elephant
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September 2006 Archives
real life monopoly
someone has actually put a real monopoly hotel on this street.
i stopped (to take this picture) but i didn't pay
blog upgrade
i'm about to attempt a server upgrade, so apologies if weirdness appears for a short while
searching for dinosaurs on the beach
we went to Charmouth beach to find fossils when we were on holiday. A man in the information desk recommended visiting Seatown at low tide and so we did.
i instantly hit gold (quite nearly literally) by finding 2 £1 coins on the beach in the pebbles
the only big fossil we found was this one stuck in a rock
here's esther looking for fossils
we did eventually find loads of teeny fossils, but i didn't take any pictures of them ! Sorry about that
crazy transport
this was a mad train thing at a makeshift park in a farm that we went to over the summer.
it was basically some feed barrels with a hole cut at the top, and a plastic garden chair wedged in. the whole thngs was plopped on to some trailer type thing and pulled by a golf trolley
there was no suspension so our poor children were shaked to pieces (and loved it so much then went on twice). that cow on the front isn't fooling anyone.
little and large
large campervan with a teeny weeny smart car on the back
emergency snacks and confectionary
this incident catering unit van was at jane's half marathon. What a fantastic name for a van. And what a brilliant idea too.
they could have all sorts of advertising messages, like "all events catered for", or pun around the words incident/instant.
available now for all your emergency sandwich needs.
and if you click on the picture you'll note on the big version it says 'teapo' on the side. which is a nice idea.
page numbered posters on the tube
this is quite up to the usual numbering standards as the number is stuck on the outside of the glass. but it's nearly the same isn't it ?
10001 miles on my car
my car started the day at 10,001 miles yesterday morning which was exciting. to celebrate me and it (gender neutral) went for a huge diversion with our friend TomTom on the way home. Mostly to avoid a huge queue on the M4 motorway, but also to enjoy the fun of being controlled (direct-wise) by a computer.
Commuting by car is getting easier, but to avoid most of the traffic i leave home about 6.15am but still sit in queues clogging up the atmosphere with motory-badness.
sorry, we've ran out of pasteries at the moment
this sign almost made up for the fact they had runned out of pasteries. but not quite.
have you ever sent me pictures ?
i'm having a bit of blog spring clean because i got an email about something quite exciting. unfortunately it means i need to check about copyright on photos which people have sent me.
i've sent emails to everyone i can think of who has sent me pictures which i've put on the blog. If you've ever sent me a photo which i've used on the blog, and you didn't get the email, could you get in contact pls (details on the right).
thanks - dave (aka funkypancake)
inequality
clothed man but not woman.
it's a tough course
jane's instruction book for the marathon warned that people often drop dead on marathons, which was quite encouraging. and so was this sign.
jane's windsor half marathon victory
jane ran her first half marathon yesterday. rather than doing a standard one, she chose the hilliest one possible - The Windsor Half Marathon
jane thinking about the run ahead of her
the start of the half-marathon involves a mile long run up a long straight hill (to the copper horse, if you are interested)
jane just over 1 hour in
the windsor half marathon runs a very pretty course through Windsor Park. plenty of trees to sit under for spectators
jane half way through (already declaring a victory)
a deer which ran across the marathon route
the official winner (1 mile in)
Our winner - half a marathon over
update: i forgot to mention that she did her half marathon in 2hrs 20mins !
dog charity collection vessel
this was a particularly good charity collection tin, almost life sized, and the object you were inserting in to was also the same thing you were supporting (guide dogs for the blind). the chap leaning on it to the right sets it off nicely.
toby's head
here is a chap i work with called toby. i randomly walked past him in ealing yesterday. i was on the way to work and so was he (but in completely different locations).
i was walked as my car was being mended. a boring and anoying story i'll tell you in person someday. too tedious and annoying for documentation here.
meanwhile, have a picture of toby's head.
page 56 or not page 56 ?
i had a meeting in london last night so came back through paddington station. as you know i always look out for the giant posters which have page numbers, and i noticed that this one, page 56, also appeared without its page number.
i wondered if this was the missing link which would reveal the reason behind the sign page numbering ?
without
with
the day i nearly killed paul weller (by accident)
yesterday i saw Paul Weller walking down Edgware Road. he was just stopping at a pedestrian crossing and before he started going over it i asked if i could take his picture. He didn't say anything but stepped back a bit and did this funny pose !
After i'd taken the photo and thanked him kindly he then stepped out on to the road and nearly got run over by a white transit van. luckily he spotted it in plenty of time and there was no real danger (in case his life assurance company are reading this).
if he had been run over i would have gone down in history as one of the great celebrity deceasors. i'm not really thinking mark chapman, probably more like the chap who planted the tree which eventually got Marc Bolan.
still, paul weller is a proper celebrity int 'e ?
washeteria
i've never seen a non photogenic laundrette
peter stringfellow
here is peter stringfellow walking past a door (not to be confused with a different stringfellow)
little and large
neither of these cars are my car, but i did think they looked like one was a squashed version of the other.
no antisocial behaviour (and you can camp in the bins)
i can't remember who sent me this sign (was it brother ed ?). whoever it was. thank you !
living rainforest
we had a kezia and daddy day yesterday so we went to the living rainforest and then beal park. much fun was had by all
page 65 - please use wheelie bins
whilst spending my many hours at Paddington station the other night i spotted this numbered sign i hadn't seen before.
badly drawn boy (and tori amos?)
i was talking to my mum on the phone walking back to the train station yesterday when i spotted badly drawn boy outside the BBC radio studios. That may be tori amos next to him, but maybe not.
back to the bad old ways
i had meetings in london all yesterday so i went on my 'old' train route. unfortunately someone threw themselves under a train resulting in cancellations and delays, and a 4 hour miserable commute home.
it almost made my new car journey seem like a good idea ... well nearly.
my little pony smart car
Russell recently wrote a piece on how customisation of cars is not encouraged and i fully agree (having recently purchased a blackgeneric mass market commuting vehicle)
the one exception to this rule seems to be Smart cars which are very cool and very customisable, even without fancy paint jobs. if it wasn't for the motorway parts of my journey i would have considered getting one myself.
could you imagine me in a little funkypancake car on the way to work ?
a new routine
so, after weeks of dorset, a week of athens and a weekend of vienna, i finally started my new job proper (and my new car arrived yesterday)
so far commuting by car means i walked 2km rather than my usual 12km/day. And i took rather no photos rather than the usual 10-20 photos a day.
still, i've got plenty of photos from the last few months adventures stored up and i'll take plenty more at weekends and my less occasional trips to london, so no need to worry ! And the job itself is fantastic, so all is good.
an austrian oompah band play agadoo
on saturday night in vienna, jane and i stumbled upon an austrian drinking event type thing where everyone sat on long tables etc. there was an oompah band playing and people were waltzing and jiving and other dance moves. when they had finished playing their songs everyone clapped so loud they had to do an encore. And what an encore it was.
They ended up playing a medley of all sorts of songs including the classic austrian song - agadoo. You can't really see in the video here, but people were still waltzing down the front whilst a giant conga was flowing round the room. fantastic stuff.
hotel astoria - the best hotel in vienna
i've stayed in quite a few hotels in the last few months, and i have to say, one of the best ones ever is the one we stayed at in Vienna over the weekend. it was called the hotel astoria - the staff were great, and the location fantastic. go there.
we were fortunate enough to get put in room 27 which was amazing and consisted of separate sitting room, bedroom and bathroom.
our bedroom
our sitting room
our bathroom
forde abbey and gardens
(click for big niceness)
jane in my military poncho
here is jane wearing my favourite piece of clothing. there's NOTHING like this coat for keeping the rain out of you and your backpack bag. or for sitting on at a picnic.
i love my military poncho.
pedestrians and children playing
it's great when grown ups can join in kids games
contents may shrink after opening
children can be so lateral. Kezia had some Candy Floss. She'd wanted some for ages and finally got some, and loved it.
on the tub it said "contents may shrink after opening"
and esther said, "of course it will - you'll eat it".
athens
(definately worth clicking on for a big version)
[having only just got back from athens, jane and i are off to vienna for a few days - hoorah! ]
caffeine drinks on railings
i see that's not a diet coke !
blogs that pass in the morning
the best thing about open plan offices is that you get to see people you don't expect who stop for a chat.
i made starbucks my temporary office/meeting room for 4 hours yesterday morning and who should pop in but Russell Davies from Russell Davies (funnily enough).
i've only ever managed to take bad pictures of Russell. i can only apologise.
phil and fern
this is the last week where i'm effectively doing my old job (although my new job is mostly the same as i'll just be working in the strategy team of the company that bought the company i did work for, and it'll be based in their office further outside london).
Due to the location change, and the fact i'll be driving to work, celebrity spots in the street like this might become rarer, we'll have to see. I'm going to reduce the amount of photos i post daily just in case the photo pool runs dry (although i've got a store of around 1000 unposted photos ready to go)
Anyway, here's philip scoffield and fern cotton Britton from This Morning
the great bin men convoy
there was a really long convoy of bin men walking down this street.
so many i needed to take two separate photos and still didn't get the last 2 bins at the back
lost bird
this chap had lost his bird of prey.
it eventually turned up of course, and nearly flew in to the commentary box
rabbit on the beach
rabbits don't belong on beaches
nor do people dressed in very warm costumes
the wild dogs of athens
athens is full of big dogs, mostly sleeping, but occasionally jumping up at me and barking. which i didn't like.
meal combo pack
i like the idea of a combined beer and spaghetti can. food and drink, ideal for street embassadors (my name for tramps/homeless)
olympic airways
i travelled to athens with Olympic Airways. The plane was quite grubby and old and i don't think i'd use them again.
A good indicator of their quality was their toilet which was piled up with toilet paper on a shelf.
and on the way back they had a whole wall of various papers
although they obviously were trying to bring some order to the situation
another thing about olmpic airlines was their life-jackets, which i couldn't work out at all from their demonstration. it had extra straps all over the place.
but how about this curiousity. definately one to click for largeness.
the captain looks pleased with himself as he has worked out how to put his jacket on, whilst the lady on the top left can't find her jacket. meanwhile the plane itself has crashed in to the sea and a fireball is floating away (actually, the fireball looked more like the last supper when you could see it in more detail)
we can only guess what the picture on the bottom left of this is
today is turning in to a bit of a rant - sorry about that.
the great great western trains season ticket rip-off
i was expecting about £800 back from my season ticket. Instead i've been offered £10.30 which put me in a very bad mood.
Yesterday morning i had to buy a weekly train ticket for this week as i haven't bought my car yet (due to all the jet setting). i was greeted by this lovely sign this morning saying how regular customer deserve exclusive treatment.
ho hum. i'm not going to give up on them yet ...
the hedge people eat a man
i've been worried about plants for a long time, hence the category 'plants on the move'. it seems they've now gone one sep further and now got proper faces
sometimes evolution goes down a deadend. here's a plant mutated in to a frog (no offence intended to any frogs in the audience)
message for and about Nanny
Dear Nanny, Nanny and I are going to the cinema
tintinhull house and garden
Tintinhull garden is very nice ! They even provided drawing materials for artists
we know about the escaped budgie, thankyou
i love this little sign
keep dogs on boats
but what if you don't have a boat ?
no entrance
what's happening with this chap ? he seems to have coins dropping on this head.
greek moon
i haven't seen athens by day yet. hoorah for conferences in hotels.
some pictures from athens
Athens is in a bit of state. lots of it has fallen down or fallen apart or something.
here's another bit of ruination
there's also a nice view from the hotel roof
greek dog sign
there are packs of wild dogs in athens apparently. i haven't seen any though.
the worst sign ever ?
i suspect this wasn't designed by a professional sign designer.
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