Fun weekend. *EDIT*

Saturday, after getting kicked out of the library, I headed over to the union to see if anyone I knew was there.

One friend was and he bought me a drink. We chatted for a bit, he asked me to guard his drink and promptly disappeared. Though he did leave me with most of a pint. Yay!

So, I went and sat with another couple of frends and a cute girl. We chatted, had a laugh, sang some Beautiful South songs and Birdhouse In Your Soul and just generally had a great time. I left early as I was hungry. As I left, the cute girl asked for my myspace details so she could add me as a friend. Went home, watched stuff on my laptop and got to sleep about 5am.

Next day, was woken at about 3pm by a text message from a friend asking if i wanted to go for a quick drink. Met up with her, messed about online while she looked stuff up and then headed to the union.

It was supposed to be for only a couple of hours but it ended up being a session. We took the piss out of some random idiots who for a while now seem to find it funny to constantly shout my name whenever they see me, took the piss out of Newcastle FC and just had a blast. I believe that the words “I would make a fantastic gay guy if I wasn’t straight” issued forth from my lips at some point in time. It was one of those sessions.

Went home, watched some wrestling and Top gear. I also tried to write, but it just wasn’t happening :¬(

Seriously, I need to do something, anything to get rid of this damn writers block. It’s starting to really annoy me now.

And today’s been really boring. Signed on, wandered round town, phoned Virgin mobile about the replacement battery for my mobile phone (re-ordered, can take up to 7 working days, but the bloke I spoke to said that his replacement battery took about 5) and came online.

Will

*EDIT*

Now I’m slightly worried. When I was wondering round town this morning, I had a tight feeling in my chest and felt like I was going to collapse. When I was wondering round town this evening, I had a sharp pain on the right hand side of my body (which was probably just a stitch) and I felt like I was going to collapse. It’s probably just a lack of sleep.

Also, I’ve decided to email my cv to a few agencies. It’s about time I got serious about getting some decent money. Not as serious as these people though:

Pensioner jailed for ‘£2.4m’ scam
A pensioner has been jailed for five years for masterminding a benefits scam worth as much as £2.4m.

Jean Hutchinson, 65, ran an office hidden behind a secret door at the back of her bedroom wardrobe in her flat in Maida Vale, west London.

She scoured newspapers to find people who had emigrated before using their identities to claim benefits, Blackfriars Crown Court heard.

Hutchinson pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud between 1996 and 2006.

‘Criminal enterprise’

With the help of a cousin and lax information controls, she was able to amass a seven-figure fortune from false benefit claims, before ploughing the cash into property and shares.

A five-month surveillance operation was launched by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) after they discovered the “highly profitable” scam.

Investigators found a hidden doorway leading to a fully equipped “headquarters” where thousands of documents, neatly filed and cross-referenced, were found.

“The fact that the fraudsters found it necessary to construct what was effectively an archive of the fraud indicates the sheer scale of their criminal enterprise,” said Anuja Dhir, prosecuting.

Hutchinson’s cousin, Ralph Dale, 63, of Halifax, West Yorkshire, was jailed for four years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to defraud.

Passing sentence, Judge Deva Pillay said their crimes allowed them to accrue “what can only be described as extraordinary amounts of money”.

The judge said: “The Crown’s case, which is substantially supported by vast amounts of incontrovertible evidence, discloses that over a 13-year period you both – and I have no doubt with the connivance of others not before this court – defrauded the Department of Work and Pensions and various local authorities out of sums said to be in excess of £2.4 million by falsely claiming various state-funded benefits.

“Upon the basis of pleas tendered by each of you, the prosecution now estimate, over the 10 years for which each of you appear to accept responsibility, some £1.8m of public money was handed over to you and your accomplices.

“That equates to a staggering £180,000 per annum,” she said.

After the case, anti-fraud minister James Plaskitt said: “These defendants thought they could keep their benefit fraud locked out of sight but thanks to our determined fraud investigators their deception had been uncovered and terminated with immediate effect.”

Story from BBC NEWS

Published: 2008/01/14 15:34:49 GMT

© BBC MMVIII

Pensioners. Freaking pensioners. Mind you, it’s not as if they don’t have the time to keep on top of things.

I’ve also decided to shelve the novel I was working on, and try another one. Was going to wait until I had time to do a bit of research for this one, but I’ve decided to just pull the trigger now.

Wish me luck.

Will
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