Met up with our own ‘slowhand’ who wasn’t really revising yesterday evening. Tried out his Fulltone Custom Full Drive 2 overdrive pedal (a limited edition too) with his 70’s Strat. Sweet. ‘Slowhand’ is deploring the fact that the volume of his Deluxe Reverb II could only go up to 2 on the best of days. He wants 7 and that’s really understandable. Shahid was suggesting headphones. The shock. The horror… of such a suggestion.

Since it was Shahid’s last night in Steel City, the three of us stuffed ourselves with The Wicker’s cheapest and tastiest roast spring chicken (£2.99 per bird). Topped off with a couple of tubs of Ben & Jerry’s, we were in gastronomic heaven. Life’s little pleasures.

On the way to work this morning, I was listening to more messed up stuff that’s happening in the world today. As usual. Why can’t people just live their lives quietly. Dang! Is that too much to ask? Pathology was in the news too, as a randomised study on post-op appendices and tonsils indicate the possibility that more people in Britain may carry the vCJD prion (mad cow disease, the human version). News of the abused maid in Malaysia were in the Malaysian dailies recently. Seems like we, too, are jumping on the maltreatment-of-human-beings bandwagon.