I saw an advert on the way back from college, from the British Heart Foundation, stating that "Nothing is as precious as a healthy heart". I disagree.

Nothing is as precious as a happy heart.

I’ve only one complaint about the new congestion charge introduced yesterday - I had to sit waiting for over twenty minutes for my nine o’clock lecture. That’s because there was no traffic on the roads, and the bus journeys were both considerably quicker than normal. I don’t even get within a mile of the congestion charge zone - it was even all the approach roads that were empty, which wasn’t what was predicted. And I got a seat on both buses; and the central line still isn’t running (and runs a few feet down along the route). So I don’t quite understand what was going on, despite it supposedly being a ‘holiday’ today, but I’ll still complain about the missed sleep opportunity.

Still, one swallow does not a summer make (yet one hot weekend is all we get for a summer, but I’m digressing). I’ll wait and see what happens tomorrow, and the next day, and next week, and later in the year, and so on until the conservatives give up the ghost and accept that it’s a good idea. However, I think that it could be improved - increase the charge to forty pounds per day, make more zones (not just a bigger one - intra-zone charging wouldn’t work, so let’s get plenty of zones to inter-zone charge), make all bus lanes 24/7, and increase the fine for parking in bus lanes from £80 to your life. Mwa ha ha ha ha. That’ll teach them.

Dear All,

After careful consideration, I have decided that I will no longer run as
a candidate for the position of Union President.

I want to make it clear that my attitude and feelings towards the job have
not changed. But after a lot thought since an emotional incident last
weekend, I have realised that there are other things in my life, and in my
future, which are very important to me. These are, unfortunately, not
compatible with holding a sabbatical position, and I must therefore
withdraw from the election.

I would like to thank everyone, and one person more than ever, for their
support over the last fortnight, and I wish all the other candidates good
fortune in the coming weeks.

Yours,
Andy Allan

Friday night saw a group of us go to Kings College Union to celebrate Dan Lehmann’s 21st birthday. I was going fine, up until the point that I started on the Smirnoff Ices, whereapon it went rapidly downhill, as I’m sure you can gather from the photos. At least I wasn’t the most drunk person there, but Dan did have a good excuse…

After nearly killing one of my flatmates for bouncing a basketball off my wall in the morning (but then I remembered the snowball incident from the night before), I set off to Tooting Bec to Nia’s party. Which was cool - adequately shown by my need for a kebab on the way home. A bit of DramSoc stuff on Sunday, followed by a bit more DramSoc stuff rounded off an enjoyable weekend.

Oh, and yesterday I decided to stand for Union President. Which is nice.