it would be at certain stages.

The train got into Waterloo on time so I made it to the Lane before 2 and met up with my mate Dan. All the pubs were heaving so grabbed the standard issue burger and went into the ground for a beer.

After we'd managed to win despite our best attempts to give Pompey something out of the game, went for another beer with Dan then went and found Charlie who was in the Ship with a load of his mates from Portsmouth. Stopped in there for a while before getting the tube back to Waterloo.

While I was getting a baguette a few of Charlie's mates got stopped and searched by the Old Bill for no reason other than having short hair. The coppers just seemed to be trying to justify hanging around in groups doing bugger all else. Went for a couple more beers at the Slug and Lettuce just along from the station. Just as we were leaving I looked on t'internet on my phone and saw that my train had been cancelled and there wasn't another one for about 45 minutes.

Decided to jump on Charlie's train as far as Guildford. Got there and as luck would have it there was a train to Aldershot just about to depart. Legged it across to the right platform with seconds to spare. Eventually got back to Aldershot 30 minutes earlier than if I'd got the cancelled train anyway. Got a kebab from round the corner. Pricey but good. First one in ages. Watched telly for the rest of the evening.

Had my fry-up on Sunday. Ended up being lunch. Enough food for at least 2 meals! Spent the afternoon studying. Caught the tail end of both Premiership games in brief breaks.

Didn't get out of work till quarter to 7 today. Had to pop to Tesco's to get some bits and bobs. Got the missus to come and pick me up as I really couldn't be arsed to walk.

Had dinner and did a quick bit of studying and now watching the final of I'm a celebrity....

I've been having with the Inland Revenue and Student Loan Company.

When I left my last job their payroll department didn't tick the box on my P45 saying that I had a student loan tht was being repaid.

So when I started my new job they knew nothing about it so haven't been deducting any loan repayments from my wages. Which has been a bonus, what with all the costs of moving house etc. But I don't want even more interest mounting up and was stressing that they might deicde to claim all the missed payments when they did finally sort it out.

Back before Christmas I had spoken to them and on their instruction had sent a P46 off via payroll at work. Anyway when I got my payslip for January there was still no deduction.

I rang payroll again who referred me to the IR. The woman there put me on hold and decided to transfer me to the Student Loan Company. The woman there said they shouldn't have transferred me and gave me a number for the payroll department to ring the IR on.

Payroll rang the IR and they said that they were waiting for notification from the SLC and gave payroll a number to give to me so I could ring the SLC myself.

So I did even though I seemed to be going round in circles. Eventually the next woman I spoke to at the SLC spoke directly to the IR (what a genius idea!) and found out that they are sorting it out - by April at the latest!

Honestly, you can't give these loan repayments away. If I'd been trying to avoid the payments they'd probably have come down on me like a ton of bricks but I'm doing my damnedest to pay this money.

The good news was that I won't owe any back-payments when they do start making payments. I could always make some voluntary payments to cover what I've missed but, nah.

8 days

3 games

20 goals

2 wins

1 defeat

7 points away from the magic safety mark of 40

5 points off 4th.

Currently things are looking rosey. 11th place, 5 wins out of 6 in the Premiership.

Defence is still a bit ropey and our inability to protect a lead almost cost us again tonight but, all in all, an excellent away win to round off an 'interesting' week.

or what I did yesterday.

Had 3 of the other graduates around last night. Cooked them dinner. Actually used our dining room for eating for the first time ever. Did the whole chicken in a tomato and random vegetables sauce with pasta thing again. Went down well. Everyone cleared their plate so they were allowed some pud.

After the minor technical hitch that was me forgetting to get the raspberry swirl gateau out of the freezer - solved by Will opting to nuke it in the microwave until it was softer/melting - the 4 'generous' portions were split between 5. Served them in small bowls with teaspoons to make them look relatively big. All about perspective, you see.

Watched the Pompey vs Chelski game then after several unsubtle hints from Will about his poverty forcing him to walk all the way home, offered to drop them home.

Borrowed the missus's car. First time I'd driven it without her being in it. Got them home safely. Then realised I would have to drive back on my lonesome. Again I'd never done that before.

Now I realise that billions of people drive cars every day but anyone who has read about my general hatred of driving will realise that it was a triumph of man over machine when I managed to get home without crashing or being stopped by the police for generally shit driving. Even the roundabouts seemed to be manageable. Few dodgy gear changes but no-ones's perfect and I blame the car.

Decided not to push my luck by trying to get in the parking space out the front of the flats so found a nice wide space I could drive into. Remembered to turn the lights off and felt my blood pressure begin to drop.

Was supposed to be out for their flatmate's birthday tonight but he's managed to get tonsilitis so it's been cancelled. Quite glad in a way as felt cream crackered all day at work.

Going to the cinema tomorrow. Think I might suggest Big Fish as someone at work suggested it to me. Didn't actually recommend it so can't blame them if it's crap. Someone else said Lost in Translation is boring. So there.

Another game full of goals at White Hart Lane. Defensive errors meant Jermain Defoe's second goal of the game a minute from time was a fortunate equaliser rather than the crowning moment after some great attacking play throughout.

The visit of Leicester saw the return of 4 former Spurs players in the shape of Walker, Thatcher, Ferdinand and the football genius, Steffen Freund. All of whom played a big part in the result, although the Leicester players may have been disappointed not to claim all 3 points after going 4-3 up.

Leicester started well and Dickov caught the defence napping but Keller saved well with his legs in the 4th minute. The next action saw a free kick awarded to Spurs, which Brown struck well but Walker should really have saved it. Instead he palmed it into the corner of his net. Rather symptomatic of his current performances.

The lead didn't last long though. Walker banged a ball upfield. Under pressure from Dickov, Doherty misread it and then turned to try and clear it but only managed to steer it over Keller, who got a touch, into his own net. A great finish from the Ginger Pele, shame it was at the wrong end.

Parity only lasted 5 minutes before a clever touch from Davies released Defoe to score his 3rd goal in as many games. Spurs increased their lead before the half-hour mark as Walker picked up a backpass, resulting in an indirect free-kick being awarded. Jackson drilled a shot into the mass of Foxes defenders. Taggart flicked it away but only as far as Keane who slammed it home through a forest of legs.

Leicester had a couple of chances as the half drew to a close but Dickov's shot was saved by Keller and Freund's shot traditionally flew just wide.

The final action of the half saw Carr pick out Jackson who headed it to Keane but his shot was tipped away well by Walker.

Five minutes into the 2nd half Jackson picked up the ball in the left back position and started off on a diagonal driving run through the middle of the park. A lack of options for the pass caused him to dawdle on the ball. Freund took advantage by stealing it off his toes and squeezing it through to Ferdinand who made no mistake in reducing the deficit.

Doherty had a good chance quarter of an hour later. Defoe managed to pull the ball back from the byline but the Doc was unable to keep his header down.

Leicester were reduced to 10 men a couple of minutes later. Scowcroft went in late on Taricco and was given a straight red. This seemed to inspire the Foxes as the equalised 3 minutes later. Former Spur Thatcher heading home thanks to poor marking at a corner.

Things went from bad to worse with less than 20 minutes to go. Doherty's backpass reached Keller but his hesitation allowed Dickov to tackle him. In the resulting confusion, Bent had a tap-in as Keller was on the floor. It seemed like Man City all over again.

Spurs weren't beaten yet. Walker had to produce good saves to deny King and Carr from long range. Fortunately King was able to find Defoe in space and he fired home off the underside of the bar.

Doherty could have won it in injury time but again his header went over.

Fortunate to escape with a point when the game should have been wrapped up by halftime, individual errors almost cost us dearly again. Going forward we seem to be able to create chances at will and now have a forward line that is perfectly capable of converting them but at the back it just doesn't seem to be gelling.

We are now in 10th, 11 points clear of the relegation zone, but the fixtures coming up will present many more problems than Leicester should have.

MOTM: Defoe - Made it 4 goals in 3 games for Spurs. Looking like a superb buy as we had hoped.

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
10	Tottenham	26	10	4	12	39	42	34

Got out of work on time, having been bored out of my skull for most of the week.

Got to Brum and went to my mate George's flat before heading to the pub where we stayed until an appropriate hour nicely past closing time. Was good to see a lot of old friends. Met a couple of Aston freshers. Felt really old but I was still one of the youngest of the ex-Aston students there.

Got up at 7 having had very little sleep thanks to the emergency lighting that we couldn't switch off or vandalise adequately. The reason for getting up at the crack of dawn was to do our bit for charidee by collecting for the Meningitis Research Foundation, who my mate Iain works for.

I'd been told I could collect in Sutton Coldfield - beats Brum city centre anyday. Had a very cold but enjoyable time getting money off passers by. Managed to make £204.68 out of just over £2600 for the day, which I was very pleased with.

After defrosting in the shower, I headed to the Guild to defrost. Stayed there till 2, popping out briefly to get a nice steak in the Square Peg in town. Suitably inebriated but thankfully didn't feel too rough the next day. Just incredibly tired as I got my train back to London. Unable to catch up on any sleep. Wish I could combine sleeping and travelling but can't.

Put my bag in the left luggage place at Euston to avoid lugging it across to White Hart Lane. Got to the tube station at Euston to find the Victoria line was fcuked up so had to go to King's Cross and get the Picadilly line to Finsbury Park. Got a bus there no problem but it randomly terminated halfway to Tottenham. We were assured the bus behind would take us but instead it just drove off so ended up walking the rest of the way.

The tube was sorted on the way home after the game. Picked my bag up and persuaded the missus to collect me from Guildford to avoid a 50 minute wait at Waterloo.

Still tired and after working yesterday, I'm off on study leave for the rest of the week. Obviously not started studying yet.

Have been off work since Tuesday on study leave.

Am off until Friday and then have the exam in Reading on Saturday morning.

Out of the 4 days off work, 2.5 are officially study leave and 1.5 is holiday that I've had to take to get that amount of study leave.

Still with me? Great, I'll go on.

I've been doing the mock papers and been getting sufficiently over the pass mark of 50% that I feel relatively confident. The company who provides the study material also provides a CD which allows you to do practice exams. Again reasonable marks, always comforrtably over the 50%

Now the crux of the matter: When I use the CD I have my computer on. This means there are those nice little icons calling to me to check my email, post on my blog or randomly surf.

Who am I to resist?

Should I study even though I can very probably pass without anymore major preparation or should I slack off totally?