2002-12-23 - 10:15 a.m.

There�s nothing like entering the festive period feeling like you�ve had an ethanol enema � a weekend away was decidedly liver-testing as we took an academic attitude to alcoholic refreshment and passed our practical examination with flying colours.

Saturday night remains the stand-out, with some top-drawer D�land company joining me and my friends. We started with dinner at a fish restaurant, placed our order, and somewhere the trawlers were fired up and dispatched into the unforgiving waters to catch our requests, or at least that�s what it felt like given the several millennia it took for the food to arrive. We were compensated with free wine, though, which, along with the strong beer, liqueurs, etc, etc, set us up nicely. Come midnight we were in the back room of a pub watching an air-guitar face off, knocking back shots and there�s a certain train of thought that might suggest I danced to Guns and Roses with a little too much gusto.

But it was worth every drop, even though my body now feels like medical science would only take me out of professional curiosity.

I�m heading north for Santa�s sack emptying stunt, to a land where the internet is still talked about in hushed tones as the work of the dark lord, so updates will have to wait until Friday, or before if I crack under the pressure of being in my home town. .

Happy festivus, and if I can somehow get a complete change of blood, I�ll see you in a few days.