mummy bollards
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October 2008 Archives
photographic exhibition this weekend
what are you doing this weekend ? well, if you are in the south of england you could do no better than pop in to this two day photo exhibition in All Saints Church, Swallowfield.
i've got 6 pictures on display and will be attending myself on midday on sunday. with over 120 prints on view i think it's going to be quite interesting !
escalator explanation
this is a classic paddington station sign with a page number (page 12) but also a fantastic explanation of why the escalator is shut for those who want to know more (gear-drive has been removed). even the 'lift on your left' is really helpful.
well done nick hartnell, station manager. i salute you and your signs
slow portrait 1 - kevin
inspired by a visit to the Andy Warhol exhibition i've decided to start a series of 'slow portraits'. each will be around 4 minutes and consist of someone just looking at the camera as if posing for an old fashion photograph. only small movements like twitches of the eyes reveal you are looking at a movie instead of a picture. all sound will be removed.
the idea is that you should slow down and study the picture in more detail. sort of forcing you to rediscover photographs like they used to be.
i'll see how i get on - it's a bit of an experiment. i'll probably make a specific website for it once i've got a few more.
first up is bother-in-law kev
part 20 reading tescos to sonning lock
ahhh. part 20 of the thames path was a short one
i had the day off yesterday so we could go thames pathing with jane's sister's family whilst they were visiting.
we picked up where we left off last time at tescos in reading before heading over a hideous bridge where some alcoholics were enjoying the location where the kennet canal meets the river thames.
if we'd turned off here we would have ended up in bath rather than london.
this swan was interested in jane's dad's photography technique (and creeped up on him whilst he was looking the other way, leading to some good expressions from the people he was photoing - a top tip i shall not be using myself)
then we passed reading's glorious gasometers
there was another angry swan
and plenty of puddles
which the youngsters made the most of
we soon got to sonning lock which was the end of the episode, but not before we stopped and watched a boat coming through the lock
we were incredibly lucky with the weather which made for a great walk.
due to the shortness of the walk and early start we didn't end up at a pub (again) so instead we went back to our house where all 12 of us sat round our maximally extended table. (the 12th person was in a high chair just out of shot plate-counters!)
evolution
cyclists and pedestrians are often at odds. as seen here in these conflicting signs
weighing up an argument
these are brilliant devices. you sit on them and have a row with your partner. and the machine decides who is right.
x-ray chef
if you look carefully you can see what this chap has been eating
hassock of the week
very autumnal. as it is.
liverpool
ferry (a)cross the mersey
skating
i had the day off yesterday so i took the girls ice skating. exhausting stuff, although esther and kezia are now much better than me which helps.
IWF awareness day
(click on image above to visit the IWF)
golden hnd
we're all looking for that gilt edged qualification. how about a golden hnd ?
have done for over 12 months
why go to the trouble to say your opening hours aren't anything new ?
strange machine
there's an empty office with glass windows near my old office which has this mysterious machine in the corner. i think they used to have something to do with robot wars there. anyone know what this is ?
what's inside a bin
inside those street bins is another more sinister wheely bin. it's like the darleks and their gloopy body thing.
small spooky girl
i had lined myself up to take a picture of this strange wedding shop with it's lose 'A' and this small girl in a spooky cloak floated by.
just after i'd taken the picture a police car whizzed by, but it didn't stop to arrest me.
queuing for their treats
i'm reading animal farm with esther at the moment. these swans have learnt to queue up for their treats
very small writing
these signs are on the side of the canal near my office. to read the writing on the white stickers you have to stand on the canal-side of the footpath and crouch down to read the small writing ...
which tells you to watch out for bicycles
luxury coat hanger
i love lost coathangers and this one was a beauty. a real once-in-a-lifetime street find. look at the luxury padding.
the cigarette tab-end suggests this upper class model went off the rails (literally) and has hooked up with the yellow line
record decks on a bench
soggy decks
multi channel tv
a strange chain of events concluded with me stumbling across these stirrers on double yellow lines. it started with me finally listening to a podcast from stephen fry which had been sitting on my podcast for months. it was all about broadcasting (specifically this) although i hadn't realised in advance it would be. so rather than being just fun, it was unexpectedly work-related and fun instead.
in the podcast he referred to a sketch he did in his old fry and laurie days about multi-channel television involving plastic stirrers which is on youtube here (relevant bit is around 2mins, then just after 4 mins - language on video perhaps completely safe for work)
Anyway what should i see yesterday, but a load of stirrers. if stephen fry had been standing next to them then it would have been a perfect circle.
(disclaimer - views expressed above are not even my own, let alone my employer's!)
Enis's fantastic cafe
i read about enis's cafe on the excellent 'nothing to see here' blog and a few days later found myself walking past its entrance at lunch time so popped in for a sausage sandwich. it was as fantastic as i'd hoped and just as mysterious.
i asked whether there was any story behind the decorations and was told "look around you'll find lots of stories".
then i was presented my sandwich wrapped in a piece of tissue paper with the words "you'll find this is spot on". And it was.
i'll be back ...
10 bottles sitting on a fence
a good international selection of beers (and ciders) here.
end of survey
i can see me using this photo in some work presentations feedback consumer research or somesuch
kirby and west
my brother and i were sitting in a cafe in leicestershire the other week when he suddenly exclaimed 'oh, wow'. i looked and had the same response.
i'd totally forgotten about Kirby and West milk floats and their yellow and blue livery. it was suddenly like being old and young at the same time, with memories of chinking bottles and the fun on snowy days when these light weight electric vehicles couldn't get up a nearby hilly street.
makes you wonder what else we've forgotten. i think the fear of forgetting is part of my obsessive archival of the mundane
closing down
never mind, there's a giant ice cream to cheer you up
passport photos
i was delighted to find a photo for my davescollections website. although sadly the website itself is broken behind the scenes so i can't update it at the moment :-(
modern future
can you guess where this photo was taken (clue in the title)
what is london now but a heap of dust and rubbish ?
can you guess the event to which this refers ?
empty
a rare sight
glove or sock
(truth be known i think this is a sock)
subterranean in the queen's pond
in the lake in st james' park
kaiser chiefs
jane and i went to see the kaiser chiefs on thursday night. they were most excellent and it was great to see them in a smallish venue before they do their big stadium tour
at one point the singer managed to convince the crowd to part and make a pathway so he could run to the back of the hall. he then 'swam' back along the top of the crowd.
as for the audience itself, it was made up of young people of all ages from about 5 up to 60+. All singing along and punching the air. very bizarre.
it's the economy stupid
these british piggy banks were in the window of a tourist shop, and i thought they summed up the times quite well.
keep children off (rather than on) scaffolding
off underlined in case you thought it meant on.
charity shop items
if i walk to my office from ealing broadway station (takes about an hour) then i get to pass a couple of charity shops.
and often on a monday morning there's stuff outside left by anonymous weekend donators. and often it's been inspected by passers by and the good bits taken away.
but it ends up being like the shop has spilled out in the street, and i for one am attracted by the rich seam of bric-a-brac and randomness
there was a great selection yesterday morning including training manuals on lubricants, adhesives and sealers, and a box of floppy disks
what more could you want ?
and often on a monday morning there's stuff outside left by anonymous weekend donators. and often it's been inspected by passers by and the good bits taken away.
but it ends up being like the shop has spilled out in the street, and i for one am attracted by the rich seam of bric-a-brac and randomness
there was a great selection yesterday morning including training manuals on lubricants, adhesives and sealers, and a box of floppy disks
saucepan
come to london where the streets are paved with saucepans
wispas
i've had no chocolate bars for nearly a year, and it looks like wispa's are back for good. typical.
h'eye definition
look at 'er eye lights.
by the way, i work for these people and we've got a staff friends and family offer, so if i know you and you're interested in the product offered here at a bargainous price then drop me an email and i'll tell you what the deal is.
red (hot) october
yesterday afternoon was spent geocaching with friends, and the weather was goooorgeous.
i recon it's something to do with iceland. their financial crisis has reduced the amount of cold weather they can export and as a result we're sweltering in october.
this was a strange thing. it was a giant field full of lovely lawn. turns out it was a turf farm
all the kids carried sticks (it's a violent world out there, so the kids need to tool up to protect themselves). they had much fun splashing them in this bit of river
and we found a nice xmas fairy geoaching travelbug
as well as lovely pieceful woods.
hassock of the week
is this a snake eating a stick ?
the bishop of oxford
andy invited me along to a prayer breakfast yesterday where the bishop of oxford spoke about men and spirituality. all jolly good. and a great breakfast.
thames path - part 19 mapledurham lock to tescos
it was back to the thames path yesteday for another glorious day of walking. this stretch was a lot more urban than we've had previously and we saw a lot more 'real life'
this is a pub under development, and the returned to the thames at the bottom of some steep steps which go over a train line. this certainly wasn't the quietest of stretches
much of the first bit was walking between the train line (high above) and the thames below
and we were quickly introduced to the fact we were heading to reading
we were attacked by ladybirds round about here
much of the walk went alongside the fields which are used for the Reading Festival, and it was funny seeing it tentless
there sign said it's 58 miles to london which is encouraging
i can't quite remember the order of these photos, but we passed some fantastic houses on the other side of the river
and walked along the delightfully named 'thames side promenade'
it was good to know the thames path is a public footpath
more signage
we've got this glamorous gasometer to see next time
but for now we stopped at Tesco Extra with it's convenient toilets
this is a pub under development, and the returned to the thames at the bottom of some steep steps which go over a train line. this certainly wasn't the quietest of stretches
much of the first bit was walking between the train line (high above) and the thames below
and we were quickly introduced to the fact we were heading to reading
we were attacked by ladybirds round about here
much of the walk went alongside the fields which are used for the Reading Festival, and it was funny seeing it tentless
there sign said it's 58 miles to london which is encouraging
i can't quite remember the order of these photos, but we passed some fantastic houses on the other side of the river
and walked along the delightfully named 'thames side promenade'
it was good to know the thames path is a public footpath
more signage
we've got this glamorous gasometer to see next time
but for now we stopped at Tesco Extra with it's convenient toilets
liverpool
my train arrived at liverpool slime street at 10.15 and my meeting started at 11am by Albert Dock. i decided that gave me enough time to do some serious speed tourism
this chap saw my camera and said "wanna take a picture of me mate?" in a joking liverpool accent. i shocked him by saying yes, and he went "wwwwhaaaay".
i'd just passed this shop called scallywags so that was quite appropriate.
and near scallywags was an advert for paddywacks who appear at this irish bar
also part of this irish bar was Jung's head
this was just some of what i saw on the way to my meeting (which i got to in time by the way)
bull's eye
who is it that makes wigs for bulls and cows ? they're not very good. but then i suppose a bull is unlikely to have much money. perhaps they do it for free. if you're dealing with a bull it's sensible to stipulate they'll be no charge.
snubbing the small guys
if i was being political i'd say this photo sums up the credit crunch. but i'm not so i won't. but you can if you like.
tea's up
the arrow's actually pointing up to saint paul's dome (although you can't see the dome as it's too slightly round the corner). and that's not actually where the cafe is.
adds more gravitas to the heavenly cakes
jumping from this bridge is highly dangerous
highly dangerous. what with it being a bridge. and high
easyhotel.com
i stayed in this little hotel a fortnight ago. it was teeny but very good.
the first (or last) christmas tree
i spotted this at midnight in london a fortnight ago. it's a proper chucked out christmas tree. not sure if it's early or late.
kezia saw the picture and thought the people wanted to make sure it was properly dead before they threw it out.
back to basics
it's always good to be reminded of this kind of thing
party people
(the two photos above were taken by kezia who's getting a bit of a dab hand at photoing)
what has terry seen ?
there's a pun in here somewhere ...
falcons
there are birds up the tate modern chimley
sometimes they have people with telescopes so you can see them proper.
here's a view down (up?) the telescope
Waddesdon Manor
another lovely trip to waddesdon yesterday to meet my mum before she disappears for a few weeks with work. we had a lovely morning as usual with a brunch and a walk.
we got very 'lost' on the way thanks to me putting the wrong postcode in the satnav. satnav got us there, but it was the wrong place. then we realised we hadn't got a map. then we saw my mum drive by so we quickly turned round but failed to keep up with her along a wiggly road, but then esther remembered that her car was a different colour and we'd be following a stranger.
so we stopped and i found the proper postcode via my blackberry and we weren't actually that far away, so it only took us a couple more minutes to find it.
this new arty tyre tree thing was good.
we got very 'lost' on the way thanks to me putting the wrong postcode in the satnav. satnav got us there, but it was the wrong place. then we realised we hadn't got a map. then we saw my mum drive by so we quickly turned round but failed to keep up with her along a wiggly road, but then esther remembered that her car was a different colour and we'd be following a stranger.
so we stopped and i found the proper postcode via my blackberry and we weren't actually that far away, so it only took us a couple more minutes to find it.
this new arty tyre tree thing was good.
hassock of the week
is the chap in the middle wearing really big white shoes ?
why ?
these signs are sadly all too common in london (though generally i think london is a safe place). this one struck me for the graffiti'd "why?"
black and white
we had a family funeral yesterday to celebrate the life of a great aunt. it was the kind of party she would have loved to have attended with her family and friends travelling from all over the country to be there.
this picture is of the vicar and the undertaker. what a great contrast the two made. you'll want to click the picture to study the undertaker - he was dressed perfectly, right down to the wonky pince-nez glasses !
posing cow
that's it darling, look back over your shoulder to the camera, and swing your tail up high.
wait a full 5 minutes before flushing again
wait a full five minutes, but starting from when ?
no pedestrian catching
i think i've probably taken a picture of this before, but it's still a goody, so worth showing again
trees
look at this gnarly gnarler
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