Got up at stupid o’clock, rode swiftly to Moor Street in the grey morning. It’s a few hundred metres from New Street, a sort of overflow station for that terminally inadequate terminal. It’s an old station – often quite a good thing – which became a new station and was then refurbished in an attempt its original style, in a sad gimmicky 30s-style-signs everywhere way that appeals more to nostalgia than to transparency and meaningful layout. While I found my platform fairly easily, I overheard several families arguing over where Platform 2 actually was while sitting waiting for the 9:26.

Met family at Great Malvern, on a perfect sunny breezy day, and went stomping on them hills with a picnic lunch, ice cream and general cliched summer holiday joys. It being my dad’s birthday, there was much indulgence and general good feelings. Mused over when would be best to come home from Bromingham, with “today” a suggestion, and wondered if the car would even fit my family, my bike and my summed possessions. Eventually decided that it was in fact doable, so we drove to TC to pack up my first-year life and take it home.

Bike was still in central Birmingham, so train into town (train in: 25 minutes late, train back: cancelled – more exercise than desired) while family dismantled my room and loaded it onto the car. Rather rushed goodbyes to Mim, Jess and James. I need to write a proper goodbye letter to TC people sometime this week. And now I’m suddenly home, reassembling my flat in a room upstairs and have nothing really on my plate.

There are no jobs in this city that aren’t either stupid corporate shill “brand ambassador” bullshit or gay porn (you think I’m joking?). Even being relatively solvent again I won’t be able to pay rent and food next year without help. The proofreading place I poked earlier sent me a month-late rejection, and the student mentoring thing just sent me a long email (always a bad sign, acceptance letters are short) of friendly, encouraging bullshit that boiled down to “nope”.

World just seems full of nothing but insincerity and incompetence and bullshit at the moment, so feeling a bit despondent.