Count 5 (Nights out): To be honest, this particular topic was the reason I started 'The Count' in the first place. My February 2003 was a real social riot, with only seven nights spent in, but I sensed a seachange lay ahead with my bestmate due to emigrate to America shortly afterwards. And I was right. I'm now a comparative hermit, a study in interactive decline, with 26 of the last 28 evenings spent indoors, alone. Don't worry, I do still go out (Dover was nice, wasn't it?), but I've sort of given up on going out after dark to be with other people. And I don't really mind either, honest. But my apologies to the four people on my blogroll who've been really interested in meeting up this month and who I've never quite got round to taking up on their kind offer. I'm like that, you see. Sorry. The number of nights in February 2006 I went out and was vaguely sociable: 2
(2005: 2) (2004: 7) (2003: 21)
Count 6 (Alcohol intake): Whenever I'm in a pub, club, bar or restaurant, my alcoholic beverage of choice is a 'bottle of Becks'. It may not be adventurous, but at least I don't spend the evening doubled up in the corner hiccuping to death. Last February I managed to stay unintentionally teetotal, whereas this year (six bottles in one night) my problem appears to be binge drinking. I'll get the balance right eventually. Hic. Total number of bottles of Becks I drank in February 2006: 7
(2005: 0) (2004: 17) (2003: 58)
Count 7 (Tea intake): Hurrah! The lack-of-kettle situation at work is now fully sorted, so regular daily cuppas are again part of my staple liquid intake and my tannin totals have returned to previous levels. As for my coffee intake over the last month, however, that remains at zero. Same as it ever was. Total number of cups of tea I drank in February 2006: 128
(2005:81) (2004: 135) (2003: 135)
Count 8 (Trains used): See, I told you I was still going out. Total number of trains I travelled on in February 2006: 107
(2005: 117) (2004: 109) (2003: 103)
Count 9 (Exercise taken): Two types of people use escalators - the lazy and the fit. I'm one of those commuters who always walks up an escalator, even a scarily long one, because it saves a few valuable seconds and because it's bloody good exercise. Honestly, what are the rest of you doing just standing there like lemons, watching the rest of us power past and boosting our personal fitness? Beats going to the gym, I reckon, but it's a shame there's only one escalator to climb on my daily commute. Total number of escalators I walked up in February 2006: 35
(2005:38) (2004: 72) (2003: 73)
Count 10 (Mystery count): Earlier in the month, one midweek afternoon, I suddenly realised that my February mystery count looked likely to rise above zero for the first time. Imminently. This perhaps wasn't the most appropriate thought to be thinking at the time, because I should have been thinking mysterious thoughts instead. But not to worry because things turned out not to be proper mysterious at all, merely fractional. So I'm rounding the event down to zero. So I'm still not telling you what the mystery event is, sorry. Maybe next February things will round up at last... Total number of times that the mystery event happened in February 2006: 0.3 [rounding down to 0]
(2005: 0) (2004: 0) (2003: 0)
The Count 2006 (part 2)
