Au Revoir JR

The Core Eight is no more. JR has gone to university. What will we do without him?

We're all devastated, of course, but I think the most upset is Soph. She'd never admit it, of course, but I think she's going to miss pestering him in the mornings, when he's crashed out on the airbed and she wants to watch TV.

We had a send-off gathering for him last night. It was less riotous than DanGuy's leaving do, but, unlike DanGuy's departure, there was no cause for celebration here. At one point, Cliffey actually burst into tears, and Alex had to do his special dance to cheer him up*.

This morning, JR, Cliffey and I had one last game of Risk to see JR on his way - Cliffey won, the bastard - and we waved our friend off with tears in our eyes. I don't think he's actually left Cardiff yet, but I'm fairly sure that'll be the last we see of him for a while.

So our Core Eight is down to Seven. There's some controversy as to whether we should leave it like that, or draft someone in to replace JR. Of course, no one could replace blah blah blah, but I reckon if anyone is going to get us back to eight (and somebody probably should, or the next Goldeneye tournament won't work at all) it'll probably be Tom. He's been 'round a lot recently anyway, and he and Cliffey seem to be getting on well, what with all the Fifa and such, so he seems the obvious choice. But he will have to see off strong competition from the likes of Anna Sharp, who hasn't been 'round that much but does seem to fit right in around here; and Josh Price, who holds the considerable advantage of having the same name as his predecessor.

Maybe we'll have auditions.

Joel.

P.S. I feel I ought to also mention that there was a bit of a bomb scare today. I met Sarah for lunch outside Coleg Glan Hafren, and she'd just gotten off the phone to her friend Emily. Emily had apparently been in hysterics, telling Sarah to get out of Cardiff because there was a bomb at the prison. This worried me, because I was supposed to be in uni in the afternoon, and the Atrium is right next door to the prison. But after consulting uni websites and news outlets, and calling our friends and family from Wetherspoon's and asking them to do likewise, we concluded that it was all safe. And it was - I got through my afternoon lecture un-blown up. So where Emily got her facts from I have no idea.

*Not really.