there's a lot of action in this sign, but i think the dog has jumped in to the bushes and disturbed the birds.

that can happen.

so don't let it.

we went on a family 12km walk today. esther didn't even complain (neither did kezia, but she was in the backpack).

at one point we walked past this graveyard which contained a cat which sat and looked at us accusingly. click for a bigger look:

there was also a section for dead bollards:

not living anywhere near the sea i was surprised to find this sign in walking distance from my house. who'd 'av thought it.

especially since we'd spent the whole of last week on the Isle of Wight which WAS very wet, windy and sandy.

look what i found in our local supermarket - it's a glove on a slippery-sign bollard

before and after (look very carefully):

luckily there's a new one here

this is my ideal game - only available in Stockholm. warning, contains mooses.

by now we will be heading back from our week's holiday (did you miss me ?), so a topical post

how do you keep kids amused during long car journeys ? well, we find listening to CDs and tapes works well. Esther's favourite are joseph and the amazing technicolour dreamcoat, The Young Person's Guide to the orchestra, various rockin' kids church songs cds and story tapes.

on a recent trip to the north of england i agreed to sit in the back of the car with kezia whilst esther sat up the front. i borrowed jane's CD player so i could listen to my own music. i also took two sets of headphones in case kezia didn't want to be left out.

the first problem was kezia's head was too small and speakers hung at her neck level. so i raise them up with her mouse toy. then she went all space age and wore them sideways.

then esther wanted to wear the other pair and they ended up jiggling away to BRMC whilst jane and i listened to winnie the pooh.

but if you really want to be amazed, watch this and see what realy happens when the funkypancake family go on long car journeys. (it's 392KB but is worth the short download - believe me!)

biggernisation requires a click of the above

this isn't so much a sign of a hound as a sign for hounds.

jame bond had a licence to kill. i'd rather have a licence which allowed me to push trollies down chairs. it would allow me to over-ride any local rules.

i probably wouldn't need it in belgium as it apprears you can take your trolley down the stairs anyway.

more belgian gents facilities. it's great how they've all been painted to liven them up and make them standout.

this one had elvis on it:

this one had some strange animals going mad:

and how's this for a modern one in brussels ? i think it's only for blokes, but i guess ladies could use it too. just not quite as privately:

a famous gap. but where ?

answer here

it apes me to say this, but beware of monkeys.

camouflage on ships is a bit bizarre. they should just paint the top bit blue to match the sky and the bottom bit blue to match the water.

but this one does blends in with the buildings in the town centre.

"hey son, just have a look out the window and see if granny's still alright sat up on the roof in her favourite chair. i'm a bit concerned i didn't tie that safety rope properly"

the light from a stained glass window produced an anti-window on the brick wall (and the angle in the foreground).

two people walking by the extreme sports thundercats race on the Isle of Wight last saturday. And a bird.

Isle of Wight is home to an Extreme Sports festival. Ideal for an island which is currently experiencing 80mph winds. You can read reviews here

so we only saw a very brief bit as it's not great entertainment for very small kids thanks to all the waiting involved.

it's just about impossible to get decent shots of people doing their thing out to sea unless you've got a fancy 1 metre long zoom thing for your camera (which i haven't).

so you'll have to make do with these surfers.

a teeny weeny coathanger with teeny weeny kezia.

pointless windows

belgium seems to be the world capital for scraggy old mannequins.

here's a couple. the poor chap on the right was in a chemist shop who seemed to be in a very bad way:

there also seemed to be an unhealthy interest in incontinence pants.

what is a person without a soul ? what is a soul without a person ?

in the reception at the stockholm museum of modern art (clickable)

and a close up

still no chocolate (over 2 weeks now).

i saw this sign in a museum yesterday. i'm at phase 1 - desperation.

click for details

i believe the subway above was not closed

this is a sign from a teeny weeny model of an underground railway construction site (using the cut and cover method).

this stained glass window in a church in ghent produced a psychedelic overlay on this painting. it was like someone had gone mad with highlighter pens.

joy division stencil graffiti. i like the extra question at the bottom. graffiti is missing the interactive dialogue.

from matt and nancy's wedding.

here's a collection of things mounted together in a display in a church. it contained a number of ceramic dolls legs.

and i found that quite disturbing:

here they are in situ:

and here are the central characters through a fence:

heathrow baggage collection is one of the grimmest places in the world. but there is one lovely wooden chair.

what do you get if you cross this with the bottom dog of this ?

this:

in the asylum they also had an exhibit of what the called 'outside art'. i felt strangely connected to these artists who were just doing their own thing and looking at the world in a completely different way.

it got me thinking about what is art, whether what we (you and I) do on this blog is art, and even if it is then who cares anyway ?

and now i've just realised that although i know the word 'nomenclature' i've no idea how you pronounce it !

more from the asylum. i just love the colours on these photo which i took furtively.

view from the front:

straight jacket

and here's a cot for growned ups who can't be left alone at night:

on my recent trip to Beligium i had one afternoon free to do the tourist thing. so i went to a mental asylum. for most of the time i was the only one there, except for some very strange man who was looking very suspicious (and acting even more so, but not in a way i can retell on this blog!).

anyroadupdown, it was a museum, but i think partially a working one. it's an amazing place and definately worth a visit. visit their website for more info

this was one of my favouritist exhibits. click for a big version. it's just so extreme !

the day i went to brussels was liberation day. the grande place was full of pretend GIs smoking cigars pretending to be Colonel Mustard from the A-team (might have got my reference wrong here).

there were marching bands and a strange mix of old and new law enforcement:

this was a british band who seemed a bit worn out from all the blowing and marching they'd had to do in the name of liberation.

in these modern days putting numbers of psalms and hymns on church boards seems a bit retro. churches are often 10 years behind in terms of technology. we've only just moved to using an over head projector at our church, but it does its job so why buy a whizzy projector ?

this is another belgian photo which i took when my feet were too tired to walk. so i sat for half an hour watching people get ready for mass. then i left.

it's a restaurant where the food hangs above your head.

this telly built in to a black and white picture was showing a black and white film. until the telly broke. now it's a crazy coloured thing.

hoorah. it's like the black and white went super-nova (or something)

here's another one of thoese bizarre catholic statues where the baby seems to have a grown up's face. unfortunately you can't really tell in this picture as i was too far away ! but you know what i mean.

click to inspect

this lady was carrying a wedding dress angrily down the street on her head. there was a story here somewhere.

i had to laugh when she went in to the wrong door, quickly came out as if nothing had happened and then went in to the next door which actually belonged to the wedding dress shop.

if this is england, why do we have pictures of an old American preseident on the illustrated coins on the pay-and-display machines in our local train station ?

and kezzy in the crab tank:

this shop (now shut down) was asking for trouble when it ordered its sign saying it had been going for 40 years. it was committing itself to annual sign refreshes.

in the end, escalating sign costs lead to the demise of this once thriving premise. i imagine.

an ancient building in the shadow of a modern monstrocity. and two signs saying stop.

i waited three hours for someone to turn up for a meeting today, but they didn't show, so by 6pm i gave up and went home. but as i came out the office i saw them in the pub across the road !

so i went in and he admitted he'd forgotten and was very emmbarrased. By the time we'd chatted i was over 2 hours late going home. so the two events which happened on the way home were really someone else's events which i hyjacked. possibly.

anywoo, the first thing was hearing this phone box ring. in these days of mobile phones it's rare to hear such thing so i jumped in to answer.

"hello", "hello", "who's this?", "it's dave, who this?", "mandy", "hello", "hello", "where are you?", "in a phone box", "where", "i don't know, oh yes, there's a street sign, Paddington Street", "oh", "why?","because someone just phoned me from there", "oh, sorry, wasn't me", "oh, it was probably my sister", "yes, probably", "is she there", "no, there's no one in here but me", "what about outside. she's got very short hair. and she's called Karen", "just a minute, i'll have a look", "thanks", "THERE'S A PHONE CALLED FOR A SHORT HAIRED LADY CALLED KAREN ? no, sorry, just shouted down the street, no one's about", "ok, well, thanks anyway", "that's ok", "have a good evening", "yes, and you", "bye", "bye".

and then a little later on my journey i found this very smart (and expensive) 4 Megapixel camera. i've reported it to the relevant authorities and now need to wait until the owner claims it.

i'm going to take a photo of me, the finder, with it so when it gets reunited with its owner they'll have a nice momento. perhaps i'll give them a link to the site too. there weren't any photos on the camera already. I'll let you know how i get on:

i was sent these signs by reader marissa (not to be confused with reader rabbit). both are very good.

i particularly like the smartly dressedfulness of these two people. see how the older kid is pushing the smaller one in the back. she's probably walking too slow. that'll be because she's a girl and everyone knows girls can't walk fast.

or it might be because she hasn't got any feet. and neither has the bloke. so perhaps he's using her to steady himself.

i don't know for sure. i'm just trying to interpret these things for you.

and how about this for a great sign. the problem is that they've assumed it will be people who will try and swim, yet it's actually the ducks who have monopolised the place.

they should wrip that sign up and turn it the other way round.

or better two build a 2-sided one. they could then do one in english for people and one in duck-ish for duck people.

'quack quack. quackety quack!" it'd say.

probably.

look at its pink bottom. surely that can't be appropriate for a bollard ? it looks SO girly !

another pesky rat.

nobody likes old ice-cubes.

this skip is acces only meaning once you've climbed in you can't climb out.

unless 'acces' isn't a mispelling of the word 'access', but in fact a different word which means "you can put stuff in AND take it out"

they make these out of old car aerials you know ...

this was a nice touch. it's a dangly tea bag outside the window on my train this morning. it had been dipped in milky tea so left a trail behind as it swung backwards and forwards as the train accelerated.

so, what we ended up with was a time based wind splodge showing the trains' acceleration ! what a great idea.

sadly these photos don't do it justice, but i think you can see what i was getting at.

esther went to her first school disco last night. as her father i was very anxious. but all went well.

here she is warming up

this sign was just outside the permiter of the toilet roll ranger, but it wouldn't surprise me if his (or her) jurisdiction had been extended.

the sign said 'danger thin ice'. there certainly wasn't any ice on the little pond so it must have been very thin.

or perhaps it was referring to the giant ice-cream painted on the wall next to the sign. that was as thin as some dried pain. which is quite thin. i think.

this sign was in the window of this little house by a play park in Hull.

i hope people read the sign before they go and do their 'do's. if not they'd have to gingerly waddle up to the window and knock whilst hoping no-one would see.

and who is this toilet roll dispensing duty ranger ? i bet he counts the sheets out one by one. i hope he rides a horse. rangers should do that kind of thing.

i passed an historic chemist which was being refurbished a few weeks back. the only thing insider was this potty which is a very strange colour.

i think there's a reason this pair of trousers might be £1.

it's a flare.

the second celebrity i saw last evening was none other than global megastar noel gallagher (of oasis fame).

he was simply swaggering slowly across marylebone high street without a care in the world. he's a funny looking chap. and i was surprised he wasn't surrounded by bouncers.

bizarrely i have been looking out for him for the last week since i discovered he lives in a muse house just off the north end of the marylebone high street.

i approached him and said "can i take your photo please ?" (in the same way i had to michael burke a few minutes earlier). He raised his hand in a 'no thanks' kind of way and off he wandered. but we did have eye contact !

so i took a photo (without flash) as he walked off. Oasis have a bit of a violent history in relation to the paparazzi so i didn't want to make him think i'd taken a decent photo of him !

when i left my office last night i thought to myself "the only celebrities i see are either c-list non-bodies, comedians or nigel havers. i then got worried that i don't watch telly enough and i may be seeing loads of celebrities in my daily life and not realising it.

so i set off and i convinced myself i was going to see three famous people. i did see two though (about 1km apart).

the first was michael burke the BBC newsreader. i did a google for him so that you non-UK readers can learn all about him.

i was surprised to see that my last spotting of him was the number one hit ! try it here

click to admire him in his fullness

the other celebrity is here

i was eating a banana on the way back to the station last night. as i turned the corner i nearly bumped in to a man who was also eating a banana.

we were both dressed similarly and both listening to headphones.

i spontaneously shouted "snap!". in the micro-second that followed before we passed we both gave each other a huge grin.

i've a friend who had a Citreon 2CV and he used to hoot and wave at other 2CV cars as a friendly jesture.

maybe it's the same with fruit - it's just i don't know because i'm normally stuffing chocolate (a more selfish food) down my face.

this one takes me back to my educational days, particularly my engineering maths courses. Functions were a tricky thing (as was the rest of my course for my pudding-brain).

if only i'd known these people could have designed me a perfect one i wouldn't have bothered.

i've written before about underground train upholstery. here is the circle line seat covers again. this time with sync flash to add to the madness.

it's like we're stuck in a 1980s computer graphics flash back thing. i seem to remember spending days typing programmes (spelt in the english way back then) from magazines in to my BBC model B computer to make it display similar patterns to these seat covers. of course they'd never work as the computer would crash before you ran them, or the tape would never load back in.

oh happy days.

remember matt and nancy's wedding a couple of weeks back ?

well, you can read about it in their local paper. definately worth having a look.

it made me chuckle.

muchly.

a trolley. a fan. our new water thing. all exciting office things.

i thought i'd seen a nice purple glove in a plant pot this morning but it turned out to be these plants (with a spoon nestling in the background).

i was quite glad they were just plants as i was concerned that someone had stolen my new business plan, which is to create a line of knitted goods which have more than the usual set of parts.

i'm thinking of 6 (or more) fingered gloves. you'd still be able to wear them, you'd just have an extra finger hole available.

or what about a jumper with three arms ? Or trousers with three legs ?

is anyone willing to prototype any of the above for me ? i think we could be on to something with the 6 (or more) fingered gloves so perhaps we should start there.

i think this art-concept (for that is what it is my friends) needs a name. something along the lines of 'extra-digits' or 'more-of-the-same' but i'm sure you can help me here.

be great to get something in the shops before Christmas.

i walked past this piece of board on the floor and a few steps later i stopped and went back to it.

i thought it looked a bit like the back of a cheap picture frame. so i took a photo of it undisturbed then gently lifted it up and leant it against the wall.

who would have thought such a [insert your own adjective here] picture would be left lying in the street.

if i could set a camera effect on my eyes it would be the slow sync. i just love the swirlyness and 'left behind ness'. this photo just hints at this thanks to my steady hand.

it's like the object being photo'd is not content just being itself and wants to extend itself beyond its own boundaries.

and so it should.

i got home this evening (11pm) to smell the sweet smell of home cooking. i traced the smell to the kitchen where i found a tub of home made CHOCOLATE cakes.

i opened the lid a small amount and savoured the odours. but i did not eat, for i have cheated chocolate today once more.

here is a photo taken through the transparent plastic lid.

i went to a colleauge's birthday 'do' this evening. it was very good.

here is the place:

they had crisps, nuts and bread rolls on the bar which was a nice touch:

this view is reserved. please keep off.

click to have a look at what you could have won

look at all these things spilling out around this bin.

there's a genuine roman plastic pillar:

an ironing board:

and a glove:

some people use a removal company to help them move house. they put all your belongings in to a van and drive them to your new home where they helpfully unload them and pop them in to the appropriate room.

care needs to be taken when selecting your removal men. we all know people who've had bad moving experiences.

but would you use the budget removal men that this household is using ? sure they were probably cheap, but what if it rains ?

gloves seen on the way home last night

the girls hardly ever have chocolate but once again here they are with big bowls of it for their pudding. hoorah for angel delight they say. it smelt SO good. but i didn't eat any.

i've often taken pictures of the blue tourist signs on the walls of famous buildings indicating that a famous person once lived there. often people have asked if there's more info about them, but until now i've not found any.

but today i found this (low bandwidth) which is part of the english heritage site (search for blue plaque).

there's a searchable list at blueplaque.com and a complete list on the english heritage site here

there's a few things that annoy me up in my daily life as a pedestrian. people not stopping at zebra crossings is one. and people blocking the pavement by parking on it or unloading stuff all over it is another one.

this morning my journey between the supermarket and the office (about 30 seconds walk) was completely blocked by this chap and his massive collection of delivery trolleys.

three boxes in a row. the one on the right looks the tallest. but only because it's standing on a plant pot.

what incredible cheek.

this man has a great little vehicle. i saw him approaching and signalled that i'd like to take his photo.

so he stopped next to where i was standing, waited until i got the photo, then moved on his way.

click for desktop sized goodness

look what was on our dinner table just now. more chocolate (for the girls pudding).

none for me still though (it's been nearly a week and i haven't killed anyone yet).

today was one of those lunches where you use up the scraps from around the house. i think those are the best meals.

esther said "this meal isn't very healthy is it mummy ? but i know it's the best you can do". she's full of encouragement.

esther was pleased to find this stick shaped as the letter 'f' in the church yard.

how embarrasing to go to church and find one of your friends wearing exactly the same shoes. this happened to kezia and abby.

they weren't exactly the same shoes of course. they had a pair each.

esther shouted "come quickly daddy, there's something we need to photograph".

we both ran like the wind to get to the scene. it was half an acorn (haycorn) on a leaf.

esther was very proud. this is her picture.

water-towers sometimes seem a bit pointless in the UK. it rains all the time anyway, so why do we bother storing it up ?

if you live in the UK you'll probably have seen the flood map which i find fascinating (but only because we're not in a flood area).

it must be weird enough being a normal siamese twin, but imagine being a siamese where your other half is an animal.

someone taking a picture of a girl wearing a cardboard box outside liverpool street station.

click to inspect this bizarre sign which is on the door at the Royal Festival Hall.

it was a very high tide yesterday. one of those once or twice a year things. boats were squeezing under the bridges and everything.

if you haven't been and seen the tate modern Nauman exhibit i'd recommend a trip. it's not quite as dramatic as the sun but still worth a trip.

i got caught in a protest yesterday lunchtime. i'm not entirely sure what they were protesting for or about, but they seemed in good cheer.

belgian is the country of cartoons so it was no surprise to see that this was the medium used to describe the serious process of smashing a window to escape from a bus in an emergency.

you never know when death will catch up with you. if you go to brussels you may find that you end up walking straight in to him like i did a few weeks back.

this lady let me take a picture of her collecting money for phab. I don't often give money to street collectors as you can never be too sure where the money will end up.

But i made an exception for her as she looked fantastic, was really jolly, and was representing a good charity.

do you think this is part of London's olympic bid?

so far so good. still no chocolate since monday morning. but i was quite tempted by this toblerone in the street.

and when i got home there was a chocolate catalog on the floor ! and in our band practice this evening jane gave out chocolate biscuits to everyone.

(but on the fantastic side i did get to shake John Stott's hand this lunchtime)

random extinguisher in a random street.

see how this stationery shop has saved money by reusing the letter t in stationary. they could have reused the letter 'a' too (if they'd spelt it wrong like i have]. but they didn't. lukcily.

the end result is partially unintelligable. which i like.

here's some good advice readers. you'll do well to remember these words.

i was going to dive in to this puddle and open the door.

but i didn't.

one good thing about the dark mornings is that you can see in to people's offices as you walk to work !

here is an office with pieces of paper taped to the walls. it's the remains of a brainstorm no doubt. perhaps for short sighted people ?

i'm sure one of the pieces of paper said "buy some post-its". but i could be wrong.

it's a rare sight to see a bollard on its favourite type of transport, so i did well to catch this bollard on it's flourescent magic carpet.

(note how dark it is in the mornings in london at this time of year)

here are a load of beer barrels piled up in an action movie type way. the police car just adds to the unlikelyness of it all.

you'll be pleased to know that no car came hurtling through whilst i was watching. (in fact a few minutes later all the barrels had been loaded on to a lorry and taken away)

a little room with a view in the middle of the thames (between Tate Modern and St Pauls' Cathedral).

there's loads of obvious jokes here, but i shall avoid making any of them.

we're in for a cold winter in the UK apparently. it's global warming (hey?). bad news for the environment, but great news for glove spotting.

it's not even really cold yet and here's a red glove in a black glove. this means someone has already started wearing twin-gloves.

who does dave love ?

i love God, my wife, my family, my friends and chocolate.

who/what would you write on the wall if you had to chalk graffiti your first name and a list of loves ?

no need to answer. just have a thunk.

you'll have to click the picture to inspect the glasses (and identity pass). sadly no photo on the ID so no entry in davescollections

look at all these boxes chained together. i suspect there was an amateur escapologists meeting last night and they all got stuck.

and look at how they've stacked the boxes on the right. everyone knows when building a tower you should put the biggest boxes on the bottom. they're asking for trouble.

there were lots of coathanger heads on the way to the office this morning. they were all lying around looking like question marks.

there are so many questions aren't there ? perhaps for every unanswered question in the world there's a corresponding coathanger. wardrobes are full of unanswered questions throughout the world. jingling jangling, which clothes should you wear ?

i'm a man so don't understand too much about these things. i'm aware of 'pairs' of trousers, but i didn't realise that a bra was a 'set'.

Or maybe you get three different sizes all in one bag ? it's a man-mystery. which is fine by me.

and look how cheap these nightwear is ! i love a bargain. pity the shop was closed when i walked past it at 7.45 this morning.

kezia was a good girl in a flower shop yesterday and the lady behind the counter gave her a free flower. she was very proud of it and very carefully carried it to the front door when i got home last night.

it's a pity shop keepers don't do that kind of thing for growned-ups. it would be great if you got to the checkout in the supermarket and they said "well done, you've been really well behaved whilst doing your weekly shop. have a milky way".

but they rarely do.

i love chocolate. in fact i think i am genuinely addicted. i have a king sized mars bar for breakfast and then various other confectionary delights througout the day.

and we always have a couple of massive bars of chocolate in the house for me. the girls aren't really that bothered by it.

so i decided yesterday to give up chocolate to save money, my teeth and my health.

i plan to be chocolate bar free for 3 weeks. that's the time it takes to kick a habit according to a random page i found on the internet. it wil be the mornings when i miss it most.

last night i watched as the girls ate the remains of my household chocolate store:

i saw the scooby doo movie on sunday night. walking behind this lady rushing for my train i became convinced it was scooby in disguise.

as i went past i stole a glance. it wasn't.

it's a shame that all the leaves are dropping off the trees. so, how does a tree keep warm in winter ? simple. wear a coat.

this bollard appeared to be levitating. it was actually standing on some netting. a bollard safety net no doubt.

it's a sign about gloves.

i love the minimilism of this sign. two wiggles and a blob

someone's parked their fridge up against the railings like the bikes along the path. i imagine the fridge isn't the fastest method of travel, but in summer it's aircon is fantastic.

if you like a challenge, DON'T play hide and seek with a fridge. they are rubbish.

i spotted this fridge playing with the letter box. the letter box is cunningly sneaking up behind him. but even if it had approached from the other side the fridge is pathetically badlyly hidden.

but then as we all know, postboxes haven't got very good eye sight. so perhaps it would have thought the black/white/black combination of the fridge behind a black post was a vertical zebra crossing.

this trolley is watching some very mysterious cameras which were put up across the pedestrian crossing.

big brother (and his trolley) is watching you.

esther has a book called What Do People Do All Day?. it's very good and makes you wonder ... what people do all day.

our friends heather and clive run a professional chauffeur company called Executive Direct and transport people all over the place. clive was particularly excited this morning to tell me all about his new car, which seems more like a luxury ocean liner than a taxi.

i used to have a picture of it here, but i removed it for copyright reasons (related to archiving)

esther and kezia potting bulbs in the garden with their granny.

today it was jane's dad's turn to do the domino challenge. interestingly he chose a different construction method which proved quite stable (though not as high as other attempts due to the limited supply of dominos).

faith and religion are two slightly different things. faith is what people believe whilst religion is too often about ceremony and self-effort.

the cool thing about christianity is that there's nothing we can do ourselves to earn our way in to God's favour. this can be annoying as it means all those nice things you do to help people don't count for anything in terms of getting in to Heaven. But it's actually fantastic news as none of us would have been good enough anyway.

what am i on about ? dunno. but i was thinking about how people get in the way of religion. i'm always concerned when i play music in church that i can easily distract people from whatever God is trying to tell people by being too loud or playing my comedy bass riffs. so how can people leading the church service become 'invisible' so only God and his word becomes visible to people ?

well, may be here is the answer. It's Mark and he was doing the reading today. i noticed he was camouflaged against the church. his shoes, trousers and jacket all matched the surrounding step, wall and hymn boards. he was getting as close to being physically invisible as he could have been (without physically being somewhere else)

there's currently a children's road safety feature in the Transport Museum in london. here are some kids sized smiley bollards for our enjoyment.

this is really boring, so sorry !

on the way home from our fantastic fun filled day in london we travelled on one of those fancy new Aldante high speed trains. they are usually used for long distance journeys so i was quite impressed we got one for our slow stopper service.

could this be a glimpse of what's to come ? will my commuting life become much more luxurious thanks to recent changes in the train franchise ?

somehow i doubt it, but it was fun anyway.

here are kezia and esther listening to jane reading stories to the carriage about fairies.

we popped in to the Royal Festival Hall this afternoon for a cup of tea and a nice sit down. it's a great place to sit and do nothing without feeling you are getting in the way of anyway.

anyway, who should walk by but (solo artist and ex-Softboy) Robyn Hitchcock . he was moving a speed but kezia (in her buggy) and i managed to catch up with him and after waiting a few minutes whilst he talked to the ticket desk i asked if i could take his photo.

"no" he said "i'm in a rush" and ran off. luckily i'd got a photo of him walking by. but it would have been nice to have got a closer one.

i think he was having trouble getting in to the venue next door so was quite flustered. i'm sure he's a nice jolly chap usually.

you really should go to the london transport museum in covent garden london. it's great. loads for adults and kids to do.

things like colouring and climbing on pretend buses whilst watching thomas the tank engine appeal to very small kids whilst being able to pretend to drive a tube train appealed to the older generation.

anyway, you should go there. we spent a good few hours in what is essentially a funny little warehouse in the centre of london.

i thought it a nice idea to take pictures of myself and the girls on the tube map. the first one is my first 'looking away self portrait'. i hoping to develop this theme.

here is kezia dressed as a dog in the transport museum. i think the idea is that if you are dressed as a dog all the cars in the area will slow down to look and say "aaaw, isn't she cute".

as a result they won't crash in to you (although the distraction may cause them to veer up the opposite pavement in to a lamp post or something).

we went to london today and completly randomly bumped in to some old friends in covent garden. here are all the girls watching an opera singer (whilst the olds sat drinking coffee).

update: as requested, close-up of the fire-engine sign:

remember on wednesday night i ended up on national tv for split second thanks to walking past live TV cameras in paddington ? (see here or here if not).

well, at one point a chap squeezed between the two main cast members who were singing in to each other's faces. this man was our good friend (and esther and kezia's godfather) Steve.

we spotted him on wednesday evening when we watched it but it was repeated this evening and i got a photo for you. so here he is (on the left by the pillar)

i was working from home today and took half an hour out at lunchtime to go and have my sandwiches with esther at her school. i was SO completely nervous going along but it was fine.

all the kids were in fancy dress because it's national book week (!) so it was even more surreal than i thought it was.

anyway, here's a picture of kezia's picture:

And here's a picture of kezia doing a funny face. please do your own funny face whilst looking at kezia's funny face to add to the total web fun-factor:

this looks fantastic. go there and do something now.

comment spam is getting a bit out of hand and i think it's artificially bumping up the visitor stats.

so i've changed the system a bit. so drop me an email if you have trouble commenting.

i've implemented some of the stuff described here:

the man said please inform staff of any unattended items. no one was looking after this apple core. i wasn't sure what to do. so i did nothing.

remember this graffiti girl ? well, she got removed from the wall much to many people's sadness.

but she's reappeared down the path a little further next to a motorcycle parking place (opposite vinopolis for those searching it out). the bike is real.

i work in the 'media quarter' of london and occasionally i'll see film canisters lying around. here was one tied to some railings on tottenham court road.

no one i recognised.

it's national poetry day today apparently. at esther's school the kids were encouraged to learn a poem by heart to perform to their class.

so esther learnt one about a snail which you can listen to by clicking here. (137KB MP3 file)

due to late meetings i've not seen much of the family this week. but today i got back in time to see esther, kezia and thomas and sarah (our nephew and niece). here i am with sleeping baby sarah and a slightly worried thomas.

it all of a sudden got really bright in my office. i leant to the left slightly and noticed it was the sun reflecting off the top of BT tower.

i love how even a photos of the sun like this can make your eyes go weird ! (no responsibility can be accepted for eye damage resulting from looking in to this photo)

note the four wheels on this upright trolley. i suspect this is so it can be used in either the horizontal or vertical orientation.

these two ladies had exactly the same clothes, and hair and backpacks and shoes and were walking in sync with each other.

unfortunately too many cars were in the way and i only got a clear shot when they turned the corner.

how strange it would be to have an identical twin.

i had another late night at work (this time a company 10th birthday party) so i arrived at paddington at around 8.30pm. i didn't know it at the time but they were recording a live opera in amongst the random commuters in paddington station (see BBC site here)

i had 4 minutes before i got the train so whizzed through the crowds and just caught my train.

i got these photos (vision man, orchestra by the sushi bar and camera man):

on the train i read my paper and noticed in the TV guide they were doing a live flash mob opera at a mystery location, and realised that's what i'd just seen.

it went out live on BBC 3 TV 8-9pm but they repeated it again 10-11pm and i just go back in time. so i got to see my bald head go by for a split second on the TV. i even managed to take a photo of the telly when it was on. here it is (i'm the bright white bit on the bottom right of this photo):


on the telly we saw that alan yentobb, so i missed a celebrity photo opportunity. and there must have been the BBC concert orchestra lorry somewhere too. oh well.

update: our friend steve was there too (see here). also, in the morning i'd seen them setting up (see here)

it's that time of year when new students have to do comedy things to prove they are new. here are a couple of rugby teams taped together in groups of four climbing up the stairs.

there's filming happening all over london. it was paddington station this morning and a few hours later i spotted this lighting rig in soho on the way to a meeting.

how posh is this ? it's a very small kid's chasmere sweater lost in the street.

they were setting up a BBC outside broadcast studio in paddington. if you are in those parts today you might want to go and have a nosey.

update: see here

there was the most amazing rainbow on the south bank this evening as i walked to Embankment tube. it was a totally amazing double-rainbow with a full arch. unfortunately i couldn't fit the full width in with my camera.

click all for bigger versions

from the bridge:

in line with the eye:

somewhere over the rainbow:

a pot of gold in saatchi's gallery ?

here are some people filming a playstation advert. not sure who they are.

a few minutes before i'd been walking past the National Theatre when i heard there was a book signing so i went in. dunno who it was either, but it was cancelled anyway. so there you go.

i'm sure this headline refers to something horrible, but let's just pretend it doesn't for a minute.

perhaps it's actually referring to an old lady who decided to have a go at her down decorating rather than paying one of those cowboys to do it for her. she paid the price when she tripped and spilt paint on herself.

my headline would have read "grannies - putting the pain back in to paint".

this boot was at oxford street last night. you can see Regent Street and a bus going by. the bus is stationary. unlike regent street which is heading down towards the river. by now it will be flushed out to sea with a million other shopping streets.

probably.

well, i don't know about you, but i was working from home this morning and had to go in to the office for a meeting from 6-7.30pm. so i travelled the 2-hour journey and managed to arrive early.

about 2 days early.

it's actually on wednesday. so i came back and on the way had a look in the paper and noticed that Duran Duran were signing their new record in HMV on Oxford Street. Aha ! i thought and negotiated the tube system to reach my destination with 15 minutes to spare before they were due to finish their signing.

unfortunately i went to the wrong HMV and ended up arriving at the proper one just after they had stopped letter people in to the queue. so instead i skulked around the barriered off bit and got the shots below (but actually the last load of people didn't get anything signed so i was better off wandering around instead of being stuck in a queue)

once they had finished signing there was little interest in the signing table, suggesting it was Simon le Bon and his musican chums people were more interested in. except for this one lady who was inspecting the table for her own interest (probably):

so i left and saw them coming out the side door and climbing in to their cars:

afterwards i read in another london paper that Eddie Izzard and possibly joanna lumley were just down the road in virgin megastore. if i'd known that i would have popped in there too. oh well.

you know when they say "sorry, this train is delayed due to an aggressive passenger in one of the carriages. the transport police have been called" ? well that happened to me this evening. and the aggressive person was in my carriage.

it was actually a lady in her 50s who was stubonly refusing to pay her fine. she was more stroppy that aggressive but there was potential for passenger uprising when the ticket man tried to drag her off the station by pulling her handbag and at one point taking her luggage off the train !

then some of the other passengers shouted "oi, you can't steal that woman's bags" and another shouted "throw her off, i'm not subsidising non-payers".

he then went and sat next to her and kept repeating "you are very annoying. get off the train" in a voice which was cross between a robot and monty python. eventually she paid her fine when the fuzz turned up.

so, not only was my journey to london pointless it was also filled with excitement like seeing duran duran and seeing a stroppy middle aged woman.

here she is walking down the platform when she finally got to her destination. i didn't dare use the flash. but the picture sums up how most of the train was feeling.

erk. too many words in this post. sorry.

dan sent me these pictures of a sign factory that he passes occasionally. click the pictures for closer inspection.

what if it's not actually a factory. what if it's someone's collection and they've disguised it as a factory to stop the police suspecting ? we've rumbled them now though haven't we.

i loved this sign, especially the unexpected last line.

we went to our friends ian and carolyn's this afternoon. here is ian giving the girls some flying lessons.

safety notice - no children were hurt in the taking of these photos. but ian did look a bit warned (and worn) out by the time they'd finished.

after a rather excellent church service we had a kids band practice. scott is the drummist but due to transport difficulties hadn't any drums or sticks.

he borrowed some drums and improvised with a pencil and a wooden spoon. the pencil was HB so his drumming was medium strength.

do kids today know anything about the pencil grading system ? i'd almost forgotten myself.

here are matt and joy. except joy doesn't like her photo taken so she's exited. but i think it looks good anyway.

and i could see joy with my eyes when i took the photo. so she's there, but not quite in frame.

our most lovely friends richard and julia have come down from hull (with hannah) as revenge for us visiting them last week. here they are dancing in the proper style.

(i don't know about you but i'm just loving the slow sync flash effect thing)

we had to leave our friends' dr who wedding reception a little early to get to another friend's 40th birthday party. this too was fantastic with loads of friends from church.

sally has groovy dance lessons so lots of people were doing proper dancing. i prefer freestyle. so i did that in freestyle-corner.

i wore a patterned shirt with my velvet jacket (i had planned to wear my velvet dinner jacket but it had become too stinky thanks to being stored in the loft).

imagine my surprise when i noticed our friend anthony was also wearing a velvet jacket with a patterned shirt. i asked a friend what they thought it meant and she said "it means you are in sync with your local conservative councillor". for that is what he is.

matt, my colleague and website landlord, today was also a timelord as he married his fincy, nancy (also a work colleague) in a dr who theme'd wedding. it was a fantastic thing with great people, a great place and great dr who props. we really enjoyed ourselves.

there was a police box, a dalek and K9. and people dressed up as people.

the dalek (and K9) were remote controlled by a suspicious man who was running up and down outside the windows trying to see what was happening with his dalek which was joining in the boogying on the dancefloor.

update: see here for newspaper coverage !

here's a new word. spoken anomyninitiedly by a person we didn't know before (but now do). not a clue how you spell it.

have a click and listen to the video and see what you think.

click to see

i took the girls to reading museum today so we could look at the dodgy biscuit tins and admire the history of reading festival exhibition.

the show piece of the exhition is a guitar that kurt cobain played and smashed up when they headlined reading. no photos were allowed unfortunately. esther asked why he smashed it up and i said i thought he was probably really angry. esther said "well that's not a very good thing to do, even if you are angry".

there's a couple of things we have to do every time we go to the museum. one is use the giant microscope, and the other is look through the magnifying glasses at beatles. kezia has a badger on her shoulder which was part of the museum's treasure hunt for kids.

we went round to our friends andy and gill this evening and met two of their friends who were really great. we laughed 'til our faces were sore which is a great thing.

gill cooked a lovely meal. here is some of it. and my beer.

this building wasn't here before. except it was. only there was another building in front which is now gone. so it took me by surprise.

of course if you didn't know it was meant to be there to begin with it won't take you by surprise. unless everything takes you by surprise in which case you would have been surprised anyway.

i'm really scared now. christmas isn't for another 3 months(ish). yet here is ANOTHER xmas thing already in circulation.

i've turned this photo upswaydown so you can see the christmas fella the right way up. unfortunately it means it looks like the roulade is stuck upswaydown on the plate. which it wasn't.

cut backs mean john walter and pete all need to share the same desk. it looks cramped but they enjoy the company.

perhaps it was sleeping beauty's hair i saw chopped off this morning ? in which case she'll never be able to lower her locks so the frog can climb up to kiss her.

this apple was next to a car park. just so you can picture it in its surroundings

disability rights legislation came in to force recently (today?) in the UK and now shops and businesses are required to take special measures to accomodate people with disabilities. this is a good thing.

however, what people didn't realise is that it also covers short sighted people who drive cars. these people can't see traffic lights and so represent a danger to themselves and others.

the government has come up with an ingenious idea. they've put ladders next to every set of traffic light so short sighted people can climb up and have a close look at whether the lights are red, amber or green.

[some of this is slightly made up]

it's a street cleaner's trolley, a big big and two smaller bins and a one way sign. a lovely tableau.

after seeing these glasses i then saw these glasses:

and a little later i saw these two orange drinks (one freshly squeezed, one fizzy) by the back entrance to a hospital:

i haven't seen any glasses on the street for ages so i was very pleased to see these safety ones.

trees wrapped in cellophane and tied up with string. an excellent leaf detachment prevention device.

a massive clump of hair on the pavement on the way to the station this morning. slightly sinister i thought.

last weekend in hull we saw this roof top xmas display. it's either early, late or permanent:

a little later on the same day we saw this, which is lots of father christmases (christmii?) in a shop window offering a discreet service:

and last night i received my first christmas present. it's an extension cable from my father-in-law: