Weather: Heavy rain early, but dry and sunny by lunchtime. 17C.

Travel: About 5 minutes late early, which we can put down to the rain and leaves causing a slightly slippy track. Fine up to New Street, but then the 1722 to Shrewsbury is held for no reason at all, the one from London goes first. Imbecelic. Then the home stopper is pathed behind a late Edinburgh train, the all station stopper to Wolverhampton, and a scheduled one to Manchester. There is no reason nor excuse offered, and I can only assume that Central Trains is in breach of contract. That'll be £50, please.

Track Of The Day: Radio The Corrs (MTV Unplugged, 1999). Haven't heard this in around six months, and it's still a major classic. Perhaps an under-appreciated track.

Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy is to step aside and spend more time with his academic career.

UC Durham begins their title defence by beating Birmingham 325-115. Dull mis-match.

Sara
and petrol is coming back around here - there was a limit on Friday of 15 pounds per person - today it was 20 pounds, so its not too bad :)
For info, this is pounds sterling, not pounds weight. A litre is around 85p.

Just remind me to stock up again in two months time. *smiles*
OK, stock up again in a couple of months. (:

maybe if they just used their money better in the government, things would go a lot smoother?
There is that, but these people did insist on electing a tax-and-spend government, and they have gone around taxing, and (now) spending.

Ross told me that France's gas prices are about 20% cheaper than the Uk's.
France, though, charges tolls for its motorways. You're not looking at the big picture.

as is the council tax (what I call the 'living tax'),
In the US, you have sales taxes that vary from state to state. Here, we have a flat national sales tax, and let councils take about 20% of their income from people living there.

Please, tell me if I'm wrong about all of this - I don't have any facts and figures, just what people have told me.
You're not hugely out, especially in the US-UK comparisons. You *must* remember that Britain has a short tradition of a welfare state, with the Government providing relief to people in need. To support this, the government machinery needs more income than in other countries.

People like the NHS, people like the decent education that the state provides for their child, yet people expect to these things to magic out of thin air. It can't happen. It just can't happen.

people over here live with less money, and everything costs more.
Still wondering why I'm looking for the exit ramp?

Its probably not so bad anymore - not since that nat. min. wage went into effect
Ah, the notional minimum wage. A fat lot of good *that* did. It's been advantageous to about 100,000 people at the margins, but it's still a drop in the ocean.

Weather: A reverse of yesterday. Sunny early, but rain starts around 3 and never stops.

Travel: Only going in, and that's error-proof.

There seem to be a lot of mischevous rumours going around at the moment. Three land in my work's email box today. One is the fabulously well-known Wobbler virus hoax. One is the not-quite-so well-known 90# phone pad hoax, but a hoax it still is. And one is a false report that there will be renewed petrol blockades. I see the report around 11; the first that my reliable sources (ITN, Sky News, Evening Standard, BBC) know is at 1550, when ITN springs reports of queues owing to false reports. People will believe anything they want to.

UC Magdalen Cambridge plays University Oxford, and wishes the side had stayed at home. At one stage trailing 275-25, Univ takes the game 335-85.

Randi
(BTW, am I the *only* person on this list who actually likes some pop music...?)
Nope. Go listen to S Club 7.

And don't laugh.

Jadea
Westlife is my new fav right now,
I await the US release of "Flying Without Wings" with interest. If there's any justice, this will shoot way, way up.

LFO, N'Sync, BSB, 98 Degrees, whoever...bring 'em on...they're sexy as hell
If you say so, but they do do some good music, too.

Randi
Subject: Barenaked Ladies
Oh my word, Randi's picked up on the BNL's forthcoming album!

It's not what you think!
No?

It's a really great canadian band.
Oh. Which is exactly what I thought in the first place. Sorry for being Mr ObCanCon. ):

They've got a new single, "Pinch Me", which I *love*.
It is great, just as good as "It's All Been Done." Which is at the tip-top topping goody good bit of goodness.

steph
does anyone like u2's song *beautiful day*
i think it's a cool song :)
It's almost like "Pop" never happened. Yet there's a certain something in "Staring At The Sun" or "Last Night On Earth" that makes the progression on the latest track almost inevitable. And fantastic.

what about eve6 *promise*!
Love to hear it, I would.

Weather: Sunny spells and showers. 17.

Travel: Another crap day. Trains into town are blown away after an engineer's loco goes phut at Wellington. They do put up on Ceefax, so it's the early bus in. Miss the 0741 by a matter of seconds, and the 0752 is almost 5 late.
Back? Well, the 1710 BNS-WVN is stalled behind a phutted Stafford train, the Edinburgh train goes while we wait, then everything follows late. I'm 10 behind getting home. It felt worse.

Track Of The Day: Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad? - Moby (Play, 1999/2000) Originally a single last October, now set for a re-release to keep the album in the spotlight. This is a fabulous work.

Jadea
I got a speech about how he can't be with me because of my (get this) religion. Can you believe that chicken shit load of crap? Not in a good mood right now...more later ok?
A chicken pecks: Bu-cah bu-cah bu-bu-bu-cah.

To which I'll add that *he* will clearly burn in hell for consorting with a devil-child. You, though, having a belief system in which none of these matters exist, won't. Result!

Cory
I used to read every detail of people's lives in here, I used to know these people better than my school acquaintences, I used to hear MSCL related so in-depthly to the person's life that you couldn't tell it apart anymore.
Brilliant, wasn't it...

I loved that List SO much, and it was so much what I needed. And maybe it's still like that here, and I've just been too caught up in the "real" world to notice.
...isn't it. It's still happening, though it's certainly not as clear as it was way back when.

I know that people are falling in love and finding life-long friendships and all that wonderful stuff they always did here, still. So maybe it's me who's different. I don't know.
Perhaps the list then fitted right into that place in your heart, filled it up, and gave you the strength to thrive. Perhaps there's a grand plan that keeps you here, on the fringes, for some reason.

I know that if you find that here, that if you can open up here like nowhere else, if you can be exactly who you are here like nowhere else, cherish that. Intensely.
If you don't. . . change it, 'cause that's what this place is supposed to be.
Maybe that's why I'm still here. Five years on, and this is just about the only place where I can be myself. Not at work, I'd have been lynched for suggesting (as I did on list last week) that fuel taxes were still too low. Not at home, where mother has been in a state of denial about my romantic life ever since it started. Not even in front of friends, where there are too many requests for Chris Tarantula to appear, and too few for Iain.

never forget that we are brought together by one common purpose. But *don't* forget MSCL, please.
How can I forget something when it's become a part of me. Quotes drop into conversation without a conscious effort. The dramatic themes provide an almost infallible guide to actions and reactions.

I'm saying that Nic is right. . . but so are the Purists. . . there is something missing from the List, even if the human connection isn't. and it's not Mighty Max. It's Holtzman, Herskowitz, and Zwick.
Fair point. So MSCL alumnus Jason Katims pens "Roswell High" on the telly. It looks like MSCL, it feels like MSCL, maybe it's going to turn into something great. It's sure as heck got the slot, 6pm Thursday, Right Before Buffy.

But *why* does it feel like MSCL II? There's an element of being outcasts in society, of using school as a metaphor for life. Voice-overs, great acting, an over-arching plot. But if I try to analyse it closely, the resemblances start to disappear. Brian over-analysing things to the point of destruction. It's an emotional thing. Don't look too close, it'll vanish.

Weather: Mostly sunny and 18.

Travel: Not at all bad, fine early, and get the delayed 1707 home. Early.

In time for the Buffy season 3 finale. The conclusion of everything to do with school, and I'd so like to have done that to my head teacher (:

Weather: Sunny. Warm - 21. What gives?

Travel: Slight delays at New Street cause knock-ons at Wolverhampton, but nothing major.

Track Of The Day: Bullet From A Gun - Planet Perfecto (1999.) Like one of those annoying ear-wigs that come in and won't leave, this has slowly grown since first release last year. It's a piano-thumping house tune.

Weather: Sunny and warm again.

Into town, getting travel tickets for the next month. After standing in a long queue because there's only the one position open. Not popular.

Football: Chelsea comes from 3-1 down to tie 3-3 at MUN. West Ham moves up after their first win of the season, 3-0 over Coventry. Southampton and Charlton are the only other winners in the round of matches. Leicester, playing Sunday, know that a win over Everton will take them top; the sides draw 1-1.

Weather: Wet spells and 18.

Track Of The Day: Minority - Green Day (2000).

Charts...

 #1 new Mariah Carey & Westlife - Against All Odds
 #2 new Kerncraft 3000 - Zombie Nation
 #3 (1) Modjo - Lady Hear Me Tonight
 #5 new Billie Piper - Something Deep Inside
 #6 (5) Sonique - Sky (SS)
 #8 new Anastacia - I'm Outta Love
 10 (19) Sugababes - Overload (greatest gainer, SS)
 16 (02) S Club 7 - Natural
 17 (03) Kylie Minogue - On A Night Like This
 18 (21) Vanessa Amorosi - Absolutely Everybody (SS)
 23 (20) Corrs - Breathless (SS)
 30 new  Green Day - Minority (SOTM)
 33 (29) Matchbox Twenty - Bent (longest runner)
 35 (41) Three Doors Down - Kryptonite (SS)
 45 (43) Barenaked Ladies - Pinch Me (SS)
 48 new  Foo Fighters - Breakout