Interesting idea in a story in the Guardian today. Apparently Peterborough council has had a problem with fights between “goths” and “chavs” in the city centre, and has tried to defuse it by sending them off to shoot at each other in local woodland.

In a lot of ways I hope it works – if a scheme like this can release some of the inter-clique tensions, and also take that tension out of the town centre where apparently it’s also been affecting other members of the public, then it may even be a good thing. Of course there’ll also be the lobby bleating on about how it promotes guns and blah blah blah, but if it’s done as an obvious game along with adequate safety information etc., I still think it’s probably going to be beneficial.

One of the sadder aspects of my life is that I still actually own – and use – a FiloFax. Thankfully they no longer seem to have the “yuppie” overtones of the 80s, which is no bad thing. I have used electronic organisers too, but find that invariably they’re a pain in the arse, and that I can’t be arsed to go through all the gubbins in order to simply write a note, or a reminder, or just look up a phone number.

In some ways I’m just so not a techie. But I digress.

The only time when a Filofax is more of a pain in the arse than something electronic is when it comes to the diary. I’ve just bought a new diary for 2006, and so I’ve got to trawl through 2005, making a note of all the important dates, anniversarys, birthdays, etc., and make sure they’re carried forward into the 2006 one. I’ll also then make sure I archive off (for which read : open the binder and take out the pages) all the older stuff, which has the happy side effect of making the bloody thing less heavy again.

At some point I really should also go through and tidy up the addresses/phone number pages too, as some have been in there for four years or so. But I can’t be arsed. Maybe while I’m away.