All is calm for the moment, although this is the eye of a particularly ferocious storm. Friday and Saturday were really cool, Friday spent with Bex, Dee, and Becca, and Saturday spent with Vince and for the last hour, Andy as well. It was really good fun, and I would have probably been able to stay there but Vince was worried about pissing his dad off even more than he already was as he was fairly arsy about just having Andy over, who had subsequently driven all the way from Orpington. It was all good fun, had a really good chat with Vince while in Bolton town centre, and was able to get a better prespective on my current stituation here in the Potteries. Got back to Hanley at about 10.40pm, and just made the 20A back home with a minute to spare. It was a uneventful journey apart from the noisy scallies on the top deck of the bus (fortunately I was on the lower deck). Fortunately they didn't get off at my stop, and I got home to an empty house, not for the first time this week.

Sunday was a head fuck though. Roh got it into himself to wander to this pub in Burslem called the Roebuck, on account of him hearing reggae music, and he sent a weird text message about it, which prompted Ed and I to go investagate. In fact it was a rather friendly pub, although Roh managed to really piss off Ed by making several blunders, and nearly got himself into a fight after we had gone by calling a white African an "albino", which apprantly is a very offensive thing to do, on a par with calling a Asian man a "Paki", or a black man a "nigger". He also ended up at some strange man's place, over in darkest Bentilee. All in all this worried the pants off of Ed and I. However once we had met him and was able to put all the day's events into contest we realised that there was no reason to worry. However it could have got very nasty, not all people are that friendly or forgiving.

So far today I have made inroads into a book about Lord Byron (as in the poet) being a vampire, that Vince has lent me, and having a shock when an estate agent turned up with someone viewing the property, which really put the tin lid on things. We are supposed to have 24 hours notice, and the estate agent thought that the landlord had OK'd this with him, but the landlord denied this. Something is really fishy, and it has given us the incentive to move out. Now that I am on the Fit for Work I think I will be in Stoke for a few more months, particularly if I get a job soon, but ultimately I really want to make the move to Manchester, or even just initally to Bolton, as I get some energy about me every time I set foot within that city, although this is not something that certain city-phobic and North-phobic people on here will get. I think that I can do within a year, but I have no longer got a timeframe, and Vince is in a similar situation. Meanwhile I want a place to settle into properly, preferably around Stoke-Shelton way, as it will be nearer to all my friends based around Stoke (and also Keele from September onwards), while the rent will still be relatively inexpensive. I also would prefer some more company, and like to live with two or more people, as it gets a bit much just having the same person around all the time, and Rohit and I have definately been rubbing each other up the wrong way this past month or two. He probably needs to do his own thing without being dependent on anyone for a while, and it will probably be the best thing for him. I am trying to avoid being cynical, as I want to break out of that cycle as I went though all that phase during the last few weeks of Keele, and it's time for me to emerge out of it. However things still seem to be looking up, and even Vince has suggested that staying in Stoke to do the Fit For Work scheme is a good plan for the medium term.