do any of you live in or around belfast ? if so, can you let me know via email ?

cruets is a word like condiment which should be used more in every day life. i managed to sneak in to this picture too.

they were giving away free 3d glasses with one of the freebie london papers last night. for once they were actually quite comfortable so i decided to wear them my entire journey. it made reading the paper more fun and had the added advantage of discouraging anyone from sitting next to me.

i took this photo to show the power of 3d glasses in a packed commuter train.

lesson learnt 1 - always look like a slightly unhinged nutter if you want some space.

lesson learnt 2 - after wearing 3d glasses for half an hour, your eyes compensate so when you take them off your eyes still see different colours for a while. i tested this by looking at green grass with one eye then the other. probably making me look as mad as when i was wearing the glasses.

experiment over. next.

i've got a number of days off up to the end of June and i'm trying to think of some funkpancake-esque things to do. perhaps i'll have 'Urban One Day Adventures' which might involve me wandering around somewhere taking pictures.

London is the obvious place to go as that's quite good for photos. Russell's done a few cool things here.

i may not bother, but i might not not.

Also, next Thursday i've got a full day in Edinburgh for site-seeing fun, so any specifics for there would be gratefully received !

leave ideas in the comments or drop me an email blog@funkypancake.com

oh, and this picture was taken by me lying slumped down a little hill thing and turned upsway down

(thanks to Tony and the other chap off the recent portrait course for letting me post these photos)

and thanks to everyone else for all your fantastic encouragments !

photos by the great tony who has been a great camerist friend on our studio portrait photo course

tony (not big eye) was embarrassed that i wore my cracker hat on a walk in the park, so he took this picture. he'd given me the hat (as a present in a cracker which was provided), so i think he's only got himself to blame.

(by the way, i'm blowing my cheeks out here - my face isn't usually quite this deformed)

i had coke/coffee with Russell yesterday. I'm pleased my camera came out in this photo, as it's on its last few outings before i get a replacement (assuming i've been good all year)

you can see this on his blog here. his funky photographical contraption is most excellent.

well, so much has been happening that i haven't caught on camera.

yesterday i spen the day with MPs and other industry good-bods at Portcullis House then a drinks reception at Number 11 downing street (just downstairs from where Tony lives - in fact we heard his kid running about).

of course modern security means you can't take photos etc which is how it should be.

hot-topic blunkett walked past whilst i was in portcullis house, but i suppose it is his office.

and i bumped in to Moira Stewart again close up in the street. i asked her if i could take her photo and she said "oh please don't" so i didn't but then we had to walk down the same small bit of street together for 20 seconds. just as we parted company she looked me in the eye and said "thank you very much for asking, i really appreciate that, have a good day". so i pass that on to you dear reader.

it's my birthday today, but since i'm home alone at the moment, we had a birthday cake yesterday. here's a self portrait i took whilst nearly dropping the camera in my cake.

someone pointed out that i don't appear much on the blog, so here i am playing my bass guitar standing at a slightly odd angle. (thanks to peter for the band photos today)

i'm not a vegatarian. but if i was (and wasn't married) i'd be interested in taking a vegetarian out for just £3.

this father's day picture by kezia is spot on !

this is a self portrait i took whilst sliding along. the camera was upsway down, rather than me (at this time)

the only sport i do is walking. and that's not particularly sporty. but when i was off at the winter olympics i got to have a go at skiing

look how relaxed and natural i looked whilst moving slowly on two pointy flat sticks

here is the steepest incline i went down. i nearly dissappeared off down that dip to the right at one point, but managed to catch hold of the rope to stop myself.

i had a great time though and would consider going on a ski holiday. so there.

today i am 400 (in months).

that's 33 and third in years. 33 and a third is of course the speed of a long playing record and i am therefore a long player and i'm now old.

(thanks to tony for the photo)

i found this great box in our garage and decorated it with a nice smiley face to greet paul and liz at our front door. i used to share a house with paul when we were at university and such japes were common place.

unfortunately i ran up stairs with it on my head to surprise esther who was trying to go to sleep and stubbed my toe and made it bleed.

see how i suffer for my art.

on the 1st December 2005 i shall be 1000 400 (measured in months from my birth). i think that's quite exciting.

but how should i celebrate the occasion on the blog ? i think i need to start preparing now, so all suggestions greatly received ! something participative which involved you the reader would be good too.

have a think and let me know

my friend paul (an accountant) has pointed out that i'll actually be 400 months old not 1000 ! oops. i'm sure i'm 1000 somethings though. i need a new battery for my mental calculator.

but, as paul points out, it's still worth celebrating a 400th birthday.

here i am with my festival hat shortly before i left. i only really saw Dinosaur Juniorand the Charlatans today before i ran out of energy and went home ! We've got other things planned for today so that's probably it for me and Reading 2005.

but you can watch some of the bands here for the next 30 days.

33. that's a funny age. seems old if your young and young if you're old. so much already done, so much to do.

half my life ago i was 16 and a half. an interesting time.

here's a poster esther made for a party we had a few weeks back. i'm glad to see we are all looking very smart and smiley !

i'm doing something very important at esther's birthday party, but what is it ? those who were there (including tony who took this photo) aren't allowed to answer.

here's a low down self portrait in a street mirror.

i'm a little ashamed to be caught wearing beige slacks and trainers ! whatever happened to my combat trousers and doc martens you ask ? well, i'm wearing them today, so not much !

it's always good to have another career in mind. here is me playing the part of a jolly cobbler.

click for big

i'm feeling quite grim at the moment. esther was off school all last week with a malady and i think it may have finally caught up with me.

this is the most painful part of my body right now:

as a precaution all today's entries were preloaded yesterday.

so if the world ends tomorrow morning and i don't comment on it, that's why.

not only did i find the best bar in the world ever this evening, but i also went to a very nice restaurant called the Falfaff or something.

i sat next to a chatty Dutch chap who is in the sugar business. it makes all the difference if someone is happy to conversate with you when you are dining alone.

he kindly took this rear portrait of me. my head is very bald:

here is the bar from the outside:

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.

self portrait in the house of commons loos

i took my 10,000th photo with my Sony DSC-P71 camera this morning. Here it is. A self portrait of the camera. I bought the camera in September 2002, so that's 10,000 photos in 16 months.

i do love my camera - But i was a little disappointed to discover the numbering has now gone back to 1. which means i will get duplicate file names and may have trouble uploading things to the blog.

here is photo number 10,000 (also known as photo number 1)

here is photo number 9999

does anyone know anyone who know's someone who works for sony and could pursuade them to sponsor the blog and/or give me a new camera ?

Whilst we're talking about numbers, i've now posted over 1,500 entries and have around 1000 comments since april last year. this month we've had over 4,800 unique visitors and shifted 2.2GB of bandwidth !

what a bizarre thing bloggin is.

on the long walk to work i occasionally see people checking their reflection in shop windows. someone's come up with the idea of a full length mirror in the street so people can simply check what they look like.

this mirror was particularly unwide suggesting it's targetted at the skinnier commuter

i said they'd be no more pictures of me, but here i am yet again. this time i've managed to secure a blue wig from the same charity shop as everything else i've bought this week.

i've provided you with a desk shot (with the now ubiquitous cemetry jacket) and a head shot. i need to develop a proper smile for photos. perhaps i need media training.

the wig is not some novelty item - it's an actual proper wig with a an actual proper inside bit so you can get it to fit properly. Madonna used to take her stuff round to these local charity shops, so maybe it's one of hers.

also note the tidyness of my desk in preparation for an office move in two weeks. more about this another day ...

here are some 6 month blogaversary hair styles. i went for the retro police mug shot approach. the key thing is to look like i'm enjoying myself.

interesting, one of my entries on the first day of blogging 6 months ago involved wig-wearing (one of the wigs is featured again today to give wig-continuity)