guess the stairs
can anyone guess where this is ? it's a london landmark which costs 2 of your english earth-pounds to go in
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September 2005 Archives
don't leave your rubbish here either
this sign has moved slightly. very interesting ...
rocking chair
here's a rocking chair on the main road. you'll probably need to click to inspect the big version as the chair is quite small (i hadn't time to cross the road as i was rushing for my train in the morning)
244
it's number 244. and so is the photo number from my camera which is a bit of a bizarre coincidence.
dale winton
what a delight to see Dale Winton after my unfortunate Nora Batty incident.
he was sitting in the 'celebrity seat' outside this cake shop on marylebone high street, exactly where i once saw barbara windsor
i asked him if i could take his photo and he said "of course you can darling" !
pity the photo came out so badly. oh well.
no smoking guide dogs
it's fine for everyone else to smoke, except guide dogs. of all the dogs available to modern man i would have thought that a guide dog would be the least likely to smoke as it understands better than other dogs about medical related issues.
but i could be wrong. perhaps the pressure of the job gets to them. we know st bernards turn to drink, so perhaps guide dogs find relief through smoking.
no contest
here was a photo duel i just could not win. despite having my big camera AND my little camera in action at the same time i could not compete.
The rules of photo duels clearly state that in the absence of two time stamped still pictures:
* professional camera beats amateur camera
* video camera always beats still camera
* heaviest camera wins
* biggest camera wins
* extra points for flash and extended eye piece
so he won even though he was wearing his tie over his shoulder.
musical office
have i shown you this before ? it's my musical clonking thing which i keep on my visitor desk in my office.
you hit them with the little leather hammer (on the left) and they make a great mountain goat noise.
every desk should have them. you can use them to transfer your own stress levels to your colleagues. by giving them a good clonk i feel better and they feel worse.
and if i clonk the clonking things instead of my colleagues it's even better. boom tish (or should that be clonk clonk)
hanging gardens
queen anne street in london is one of my most eventful streets. there's always something to take a photo of. i've taken a picture of all the drain covers, i've seen hugh grant (but he declined to let me take a photo) and i've spotted most of my street flowers.
in fact it was only recently i realised that all the flowers on the floor had been coming from these hanging baskets (how stupid am i)!
the hanging baskets are now getting out of control thanks to the rainy summer and they are growing downwards at quite a terrific rate. they are so big and dangly that you can't really walk round them and you have to bend right down to go under them (even for me). is this to be london's first rain forest with its own microclimate ?
here's a really bad picture of me in the flowers attempting to prove how low they are hanging (but failing). the photo was in to the sun and i was rushing for my train and i forgot to smile etc etc
wow. so many words in one entry. this is like a real blog !
matrii
look at this luxurious situation. it's a man of the street lying in a brown velvet blanket and a nice new mattress.
a little later i noticed some more mattresses down a side street so i went to investigate
as a result of this minor diversion i ended up walking a different route to work and spotted this stained mattress some time later
kim ruined it
fantastic giant writting in the sand. i walked along it slowly working out what each letter was. it eventually said "kim ruined it". which is nice.
as from now on
my colleague harry came rushing in to my office yesterday lunchtime saying he'd spotted these excellent signs. i followed his instructions and found them. they are indeed magnificent.
'as from now on' is a bit wordy though isn't it ?
nora batty
jane spotted the lady that plays Nora Batty in Last of the Summer Wine walking by when we were in Bournemouth. She, and her male companion stopped near where we were walking to look at the view.
i approached and asked nicely if i could take a photo and the bloke's first answer was "well, how much are you going to pay me". i was taken a back and said "er nothing, sorry" so he said "who do you want to take a photo of" and i said "i don't mind, both of you together perhaps" and he said "well, what are you going to do with it" and i said "put it on my website" and before i could explain any more he said "well, in that case, absolutely not".
he wasn't very friendly really, but i suppose they must get hassled lots when they are out and about. i had my big camera so i probably looked like a paparatzeeee. i've no idea if he was famous in his own right. he looked a bit like paul daniels (but he wasn't).
so instead, here's a picture of a person we saw by the beach made of sticks, pebbles and a plastic cup.
litter
we sat and watched people grabbing plastic cups of water from the drinks station. open cups of water for runners is a bad idea and there was much fun to be had watching water and cups going flying as the runners failed to grab them properly.
esther spotted the noise that the runners made as they ran over all the discarded cups. it was quite fantastic.
windsor half marathon
we went for a family cycle ride in Windsor Park yesterday. we didn't realise but it was also the windsor half marathon so we planned and timed our journey so we could watch the runners as we had our picnic. in reverse order:
here are the main body of runnings coming up the hill (about a mile in to the run)
here are the front runners
and here was the start an hour and a half earlier.
turkish bin men
here are some turkish bin lorries (sent by john)
little and large
will we ever tire of viennese dog signs ? i know i won't.
greetings from bournemouth
we had a family trip to bournemouth yesterday. it's my favourite time of year to go beaching. not too warm (jumper weather) and as a result not very busy
i fiddled with this photo to try and get the contrast right but it went a bit retro, so i thought i'd turn it in to a wonky old postcard instead.
it's a classic british scene - old lady in a big bikini adamant she's going to lay in the sun, even though it was too cold. husband, reading the paper, shielded by the windbreak, a parasol and his hat. neither of them said anything to each other (except when he helped her get changed on the beach by holding a teeny weeny towel over her - jane and i turned our chairs to face the opposite direction at that bit!)
my wife still surprises me
esther spent most of the time on the beach the wrong way up as she practiced hand stands and cartwheels.
after a while jane got up and showed she could do it too ! i had no idea. here's a hand stand:
and here's an eternal cartwheel:
hassock of the week
from brother edd. is this chap threatening the snakes with a rolling pin ?
what are the chances of that ?
you go to the beach and sit down on a wall only to find the three people sitting next to you are wearing exactly the same skirt and tops (and even shoes). unbelievable.
chocolate cake
today i'll have gone three weeks without eating a chocolate bar ! that's quite amazing for me.
yesterday we ate at Harry Ramsden's fish bar in Bournemouth. i had battered fish and this giant chocolate pudding with chocolate ice-cream. i'm intolerant to eggs so it wasn't a great idea and i felt really ill all the way home.
but it's not a chocolate bar as such, so according to my own rules (which i made up) my diet is still working.
bucket and spade
yesterday i said i trusted the man with a beard more than a mad dressed up as a clown. but now i'd seen the colonel on the beach i'm not so sure. it's all a little too eery for my liking.
bed
i've got a lot of mattress pictures for you in the next week (something to look forward to there then)
an early start
i had to get an early train to work last thursday as there was lots to do before 9am (and then lots to do after 9am). i got to my desk by 7am, but that meant leaving home at 5.15am.
i love earliy mornings although there's sadly no sun at this time of day most of the year which is usually rubbish for photos. but on this morning there was a real pea-souper of a fog on. unfortunately it had mostly gone by the time i got to london. so here's a picture of a train station instead
lock up your bikes
all we ever see is 'no bike' signs. so here's one which tells you to lock up your bike. oh the difficulties of modern life.
hyper cola
the chap on this drink carton has gone completely bonkers. look at all the stuff flying round his head. too much caffeine and sugar i say.
unlike this very sensible chap
