tough week. let's get the bad news out of the way first.

it's been absolutely cold and wet the whole of this week. it snowed on tuesday. they turned the clocks back last saturday, which sets the stage nicely for seasonal affective disorder. also, 188 recently has been running infrequently 5-6pm.

news. was especially depressed when i saw an report on old age people who don't go out of their houses or don't meet anybody for a long period of time. it coincided with someone telling me about their parents and how they don't see eye to eye. i'm wondering how many of these people are abandoned because they have been total pricks before, but it does appear harsh when you see them 70+ and pottering about. i think, by definition, almost 50% of us are worse than average. and that applies to relationships and people. so sometimes i wish people would bite their lip and get on with it.

report on the democratic republic of congo. i am usually not affected by pictures of famine. this wasn't really. this was a picture of sheer will to live, of a mass of people crushing each other to get into a refugee camp where they were giving out biscuits to children. my god if you were there helping, can anything upset you more than the fact that there are simply too many people out there?

on school "socialist workers" have been going on along houghton street. i see some profs in the union with "solidarity" on their doors. i don't join unions, i am suspicious of them. i worry that the backlash against the bankers will go too far. i do not know if this will be a winter of discontent, but it's already started very cold. but it's a great time for the resurgence of british humour.

on a personal level, i may be a little guilty of over-reach. could create political problems for me. do not wish to elaborate here.

the 1 key on my macbook is coming off. shoddy workmanship

liverpool hit the bar umpteenth times and lost to spurs. charlton (local team) got beat 3-1. stoke city have a guy who does ridiculous throw ins and scores from them. one of the players i like the most now is a man united player, dimitar berbatov, because he sulks and doesn't celebrate but his touch on the ball is like zidane. zen, and in his own world, takes his time.

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john prescott makes a documentary on class in britain. he goes to see a bunch of chavs in council flats. he asks them what class they think they are. they reply, probably middle class. he argues, hmm, i think you'd probably be the first real people on this documentary i've met who are working class (john prescott comes from a working class background). they then reply, that can't be, because i don't work.

i swear that is only so funny because a bunch of real people said it.

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so the weather and clocks shifting plus political discouragement are getting to me. i wonder about the entire us election system and the marathon that it is, and how these people wake up every day. i guess it's the prospect of leading the free world. but to be so scrutinized, not to screw up, to say the right things. takes a lot of discipline.

so in that context, getting the pile of laundry done, homesickness, cold and a little spot of bother are nothing. learn to laugh at yourself. and to bite your lip.