h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I was out of the house before 10am today, high on Guarana energy drink and pretty much ready for anything.

I hand-delivered the signed lease for the COGS premises to the Council, then headed round to Grambo's to get him to countersign a cheque... I was there for a while, showing him how to use the Google Desktop Search. I can't use it myself, because it won't run on an Athlon 64 CPU, but from what I've seen of it over there I can't recommend it highly enough. All searches were virtually instantaneous, returning results in documents, in emails and inside archives!

After Grambo's, I headed to "Quid's In" and bought some washing powder, and a rubber date stamp. Then, I headed across to the bank and deposited the £400 cheque I got from Chris yesterday. I headed to catch a bus to the accountants after that, but despite running I managed to miss it and had to sit around for the best part of half an hour.

I got the cheque to the accountants (Yes, the one Grambo co-signed earlier... DO keep up, 007...) and, pausing only to collapse with a cup of , headed back into town.

In town, I headed to the Jobcentre, to find out how much benefit I got last year (it's Income Tax form time again. ) and enquire after the possibility of getting a bus pass. Apparently, they couldn't help me with either, but a phone call to another branch revealed that a P60 would be coming my way in two weeks, so the tax can wait until then, and I was told to try the Council for a bus pass form. So...

...Off to the Council. I got the bus pass form without any hassle, then headed to the payments desk to pay the £25 I was still owing in back rent. Except it was over £36... It seems the department who had told me how much to adjust my Standing Order to had got it badly wrong, completely forgetting about an £8.40 per week "clawback"... I paid the £25 anyway, and will have to sort the Standing Order out over the 'phone tomorrow.

Finally, I headed to the local computer shop to pick up the computer case I paid for about two months ago, but which should have arrived only this last monday... (long story)

It was 2:50pm. The door was locked, but the inside door was open and the lights were on in the workshop. That, and the fact the shutters were up in the first place, made me assume that they had just popped out for a moment. I made myself comfortable in my friend's shop next door, and popped back every ten to fifteen minutes. Until 4:15pm. At that point I met someone else who said they'd been trying to get a response, either by knocking at the door or telephoning, since 11am.

I came back once more, 15 minutes later, but as there was still no sign of life I just headed home. I *had* a load of web design work to do today, but by this point I was knackered and just crawled under a quilt for an hour-and-a-half.

I got up, listened to The Archers and watched The Bill. It's after half past ten now, but I still feel completely uninspired; I think it'll be more productive if I go to bed in about half an hour and get an early start tomorrow.

I must go and lie down after reading this, Peet. Exhausting.