I managed to stumble across this peek into the past this morning. It's the last version of this site, frozen about 18 months ago prior to me adopting Moveable Type.

Dickhead.

Hello from Reading. I've been here since Sunday night as I've been on a course all week. I'm attempting to become a certified PRINCE2 practitioner. It might not mean much to most people, but if I pass it'll mean a lot. I sat the final, three-hour exam this morning and am still suffering from brain-pain - it's not the easiest exam to pass and I won't find out whether I've passed it for another eight weeks. Fingers crossed.

A week without internet access was rather nice, but seeing over 150 new comments in my inbox meant I was the victim of a severe case of comment-spam whilst I've been away. At some point I might spend some time figuring out what to do to stop it, rather than just spending the time deletings. The version of MoveableType that I'm using doesn't make it particularly easy.

I've a weekend in London to look forward to but I've got a rather dull evening in Reading to get out of the way first. The place is crammed with welly-wearing festival-goers and I think the best advice I could give myself would be to stay in tonight and watch the Olympics.

Something very unusual is happening here in Leeds. A rainstorm started at about 18:10, and it's not stopped raining since. The sheer noise of the rain along with thunder, rain impact and drainage is contributing to an almost deafening noise outside. Sirens occasionally pass into and out of earshot.

Just when you think it can't possibly rain any harder, another window-shaking burst of thunder is followed by an even heavier downpour. The field across from our flat is now resembling a lake, the road is a river and our yard is underwater. A short step is stopping our garage from letting water in.

On the local news we heard that down the road in Huddersfield, 67mm of rain fell in less than an hour. That's more than would be expected in a month. Before today's storm a sewer underneath an industrial estate on my cycle route to work collapsed, flooding the area and an underground car park in the centre of Leeds.

Where is all the rain going to go?

Some pictures from the Unity Day celebrations at Hyde Park, Leeds.

Everything seems to be pretty fab at the moment. The packed and hectic schedule of May, June and July has given way to an August with a lot more space in the diary. Aside from going to the gym on Sunday afternoon, I didn't do anything this weekend. It felt a little unusual, but it was great. The extra time I've got means that I'm on top of things that usually never end up getting done, and I've got time to relax.

Experience tells me that at times like these I should be careful. I am quite reflective at the best of times, so usually it's best to keep busy and keep my mind occupied. You know the thing, everything's fine but you think so much that you see things that aren't there and end up get pissed off with yourself or just a bit sad or empty. That's what usually happens. That's what always happens.

This time around though, there's not a sniff of negativity for me to cling to. With everywhere that I've been, everything that I've done, everything I've started doing, and with all the people I've seen, this year I'm at my happiest for a long long while. It feels like it's around to stay, too.