Jan 28th

Slept like a log. Had gone to sleep watching the cricket, and have some vague recollection of possibly switching off the tele in the middle of the night. India saved the game, Sehwag hit 150.
Slept in late . Dan had the Lurgi. No appointment till 12:30 when I trekked over to Aylesbury for S. He really is beginning to drive like a driver!
Got back and Dan had dragged himself from the bed to the PC. Told him no school, no PC. Accepted without a struggle. He's a great lad!
M was reallly good as usual, but still has the capacity to pull out the occassional purler. He should pass though, but I was a bit shocked to realise he only has 1 more lesson before his test!!
Home in the dark.
Watched Panorama. What the hell has happened. They talk about dumbing down. The content was serious, and thought provoking. Do rich westernners doing coke for kicks prolong the agony of an entire country teetering on the brink of anarchy. A member of Blur who had once claimed to have spent £1m on coke and champagne was written to by the vice president, and invited to Chile to see what the trade was doing to the country. 17,000 murders a year was just a starting point, and two of the people we met during the half hour had expired before the prog went to air. Good prog, good points well met. but to a backing tune of (presumably Blur's) hard rock, it wasn't the Panorama of Dimbleby or Charles Wheeler!
Actually watched an ITV prog for the first time in many a moon. about the Great Train Robbery, which traced down many of the surviving protagonists. Actually tied briefly to explore the motivations behind them, which proved surprisingly varied. Some of them must have been vicious thugs in their day, but age had mellowed them as they looked back on their deeds with a mixture of world weary nostalgia, cheerfulness, and , just occasionally, regret.
I had promised myself I wouldn't follow the Monday ritual to the Curry Centre, but needless to say my resolve was easily broken. Much adventure in town as Dennis's kebab van spontaneously combusted and I couldn't get my car out to pick up the take away. walked for it and the fire engines had departed by my return, as had the charred kebab van.
Finished the night on a cultural high with "Confessions of a Driving Instructor" If I ever go to the Hobgoblin again, and if Robin Asquith ever goes in there again, I must remember to ask him how all that happens!!