Today was a ridiculously busy day. I had to get up early because I was going to St. Helens to meet someone for a few hours, only to receive a text while on the bus that they'd slept in and wouldn't be coming after all. This meant I was in St. Helens, with £50 that I wasn't supposed to spend, and time to kill before I had to be back in Newton.

I shopped, didn't I? I raided the British Heart Foundation shop and bought three blouses, one of which is for my handover ceremony on Friday. Then I nipped into WHSmith, found nothing of interest, went to Wardleworths (a small bookshop on Westfield Street) instead, where I bought 'Avilion' by Robert Holdstock. It's the sequel to 'Mythago Wood', which I read and loved over a year ago. Looks like a good excuse to revisit the series!

I still hadn't bought the February issue of Record Collector, so I popped over to Kaleidoscope. I exchanged the usual banter with the shop owner and left with said magazine and two records - 'Repeat - The Best of Jethro Tull - Vol. II' and 'Live Herald' by Steve Hillage, who has worked with the likes of Mike Oldfield, Kevin Ayers and Dave Stewart. Associated with the Canterbury scene, he has released a considerable amount of solo work, as well as work being part of Gong, Khan, Uriel and System 7. I thought I'd give him a go, since he's associated with and likened to many of my favourite artists.

With that, I went home and stuffed my face until it was time to head off to Newton Boys' & Girls' Club. It was all about glossing the woodwork today, and scraping paint off windows, plug sockets and light switches. Everyone else is now in the main room, except Anna and I. We've glossed all the smaller surfaces which required the use of a brush, and tomorrow all we have to do is gloss the larger surfaces which need a roller. It'll take us about ten minutes, five if we work efficiently.

It's strange to think that the community project is almost finished; that we're now putting on finishing touches and looking ahead to our work placements. Tomorrow should be our last day of work. We'll so what needs to be done in the Girls' Room, and then we'll be helping out in the Main Room with everyone else. Even the Main Room's near completion, now; just a few bits here and there on the walls that need painting.

Oh! I remember what Vicky wanted us to do! The Boys' Room is now called the Chillout Room, since the lads who use the club usually listen to music and play pool in the Main Room. Anna and I have been drafted in to the Chillout Room to snazz up the walls a bit - they're just plain white at the moment, so Vicky wants some artwork up there to make it a little more interesting.

There's tomorrow's jobs: finish glossing, then snazz up the Chillout Room.