Robbie Dale looks on the funny side of being a student in York.

THE life of a student can have its ups and downs.

Quite apart from the stereotypical innuendo that may be ascribed to the above sentence, it is true that the time of life when we troop off to university is riddled with problems and experience, heartache and joy or indeed stress and kicking back on a Sunday afternoon with a few beers playing the X-Box.

Fortunately, for all the nasty bits the world of academia and hormones throws at us, there are events that provide welcome peaks to complement such troughs.

This weekend sees the culmination of the English football season with the FA Cup final. I note this not as a peak in that a world-class sporting event is coming into our lives, but as a sad, wallowing trough that will need remedying. Come on, Millwall are in the final. And later next week two teams who last year didn't even make the competition are going to battle out the Champions League final. Entertainment? I don't know...

Anyway, more excitingly, the wonderful Dave Gorman is coming to York's Grand Opera House on Monday to perform his Googlewhack Adventure.

This, I assure you, is a fantastic show. Having seen it at last year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe, I can say that Gorman did what was possibly the best show on the Fringe all August.

A surreal, but engaging trip through the world of Googlewhacks, the show is very, very funny. A must-see for anyone who thinks they're creative and funny. You'll probably soon realise you are not. I did...

If the appearance of one of comedy's heavyweights whets your appetite, you can look ahead to the York Comedy festival coming soon to these fine city walls. Visit www.yorkcomedy.com for more info.

Anyway, the sun's still out - that's a peak; most exams are out of the way and that's another. Big Brother will be back on your screens soon - that's a low point.

Updated: 16:29 Thursday, May 20, 2004