Continuing our look back on Dayorama in 2006. Today: May to August...

MAY

The hosepipe ban may be driving residents of Kent to the edge. Amy: "I was driving in Kent the other weekend and saw a man washing his wall. Not a special wall, just any old wall. I nearly got out of the car and read him the riot act."

Ollie is on a platform at Bolton station with boxer Amir Khan - it's a press junket to do with rail safety, but the real star is a man named Paul. "Paul lost his arm when he was 12 after being hit by a train. He's lucky to even be alive but when you've seen him detach his fake arm, it brings home the reality of what happens."

Ollie's in Manchester covering the local elections. "I'm sat in what is fast becoming the War Room for the media, a large pillared atrium with a vast plasma television next to a series of white boards on which all the results will be gathered."

It's 3:45am on election night and the BBC suffers a power cut. "Good job I did all my lurking behind the BBC presenter whilst he's on air at Manchester before their power went down..."

Amy is worried when she forgets her mobile but, on returning to it, is disappointed to find just one voicemail message: "From Ricki the car mechanic, telling Kevin that his welding had been done but he couldn't collect his car until he had paid for the work."

Ollie, meanwhile, is trapped at a party for people who like radio jingles. "We had to guess the station from the very first moments of its launch date broadcast, with the station identity bleeped out. If you're born a considerable number of years after Radios 2, 1, Aire and Piccadilly launched, then obviously this is going to be a tricky round to negotiate."

Amy says now is the time to pull out of Iraq. "I'd like to know what our mandate for staying in Iraq is. What are we achieving? I'm not saying I disagree with why we are there... I just don't know why we are, and I doubt I'm alone."

Ollie interviews football manager Bryan Robson (then at West Brom). Things do not go entirely to plan. "I tried to find a hole in the ground to jump into."

Amy goes to her first ever football match. "Footballers' Wives is probably the closest I've got, and somehow I don't think that counts."

Ollie has his interview at the BBC, but falls in love with the building, not the job. "The entrance is round the back, where 'the back' is defined as a driveway extending through an acre or two of lawns, flower beds and trees, punctuated by two football pitches."

Ollie gets the job. "It's great to have the chance to get to grips with a BBC site and see what I can contribute. And of course I'm delighted to be working in the environment I so fell in love with at interview last week." Amy is quick off the mark. "I'm assuming, as the only salaried member amongst us, lunch is on you today?"

Dayorama's Big Brother 7 coverage begins (having ignored the previous six). "I'll fight with every fibre of my being to avoid being sucked in by this," says Ollie.

Capping a relatively good week by anyone's standards, Ollie passes his driving test. Trying to decide why he failed the first time, the intriguing theory of Dorothy is discussed.

It's the Eurovision Song Contest, and Ollie's backing Finnish band Lordi - "ever so slightly different to your average folk entry". They go on to win.

Ollie's promise to avoid Big Brother falls at the first hurdle. "Aside from the fact I'm watching a young man in a silly hat and an orange shirt cry openly over possibly the single most trivial issue in the history of mankind, it's actually been almost worth - wait, no, no it hasn't. It's pap of the most unbelievable variety."

Ollie spends his first day at the BBC imploring the good folk of Berkshire to send in more photos of squirrels. "To paraphrase Bob Geldof, just give us the f#@!ing squirrels!"

OJ's been spending more than a week furiously typing his thesis. "Immediately after rewriting the conclusion at 5pm today, I threw my cricket gear on and rushed to take my place in Lincoln's 2 XI. Today, I took my first ever wicket as a bowler." Progress has clearly been excellent.

JUNE

OJ's cricketing success has had an impact on old sporting rival Ollie. "Last night I was wracked in my sleep by dreams of OJ playing for England. Having to endure him soaring through the air by the boundary, plucking the ball from thin air to dismiss one of the Australian opening pair (my subconscious clearly doesn't rate Sri Lanka highly enough for inclusion), was neither expected nor welcome."

A survey ranks the poshest surnames. Amy is not thrilled. "[According to the report] I 'share a staircase', Wooding lives in 'semi-rural seclusion' and Williams is an 'Upland Hill farmer'. Clearly I am common as muck!"

Amy says she's addicted to OJ. But it's okay - she means orange juice. "I can't get enough of the liquid."

Ollie draws the USA in the newsroom World Cup sweepstakes. "Could be worse. My esteemed colleague Linda drew Angola." Ollie launches DayoRimet, Dayorama's very own World Cup coverage.

Much is being made of the heat the England football team are having to cope with in sunny Germany. "Of course the many fans England took to Germany will be able to vouch for the intense heat and sticky conditions," says Ollie. "It's just a shame none of them were oscillating, or they'd have been more use."

Amy pronounces herself "seriously distressed" by a horrendous World Cup revelation: "There is no Neighbours for the duration of the World Cup."

We do love a good laugh at a headline. Ollie: "BBC News Online headline: 'Search widening for girl in car'. You'd think there's only so many places she could be. Have they tried the boot?"

OJ sits his final Oxford exam to finish his course. "After a week without alcohol, I'm off to get even more drunk!" Meanwhile Amy leaves her exam 20 minutes early - "I had done all I could".

Top of the Pops has been axed. "Travesty!" cries Amy. "A whole generation of children will grow up without it!" Ollie is not convinced. "Sod Top of the Pops. The BBC are now going to be able to drop the ailing behemoth and focus on nimble, fleet-of-foot broadcasts."

Amy's priorities for the rest of the year: "The working world looms ... but so does finding some sexy young man to go out with."

Hitler Cats is discovered. "I don't think I've stopped laughing since this time last night," says Ollie, "much of it Hitler Cat-related."

It's Wimbledon. Amy tries to sound hopeful for Tim Henman's chances, but gives himself away. "We may as well support him with full-force today, as we may never get another chance this tournament!" Henman is duly massacred by Roger Federer.

Big Brother is introducing five new contestants. "Prepare yourself for possibly the most hilarious claim to fame ever," says Ollie. "The first new contestant, John or Jonathan or something like that, once danced on stage with Five Star! He's got my support already. My hero."

JULY

England go out of the World Cup. Ollie: "That's that until Steve McClaren gets a shot at a trophy in a couple of years' time. We tried pretty damn hard, you know." Amy paid tribute to the World Cup itself. "In general we are a thoroughly apathetic family, and suddenly the World Cup spirit had captivated us."

Ollie spends the day playing American Football. "It is a bad idea to spike one's hair up before playing American Football since the helmet destroys it and then the hairspray mixes with the sweat and stings the eyes."

Ollie, preparing to run the Sport Relief mile, launches his fundraising campaign. "Newsnight editor Peter Barron has stopped by in the last week or so and, Pete, you must have some loose change kicking around."

It's the World Cup Final. Rather prophetically, Ollie writes, "Zidane's off" - referring to it being his last international match. He's later red carded for that head-butt-of-sorts.

Nikki is evicted from Big Brother. "Spoilt, ignorant, self-absorbed brat. Why it took this long to get her out of the house is beyond me," says Ollie.

Ollie runs his Sport Relief mile. "I ran half the length of my Sport Relief mile before slowing down, which admittedly is still relatively pathetic but at least I did it. No marathons for me, I suspect."

Ollie's on the BBC's UpFront training course. "Certain people who sold this to me as the best event since the dawn of time may have been a tad misleading."

Amy earns a distinction for her LPC course. "I admit to being rather proud of myself."

As if champagne from her law firm wasn't enough, Amy decides to celebrate her distinction further - by taking up piano lessons again. "I suddenly decided that perhaps I could have a lesson a week for the next six weeks and thus polish my skills somewhat." Meanwhile her name appears on page 65 of The Times, in Court Circular.

Ollie persuades a 15-piece band from New Zealand to play live on air for him at WOMAD. It later transpires they thought they were on Radio 3.

AUGUST

Amy's cat is winning itself precious little acclaim while she house-sits. "The cat keeps bringing in birds and dissecting them in the kitchen, amidst a pile of feathers. Lovely."

Two days ago, Amy said it was hard to keep the house clean while house-sitting for her mother. Unluckily, her mother has read about it. "That does not mean it is messy, I was simply noting the difference," Amy pleads.

OJ says the nature of his job explains his prolonged absence. "I'll try posting more, I really will, but given that the copy I turn out at work is decidedly less interesting and less public than Ollie's, expect few work related anecdotes. Especially involving small furry animals." Amy professes to fall off her chair at the sight of a post from OJ. Ollie observes that OJ has contributed two of the last 200 posts.

Ollie meets a UFO expert. It's a bit of an unsettling experience. "I noticed that his hall mirror had wires attached to it, which I found a somewhat unlikely set-up."

Ollie live-blogs the final night of Big Brother 7. "Did you know that this series of Big Brother started before I started my job? It lasted for six more days than my professional career to date. There's a thought."

Fresh from being berated for not keeping the house tidy, Amy discovers she can use Dayorama to her advantage - by mentioning things she needs. Having aired a desire for Sat Nav, she is presented with a brand new TomTom 710. "Totally unexpected. And lovely. Thank you. However, thanks also to Dayorama."

It's Dayorama's fourth birthday. "On the very first day of Dayorama's existence, I made a post noting that the word Dayorama had no results on Google," says a nostalgic Ollie. "It now has 57,000." Somewhat disconcertingly, that number is now down to 29,800!

Amy goes for an al fresco lunch, British style. "We did remark at this stage how British we were being - what other nationality would sit under a bandstand having a picnic in the rain?"

It's Reading Festival, and Ollie's there. "I did enjoy Guillemots on the Radio 1 stage earlier, and it's a privilege to see good bands like that up close from the press pit."

OJ celebrates the August bank holiday. "Having been at school or university for every other occasion, I finally get to have a statutory day off from work. This is quite the moment; I've been waiting some time for it, and after four weeks of getting back into early mornings and the like, it is great to have an extra lie in."

The madmen are out in force on the final day of Reading Festival. "I pan the camera round very quickly," says Ollie, describing a piece of filming. "It falls to rest with a bright, alert hippie squarely in the middle of the shot, who shouts: 'Think PENIS!'."

Ollie's off to Canada. "If you'll excuse me I have to go to the toilet, then go to Toronto ... I've been trying not to indulge in the macabre but if those happen to be my very last printed words - ignore these - make sure they get published somewhere, they're not bad."

Meanwhile the Today programme is visiting OJ in Devon. "Having a live linkup between Devon, London, and variously Turkey, America, and Toronto, is very cool."

Amy declares herself "no longer a student" as Barclays upgrade her account.

Ollie is thrilled to find black squirrels in Canada. "They're like stealth squirrels! They drop from black helicopters and then frolic stealthily before disappearing into the aether."

Coming up before the end of 2006, our final part, looking back on the last four months of the year.