Hallowe'en, Muse, and that's Quite Interesting...

It's Hallowe'en. It's also the first day of SG6. As far as we know, Death, Famine and War left at the crack of dawn this morning to get down to London.

But I am, as always, getting ahead of myself. Becca and Hannah (purplerainbow) were supposed to be coming round yesterday for our anti-SG6 thing. I was never very specific about timing, as we're all still doing nothing, so Hannah got here first. I was surprised but pleased to see her, and we decamped to my room and found out that Becca was still online and therefore still at him, and at that moment, getting very very pissed off with her geography. She'd been online most of the day, asking me incomprehensible questions about Sao Paulo, which I could not answer, and now she couldn't print it. I said I would. She sent it.

My printer broke. Hannah thought that was hilarious. I didn't, sending it off to my mother in the hope that she could print it. The email didn't go through, for no immediately apparent reason, so I swore a bit, tried again and it went through in the end.

At about six, Becca rang to say she was halfway up Victoria Road and if she were murdered at least I could tell the police the exact time and location. I agreed that yes, this was a good eventuality to be prepared for, and a few minutes later both she and my mother arrived from parts unknown. It was dark by then, and Becca was wearing black trousers and a black top with a black hooded coat, and in the yellow-tinted shadows by the gate, she looked very very much like someone else we know.

[YES, HIM]

I let her in, I let my mother in, and everyone got inside into the warm. And then came the good bit. Yesterday was my mother's birthday, and Pedar had mysteriously said not to worry about it, he'd take care of everything. He said he'd got her something, but wouldn't tell me what. He wrapped it, gave it to me and told me to give it to her. So me, Hannah and Becca stood there waiting for her to unwrap it so we could find out what it was, and it turned out to be a pretty new phone. I wasn't surprised, as she's wanted one for ages. So I oohed and aahed for few moments, as it really was very pretty.

I was surprised when Pedar produced another, identical box. And handed it me.

It seems I am now the owner of a pretty new phone. It's really very pretty; silver, with colour screen, and it can take pictures! And I had absolutely no idea he planned it at all. I thought he was going to get my phone fixed. My expression must have been a sight to behold. Becca and Hannah, bless their hearts, recovered much more quickly than I did and made for the box. I believe Hannah wanted to look at the phone. Becca wanted to look at the instructions. While I oohed and aahed, we all shared out the "birthday" cake - carrot cake - and had coffee and a generally warm and fuzzy time.

As usual, I would like to say we were very productive and did lots of things, but also as usual, we didn't do anything. We played a lot of music, actually; went on the internet as we usually do, and eventually went out to pick up the pizza. It was absolutely freezing, and very dark. We did not go gently into that good night - we yelled and sang and talked and recited poetry (the poetry of Hillaire Belloc, to be fair) and actually arrived just on time to get the pizza. It was a complicated pizza. One half of it was margharita with extra coloured peppers, and the other half had extra chicken and onions. I love going out in the evening to get these pizzas, because my friends are always there and it's always chilly but comfortable and we get in and warm up and the pizza is heaven on earth.

Ahem. Rhapsodising over. Pizza, and much carping about chart music, followed. We were watching Q and getting excited about Muse. Hannah and I both seem to like the same part of Time is Running Out (the delightfully incomprehensible "Oooooh, yeahyeahyeahyeah...") and Matt Bellamy's flick of the fingers. Flick, flick. Mmmm. And finally, we watched QI. I've forgotten to watch it for weeks, but we did last night and it was very very good. It's a quiz show with a difference. You don't get points for being right. You get points for being interesting. If you're not, alarms blare and sirens wail and the message "BORING!" flashes up on the screens. The quizmaster is Stephen Fry. He's hysterically funny, as is Alan Davies - I never realised how cute he was, although he was rather cute doing Jonathan Creek. Anyway, he always ends up with a final score of minus-thirty-something. It's hilarious, although I later remarked that it's the type of show that would never take off in America. It's very British and very very funny. QI, incidentally, stands for "Quite Interesting."

We were going to watch Velvet Goldmine later, but we never got around to it. We ended up curling up on Hannah's bed and making Christmas lists, of all things. I seem to have the smallest list of people to buy for, but it's still quite a lot. Hannah and I know what we're getting for Emily - it's shared, and I think most people know what it is - and Becca seems to know what's she's getting for me. I don't know anything yet. All I know is birthdays. Becca and I are sharing a present for Hannah's birthday, and although Hannah and I are buying separate presents for Clare, we'll probably wrap them up together. On that note, my thanks to everyone who voted on the poll. I won't be more specific, because I don't want to friends-filter this entry as well.

It's amazing where the time goes. I think we all actually went to bed at about two am, and I woke up at ten to the sound of my friends talking about me. Actually, talking about my grandmother and my alarm clock, which is not quite the same thing. Once I was awake, we talked some more, went down for breakfast of coffee and more carrot cake, and the day seemed to disappear. They went home at about two, taking with them my Nokia phone charger, Velvet Goldmine and a lot of elastic thread. Bracelets changed hands at a great rate of knots. I actually have most of mine back, now. Only the "Q" one is missing.

Pedar spent the morning on the phone to the Home Office. They have lost my grandmother's passport. A duplicate can't be issued without proof of identification, for which she needs a passport. Catch-22. At least, this is how I understand it. He won't explain things to me.

The day has just about disappeared. I would have liked very much to go to the SG6 Hallowe'en party tonight, or indeed any kind of party, but that is not going to be the case. My parents are going out for dinner (for my mother's birthday) and I'll be on my own, methinks. Becca and Hannah have work to do, they say. I may just hole up in my room and write. While hathy_col is away and cannot persaude me otherwise, I mean to try and slash Vimes and Vetinari.

Pedar always says, when in doubt, drink coffee.

I shall go and do that.