it's light at 7.30am when i get to my office now - hoorah !

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here's a trolley trapped upsway down behind a gate. i suspect he failed to jump over it properly.

looks like he had a lucky escape. if he'd jumped any further he'd have fallen down the stairs:

we had a rare sunday with no church commitments yesterday so we decided to have a family day and go to london. we did lots of nice touristy things and spent hours in the tate modern.

here are the girls on the tube

i went round to mend a friend's computer last night and to pay me she gave me a bottle of wine (for jane) and a box of galaxy chocolate bars for me ! so much for the no choc rule (back on hold at the moment).

i set the 'point of sale' box up and now it feels a little like i'm running a confectionary stall.

i could never be a proper computer repair man. my teeth would drop out.

but i was quite pleased with this (slightly photoshopped) photo of the chocs in their box !

two gloves with views:

vinopolis:

and southward cathedral:

tonight is a celebration. it's been exactly one year since i started studiously measuring my weekly walking distances.

so, i can tell you that in the last 52 weeks i've walked 3,296 km (about 2000 miles i think). It might actually have been a bit further than that i suffered from a malfunction just after christmas !

2000 miles from london would take you to quite far away. you could have literally moments of fun trying to work out where i could have got to from london (or your favourite local grid reference) by using this fancy thing.

My weekly average is 65km, although since i started my marathon training it's jumped to 75km/week.

which brings me back to my begging question - will you please sponsor me for the marathon ? (thanks to those who've already sponsored!)

** please sponsor me **

the world of digital cameras with little displays has resulted in a significant reduction in the amount of photos of people with their heads missing.

i think it's time we take deliberate action and start chopping heads off again. here's my first attempt. i was quite pleased.

one really easy way of taking more heads-chopped off photos is to always use this technique when tourists ask you to take their photos outside a famous london landmark.

of course i wouldn't be able to bring myself to do that in practice but i like the idea. in fact, someone asked me to take a picture of them in St James' park last week. he handed me his antique plastic camera and asked me to take his photo.

what i should have said is "sorry mate, i only do digital" - but of course i didn't.

perhaps a better way would be to carry little signs with the funkypancake URL on and get tourists to hold it if they ask me to take a photo. now there's a marketing idea ...

perhaps i could use that to get people to sponsor me (hint hint)

click to inspect

jane and i went to big eye's for tea last night. "we had a most excellent time. if ever he invites you round i'd recommend you go."

Mr Big Eye should print this quote out and put it in big letters on a bill board on the front of his house like they do on West End theatres.

he should also display the 'approved by funkypancake' crest on his home made products. such as these potatoes:

we went ice-skating again yesterday. this time it was a family disco session which meant loud towny music and flashing lights.

ice skating is very much like speed walking down Oxford Street on a busy shopping day. you have to watch for people doing random things (especially suddenly stopping without warning and appearing at speed in unexpected directions).

in fact if people carried massive shopping bags and even occasionally giant suitcases then it would be exactly the same thing.

kezia seemed to get the oldest ever ice skating boots:

even though she skating for a maximum of 2 minutes over the 2 hours we were there she seemed to enjoy herself:

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being john malkovitch anyone ?

it was wet and windy as i speed walked backed to the station last night. i spotted these people trying to take a photo whilst their umbrella was being blown inside out so i lunged for my own photo as i whizzed past.

tourists are such good value.

remember the humble pay phone card ? here's a vending machine next to a stamp machine on an old post office in london.

it's like a mini telecoms history lesson here isn't it.

i'm usually quite hungry by the time i get to work.

it being a friday i decided to buy a selection pack of teeny weeny croissants and pain au chocolats. what a treat.

unfortunately the noise of drilling and general construction coming from another part of my office took the edge of this morning luxury.

i've got a stinking cold and have a massive headache anyway, so the noise didn't help. here's a video of me dealing with the noise.

i don't think i normally look this depressed and miserable. but maybe i do.

i'm really missing the fact that it's not snowing (despite snow in these parts being a rare thing).

i was a little heartened to see all these polystyrene bits over the street this morning. they even made a nice crunchy noise as i walked over them.

i tried sledging on them but just looked silly.

this is part of the government's 'houses for mouses' program.

mouses love these little insulated boxes. inside they have hot and cold running water, electricity and even Internet connectivity.

they've never had it so good.

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i walked across hyde park on the way to a conference yesterday morning and there were some mad clouds in the sky.

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there were three gloves on my favourite glove-railings this morning.

compare to what i saw last time and you'll notice there's been a slight change. someone's taken the pair and replaced it with a faux-leather singular glove.

what we have here is an actual, modern, working glove exchange

do you sing when you see a sign ? i do.

i was lucky enough to go to a meeting on the 11th floor of a building on the south side of the thames yesterday. i took a couple of photos.

here's one:

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i imagine if you took the tyres off a bike it would work quite well on ice ?

in a rare work-meets-blog moment i can tell you i went to the launch event for the Virtual Global Taskforce last night (go check out the site).

whilst listening to the presentation i spotted these two extinguishers hiding behind the National Crime Squad emblem !

it's a display board for extinguishers

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tottenham court road is techno-street.

taken just along the street from this one

we've been watching these bollards for a couple of weeks now, but there's been no change.

initially it looked like a bollard relationship breakup, and the bollard in the distance was crying. a bollard relationship counsellor is on his way, but is still a few streets away.

it could be that bollard time moves very slowly compared to human time. a year for us might be an hour for them. perhaps they don't even see humans as we move to so fast compared to their sedate movement ?

so it could be some time before we see anything dramatic from this pair.

but i took some closer photos this morning, and now i believe that rather than showing the darker side, this scene is actually an act of chivalry.

poor on bollard on the left is guarding a puddle and doing her bollardy duty with pride. but she's alone and slightly scared. so the other bollard is keeping her company and standing by. perhaps even taking his own turn to guard the puddle.

we're notoriously rubbish at dealing with snow and icey weather in the UK. i think it's because it takes us surprise. regularly. at the same time each year.

i suspect things aren't going to be much better this year. at least someone's ordered plenty of salt. unfortunately these bags are water softener salt and come in giant tablet form, which will probably cause more of an obstacle than the ice they'll be skating on.

oh well.

that's the good thing about slightly damp cold winter mornings - flower beds are unlikely to burst in to flames.

click to inspect wording

we had a few friends (Ruth & Stephen and their children) round for lunch yesterday. they've reached the age of potty training for their eldest (thankfully we are through this stage ).

it's funny how potty training brings the best/worst out of people (quite literally).

Ruth said to Kezia "do you use the lavatory when you need a wee" ?

Kezia said "no i don't..." comedy pause, clearly thinking about the question "...i use the toilet".

the sign said "please don't put your feet on the seats".

perhaps this girl couldn't read (and the novel in her hand was just a ploy).

apologies for the wobbly photo. but this at least proves it was a genuine tube journey !

this one was the wrong way up so i flipped it over:

esther lost another tooth yesterday. if she carries on at this rate she'll be toothless by the end of February. And that would suck.

luckily the tooth fairy delayed her appearance until last night when she picked up the two of them, so that saved her a trip.

i'm still carrying around my little signs which say "this is pointless".

i had a terrific opportunity to use one at the train station in front of this sign which asks 'what's the point ?'

here is a photo from dan's camera phone. i suspect i shall be receiving plenty more of these such things from sunny california.

it doesn't snow much in the part of england where i live which is a shame. but there was a snowy flavour to a couple of emails i received yesterday.

so i feel it's snowing in blogland if not in my real world (but this IS my real world i hear you say)

anyroadupdown, here is regular reader sarah sitting in a pile of Minnesotan snow:

and here is a link to some snow graffiti sent by matt the weblandlord which is most excellent and should be replicated wherever possible.

here are two photos we found on my marathon training walk in henley. one was of an elderly lady and the other was a school photo.

currently, it seems, children don't slow down. but they should. as advised by this sign.

on a rare political moment yesterday i talked to someone about politics and the impending general election in the UK.

the best i could offer was that whoever gets in to power could just declare a period of national 'chilling' where everyone would just 'chill' and relax for a few years.

it would be a kind of intnational sabatical and we'll return to the international stage beautifully refreshed after the following general election.

this was a danger shot - a car was approaching me at speed down a particularly thin piece of road and i suddenly spotted this bollard down a hole.

it went: camera out, shoot, dive in to bushes.

gloves are particular tricky to take whilst walking at speed. my first attempt (on the left) was pittiful, but as the walk progressed my accuracy improved.

i went on a 10 mile walk with my friend andy yesterday. he organised the route. the idea was to see how long it would take so i have some vague idea of what time i'll complete the london marathon.

i wore two pedometers which gave two completely different readings. luckily one of them was right though.

it took us 2hrs 20 mins which we were pleased with.

part of the training walk was to see if i could take photos on the move at speed. so i set my camera to manual and tried my best.

most of the photos turned out ok (see rest of today's pictures).

here are andy and i walking at speed past a fish eye mirror.

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i took this photo of lots of red gloves through some railings and a security chap came up to me and said "what are you doing" ?

"taking pictures of these gloves" i said

"well, be careful" he said. "they are toxic"

as i began to walk away he said "that's why we thrown them in there".

so now we know. just don't stand too close to your screen, ok.

is this for blaine-in-a-box ?

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esther lost her first tooth yesterday. this morning the tooth fairy left her a letter informing her she'll be popping by at the weekend to pick it up.

the tooth fairy (TF) is so organised these days. but i suppose that's the result of kids drinking so much fizzy drinks. teeth that rot away don't get any cash from the TF, so she's got a bit more time on her hands.

i spotted this sign when i went for a meeting at a very! famous! exclamation! mark! using! internet! firm!

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i'm often accussed of seeing human traits in inanimate objects. i'm not really sure what that means but it probably comes frow watching johnny morris when i was a nipper.

anyway, no one can doubt this looks like a little ghosty:

i thought it might be a kids dressing up mask so i flipper it over. and it turned out to be:

i thought this was a giant photo but i suspect it's some kind of advertising thing.

just cuz someone threw it away doesn't mean the idea isn't good. maybe it just wasn't appropriate for where they wanted to take their brand.

no change again here:

but is this bollard, just a few streets away, coming to sort things out ?

it must be a hard life for those traditional bollards which have been concreted in the ground for many decades. whilst they stand motionless, the new plastic bollards (sometimes called 'cones') swan around town in their bright red outfits with reflecty sashes.

this traditional bollard has taken matters in to its own hands and is sporting a rather nice red cardigan. now all it needs it the reflecty sash.

i like how this sign seems to scream 'quiet please' as loud as possible by being in capital letters (yuck!) on a yellow background with a white border.

let's make this our message for the day.

please, for the sake of this blog, perleeeease, just this once, will you please BE QUIET

photo spotted and kindly donated by A Different Eye

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and pigs might fly

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here's a christmas tree decorating idea which is worth remembering for next year. the bag will come in very handy on christmas morning for putting all that wrapping paper in.

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two bollards bravely help their friend whilst watched by a street cleaner and a pair of siamese twins riding a tandem.

here one of those all time great graffiti comments. i caught this picture just before it got washed away by the rain.

it says "Mick Jones is not a good dancer"

look. i didn't notice this at the time, but each of the pigeons scrabbling around on the floor has a gardian angel pigeon looking out for them up on the fence (with St Paul's in the background)

... yes, that's right. it's a draw(er)

this year's xmas tree disposal has been quite slow. there were still a few out and about yesterday ...

there's a gold thing stuck in this pavement. i wasn't sure if it was a ring or an ear ring. either way i didn't pick it up.

finally i got to take a picture of these troubled bollards in day light rather than having to do a long exposure night shot.

but even in daylight, things aren't looking good for these two

even more tears from the distant bollard this morning. can their relationship ever be patched up ?

i walked down a small section of street this morning which had a number of gloves stuck on the railings, rather like last week's coke drinks.

and here's the one from last week which is still there. but it's now got a spider's web attached (or maybe it's spiderman's glove and the web has shot out from the glove) ?

strange markings

bracknell is a funny place. here is a gold building with a reflection of an equally attractive building.

the phrase 'corporation housing' is great. it seems to point to a past which had an optimistic view of the future.

and look at this fantastic building version of a belt buckle !

i love their little flourescent bottom jackets. helps them show up if you view them from above.

click to feast

it's the whole inside-outside thing of modern buildings. outside staircases, outside reception areas captured in massive areas of glass to stop the elements.

why not just have the desks and offices outside and save building the building ?

obviously you'd need a few paper weights to stop your papers blowing away. but we can work on that.

click to see

can you see what's happened here ? liberty has become berty.

so this photo is for you if your name is berty.

click to inspect

home made sign on the south bank:

please do not feed the bladers. hungry bladers operating in this area

handle, shelter and cover all seperated.

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it looks like in the UK are starting to limber up for an election later this year. if you live in london you may be able to vote for this bollard, as seen here. "we're improving your street" it claims.

sadly i suspect the bollards might be a single issue party.

(note 'bat boy' on the theatre in the background)

click to inspect in more detail

i did a training walk for my marathon attempt yesterday evening. i walked from Tate Modern to Paddington in an hour (i went via southbank, up past the houses of parliament, round the outside of St James' Park, past buckingham palace and then up through Hyde Park). no idea if that's quick or not as my pedometer seems a bit random at present.

now, i've realised that i never actually walk very far without stopping to take photos, so my average speed is a bit slower than i expected.

what i need to do is improve my moving photo technique. here is my first attempt of a moving flash photo:

oh dear.

still, this is what training is all about !

exciting life milestones - kezia is spending her first night in a big bed.

so far, so good (ie she's asleep!)

here is a post box. traditional, but still quite interesting. it's actually a siamese box. these post boxes are caused in the factor if the post box raw material doesn't split properly in the early stages of their development.

whoever painted this one got a little carried away with the red paint. in the days when i had long hippy hair (a few feet in length) i once dyed it pillar box red (Elton did it for me the first time). And flamingo pink. but that was a different time.

notice the sign on top of this box which points the way to the nearest post box. they'll probably need to change a few of these arrows since they are shutting lots of post offices down.

and how's this for good instructions. ignoring the paint job, it's worth considering what other types of box you would put your letters in and how ineffectual they would be.

shoe boxes, sandwich boxes, theatre boxes and match boxes would all prove quite useless i imagine.

is it just me or have plants and trees recently started to climb out of the ground and move around ?

thanks to my new train timetable, i now get in to London just before 7am which means i see things that others don't. like the trees going back to bed after their nights roaming the streets.

here are a couple of trees easing themselves back to bed:

and here is a little tree in a plant pot with some small plants still waiting to jump back in:

here is a phone box without a door. except it has got a door. only it's lying on the floor next to it rather than in the door hole.

so, for the purposes of anyone attempting to make a phone call, it may as well be doorless. which is why i called it a doorless phone box.

these parallel lines are quite nice to look at. imagine if you were a small monkey scampering round the streets of london. this is probably how it would look.

person's view:

small monkey's view:

i took a look at our friendly bollards this morning to see how they were getting on after yesterday's argument. The tree has gone, but it seems the stand-off still remains.

but look closely at the bollard which is furthest away - there's a little puddle there which suggests it's been crying.

there's different ways of taking photos of gloves. generally i go for the reportage approach and simply take them as they lie.

occasionally i like to indulge myself in a little creative photography to liven what can, occasionally, be a slightly mundane photographic subject.

so, here is a negative image of a glove on some railings:

click to expand beyond your wildest dreams

and here is the same glove taken with a long exposure with the street panning out behind it:

this bin appears to be on his way to work with his briefcase under his arm:

whilst this one was trying to sell me his telly:

"i bought this thing, but i haven't got any eyes, and i've already got a radio, so i wondered if you'd be interested in buying it sir ?" were his exact words

it's not always easy to get photos of gloves. these two were in the middle of quite a busy road junction outside Paddington Station.

i had to pre-focus my camera and dodge traffic to get the second of these photos !

unless you know what you are doing, i urge you not to follow my example.

i've decided to formalise the bike signs and set up their own category. if i have time i'll go back through the archives and recategorise some old pictures.

here are a few signs i pass every morning to get us started. There's usually a way round most of these signs.

for example, in this case, you just need to hide your bike. if they can't find it, they won't remove it:

here is a no bikes sign with a long explanation (including the threat of having your bike towed away!):

and here is a very short sign:

i took this photo of two bollards having a chat in the street yesterday morning. one had a januty hat, and i suspect they were talking about something but it seemed rude to stop and listen.

this morning it was a different story. the two of them looked quite stand-offish. i noticed there was a christmas tree between them so perhaps that's relevant.

i suspect old jaunty-hat wanted to have it up all year round, but no-hat didn't want to. i once had a christmas tree up for three years. but then i took it down.

my absolute favouritist favourite thing about doing this blog is spotting strange themes on my walk to the office. it's often not until the end of the walk i realise what the theme was and by then it's too late to go back and get the pictures.

so i find myself taking pictures of everything just in case i find another one a bit later.

today's theme (albeit a mini-theme) was 'coke on railings'.

here was my first find. i took two photos of this one:

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when i saw this i thought it might be a new way of encouragin recycling. i think people would be more likely to do it if they could display their empties along railings like this:

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and here is my second spot - this time a MaccyD's coke:

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this is like one of those magician tricks where they show you an empty box from the side then proceed to throw a cloth over the top then extract a live rabbit.

i suspect that modern haulage companies are concerned about transporting valuable cargo in their standard lorries and so have decided to use these magical ones instead.

the leaves have long since left the trees, but i noticed this new sign was on display at Paddington Station this morning.

it's worth a read (click it for detail). i love how they've tried to make it as unreadable as possible by incorporated science and phrases like 'non-stick type surface'.

it's a shame they didn't use the word 'mulch'. i would have liked it even more then.

click to read

i've started a new category today which i've called 'temporal comments'. These are a kind of graffiti but is simply piece of paper or card with a few words on it.

parking tickets was the first one, and this is the second (which was displayed on my train this morning).

of course it could be some sublimal advertising. but i doubt it.

here are some sliced tomatoes sent from a different eye.

i suspect this was a blatant plug for his/her new blog, but it looks good, so far so happy to spread the word !

another method of avoiding the congestion charge. fly by rug.

i'm sure we're had this sign before but not for a year or so, so here it is again. and this time it's got an interesting horizontal line background for you to enjoy.

i walk past this sign every day and often consider padlocking a bike to this fence, but first removing its greasy chain.

how now brown gown

this toy looks highly loved and no doubt someone would have spent a very sad night without it.

the twin dummy bit is interesting though isn't it ? Perhaps it belongs to (a) siamese twin(s)

there's nothing more boring than digging a hole so workmen often listen to the radio.

but what do they do if they are addicted to Celebrity Big Brother (which is quite good at the moment [shame on me] ) ?

The answer is to take a telly to work and put it by the hole so you can watch whilst you dig.

perhaps it's a sony workman watchman ?

have these two guys just had a fight or is the red on a paramedic ?

how's your daily walk going ?

i've tried to pick up the speed of mine to start preparing for the marathon. i arrived at work quite out of breath and eagerly looked at my pedometer to see what my average speed was (so i can get some feel for how long my marathon's going to take).

unfortunately my pedometer wasn't impressed and actually showed my walk was slower today than usual. i suspect technical trouble.

anyway, on my walk today i saw this little clothing label on the floor which made me think of how i'm doing on my spiritual walk.

the label says 'M' which could mean Medium. but i think it's not as good as that. so i'll pretend it means Male.

Recent world events have re-emphasised the fragility and uncertaintly of life. When things happen to others it makes us realise how any of our lives could (and will) just 'end' at any moment.

This little label on the street has really made me think about what i'm actually doing in life/death. Which is quite a healthy thing to do at the beginning of a new year.

a walk in the park:

upsway down (bin headstand):

heading back home:

only squares visit dirt piles:

we're looking after our friends' children this weekend so they can go off and have a nice quiet weekend. so the question is, how do you amuse 4 children for 2 days ?

i hadn't got a clue, but luckily jane had. she suggested they all drew on a long piece of paper. which they all did, happily, for ages:

when it was my turn to suggest a plan i chose the telly. this too proved popular (as can be seen here):

looks like a pair but they were seperated by a few metres down the street

i've just had my place confirmed for this year's London Marathon.

i've committed to raise £1,500 for the Outward Bound Trust

i'll do more of an appeal in a few weeks time, but those who wish to sponsor me now can go to my justgiving page.

i consider myself a lazy non-sporty type, so this is going to prove very interesting !

plush is such a great word.

here is a butcher. what can we learn from his position on his shop roof ?

he looks like he's up there waiting to shout at customers who are coming to buy his meat products.

a sign FOR a dog rather than of a dog, but it'll still do.

i thought piece of wripped cigarette packet was a little teeny weeny t-shirt at first. but it wasn't.

a giant paper sign stuck on a lamp post.

it's mum, dad and baby bin.

quite interesting that these two people look slightly different. the chap going to the museum looks well turned out, while the bloke going to the tube station looks more mysterious.

it's a pile of diet cokes

we're very big on regional stereotyping in england. that's mostly because every single person who live in a particular region really does have a common stereotypical trait.

take this classic cornish chap, shown here on a london cafe sign. he's displaying classic west cornish behaviour - he's dressed as a pirate and he's eating a foot.

this is still quite an idilic scene despite the graffiti

click to see proper like

this man completely blocked the pavement with his remote dog on a lead. he was oblivious. as appears to be the chap on his mobile phone.

the dog was on one of those retractable lead things and just as mr mobile was about to trip over, the owner pressed the retract button and the dog went flying across the pavement like a windy tape measure thing.

the celebrations aren't quite as popular (poplar?) as last year

what goes around comes around

christmas mannequin

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i've not been looking forward to my morning commutes, especially since the timetable change (which has resulted in much more crowding and a much more unpleasant journey).

however, this morning i got a seat and saw this excellent sunrise. it hasn't been light by the time i've got to London for weeks, so this is a sure sign that summer is on the way !

classic rubber glove:

black glove by a giant flower lorry:

it was the last day of the holiday yesterday so we went ice skating. esther was brilliant since she thought falling down was funny.

kezia needed more help, but that's what happens when you take a 2 year old skating.

since jane and i were both occupied keeping ourselves and our family upright i didn't get any photos of us 'in action'.so here is a general shot:

one of the annoying things about being a bloke is that we have to shave everyday. i find this a waste of time, especially in the morning when i'm rushing to get out of the house (i have the same attitude to food in the morning).

however, one of the good things about having 12 straight days off work has been the opportunity to grow some kind of a beard.

whilst i'm happy to exploit the 'tramp chic' style i've cultivated it's been suggested that it's probably a style more appropriate for vacation (and street living) than the world of office employment.

so, my last non-work activity of the holiday was the lopping of the beard (and shaving of the head). jane (my wife and head trimmer) did the honours up top whilst i removed the growth around my mandibles (do ladies have womandibles ?).

here is the before:

and here is the after:

i've adopted my usual happy photo pose which i know you all enjoy.

remember the old joke about the chicken and the frog in a library ? the chicken kept saying "book, book, book" and the frog replied "read it, read it, read it".

i suspect i could have told that a bit better ... in fact, it's on this frog joke page if you are that interested)

anyway, here is a concept which could help that little froggy to store his books. it's underwater shelving. part of Ikea's new aqua range no doubt.

our friend andrew is shown here to give you some idea of the oversized nature of this dog sign.

kezia pointing at a glove:

another glove close up:

some paths and bridges are just crying out to be followed. this was one looked like it would be great to walk along. the kids thought so too.

but we snubbed it as it wasn't on our route.

there's probably a message about life in there somewhere.

over christmas we went to visit my dad in the village where i grew up. it's got a restored steam train in it so jane, my father and I took the girls along for a look.

it was a cold day and the heating on the carriages was a little leaky hence all the steam.

here are kezia and esther entertaining you with their drumming. i haven't included an audio file for obvious reasons.

here's a button you can press next to Buckingham Palace.

tourists can press the button and all the lights in the palace turn on, a twinkly tune is played and the queen and all her family pop out of the upstairs windows like a cookoo clock. perhaps.

click to enjoy an enlargment opportunity

here is a model of a festive church which we saw at our friends' house last night.

it was all sparkly and glowey and quite kitsch.

here are esther and kezia playing with some clay:

and here is a rather sad looking clay birthday cake made by kezia:

here's an intriguing sign which has many possibly meanings.

* was it written in the 60s when 'cat' was a funky word you appended to any sentence to be cool ? the 'old' referred respectfully to the fact that only rich people could afford cars ?

* are there lots of old cats hobbling around with little catty zimmer frames just round the corner ?

* or is it for cat drivers driving their catty cars ? cats are notoriously fast and unsafe drivers. this is a purr-fect sign for chauf-furs (chauffeurs).

here's me:

i'm not sure what you think about such things (i'm not sure what i think about such things either), but anyway, you might have noticed that the 2005 bloggies have been launched:

You have until 10th January 2005 to get your nominations in (hint hint).

I've not got a clue which categories Funkypancake would fit, but i guess photography, british blog and humorous ? Dunno. Up to you. but only nominate if you think Funkypancake is worth voting for !

thanks

we took the girls to london yesterday to go to the V&A museum, followed by a walk to Oxford Circus (via the Diana Memorial, Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus).

The V&A is a funny old place. We didn't get on very well thanks in part to a tired kezia, but depsite quite a few activity things for kids, it's not really 'their' sort of museum - ie lots of boring things in display cases !

But just look at the size of these things on display !

as seen on cartoons everywhere ...

here's a new category for the new year. i've decided to try and take photos of people and things inside empty picture frames and display boxes.

the Victoria and Albert Museum is excellent for this at the moment as there seems to be lots of displays with nothing in (probably because they've all been stolen !)

here's one to get us started. it's esther and me:

i'm still surprised to see new numbered signs at paddington, so i was delighted to see all these different Page 160s in Paddington yesterday on New Year's Eve.

click to individual pictures to see slightly bigger versions which are still too small to read

random slip of paper seen in the street. will the cat really be played by a kitten ?

click to inspect

brother kev ate too much fine food prepared by my sister-in-law over the Christmas period and promptly fell asleep on the floor in his son's play room.

great choice of book.