Robert Hampton

I told people not to buy me chocolate for Christmas, but what was under the tree on December 25th? A Toblerone selection box and Cadbury Heroes as far as the eye could see. Of course, I could just not eat them, but if you think that’s an option for me, you clearly don’t know me very well.

Today was my first visit to the gym in 6 days (it’s been closed since Christmas Eve) and I could feel every miniature Dairy Milk bouncing around as I jogged on the treadmill.

Christmas itself was uneventful, just the way I like it. Excellently, I received the Rail Simulator Official Expansion Pack, giving me access to the Class 08 Shunter. I spent a happy Boxing Day rearranging virtual HST trailers at Old Oak Common depot, only to be told that my performance was terrible and I must do better next time. Well, if they will insist on parking Class 47s where I’m going to crash into them…

Still got Family Guy and Beautiful People DVDs to get through. I also received the Harry Hill’s TV Burp Gold DVD, which was slightly disappointing, but still worth it for the included blooper reel, including a marvellous clip where Harry is trying to drink from a yard of ale, only for it to be repeatedly sprayed all over his face.

There was also, of course, the standard deodorant/shower gel gift packs. It may just be me being too sensitive, but there’s always an inescapable implication that the people giving these gifts think I smell bad. AND THEY ARE RIGHT.

I was lucky in one other respect: one of my aunts was stuck for a gift to get me and I told her “don’t worry, just get a gift voucher from HMV or Zavvi” — thankfully she plumped for HMV, as Zavvi giftcard holders are now “unsecured creditors”.

It occurred to me later that I should have asked for an Amazon gift voucher, giving me the advantage of not having to leave the house, although I would have had to wait several days for the Royal Mail to recover from its Christmas hangover to deliver my chosen items. On the other hand, waiting 2-3 days for a parcel from Amazon would probably still have been quicker than waiting in the queue at HMV Liverpool One on Saturday, which snaked all the way from the tills at the front of the store, to the Blu-ray Disc section at the back (via the T-Shirts and Comedy DVD sections).

I ended up visiting the old Bold Street branch. They had a 2 for £10 offer on selected CDs and, as I had £20 to spend, buying 4 CDs seemed like the best option. However, I then fell victim to something which usually afflicts me with this type of shop deal: I had no trouble picking the first 3 CDs, but was then totally unable to find anything to complete the quartet. After loitering in the shop for over half an hour and being regarded with increasing suspicion by the staff, I eventually settled on assorted releases by MGMT, Black Kids, The Feeling and my current guilty pleasure Josh Groban. I left triumphant, or as triumphant you can be when you’re buying CDs on special offer.

So that’s as interesting as my life gets right now (unless you want to hear about me switching my ISA provider to get a better interest rate). Stay tuned for more exciting stuff!