I've just found out via Twitter the dates for next year's Cambridge Rock Festival! It'll be on August 2, 3, 4 and 5 at the same place - Haggis Polo Club Farm in Barton, just outside of Cambridge. I'd love to go for the full four days this time, with a crapload of my own food and cash for more souvenirs of awesomeness. Of course I'll be dragging people with me again this time - Jason, Holly, Sian, and they can bring as many people as they want, providing they all have their own tents and ticket money and the like. It would be groovy to go in a big posse!

Another story on my to-do list - the Open Mic UK one - is slowly coming together as people get back to me. Three St Helens contestants are doing well on it so I'm doing a piece on them, and I've e-mailed them all a set of questions tailored to how far they've progressed, their circumstances etc. Turns out we've got some high-flyers here! One's through to the regional finals of Open Mic, and another has also got through to the finals of the Miss Teen Queen modelling competition.

That's one of the things I've noticed since starting work at the St Helens Star - there are some very gifted people in town. It seems to be a hub of creative talent - there are artists, writers, musicians, models - and we're also celebrating some very good A-Levels and GCSEs this year. Then there's obviously the heavy emphasis on rugby in town - we have some very talented sportsmen and women, too. It's just a pity that my judgement of St Helens was clouded for so long by the narrow view that I had - and that was the rather inelegant view of Beth Ave.

Plus, it has to be said that everything I've achieved has been done so in the borough of St Helens. Good GCSEs, good A-Levels, the Prince's Trust and work experience at the Star... mind you, I tend to attribute my own successes to my need to rise above. I did so well because I knew I had to be better than the people who put me down. I had to do better than my parents had done, and I had to say 'no' to just staying in the same place all my life - moving along at the same level. I guess that could have happened in any town, be it Portadown or St Helens or even London.

Anyway, it's time for lunch soon! I have half a pot of soup and a baguette upstairs, as well as a Muller corner (peach and apricot - omnomnomnom) and a huge carton of orange juice. Heck yes!