Monday 14th June

Guess what I’m doing. Do I even have to tell you? I’m obviously sitting in my garden, drinking a black coffee and smoking a cigarette. Continuity is key. 

I simply had to write about Friday night. Lana, Elia, Sian, Georgie, Sam and I went out for dinner and drinks as an early celebration for Lana’s birthday. Sian, being the master philosopher that she is, observed whilst we were having drinks at the Dragon how we tend to look back at memories fondly but you often fail to realise when you are in the moment, making those memories, and that struck a chord with me, as Friday evening was certainly one we’ll remember for a while. In retrospect, if I was being sensible, I probably wouldn’t have ordered that second bottle of wine and I definitely wouldn’t have invited everyone back to mine after dinner, but since when have I been sensible? I barely remember anything I said or did after arriving at the horseshoes and I really don’t remember anything at my house, but the pictures and videos on my phone are enough to reassure me that I had a fantastic evening. A personal favourite of mine is Sian shouting at Alexa to turn the volume up to fifteen, despite the fact it was 11.30pm, my Mother was in bed and the volume only goes up to ten anyway. There is no one quite like that ginger goddess. In all honesty, the Pork & Leek pie I had for dinner was probably my highlight of the evening as it was utterly delectable, but I suppose it was nice to spend time with my friends too. 

I worked Saturday and Sunday 1-10.30, which was as horrifically boring as you would imagine it to be, but I had a cracking weekend of betting. Sam and I had £100 each on Belgium to win on Saturday evening at evens so that was an easy £100 profit, and then I took advantage of several bookmakers’ offers on the England match to make another £60 profit yesterday, as well as raking in some free bets. You should only gamble for fun, which I do, but it’s bloody nice when you can make a cheeky profit out of it too. That’s my tattoo this week paid for – I’m getting a life sized portrait of Lizzie Bowes’ face on my back, in case you were interested. 

I’m pleased to inform you that I have accepted a job offer at DHL to be a Customs Agent. I didn’t even realise that I’d applied for it when they first rang me as I’ve been applying for all sorts, but it’s decent money, it’s 9-5 and my beautiful friend Lana does the same thing already, so I know it can’t be that difficult. My favourite part of the whole saga, however, was the response from my area manager when I handed my notice in at Paddy Power – “Thanks.” – which I thought was absolutely iconic. Not even a hello, or thanks for your contribution, or I wish you the best, just thanks with a full stop. It’s kind of iconic to be honest, she’s not even pretending that I matter to her. That is the energy I will be exerting going forward. I might even get that tattooed on me as well – Thanks. What a vibe. 

Monday 21st June

There aren’t enough hours in the day to write about what I’ve been up to. I’ve done a 20 mile bike ride this morning, played nine holes of golf this afternoon and I’m off out for dinner shortly, so I thought I’d try and get some words down before my chauffeur (Mr Morley) arrives to pick me up. 

Last Tuesday was one of the most pleasant days I’ve had in a while. The weather was glorious throughout the entire day, to the point where I was left with slightly sunburnt arms on Wednesday, and there was a distinctly summery feeling about it. In the morning I went for breakfast with my friend Tom from work, after which we spent an hour at the driving range together. It’s not exactly thrilling stuff, but the innately relaxed nature of our activities coupled with the beautiful sunshine made it so there was no other way I would rather have spent my time. In the afternoon I did a 26 mile bike ride and, as you probably already know, cycling through the English countryside with the sun shining and the birds chirping is quite possibly my favourite way to spend my free time. Not only does the exercise make me feel great, I find it to be very good for my mental health, being out in the open with just my music and my thoughts. In the evening, I went into Derby with Liam for a few drinks before we headed to the County Cricket Ground to watch Derbyshire take on Lancashire. I’ve never been to a proper cricket match before, but I now understand why it’s known as the bedrock of the English summer. The atmosphere was fantastic, the game was exciting and the sun setting behind the ground provided the perfect backdrop to the fundamentally unbeatable combination of pints and sport with a good friend. I can’t think of many better ways to spend a Tuesday. 

Tuesday 22nd June

There is something uniquely enjoyable about going out for dinner with Mr Tom Morley. I think maybe it’s that we’re both so comfortable being aware of the fact that we are guaranteed to be better than everyone else in any restaurant we ever dine in. The Farmhouse at Mackworth was the choice of venue last night and in all honesty we both thought it was quite underwhelming, although the fact there was a rather loud, irritating family seated next to us did probably harden our negative opinion. We caught up over pizza and wine and we had a lovely time getting each other up to speed with our latest ongoings. I can’t think of many things I enjoy more than dinner and wine with a good friend. 

I’ll finish telling you about last week now since I didn’t have time yesterday. On Friday I went to the gym in the morning before taking my good friend Lizbo to get her first ever tattoo. Inevitably I decided that if I was taking her to get one, I might as well get some myself, so I got a little illustration of a cup of coffee and some books on my right arm, as well as the second one of the poems Rich gave me tattooed on my right leg just above my knee. I’m very happy with both of them and Amber is an immensely talented tattoo artist, to the extent where I was already planning my next one before I’d even had those two done. It’s true what they say about getting addicted. In the evening it was the England match and we were supposed to be watching it at Bustlers with Liam, but it turned out that his booking hadn’t gone through so we ended up having to watch it at their place, which was probably a blessing in disguise anyway as the game was fucking abysmal. I had organised my bets so that as long as England won I would win money, with how much depending on the scoreline, so for it to end 0-0 was bitterly disappointing. I don’t really like football and I like it even less after wasting 90 minutes watching such a boring performance that didn’t even win me any money. Oh well, it was still nice to spend the evening with my lovely friends. 

Saturday was certainly a day I won’t be forgetting anytime soon. I was up at twenty past seven in the morning in order to catch an early train down to London with Sam, Sian, Elia and Lana. I won’t go into detail describing everything that happened throughout the day because I haven’t got the time or the mental capacity, but as you can probably imagine, it was an eventful trip. Lewis has organised the day’s proceedings in order to celebrate Lana’s birthday and I think it’s safe to say that she enjoyed the celebrations, despite it taking her, Sian and Sam four hours to get home afterwards (luckily Elia and I got an earlier train and missed the confusion). Sometimes I wonder how going out drinking with my friends every weekend never gets boring, but when you’re there, in the moment as Sian the philosopher would say, it’s easy to forget that you’re making memories that will last a lifetime. It’s a wonderful feeling. 

Thursday 24th June

This blog post is far too fucking long. I’ll keep this bit brief. I’m working 1-10.30 Friday, Saturday and Sunday this weekend so I won’t have much to write about for a bit anyway. It’s soul destroying being sat in a bookies at 9pm on a Sunday evening but at least I only have a few more weeks to go. 

I went up to the driving range this morning with Sam Waltho. There’s something uniquely peaceful about standing under the shelter of the range and hitting golf balls as far as you can whilst the rain bounces off the roof. My golf game is coming along nicely and I can tell I’m close to persuading Mr Waltho to buy himself a set of clubs. Now I’m back home, however, I’m a bit lost as I’m struggling to figure out what to do with my days off at the minute – I really want to occupy myself with exercise, reading and writing, but a large part of me just wants to sit watching TikTok all day without moving. Hopefully it’s just a temporary blip in motivation. 

If you have any tips for self-motivation, do get in touch. Stay safe.