Last week I had my first driving lesson. Apparently I have the ‘knack’ for driving, which is good to hear. It was I think easier than I was expecting, though possibly I had a lot of false confidence, with dual controls and an instructor beside me who could take over the wheel when I failed to steer. Hmm. I’ve also done a couple of days work up the road for Stephen, which has been extremely dull and I don’t think is going to get any better (mainly involving going through old invoices and putting all the data into a new accounting programme on the computer), but at least I get my own little office and lots of cups of tea. And it is only a five-minute walk away.

I’ve also done three days training for Marks and Spencer. We went on a ‘journey’. There were a lot of talks, a number of ‘go out and find out about your store’ sort of exercises and questionnaires, some classic dated videos, sweets to eat, and play dough to play with when we became bored. We also had some basic training on the till, and this afternoon I spent my first real hour on one of the food tills, with real customers. My hands were inexplicably shaking when I started (apparently this is normal), but actually it wasn’t too bad, and the time passed really quickly. Everyone seems very friendly, too. So maybe it won’t all be that bad.

And I’m not just any ordinary customer assistant. I’m an M&S customer assistant. We are, apparently, a much classier kind. Not your average scum you get in most shops these days. Oh yes. This is because M&S customer assistants have been trained to use the Mary Gober method of customer service. Every time you speak to a customer you must be Positive. You must show Ownership and Responsibility. You must be Respectful. And you must be Determined. Even if you are only saying hello. If you do all of these things, then the world will be a better place.

But anyway. Monday evening I think should be mentioned quickly now, because I Went Out. Going Out has become a rare and wonderful sort of event, and is consequently now almost always worthy of writing about. I met up with Sam, who up until Monday I’d seen once since 6th-form, and that was two years ago. (Hello, Sam. I’m watching you.) And I had a fantastic evening. I think I spent most of it laughing. This was possibly due to fact that as a result of having no one else to laugh at in Norfolk, when I did finally find someone with a sense of humour talking to me I overcompensated by giggling far too much. I haven’t had a good giggle for absolutely ages. Though we had a number of really good deep and meaningfuls too. And also a bargain meal from Wetherspoons for a total of 3 pounds each. For dessert we shared a chocolate-coated flapjack thing brought from a theatre in exchange for some parking money. So hurrah all round, really.

Banham is still lonely, but at least now I’ve got stuff to do.

The Quote of the Week is a rollover from some time ago. I only remembered it after trying to explain to Sam on Monday how different I am from my sister, who most of the time talks like she belongs in the film Clueless. This came from Esme when she was sitting on my bed one evening and telling me about a coat or something she found in a shop in Norwich:

‘And I’ve been, like, ever since then, oh my god that’s gorgeous…’