« May 2004 | Main | July 2004 »
paper hats are a stupid idea. especially these sort which is kind of like a spiral on your head.
they were very popular in the 70s. i hope they aren't making a revival.
there were loads of school kids wearing them outside Shakespeare's Globe Theatre today. not all the hats survived.
i spotted this thing on the floor this morning in a rather posh street. I suspect it might be quite valuable as it has some stamp on the metal and the jewel looks fancy.
but i know nothing about that kind of thing so it's probably not worth anything. i left it on some railings in case the owner comes back to look for it.
there's a tube strike today which means the streets are full of people with maps trying to find their way to work above ground for a change.
i kept wanting to shout "i do this everyday you know". but didn't. instead i enjoyed the chaos at every road crossing as people tried to work out the traffic light phasing and deal with the random london drivers.
i was heartened to see that if things got really bad people could turn to violence. this razor blade and carpet gripper thing (bit of wood with nails sticking up) would provide ideal weapons if someone wanted a duel.
not sure who would win though.
it looks like all the old custom minis have been replaced with new custom minis. After yesterday's 265, here is number 460.
here's my new venture. let me know what you think and/or if you have any vague facts you'd like to add.
the US and UK have a special relationship. so our politicians tell us.
here it is in practice. takes up a lot of space on the bench don't they ?
as a result of their 'special relationship' members of the public can't relax.
these chaps are made of chocolate. just like the real ones. churchill was renown for melting in front of a hot fire on winter's evening.
this is possibly john hegley. certainly looked like him and sounded like him. but i'm not an expert on his appearance.
i may also have walked past john cleese but it could just have been any old chap with a moustache so was probably a false positive.
glove on the bank of the thames. lucky for us it was low tide, otherwise we may have missed it !
this chap was painting this wall in the middle of the street. i grabbed this photo in about 3 seconds and zoomed on my way. i wish i'd stayed a bit longer to frame it better, but there you go.
click for generous biggernisation
another glastonbury homage ? it's a nice little set up of van, tent and big bits of telecoms equipment.
london. san francisco. same thing really. cheryl saw a compactor and then so did I. who would have thought it ?
it's not clear if this tree is going up or down. such is life for the city tree.
it's been raining so much lately that the UK government has decided to build small water channels in a mini-venice type way.
should be ideal for boat races come winter
so, another poll is archived away to be forgotten. The other category contained:
* white, one sugar
* one cyanide, pldease :-)
* hot water, honey and lemon please
* soy chai, yum !
thanks for voting - i feel we are all getting to know each other a little bit better with each poll
look. one of the numbered minis has been replaced by a different numbered car. i like this one better i think. It's number 265.
the aftermath of plumbers is always exciting. we've had a few surprised following last weeks heating replacement.
this is my favourite. it's bare wires sticking out of a hole on top of our kitchen work top. just next to where the girls sometimes sit when jane is in the kitchen.
i suspect we won't let them sit there for a while.
it's another day of manic working from home trying to meet my last current horrible deadline (before the next horrible deadlines come along tomorrow) ...
having dragged myself out of bed at 4.30 i was keen to get straight to work. but the world of computers is never that helpful and i ended up having to reinstall Acrobat reader to read a document.
somewhere in this process, this little message popped up which i read as 'recomposting data' which is a much nicer concept. perhaps it's a form of 'organic digitalisation'.
you'll be pleased to know that everything is working well again.
we spent a very happy afternoon in the dragoon household. they've got a little kitten which kezia loved. it's called tickles
and here's grahame and the cat:
esther made this hat in sunday school. people were keen to try it on. i was keen to take their photo.
We're doigna series on Judges at church. We've reached Samson and i felt sadness at my lost hair. But in the scale of things it's not an issue.
all together now "one of these kids is not like the other one ..."
the highlight of the country fair is the tug 'o' war. local kids get to take on the local cadets and prove once and for all who is the bestest. i suspect it's where the local gangs setlle their scores. it's a very passionate occasion.
of course the civilians won and against the military which was a nice post-iraq statement (in its own way):
this man is a complete star. he comperes the show all day by basically speaking for 7 hours solid and saying whatever comes in to his head. it's completely mad and really funny. probably drives his wife mad.
it wouldn't surprise me if he organises the entire show so he can do his compering turn. whatever, he's the highlight for me each year.
he was in charge of setting up the rope for the tug'o'war as well as judging the winners:
after the matches this man came and took the rope away (i suspect he was going to sell the old thing for cash):
but what of the local kids who'd been whooped up and wished to celebrate their winnings ? well, they had a massive playfight in the middle of the ring, watching by dozens of bemused spectators:
it was the hurst horse show and contry fair this afternoon. bit wet but lots of fun. one of my favourite bits was this lady who did a turn dancing with her dog to lo-fi music over the tannoy system. it was quite remarkable.
but you would have guessed that to look at her.
just in case we hadn't had enough balloons today, kezia and esther got another one.
here is a bollard homage to the glastonbury festival, but a couple of hours drive away from here.
reading was full of people giving away balloons today. We were offered 9 balloons in the 2 hours we were there. we took just three (one each for the girls and then this butterfly).
this lady was selling knives in a reputable department store so i don't think she was diddling people. But she was really funny to listen to. Partly her accent but mostly her patter.
she opened her pitch by saying "these are the world's most advertised knives" and along the way cut a chunk out of her bread board and the end off a hammer.
"these knives stay sharp forever, so you'll never have to buy another one" and then a few minutes later, "Buy one today and i'll give you two more for free, and i'll even throw in 2 other knives".
So, like i only need one of these for the rest of my life, but you are going to give me 5 ? Needless to say we didn't buy any, but i did enjoy the show !
i took esther and kezia to mcdonald's today. i was amazed at how much mess they made. kezia insists on turning her cup upside down when drinking with a straw and esther managed to drop her ice-cream tub on her lap.
an old miserable couple sat on the table next to us and muttered to each other every time they made another little mess.
"GET A LIFE, THIS IS McDONALD'S" (i nearly said)
here is a no dogs sign from the Oracle centre in Reading. It's on the glass so is a bit tricky to see.
i like this sign. it's appeared at my local train station in the ticket office.
it's nice that it's a 'special notice' but i think it's probably not following the tain house-style.
another day, another church, another (very loud) band practice.
i did another early start this morning and by the time the kids woke up i'd already done a good half day's work. i've been reviewing a stupidly document and didn't notice esther come in and set herself up ready to play her guitar.
what followed was a pleasant pre-breakfast serenade.
we had a band practice at church last night (the second of three nights running for band practices this week).
it had finally stopped raining and the sun came out. it looked very pretty so i took a couple of photos.
hoorah for june and late night opening (but the nights are drawing in now)
here is the church:
and here is the field behind the church:
it's lynda's birthday on monday so we celebrated at a music practice last night witha cake.
i've pixelated the candles so you can't see how old she is. that's not right and proper apparently. see how she points at the tea cups.
impromptu new reporting on the street corner. it was a glamourous news lady earnestly speaking about iraq. no one i recognised and if i'm honest i thought she was trying a little too hard.
here is poorly pete. he popped in to work to say hello on the way back from a hospital visit yesterday. he says hello. (well he did to us in the office anyway, so i suspect he'd say hello to you call too).
it's much easier to spot mistakes on other people's stuff than your own. there's a missing full stop on vdu which probably doesn't even need any full stops in this day and age.
i went on a plan english course last week and it was fantastic. highly recommended.
it's a work pass. handily dangled on some railings in case the lady in the picture comes back looking for herself.
so how is that vegetable garden getting on ? not well, i tell you. i show you too. you enjoy yes ?
all is not well in the world of bollards. a bollard has been crushed by a falling pile of dirt. other bollards have arrived and cordoned off the area.
brad came up with the idea of putting all the manhole covers from Queen Anne Street on one image which could be used as a desktop background. so here it is. thanks to brad for sending me a version.
i've sized it to 1024 x 768 as visitor stats show me that this is what over half of visitors have their screen set to.
Click on the picture below then right click on the big picture and choose 'set as background' (or something similar).
i spotted a lovely little old lady with a massive white hat on walking on the opposite side of the road. she looked so sweet i thought i should take her photo.
unfortunately on my first attempt my camera wasn't in focus and on my second attempt a bus turned up and a taxi drove by. a second later she was on the bus and long gone.
but you get the idea.
more strange bollard behaviour. see the far bollard. very strange. white base and no reflecty top bit (compare to the one in the foreground).
and what's the yellow one doing hiding underneath ? this is all very mysterious.
my third slippery sign of the day. this time in waitrose on marylebone high street. i took it at an angle through the window, hence the weirdness.
a piece of photo. it's a person but of unknown agenda.
this is a GREAT picture of a person slipping over.
a ham and cucumber sandwich with a single bite out of it on a staircase.
it's often the case that a reflection can be nicer than the building itself. here is a good example of a hideous concrete monstrocity which is reflecting the ornate building on the other side of the street.
if all goes wrong, climb on the ceiling:
did you know you can change your drink just by pressing one of these circles on the outside of the cup in trendy coffee shop 'eat' ?
try it. let me know what happens.
the rain has emptied some trees of blossom. in some places this works well.
it's been a bit rainy for the last 24 hours. even the drains have given up and have decided that 'if you can't beat them join them' and are now spewing water out in to the streets.
this means you can wet up and down at the same time.
we had a gas leak at home yesterday apparently. this is a very eery thing as last time i bought a bass guitar (10 years ago) that was also related to a gas leak (my housemate couldn't afford the gas bill so i paid and he gave me his guitar). yesterday i bought my new bass and the gas starts leaking.
we're or what ?
street urinals have arrived in london. i'm sure this must be as a direct result of our involvement in europe.
