to whether the event itself is good or bad; that's down to the stall-holders and the effort they put in. All I'm doing is making their lives slightly easier in the run-up to the event.

In other news, I got my hair cut the other day. I had a good three inches taken off, and fixed the horrendous inch-long roots I had grown, but hardly anyone has noticed. I don't know why I bother.

You probably won't be able to read this properly here but look what I found in the staffroom in the school we were staying in during the Triennial:



It's this excellent spelling guide of words teachers might like to use when writing reports. It includes such gems as 'obnoxious', 'jeapordise', 'calamity', 'fiasco' and 'impertinent'. It's like playing with those poetry fridge magnets: I have an urge to cut them all out and write reports using only those words.

I have just completed Form 288a: appointment of director or secretary, effectively signing my life away to that mythical beast, Undeb Trading, Cyf. Is this really a good idea?

Why has everyone suddenly decided they're not interested in clothes anymore? Are people getting carried away now it has finally stopped raining? Five of Sam's friends and twelve of my friends "removed "clothes" from their interests" according to Facebook. I wish I had listed clothes in the first place so I could remove them in solidarity. And yes, I am aware that hasn't quite come out the way I intended it to.

Huzzah, my BT internet has finally arrived and now here I am sipping on my G&T (sans bouillon) and eating strawberries. I'm not sure Ian will be able to handle our sophistication.

And here we go again. Today is officially the first day of my second term in office. It's daunting.

The new start has been heralded by the arrival of my Service Level Agreement from the University, which we could almost claim is an entire year late since we didn't get sent one last year. Unfortunately I am now (well, once I sign it) actually bound to do some work. Good thing I'm so naturally diligent really.

I have also finally got a new office phone, one whose battery will hopefully last longer than one phone conversation. My final challenge with the old phone before decommissioning it is to listen to all the voicemail messages on it; the battery consistently dies whenever I try to do that so I've got eight people around the country thinking I'm incompetent and rude for not replying to their messages. Oh well.

It's been a long week of graduation ceremonies. I do like getting all dressed up in cap and gown, but the novelty quickly wore off as I listened to the same speeches and the same pieces of music four times in a week.

There were a few welcome diversions though, such as our exciting new Honorary Fellows. The big one this year was Rhys Ifans who was incredibly chuffed at getting an honorary fellowship and has told all the newspapers he's more pleased about it than getting a BAFTA. He did look like he was really enjoying himself all the way through, and he told me and Sam he loved his gowns:



We also had Iolo Williams yesterday, along with lovely stories about how short his shorts used to be. After the ceremony he went out to Treborth to plant some Wollemi pine, where he told everyone how disappointed he was that the University wasn't taking care of the gardens properly.

But the main game we played to entertain ourselves during the ceremonies was count-how-many-people-you-know. Obviously Monday was the big one for me since the entire Music department was there, but I was also pleased to find I knew one in four English graduates.

It's nice having people around for the week; I've been just hanging around my house for ages so being dragged out to the pub last night was a welcome change. I just wish they wouldn't steal all the seats in Yellow. Damn students.

Isn't it pretttty?

Off for a little trip down memory lane today, the rather winding and perilous memory lane that leads to Nant Gwrtheyrn, where us five oldies went for training this time last year.

We're going back for a little holiday this time, no learning in sight. It's a sort of farewell to Emma and Gerallt. Gerallt's already left and started his brand spanking new job, but Emma still has two weeks to go.

We're going to have to stop off in Tesco on the way, though. I spotted some rather spiffy croquet, golf and cricket sets there yesterday for a mere £3 each. We already have a plethora of mini frisbees and balls we picked up at the NUSSL trade fair a few weeks ago.

It's just a shame it's raining. Again.

I'm just back from an extended weekend Chez Redfearn on Anglesey where we did lots of watersporty things.

I got to sail my lovely blue boat which was exhilerating on the first day, impossible on the second (too much wind) and not so exciting on the third (too little wind).

I also made a valiant effort at windsurfing. I did manage to actually move on the first day, thankfully on a very odd two-person learner board thing because when I got a certain distance I found I couldn't turn it to get back to shore, so Frodo sailed us back in. I couldn't do it at all yesterday but I'm assured that the problems I was having (the fact that the board kept pointing upwind as soon as I sheeted in) can be blamed on the lack of wind.

I tried to re-master rolling in one of the kayaks too. I nearly managed but I think I need to learn on a lake or in a swimming pool, not on a choppy sea. Apparently it doesn't make a difference, but I think I'd be more up for turning upside down in a calmer, clearer bit of water. I used to be able to do this rolling thing when we did that kayaking course in transition year but that was six years ago and I haven't tried since so unsurprisingly I can't do it anymore.

I also went on the 'Sideways', a big two-man inflatable thingy that gets towed behind the speedboat. It has a fin on either side so you can steer it by leaning towards one side or the other. I felt like my arms were being wrenched off but it was pretty fun. I'm aching all over this morning and my face is still stinging a bit from all the sunburn and the windburn but I'm feeling quite relaxed. Just got this damn handbook to finish now ...

Oh dear, I only have about four days to do this entire handbook and three of my incoming sabbatical officers are AWOL. Come back, Sam, Xanthe and Bethan!

Four phone calls just to verify that the patch of grass by the pier (which they insist on referring to as a formal garden) belongs to the Council and that we can use it for a picnic in freshers' week ... Gwynedd Council could work on its user-friendliness.

If you were coming to Bangor in September what kind of thing would you want to know from your SU handbook?

Ah, all moved in at last. We've got great big squishy couches, a big bathroom, a spare bedroom and even an outhouse. How posh are we?

On the downside, we also have a shower which keeps tripping the fusebox switchy thingy meaning we have to run down the stairs clutching our towels and dripping water all over our nice floors. We also have very poor TV reception, although once the landlord has put the wonky aerial back upright and rewired the cable leading into the house (which looks like someone has attempted to splice it to have a wire leading into the spare room but then stuck it back together with duct tape) it will hopefully improve. I also find it a bit odd that in a furnished let the house comes without curtains.

But never mind. As Sam has already said, it is an exceptionally fastidious house. Everything is just so, with people respecting the different-sponges-for-different-things ideal and keeping the bath clean and wiping counters when they're finished. Bliss.

Gosh there's coalitions left, right and centre (and between the three). What an indecisive public we are.

Plaid, the fickle party that they are, are now toying with the idea of entering coalition with Labour.

But what's more interesting is that the Green Party in Ireland is now in government, albeit in coalition with The Nasties (a.k.a. Progressive Democrats) and Fianna Fail. At least The Nasties only have two TDs (Greens have six).

I liked what Ciaran Cuffe was saying about the coalition bringing together pragmatists and idealists; I'm starting to feel quite excited about our new government. The Green Party will be getting two ministries; here's hoping they get Transport at the very least, and ideally Transport and the Environment. We could see some actual investment in these areas; wouldn't that be novel?

Charles was very nice. Lord Ellis-Thomas said "And this is Carolan Goggin" and Charles immediately said "Oh, and you're studying music, are you?" I was very impressed. I'm not sure whether he recognised my graduation hood or whether he had been thoroughly briefed beforehand, but either way it made me feel like he was taking an interest. What a pro.

The foundation stone ceremony wasn't just fun because I got to meet Prince Charles. It was also fun because Sam and I cornered both Betty Williams and Alun Ffred Jones. It was funny, after we spoke to Betty I pointed out to Sam that she still hadn't replied to my letter I had sent her weeks before about the Freedom of Information Bill. But clearly she dashed home after the ceremony, full of guilt, and penned me a letter as my response appeared the very next day.

Alun Ffred looked very squeamish when we tried to get him to tell us what he thought of the rainbow coalition. He really just did not want to talk about it. I was a bit disappointed really; surely his constituents have the right to know what he thinks on an important matter such as this?

Anyway, we couldn't stay much longer because Sam was getting a little squiffy on the buck's fizz they were plying us with (for goodness sake, it was only 11:30).

All of a sudden there's a kind of hush around Bangor. There were lots of parents lurking over the weekend, lugging suitcases and carefully packing all their offsprings' worldly possessions into their nippy and fuel-efficient but terribly impractical hatchbacks. And now there are no students.

At the moment it feels peaceful, a little holiday from having hundreds of people with all their problems queuing up in my waiting room (where Frodo has artily arranged back issues of Seren to entertain the guests), but pretty soon I think it's going to be dull. There's only so long 9 episodes of Green Wing can take to watch.

But never mind, there's always Thursday to look forward to: first Prince Charles, then (and this trumps any other event that could possibly take place this week) my theory test. How embarrassing it's going to be when I fail hazard perception.

I've been itching to tell you all something for a good week or so now but the University has finally announced it themselves so I can say it too ...

I have acheived my ambition for the year.

Prince Charles is coming to Bangor next week.

I had best dust off my sparkly sequined jeans and ivory jacket.

I can't even begin to describe how exciting I'm finding elections at the moment. Scotland was exciting enough: 9% of the votes were spoiled, and the SNP have taken over. But the Welsh Assembly .. now there's a drama and a half.

Labour managed to get 26 seats out of 60 so they have a majority but not an overall majority making for a pretty unstable government. They entered talks with various parties but none of the talks amounted to anything.

Then Plaid, Lib Dems and Conservatives entered talks on forming a rainbow coalition. This actually seemed to be going somewhere, so the Lib Dems took it to some committees to vote on it. The Negotiating Team passed the proposal to move forward with the coalition plan 5-3. So it went to the next committee. The Assembly Group passed the proposal 4-2. And finally it went to the NEC. This vote tied on 9-9. So the proposal was not deemed to have reached the majority necessary to continue.

So that was that. No coalition.

Until ... twenty voting members of conference called a special conference in accordance with the Lib Dems' standing orders. And the conference decided to overturn the NEC's decision and stick with the All-Wales Accord by a comfortable 125 votes to 77.

How thrilling is that? That means that at the first sign of failure, Labour (and specifically Rhodri Morgan, who seems like quite a nice guy all in all) will have a vote of no confidence thrown at them and the rainbow coalition will take control. Who knows whether or not this would be good for Wales, but the fact is that there would be real change. For a start, all three of these parties are opposed to top-up fees. Free or cheap education in Wales could be just around the corner.

In the meantime, however, it is making life a little difficult for the University and, as a corollary to that, for us since it is delaying the announcement of HEFCW funding.

The other exciting election is in Ireland, where our nasty Tanaiste (deputy prime minister) has lost his seat in the Dail to the chairman of the Green Party. Hooray!

We've got a team going to the televised rounds of University Challenge! It's so exciting, so very exciting.

I drove a tractor yesterday. A 1955 Ferguson. Grey. I felt at one with the world.

A weird thing happened to me on Saturday when I was coming back from Dublin. I walked down the ramp and off the ferry into the terminal, strolled through the baggage area and entered passport control only to find ... nobody.

Nothing.

And a big metal grille blocking the way out. They might as well have hung a big sign up saying "Sorry, Wales is closed today".

The hordes of people attempting to leave the ferry started to panic a bit and, in a rather odd, sheep-like manner, began to do laps. So everyone would walk into passport control, see the metal grille and turn left, climbing through a small gap back into the luggage area, then turn left again and walk back into passport control and so on ad nauseum. It was the most peculiar parade, traipsing around international territory in circles.

Eventually someone noticed a ferry had arrived (what a surprise! A ferry! At the designated time, in a ferry terminal!) and grumblingly allowed us to enter Wales. Most kind, dear security man, most kind.

Mmmmm Moroccan chicken wrap ...

Having harped on for ages at all sorts of people about how important voting is, I thought I'd better practise what I preached and go exercise my democratic right to vote.

I think I like my constituency. It's the first time the person I voted for got elected so well done Mr Alun Ffred Jones.

Question is, what will Labour do now? They don't have the overall majority they need, so who will they gang up with? A small party like the Lib Dems (which would mean my regional vote was successful too) or someone stronger like Plaid?

Now all we need to do is win the Monopoly vote.

I'm feeling a little .. delicate today having attended the AU Dinner last night. I like the AU Dinner -- it's formal but not as formal as the ball so you get all sorts of lovely summery dresses. I wander around all night coveting all the lovely clothes.

So today I have been taking it easy. I've drunk a litre of Innocent Pomegranates, Blueberries & Acai natural detox stuff and half a litre of orange juice, eaten a large bacon and black pudding sandwich and gone for a wander down to the Stone Circle (aka Narnia) in the sunshine.

Now I'm sitting in my spick and span bedroom with no rat or mouse droppings in sight, no strange odours and I'm feeling quite calm. I think the infestation is well and truly over. Now I just need Derek the Mouseman to come take away the poison -- it does give off a strange chemical-y smell.

Gosh I'm feeling tense now. I've just had my first driving lesson. It was reasonably fun actually; the man is very very nice and he took me to Parc Menai so I could drive around without there being traffic lights and scary things.

The damn place is full of learner drivers though; I'm not sure what scares me more, other learners or real traffic. We're just so unpredictable.

He says I'm good at steering and changing gears. Perhaps not so much at, say, starting the car, not panicking, that kind of thing. But I suppose steering and changing gears are the important ones when you're driving.

This is the drawer where I keep my pyjamas. That's my Lyric FM t-shirt.

Right, I've cleaned under and around the piano, I've mopped many areas, I've used the Dettol wipes and I've trekked up to Morrisons to get more black sacks. Only two more places the bastard can hide: under the drawers beside my bed or under the shelves just inside my door.

I don't know if I'm going to be able to check under the drawers myself -- it takes a whole person to lift them (and they have to be lifted, being wedged in a corner) so I'll need a second person to look underneath. But the shelves will be easy because they're slatted so all I need to do is lift a few things up.

But it's becoming increasingly likely that there simply is no mouse in my room anymore.

Which is nice.

Definitely making progress: cleared under the bed, the fireplace, the drawers and the wardrobe. The worst is over. I am getting out my Dettol multi-action 4-in-1 and starting to scrub.

Still no dead mouse ...

Good news: no mice in my clothes. At least, not anymore. There are droppings in the bottom of the wardrobe but not in or around my clothes.

I did have to throw away my Lyric FM t-shirt though; it appears to have been used as a nest. It was covered in poo and pee-stains. It was in the drawer beside my bed ...

Tomorrow will be a long day. I have to get two trains to Dublin, a Luas (tram) to near my gran's house, she'll drive me the rest of the way. Then I have to get another Luas back into the centre of Dublin and a DART (train) to Dun Laoghaire. Then obviously a ferry to Holyhead and a train to Bangor.

This means I've been on just about every mode of transport imaginable in the last few days. I was driven to Manchester Airport, flew to Shannon (passing Bangor on our way -- I waved), and was driven home. We spent Saturday traveling from Dublin to Naas by narrowboat and went to our barge on Sunday.

So that's car, train, plane, tram, DART and three types of boat.

I have charged my mp3 player and chosen several books in preparation for the journey.

I have the most amazing Easter egg in the world. It's a big flat oval slab of chocolate weighing over a kilo. You have to carve bits off with a big knife if you want to eat it. This will keep me going for months. Perhaps I'll make brownies with some of it.

Derek The Mouseman has paid his second visit. He found that the poison just beside my wardrobe has been eaten, but couldn't find a corresponding dead mouse. This is also a little traumatic; has a mouse nuzzled up into my ball dress to die? Is it curled up in the sleeve of one of my jumpers? Will I detect its presence by smell alone or will I put my leg into my trousers and find it falling out the bottom?

I rather daringly spent last weekend in the Lake District climbing up mountains. The weather was sublime -- sunny enough to be warm in just a base layer but breezy enough to be refreshing -- and the views were wonderful, if a little hazy. I've got quite a lot of pictures, so brace yourselves.

The first day we went up Cat Bells, right along and then back down through the valley. It was luverly.



We came across this lovely waterfall which had beautifully cool water which tasted like snow:



The food was absolutely fantastic, like this giant piece of beef:





And now I'm being dragged away to go catch a flight. Farewell, adieu, I'll put up more photos after Easter.

This week I have struggled with the revelation that there is a mouse/are mice in my room.

I had never realised I was afraid of mice before, presumably because I'd never been woken up at 5:45 by the sound of a mouse gnawing at my bedroom door from the inside. Mice in cages are fine, mice at a distance, running freely in some meadow somewhere, that's all fine. But mice in my bedroom is a big no-no.

So that was Tuesday, waking up bright and early. I had to wake up nice and early to go to NUS National Conference anyway, so I laid some (humane) traps, opened my bedroom door and hoped for the best. Didn't seem much point phoning my landlady since she wouldn't have done anything more than that.

But when I got back and examined my room again on Friday, I found the floor covered in mouse droppings. The piano covered in mouse droppings and gnawed. Mouse droppings in the drawer beside my bed. Mouse droppings on top of my bedside cabinet. And (this was one of those real-life nightmare moments) my pyjamas, on the edge of my bed, completely shredded.

There was a mouse. Beside. My pillow.

So that's it. I'm not staying in my room again until the mice (probably plural at this stage, particularly since droppings have since been found elsewhere in the house) are gone. The traps weren't working, there was evidence that the population had expanded, it was time to get pest control in. I phoned my landlady who said she'd call Rentokil in the morning. She called Rentokil, then told me she wasn't going to ask them to come to the house until Monday because it was too expensive to call them out at the weekend.

This annoyed me quite a bit. If it was her property being damaged and pooed all over she'd have them out in a jiffy. And she tried to tell me I hadn't told her soon enough, when she'd first been informed of the mouse problem two weeks earlier (one had been spotted but then vanished again). So I've stumped up the difference between calling someone out at the weekend and on a weekday.

Sam tells me Derek The Mouse Man was very nice and extremely interesting. He's laid two types of poison and will be coming back twice more to clear it up. Apparently mice are neophobic, so if you lay a trap it takes at least two days before they'll pluck up the courage to approach it. And rats can climb up to 13 feet. Psycho has also just told me that mice can squeeze through gaps the size of a penny and sometimes even a biro. Doesn't that make you feel safe in your beds?

So now I'm taking precautions. I've got a can of expanding foam to fill in all gaps with, I'm going to insist that no crumbs remain on the floor and I've got a big pack of Dettol anti-bacterial wipes and some 4-in-1 spray to clean my room top to toe. But I'm still not going back until they're all gone.

What a fun week! I really rather enjoyed NUS National Conference. All these people making really impassioned speeches about absolutely everything. It was quite weird, though, having 1200 really confident, outgoing people in one room. Sam's given me permission to use his Superman analogy: it's like Superman on Krypton; doesn't feel so special when everyone has superpowers.

But more than that, it was weird (and rather nice) having 1200 people in a room who were all really interested in what was happening, who were truly engaging in the processes and the debate.

I'm very pleased with the newly-elected NEC and with the general attitude in the room. There was a real feeling that NUS needs to focus on its core remit and to stop spending so much time on foreign policy. In fact, I think only one motion in the Society and Citizenship Zone (the worst one, the one with all these motions about saving the world) got debated, although I must admit that I'm not sure because I went to play in the arcade instead.

All in all I'm feeling happy about the whole thing. I'm hoping to be co-opted onto NUS Wales Steering Committee too, so I'm even making an effort to get involved. But I'm very very tired and my productivity has been rather low today as a result. Oh well.

Yesterday was a momentous day. I have finally been allowed to have a contract phone.

I don't think I realised just how hurt I'd been by the previous rejection until I was waiting for the credit check in the O2 shop yesterday. I was on tenterhooks, and the nice shop man was too. But I've been accepted, been welcomed into the contract phone family with open arms, and this is my shiny new phone:

The referendum results were announced yesterday. Our students voted to stay with NUS by 846 votes to 357 (and 17 abstentions).

At the end of the day I don't think it much matters what the result is. I'm just really pleased we had the discussion, however angry it got at times. We asked our students what their priority is financially and they gave us a clear answer. It's brilliant that 1200 students looked into the issues enough to form an opinion and vote.

So there we are. We're just going to have to achieve reform from the inside out.

As everyone probably knows by now, we got re-elected. I think we were all pretty surprised by the margin of victory, and by the nasty booing when our results were announced. Rather unsportsmanly I felt.

I'm really glad the elections are over. The whole thing seemed to be filled with candidates lodging complaints about each other which was a little disappointing, but we got through it all. I'm quite exhausted now but that's no surprise.

Congratulations, though, to all the candidates, particularly those who were gracious in victory and defeat.

So much has happened, so let's have a series of nice short posts.

We've got NUS campaigners wandering around the campus telling our students "facts".

Like that the discounts we get from NUSSL outweigh our affiliation fee (we pay £37,000 and get £8,000 in NUSSL discounts). And that beer prices will rise if we stop sourcing our products from NUSSL (nope: the cost of keg beer will rise and the cost of spirits will fall if we go with the consortium we're thinking of so Trading shouldn't have to alter the drinks prices at all).

Or that discounts you get in shops ARE NUS discounts, not student discounts (no they're not, that's why they brought in the NUS Extra card -- most of our students (apart from the 1% who bought NUS Extra cards) have been getting student discounts all year with their library cards.

Or that our block grant from the University will decrease if we stop paying our NUS affiliation fee. Now there's an argument I can't follow in the slightest. Our block grant is calculated on a random formula and has nothing whatsoever to do with our costs (something we'll be campaigning on anyway).

We've even had Carl Harris, an NUS-head from Trinity Carmarthen, say:

Hopefully students of Bangor will realise soon that NUS really is the way forward and that certain members of their executive committee haven't got a clue what they're talking about!

I'm quite looking forward to his arrival so I can tell him just how much I appreciate him, a sabbatical officer based in a Union 140 miles away, claiming he knows what our students want and need better than we do. How arrogant.

But I've just been on the phone to President Ben from Southampton who has offered to let us come to Southampton for sabbatical training each year, to guide us through the steps we need to take after disaffiliation very carefully to ensure we're fulfilling all our legal responsibilities and covering every possible angle, and to be there to support us every step of the way. What a nice guy.

I love that Stephen NUS National Secretary Brown's Facebook status is currently "Stephen is needing support for the Bangor ref!"

Our campaign seems to be going quite well. Our disaffiliation facebook group has more members (387) than the NUS national facebook group which is pretty damn good. That's also well on the way to half our normal voting turnout.

Oh I love campaigning.

This is shaping up to be a bad week.

For a start, my idealistic world view took another blow. Turns out that good doesn't triumph over evil and that in a position of responsibility you have to make big choices between principles and pragmatism. Very frustrating.

There's far too much to do: tomorrow I'm busy in meetings all day when I should be out campaigning for the referendum.

But worst of all, I burnt an oven glove onto my finger last night. Again.

My driving licence has arrived, so British road users beware. I will shortly be unleashing my driving mayhem onto the streets of Bangor.

I was rather relieved to get my passport back from the DVLA though: the day after I sent it to DVLA Swansea (special delivery so it would definitely have arrived in one day) they got a letter bomb. I was a little worried that either my passport would blow up or they'd blame me because I'm an Irish terrorist.

I've spent about half an hour today standing on a chair with a fan blowing up my skirt. What a varied job this is.

Council went very smoothly last night. I expected the various electoral factions to make more of a display of the whole thing in true Prime Minister's Question Time style, so was pleasantly surprised to find that this was not the case.

It was also Friday's first shot at chairing, and a damn good job he did too. I was particularly impressed with his skill at silencing an entire room with one fearsome whistle. What a talent!

See? It's not that messy.

Went to the comedy night in Academi for the first time last night. There were three performers: the warm-up lady, the headliner and the compere/MC guy.

The warm-up lady wasn't great. She had a few good jokes, but it was all very "I'm a girl and so all my jokes must be about being single and having sex". It was somewhat unfortunate, too, that she (against all the odds) managed to choose the same girl as the MC to ask "do you have a boyfriend? Is he romantic?"

The headliner started strongly with some witty limericks and a rather risque dialogue about disabled parking spaces. But it all felt pretty monotonous after a while; there's only so many times I want to hear "fuck" and "cunt" in one evening. And his accent was annoying.

But the MC was wonderful. He really was. He managed to choose the most excellent audience members to pick on: a (non-student) guy who had four children with four different women, a guy studying environmental forensics, and the gaggle of women at the back who kept screaming every time he said anything.

Pancakes for lunch, I think.

I've had quite a lovely weekend. It started with a walk up Holyhead Mountain; nice to get out in the fresh air once in a while, particularly on a nice bright sunny day.

South Stack lighthouse was looking pretty. Must go visit it properly sometime.



It got pretty cloudy as we approached the top, though, so no stunning views.



Today I went to Treborth to join in the BIFSA walking tour of the ancient woodlands. It was really lovely -- very sunny again, good company and gorgeous woodlands, and it's always nice listening to Nigel.

As we got back to Bangor we bumped into this:



Surprising, to say the least. This is Bangor's version of Chinatown.

My desk is now tidy. Ha!

Well, this is it, first candidates' briefing in twenty minutes. The Elections start here.

Mmmm, Ann just saved my evening. I was feeling tired and hungry and suddenly she presented me with a packet of Duchy Original lemon biscuits, i.e. THE BEST BISCUITS IN THE WORLD.

I shouldn't really go out the night before I have to get up early to finish proof-reading Seren. Four hours is not enough sleep. But it IS just about ready and it's looking pretty damn good.

How nice it is to see the SU media engines whirring away.

Storm is broadcasting wonderful things from the shiny new studio. I was invited on last night to talk about the infernal RAG strippers and why the Exec has decided to ban them. I went down there armed with my trusty constitution; I like having a document people can't argue with.

I am, however, being forced to do all the legal and health and safety bits, even the damned presentation about what Storm is, before I can have my own show. Apparently I'm not allowed to just do the legal test on my computer (where the main copy is stored) in case I look the answers up on Google. Google seems like a silly place to look for them when they're in the Storm folder right beside me.

Seren is due to go to print on Thursday so I'm proofreading away and providing our poor stressed editor with photos and paracetamol. I even wrote my very first article for Seren.

And we've got lots of press releases whirring around Bangor, so hopefully the Mail will have an article about Storm and Serendipity this week, and the University web marketing team have put articles about both Storm FM and SVB online in the past few days.

Serendipity 2 is over and my workload will now (hopefully) return to normal.

I was quite startled at how smoothly everything went, actually. Frodo and I were shifting tables from 7:30am (not out of choice but because that's when the tables arrived), but when everyone else arrived all the preparation got done very quickly. So quickly, in fact, that I had a relaxing 20 minutes just before ten when I had time to sit down and have a cooked breakfast.

The only really stressful bit was phoning the rodeo sheep guys at 10:25 only to be told they were still 40 minutes away. It seems that The Wife hadn't passed on the TWO phonecalls we'd had changing the time I wanted them to arrive to ten o'clock. But not only did they have the wrong time, they also turned up in the wrong place, Bangor-on-Dee. You'd think they'd have checked the postcode in a route planner, or maybe checked if there was actually a university in Bangor-on-Dee. So no rodeo sheep until after 12.

Anyway, it didn't seem to mar the event too much: there were still lots of cheery-looking people wandering around with candyfloss and (half-price) pints. I suppose that's the problem with having a big-name headliner like that on all your posters -- they're almost guaranteed to turn up fashionably late.

I think the highlight of the day for me was holding a snake at the Herpetology Society stall. It was really quite something. Snakes are the most scary thing I can think of but I held it and it didn't bite me, just wrapped itself around my arms in a reassuring sort of way. I'm still scared of snakes, but I quite enjoyed holding one. Maybe I should get one.

Gosh, this has been an exhausting week: two eleven-hour days so far and it's only Wednesday afternoon.

I've squeezed in a Societies Committee meeting, an exceptionally well-attended Societies General Meeting, a meeting on the future of my beloved Sailing Club, a very long Council meeting (where we decided to have a referendum on whether or not we should stay affiliated to NUS and where us Exec members were mandated to run a 'no to NUS' campaign), a whole load of society issues, a newspaper about to go to print, a radio station about to relaunch and an entire re-freshers' fair (with all the controversy that goes along with it).

Oh, and we've got what looks like a very charming new dog, Leavy.



Isn't she lovely?

I've just received an email entitled "his twitch so sex". I don't even know what that's intended to imply. Nevermind, they see that I am clever man.

I have to admit that today Sam, Tom H and I have been messing. Messing with the now-dormant photography society's equipment. There was a purpose behind all this -- we wanted to see if we could take professional-looking photos of the various dignitaries who'll be attending Serendipity 2 -- but I think we got a little carried away.

It's early. I'm tired.

These bank fellows are so very creative. Not content with simply messing up this whole credit rating, today HSBC's ATM decided to eat my bank card. So, lucky old me, I got to spend my THIRD lunch break out of the last six sitting on their nice red chairs feeling baffled.

This time what they've done is close down my International Student Account as soon as they opened my Student Account. When I was in there last week they assured me that they'd let me know before closing my account, and that I would definitely get my bank cards for my new account before they closed my old one.

But no.

They processed my application yesterday (so I now have a £1,500 overdraft and a credit card) but my cards won't arrive until next Monday. "Who cares!" said HSBC to themselves. "Who needs money anyway?"

Anyway, the nice lady (a different one this time) helped me out by transferring all my money to my savings account which still works, so I'm okay. And she has also transferred all my direct debits, and given me my new account number so I can go tell HR not to pay me into the wrong account.

It seems to me that all the staff in HSBC in Bangor are very nice and very helpful, but that the staff in their central offices are Complete Idiots.

Spencer's latest post has reminded me that I forgot to tell you all my exciting news: I'm now a card-carrying Liberal Democrat. Deary deary dear.

I've just been to HSBC. I was going anyway, to ask them to upgrade my account to a normal student account (an email to the Assistant Registrar sorted out our student statement problem), but while I was there I thought I'd ask what I could do to improve my credit rating.

So we had a little look at my account. I mentioned that I'd had a cheque bounce, and the lady felt that wasn't enough to merit blacklisting.

Then she mentioned that I'd breached a "promise to pay" after my cheque bounced. "Ah," I said to myself. "That's what's wrong."

Now I have not breached any promise to pay. What has happened is that HSBC is staffed by idiots (except for the lovely lady who helped me to sort all this out).

You see, my cheque bounced on April 20th 2006. On April 22nd I got a phone call (they may have phoned earlier, but I only arrived back on April 22nd) asking when I would sort this out. I told the Indian guy on the phone (who was really struggling to understand me) that I would lodge the bank draft I'd brought with me on the Monday (April 24th) and that it should clear by Thursday (April 27th). So he entered into his little computer that I had made a "promise to pay" on April 27th.

So on the 24th I pottered along to the bank and lodged my bank draft. But HSBC's magical computer didn't care about this. It simply looked at my account on April 27th and saw that I hadn't lodged any money that day, and decided that I had breached my promise to pay.

In a nutshell, I have a black mark on my record for paying money into my account early.

Anyway, she's going to set in motion a sort of complaints procedure thing, so somebody somewhere will go listen to my phonecall and hear that I said I would lodge my money on the Monday, and if I'm right (which I am) they'll amend my financial records and tell Equifax to amend theirs too.

By that time I should also have my shiny new account with a credit card and overdraft, so my credit rating may well have risen enough to get a phone. And perhaps I could persuade O2 to ask Equifax to reinstate the point they took off my credit rating for refusing me credit, something which was clearly based on HSBC's mistake. Perhaps pigs will fly.

I'm feeling frustrated and ready to start bitchslapping various people with the Data Protection Act.

So I went to the o2 shop yesterday to see if I could get a contract phone, but they refused me because apparently my credit rating isn't good enough.

My credit rating is presumably poor because I have an International Student Account and I had ONE cheque bounce ONCE (although I can't know for certain because it costs £16 to get a copy of your credit rating from Equifax and they don't have real people to talk to on the phone).

So I phoned o2 to ask why my credit application was rejected, and they said they can't tell me why because that would breach the Data Protection Act (even though it's data about ME which I thought I was entitled to).

But now that I've been in the UK for over three years I'm entitled to a Normal Student bank account with an overdraft and credit card which will improve my credit rating.

But to get one of those I need a student statement from the University saying I'm still a student. I've been asking Student Records for one of these for several months now.

It's. Not. Difficult.

Sam has tagged me, so now I have to try find five things you might not know about me.

I have a strange desire to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a sailing boat.
I don't think I'd enjoy it in the slightest, but I can't fathom quite how big it is until I cross it by boat. Flying really isn't good enough: you look out the window for a few minutes, get bored of looking at nothing and start watching the in-flight film.

I'm officially a Talented Youth.
I used to attend Centre for Talented Youth Ireland summer school things. I went for three years in a row, studied Decision Maths, Evolutionary Economics and Computer Applications, and made some of my best friends there. Sam says it's funny watching me saying Centre for Talented Youth because I quite clearly expect people to mock me when I say it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not embarrassed or anything, I'm just expecting to be mocked.

I have thrown up on the inside of a tent and slept in it.
What a party that was. Afterwards, Mum told me I'm a horrible child.

I used to be good at athletics.
I nearly set a triple jump record in my school, but I was in the 'minor' category at the time, and minors weren't supposed to do triple jump (doesn't start until you're a junior) so there was no record to beat. But my jump was further than the junior record. I also did lots of middle distance running, and was Senior Girls cross-country champion in my final year. Now I'm just lazy and unfit.

I don't like almonds.
This is mostly because they taste bad, but also because they taste and smell like cyanide. I think I've read too many detective stories.

I'm going to tag Ian, Vicky and Dafydd because they haven't blogged for a while.

I just bought a new camera. The lovely insurance people paid up, so I'll shortly be the proud owner of a new Canon Digital Ixus 65 (with a case and 1GB memory card) for precisely the cost of my old camera minus the €85 excess. Bargain.



Along the way I managed to automagically increase my credit limit online. What a wonderful thing the internet is.

This office job thing is unhealthy. I've definitely got a sedentary lifestyle these days: I spend most of the day sitting down in the office, then I either walk on foot to my house or I get driven to the shops or up the hill. So for the first time (excluding the time I went to America and was fed lots of unhealthy fried food) I've definitely put on weight.

Thing is, I quite like exercising. I just feel so tired after work that I can't be bothered going to the gym. But I've been practising strengthening my resolve over Christmas (forcing myself to go cycling in the cold, for example), and now I'm fighting fit and have started going to the gym again.

I'm trying not to eat as much rubbish, but that's difficult. I was doing so well yesterday, eating porridge and banana in the morning, soup and bread for lunch, and fish with couscous for dinner. But hunger got the better of me and I topped it all off with a big helping of Haagen-Dazs Strawberry Cheesecake flavour and a chocolate cookie.

Dad's postcard from Cuba arrived today, minus the picture on the front cover. It looks as though it's been dropped in a puddle: all the writing is smudged.

I wonder if the postcard was censored by a patriotic postman. It had a picture of Castro on the front, who I'd referred to as "some chappy", alleging that his beard was "a bit half-hearted". Perhaps he tore off the picture in a fit of rage, indignant at the idea that some foreigner would show such disrespect for Dear Leader.

If so, dear Cuba, I'm very sorry.

Driving is a scary thing, you know, but I'm beginning to feel less scared.

The stopping and starting is the worst bit, all that pressure to actually get into gear on the first attempt. But I know what the problem is now: I keep taking my foot off the clutch too suddenly. This is possibly because I don't rest my heel on the floor as I do it; perhaps using my heel as the fulcrum would help.

Ohh I'm so very tired, and it's making me feel ill and get over-upset about little things. And work starts again on Thursday, with the big journey to Wales on Wednesday. As a result, I'm not planning to do annnything today. I clearly need some rest and recuperation.