Day Two

Day one of CNPS - I think I was quite lucky. 1 to 4 without leaving the flat. On day two, the real challenge begins. And already, I am up against competition from C and J. Which leads me straight onto a note about this blog, as opposed to my real blog. Everything in here actually has happened. And all names will be real names, just the first letter. If two people have the same first name such as J and J, then J will become J1 and J will become J2 as J1's surname is before J2's surname alphabetically. I hope this makes sense.

So our initial players as I wake this morning: Me on 4, J1 and C both on a not quite trying 0. Maybe their windows are not as good as mine.

I'm aware that today is an important day for the game: today is the first time I either go for it, or just leave it as a side-thing in my head. Perhaps the second option would be healthier for my mental stability. Predictably I ignore that and fly into the thing. As I walk to work (outside for the first time) I'm checking every single car that passes me in either direction. For the first time I'm thankful of having to walk along a busy road to work, and not (say) a quiet river. If a bus passes on my side of the road I worry it might be obscuring a car going the other way. I kep having to turn my head to check the plates of cars I nearly missed due to checking parked cars on the other side of me. I'm looking for a 5.

2 to 4 were easy due to the recent changes in numbering of UK plates. 52 to 54 will be equally easy when I get that far. But for now, I just need a 5. And as I approach work, I must have passed maybe 200 or so cars. Not one 5 amongst them. And then, oh happiness: the last traffic lights before work, on the south side of Lendal Bridge, a silver sports car, sporting the 5 I so need. I nearly do a little jump! But instead just finish walking to work.

Lunchtime proves fruitless - no 6 in sight in the centre of York. Despite me slightly altering my routes to go along busier roads than normal.

After work I had planned to head out to meet some friends at a pub next to their exam centre. I could get the free work bus, or I could take a half hour walk to get there. I choose the walk as that way I'll pass more cars. Half hour walk later, and I've not seen a no 6. I meet up with the people in The Dormouse, they talk about their exam for hours. I haven't seen a 6. I hope that sitting outside the pub might let me see a 6 entering the pub car park. No luck. We eat. Still no luck. I choose to walk back into town with P and J2 rather than having a lift in a car, for the same reason as before. We reach the town centre, I am feeling I have wasted three hours of my life. And then, at five minutes to eight, a black car passes, with a 6 on it's plate. I've walked for an hour, gained one number and I'm happy.

Sadly in that same time, P and J2 also got from 1 to 6. And they weren't making an effort. Annoyingly, I know there was a 7 back in the car park of the Dormouse. But it's too late to head back there.