UK

Because of the situation with my Dad I'll be going to the UK on Monday. I was quite looking forward to going back but of course not in these circumstances. Note for those that know me: I'll be reachable through my Macau number, but I'll be getting a new UK number too which if you're nice to me I'll send you.

My company was celebrating its first anniversary today with a company 'do' in a local restaurant. There were awards given to the few guys who'd been there since the formation, if there was an award given for the most miserable bastard I'd have won that. I hardly ever enjoy these events and usually adopt a get-drunk-quick strategy to help me through the night, but tonight I couldn't even muster the energy to do that. Instead I put on a barely-visible grimace and prayed for the end. It came, eventually.

To enjoy this you sort of have to be a football fan: the funniest thing I read this week was the story of Jonathan Woodgate's first game for Real Madrid. If you don't know, Woodgate is a rather good defender who signed for Real Madrid from Leeds last year. After signing him and doing the regular medical check-ups the RM medical staff discovered he had a serious thigh injury, prompting much criticism of Real Madrid's decision to buy him in the first place. The injury was so serious that he was out for over a year. In normal circumstance RM would have just gotten rid of him, but in this case they'd made such a high profile blunder in his purchase that they were keen to show that they're not really that incompetent so they stuck by him. On Thursday he made his club debut, a full 17 months after being signed for £13m. He then promptly scored an own goal and got sent off.

Talk about an inauspicious start.