Men were not made to shop. I can shop quite happily, provided I know exactly what I'm going for and exactly where I'm going to buy it. This makes shopping for presents, particularly for people I don't know well, a very difficult and stressful occupation. We (that is to say, Flat Five) have been invited to Sarah Lee's 21st birthday party. It's a swish black tie job at her (or rather, her parents') house in Shropshire, so I need to take a decent, thoughtful present. I really wanted something whimsical, then I realised I couldn't afford real whimsy and the cheap, made-in-Taiwan whimsy wasn't suitable. All I knew was that Sarah was a geographer who liked aeroplanes, and so I tried to steer clear of all the obvious plane/map-related presents on the principle that everyone else would buy them. However, after three hours I gave up and bought a pack of rather funky balsa wood gliders. Sometimes originality must be sacrificed.   Having succeeded in failing to get signed down for Formal Hall, we went to the Radcliffe Arms for dinner. Unfortunately Dave took so long in getting ready that by the time we got there all the seats had been taken. After waiting for ten minutes, I gave up and went home for a night in. Friday nights have paled rather in recent weeks.
			The characters and situations in this diary are entirely imaginary and bear no relation to any real person or actual happenings. Any resemblance to such things is coincidental, or just for humourous effect. All names have been chosen to implicate the innocent.