london looks great. some of the time. usually, even if you find a nice new modern block there is some 1970s concrete monstrocity in the background. we must learn to love this diversity.
especially since 1970s monstrocities are now turning 30 and achieving senior management responsibilities, particularly in media companies. i was born in 1972, but i’m not senior or management. and that’s monstrous.
here is a nice arch bit near st paul’s cathedral
here is my mum on holiday. just so you know. blue ridge apparently. lucky thing. still, it’s nice and sunny in the uk too.
they are shutting battle hospital down in reading and moving everyone out to the royal berks hospital. there is definately a demob happy vibe around the place. there was popular music being played from transistor radios from at least two different rooms down the corridor where i had to sit and wait. it was like waiting in the sitting area in KwikFit listening to the mechanics changing tyres in the other room. or something.
however, at the moment the battle hospital is looking very run down and increasingly empty. it’s also up for sale.
so, how about we all club together and by a hospital ? we can call it the funkypancake hospital and i can be the Director (job title of choice). we can all pootle about and have a massive game of doctors and nurses.
what do you think. shall we do it ? shall we ? shall we ?
a happy trip to the hospital today. just like the pain clinic, i was told not to come back again. woo hoo !
the specialist was all ready to give me the ‘cronic pain is for life my friend, few people get rid of it completely, most just have to learn to live with it’. But before he could say it I launched in to my ‘it’s loads better now, still occasional pain, but mostly fine’ speech. how we laughed.
there was also a comedy moment when a very tall old lady, who had failed to provide enough ‘evidence’ in her sample tube emerged and explained the situation to a nurse. once the situation was clear, the nurse said:
“has someone brought you along today ?”.
the old lady looked at her and said
“no, i came by … [pregnant pause] … transport”
i wasn’t sure if the nurse wanted her to find a friend to provide the sample instead ?
here is the 8 of diamonds. it was outside blaine-in-a-box so maybe it was his.
at last i got to see him. he’d nearly just finished 33 days when we got there. he was moving which was a good sign.
so, let’s see the man himself first:
here he is (he’s lying with his head to the right with his hand over his face)
here he is from again (head to the right hand side)
now let’s look at the commerce associated with the man. obviously he gets loads from TV deals, but does he get anything from the opportunistic sellers of magical starvation necklaces and £2.50 flashing bunny ears ?
as for the security, it was quite minimal. we went in to the inner-sanctury where they ‘checked’ my bag by vaguely staring at it. instead they went for the truth or dare approach of saying “you’re not going to throw eggs at him are you?” the obvious answer they were looking for was “no”. so that’s what i said. and, as it happens, i wasn’t going to anyway.
extremely interesting was that they DON’T ALLOW DOGS IN TO THE INNER VIEWING AREA. i have a number of theories:
1) Blaine hates dogs
2) Blaine loves dogs and it would break his concentration
3) Security are scared people will throw dogs at Blaine
4) Dogs go mad when they see Blaine
5) There is no doggy reason, but people like rules. it helps them feel they are being looked after
here are a couple of photos of london looking pretty by night for your enjoyment
remember i went to the fiffi parade ? well here is there website (and what an excellent site it is too. i get linked from one of the pages. the magical dog on the front page is most eeery)
fiffi-parade
why not design a little button to stick on things and mark it ‘turbo’.
it sure will make things look high tech and ‘modern’.
why not send me a few pictures of how you got on ?
here is ash. he’s a serial winner. he is holding 4 free meal coupons which he found in crisp packets.
what is his secret ? being an all round nice guy probably.
you probably don’t want to here about it, but here we go. it took 1hr 45 mins to get from paddington to cannon street this morning:
here is a dog picture from the london underground. i’ve never seen a dog on the underground. i’ve seen pigeons but never dogs. it’s a different story in europe of course where dogs are taken everywhere.
here are some cars for sale as suggested by brother edd:
little tank
big watery thing
(links now dead unfortunately)
the big watering thing doesn’t have electric windows, central locking or an alarm, making it a very insecure vehicle in my opinion. but it does go on water.
apologies for the short out(r)age. was due to bad server stuff. sorted now. did it remind you of electricity rationing in the 1970s ? no, me neither.
i like to drink hot water. at home this is no problem. when visiting companies often secretaries get it wrong and bring me cold water or worse, hot water in a spindly glass (asphesdos gloves to the ready).
in restaurants and hotels hot water can prove more complicated. ordering it can be difficult as the waiter often doesn’t listen properly or thinks you are mad. but the main area of variance is the charge.
i was just charged £1.75 for a small cup of hot water in Cafe Rouge on Tottenham Court Road. i was with someone who bought a Cappucino which costed £1.75 too. outrgeous ! i don’t mind paying something as they have to wash the cup, heat the place etc but £1.75 seems a little steep. oh well.
ash was very upset about not picking up the photo this morning. he’s made amends by providing me with a lovely photo of a rather agressive trolley.
ash arrived this morning and said he’d seen a photo at tottenham court road tube station this morning. he’d been too shy to pick it up or take a photo of it with his phone.
it took a while to explain exactly where the photo had been seen, but once i was happy i understood the location i whizzed off down to see if i could find it.
unfortunately i couldn’t see anything photo like in the area where he had described. i even went down in to the station and had a look round there and came back out to street level walking very slowly and examining everything.
in the end i gave up. just as i was walking away i found a passport photo !
the fantastic thing is that this ISN’T the photo that ash saw. it’s a different one. i think i summoned this one to my path by my longing to find a photo.
so where is the one that ash saw ? we don’t know. but he’s going to go looking for it at lunch time. how do i know ? because i’m going to make him go …
update: the photo that Ash saw was never located 🙁
here are some photos of bt tower i took this morning
reflected in a puddle
by a phonebox
through a gap near a cobbler
here is a sign post for life. changed priorities ahead.
it implies some kind of spiritual renewal. or simply a senior management change.
i guess if someone found God for the first time then in a way that would be a senior management change in their life. but that sounds corny, so i won’t say it. sermon over.
