2000

Drawing a blank on most of 2000. It was the year I turned vegetarian, I know that much. I started working at an old people's home - those two things aren't related. As far as I know you don't have to vow never to eat a resident before you're allowed in the door - which on the face of it seemed a perfect job. Basically I was supposed to pick people up if they fell out of bed. This meant sitting in a room on my own all night, never having to speak to anybody. Unless they fell out of bed, obviously. Or wandered the corridors stark naked, which happened far more often that you might imagine. Life in a residential home is dull, and you have to make your own entertainment. Poor sods.

As I say, on the face of it an ideal job. It was deadly dull though, and the pay was rubbish. I was also running the office during the day (sleep?! Who needs sleep?!) Old peoples' homes have to operate on the lowest possible budget, because there's no money in old folk. If they can fill two jobs with one person therefore, they will. It used to make me smile sometimes though. Every so often they'd get some local musician in, to play old songs, and make the residents go misty-eyed with recollection. What are they going to do when that's us?! I have visions of young musicians coming in to play Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter to a row of gently nodding oldies.

Elsewhere, this was the year that Almost Famous came out at the cinema, which I know that I loved, but I haven't seen it since, and I don't remember a great deal about it. Kid writes about band for music magazine. There was nearly a plane crash. And lots of rather good music. Also it was the year of The Road To El Dorado, although I didn't see that until some time afterwards. Terrific film. If you haven't seen it, do so. (That's an order). Music-wise I'm totally drawing a blank though. I used to have the radio on in my little night watch room, but clearly not a lot registered! About the only thing I can say for sure is that this was the year Channel 5 showed the last few episodes of Sunset Beach, a mad-as-a-squirrel soap that had won a cult audience amongst those of us with nothing better to do at ten o'clock in the morning. It was replaced by Days Of Our Lives, which proved to be even more mad. America does soap operas so much better than Britain does. In British soaps, people just yell at each other about who they're having affairs with. In American soaps there's evil identical twins, microchips in brains, and demonic possessions.

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