So here I am 18 years of age and I have finished school, before friday night it hadnt really crossed my mind that it is actually quite a big change in my life really. People who I have got used to seeing every day, things that I have done, places I wont go. Yes maybe it is a bit premature for this sort of blog considering I still have my exams to go and I will see people and go into school etc, but it feels right that I do it now as my schooling has officilally finished.

So my final day of school started with a nice late start at around 11:15ish where I had a nice sit down with some tea and biscuits and of course a nice little chat amongst friends.

Then around midday we had our final assembly where we were greeted with the expected "you have been a great year speach" from the teachers and we were each handed a certificate stating what we had done as a sixth form students including great tasks such as setting up a bank account and in one case having a pen pal in Finland which came as a nice surprise for Dave. Luckily in this pack I also recieved a certificate about to say how I had completed my mentoring course and also a nice little badge with the Wimbledon College crest on (Unfortunately I left all of this in Mikes car and so probably wont see them again). Then to the important bit of the assembly, the prize giving and of course there was only one award I was anticipating with any great awe and that was of course the contribution to hair award which although I was nominated for didnt win which was a shame.

 Then back to the sixth form area for a lunch of pasta and garlic bread which was tasteless at best but its the thought that counts and all that. After lunch people handed round their yearbooks to get signed, me being the cheapo that I am not usually didnt buy a yearbook so instead made people sign the back of a Krispy Kreme Doughnut reciept. (which it wont let me put up but you can see if you click on the word) It is beautiful, shows how all of my friends love me in a very homsexual way, made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

After lunch came the goodbye mass and then into the hall where they had a selection of goodies including doughnuts, chocolate fingers and jam tarts to name but a few. After nearly making myself sick trying to get eat as much food as I possibly could, you just have to in those situations, we went outside to the balcony and had photos done as a group. Not particularly clear BUT from left to right: Matt Tate, Matt Bond, Little Dave (standing on a ledge) Matt Steel, Mike, Dave Mc, Leander, MEEEEE, Tom, Austin

And that was it for school, FOR EVER, never again will I mix with all those people in the same way ~sighs~

A few of us did go to the local pub after for a little drinky which was a nice way to end it all, putting Cliff Richards Millenium Prayer on the juke box was a bit special, yet greeted with a surprisingly small reaction by everyone else in the pub. Of course we were there laughing our heads off. And then we left, went home, end of, fini, etc etc.

I was tempted to break into a blog about memories of school life from what I remember of my nursery days up until now, 15 or so years of education which is now over. But i dont feel that anyone really needs to know but if there are any requests for it I would grant them cos that is just the kind of guy I am.

See you all later and to all those leaving school about now Good Luck in your Lives XXX

If im honest it wasn't quite 23 hours but it was close enough and im sure u will not begrudge me a few minutes when i tell you about the tiring day I had on election day, Thursday 4th May 2006.

I am not actually going to start my story on Thursday I will start with the events on Wednesday afternoon where I attended a small conference type thingamyjig where i met the prime minister. Yes I Ant D have now met Tony Blair, the current, even if not for very long, Prime Minister. Also I again met the chancellor and Tessa Jowell but as I have already met them its not quite as big. Unfortunately I dont have a picture of this but if you happened to purchase a copy of the national guardian on Thursday you may have seen me.

So on to Thursday and what a horrible start. 5:45 am and i had to wake up to get to the "election centre" for 6am so I could deliver some ealry morning leaflets to people persuading them to come out and vote. This I did for 2 and a half hours before coming back for a nice full english at the local cafe courtesy of my Godmother. Then I went out to do my duty for the first time. Ahh what fun can be had from putting a little cross in a few boxes. After that I again reported back to the election centre to get some more jobs, I did a bit more leafletting before my first ever canvassing session. On this occasion I merely watched as others did i, just so i could get a feel for the occasion before my first official job of the day.

The job of an election teller is a dull and.. no just dull one. The objective is to obtain the polling number (the number that you are given to prove you are a vote carrying citizen) so that I can give it to my colleagues at the election centre so they can know who has voted. I had this job for 2 long hours.. although it wasnt all that bad, I started talking to the guy who was doing the job for the Green party (the main evil in this election campaign) and he turned out to be the dad of someone i used to go to school with or something. Nice guy he was despite working for the enemy.

After my 2 hours were up I went again back to the election centre and again out to canvass. This time I actually did go knocking on peoples doors reminding them to vote and it was on occasion strangely satisfying especially when knocking on the 2 peoples doors who said that they had forgotten it was election day and that they were thankful for me reminding them. (just to clarify I was only knocking on doors of known Labour party supporters)

The rest of the day was split up between more leafletting and canvassing untill 10pm when the polling stations closed, it was then time to go to the count...

The count was by far the most fun part of the day/night as it didnt involve walking up and down streets and although quite intense a job was greeted with good humour amongst most people on the winning side. First there was the process of splitting the votes into straight party voting (3 for the same party) and the split votes. During this process, the official watching people of whom I was one get to look at the ballot papers and if they think it is unclear who the person is voting for put it into the doubtful pile. Now to most this may sound quite dull but it was actually quite fun as I myself got a few out but the more experienced at the job put papers in the doubtful pile even though they were quite clearly valid and watching how the opposition get uptight was hilarious.

After this the numbers of straight votes are counted up, and already by this stage we were pretty confident of the win having 1400 compared to the 800 for the Greens and despite knowing that the Greens would do slightly better from the split votes it was never likely that they would catch up. And when the official adjudicators came round, your usually mild mannered author couldn't help but join in a slagging match against the opposition to get votes disqualified. I even made him show me the rule book at one point even though i knew it was a legitimate vote. I just got caught up in the emotion of the evening.

Of course we went on to win quite comprehensively, my dad who was one of the candidates got the highest with 1,700+ votes and the other two Labour candidates got 1,500+ and 1,300+ respectively. Leaving the Greens lagging behind with their best candidate getting into the low 1100s. This result for my dad i later found out was the highest in Colliers Wood since Siobhain McDonagh was councillor and as we all know she is now the MP, but I dont see my dad going on to that level.. well in fact i know he wouldnt. Unfortunately not all other wards in the borough had the same success and Labour ended up losing overall control of the London Borough of Merton but the fact that the tories did not actually gain the overall control meant that Merton bucked the inevitable trend and so did better than expected.

The count was finally finished at approximately quater to 4 and i was home by ten past or something and went straight to sleep, so as i said at the beginning not quite 23 hours but bloody long enough.

END

p.s. no apologies to anyone who is apathetic about politics, it is an important part of life and you SHOULD be interested

I must admit my blogging has been a bit lacklustre since my adventure to the Holloways gig and although some large events have happened I havnt got round to write about them so here is a shot sharp list of interesting events in the amazing life of Ant D.

Friday 31st March: Easter Holidays begin with me not bothering to go to school as I had no lessons.

Thursday 6th April: Met Gordon Brown, future PM of the United Kingdom in what can only be described as pre-council election publicity shoots, but still it was nice and I can say Ive met him and shook his hand.

Friday 7th April: Little drink up in Clapham

Monday 10th April: Football game in Lower Malden, I scored an impressive 11 goals in my teams 35-33 win, an amazing feat I am sure you will agree and one which i have never done before and will probably never do again

Tuesday 11th April: Absolutely nothing as I could barely move from day befores action

Wednesday 12th April: Met Tessa Jowell, minister for sports and culture, I have no pictures of this though unfortunately as I had to rush home to watch the Arsenal vs Portsmouth game which frankly was more important.

Thursday 13th April: Maundy Thursday mass which included my sister doing a reading

Good Friday 14th April: Procession of the cross in Carshalton where I carried a smallish cross and got soaking wet because of the rain. Also saw cousin who has been living in Australia for past 6 months or so.

Easter Sunday 16th April: Ate some chocolate, went to mass

Wednesday 19th April: Back to school, Arsenal vs Villareal in the evening watched with family and friends in the local public house

Sunday 23rd April: Bought tickets to see a little known band called Little Man Tate in the 100 club (where I saw the Holloways) on Tuesday 23rd May, same day as my practical Physics exam.

And that is today, hopefully a bit more regular blogging from me in the near future, see you later people of blogspirit