Overheard: "Well, you might as well do stuff you like because otherwise you're not going to make it to the end of what you're doing and also, you know, like, why?" Verbatim, I swear. I sat and thought about that for a good while, in my favourite place in this snowbound ivory tower city, in this country which isn't mine and which I have to leave in a few short weeks. There's no design to the vast majority of the world. As far as I'm concerned, well, I have a propensity to bumble which my father cannot stand and which tends to land me in unexpected places. It manifests itself in my sense of direction (to which I know at least two readers of this can attest). I work much better at home, where the grid system is something to be regarded with suspicion; it's logical and efficient, and must therefore be inherently shifty. So, my approach to personal progress can be compared to British urban planning. I think I may suddenly feel worse.

Also, if you're going to see 'The Time Machine', see it with somebody distractingly hot. Because then you won't question why Samantha Mumba is the pinnacle of human evolution. Not that she isn't, or anything, but still. Also, Jeremy Irons appears in BDSM gear and black lipstick. Completely gratuitously.

I really, really want to go home. But I really, really don't want to leave. Also, I'm now seven-eighths asleep, and I've got ice cream on my forehead. The two are not necessarily connected.