Three full days of work at the St Helens Star! I said a second farewell yesterday to Chris, the work experience lad who only works Mondays and Tuesdays - last Thursday I said farewell to Steve, the editor, because he was off on holiday for two weeks so I most likely wouldn't see him for a good few years. I hope he's still working there when I get back after university, because the first thing I'm going to do when I've graduated and thrown myself properly into looking for a job is get back into volunteering there. The more journalism experience, the better quality jobs I can start looking at. I don't want to end up in one of those menial, shop floor or office gopher jobs like most people. That kind of job would drive me crazy!

So, this is where the truly epic work begins. I must resist the temptation to, if someone phones with a story, take that story on board and do it myself. I know some of my very best stories were acquired that way, but I've already got far too much to do. Today I must try and get four or five stories shifted from my to-do list, and then tomorrow it must be the same - as well as printing off all the pages of mine that I've downloaded from the St Helens Star e-edition (basically the newspaper in PDF format).

I think I can do it. I've got eight hours in work each day, which is easily enough time to shift even the most difficult of these stories. There are one or two I fear I won't be able to do because I'm awaiting contact details from press and communications offices, but I can shift the rest of them as soon as I can. The less I leave unfinished, the better.

Wish me luck.

This entry would be so much better with pictures. Today's been an art adventure of epic proportions.

I wasn't in the Girls' Room at all. Vicky and Tim dealt with the little bits of glossing that remained and put me straight into the Chillout Room with a roll of masking tape, acrylic paint, brushes and six hours in which to go insane on the walls.

I don't know how I didn't manage to finish it, to be honest. I'm just glad I have an extra day tomorrow; I'll have to work my arse off. The image is of a girl, side-on, wearing headphones with her hair flowing all swirly across the wall. In six hours, I managed to make an outline with the masking tape, paint a rudimentary outline so I could take the tape off and apply about 25% of the colour. Tomorrow, I need to apply the other 75% of the colour and then put a proper outline and highlights on.

The thing is, we don't have a full day tomorrow. I have about four hours in which to complete it, I'd say, because we have to be at the college building in St. Helens by half three for a session that we absolutely cannot miss. I may need to have a word with the manager lady, to see if I can haggle a few more hours in which to work.

I'd hate to leave that room incomplete. It's not just the mural I'm working on; those of you who follow my Twitter feed will know that I have four canvases to do as well - two for each room. I'm working on these tonight. Looks like sleep isn't on my agenda...

The handover's on Friday. Oh my God. The Mayor will be there. Bloody hell. Prince's Trust officials and snazzymen will be there. The press will be there. Oh God oh God I'm gonna die.

Tomorrow I have to work very quickly. Not a single distraction. If I kept an eye on the time and set realistic goals for myself, it would help me to pace the work and get it done - or as done as it can possibly be, at any rate. Here's my plan:

09:00AM - Arrive at the Club.
09:15AM - Deadline for having overalls on.
11:30AM - Girl's hair painted.
01:30PM - Girl's skin, clothes etc painted.
02:00PM - Mural properly outlined + highlighted.
02:30PM - Finishing touches. Canvasses hung.
03:30PM - Be at the college building for Basic Skills session.