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February 2004

the british library

if you are in london and want to see some fantastic things for free then go to the british library. it’s about 2 minutes walk from Kings Cross / St Pancras Station and 5 minutes from Euston.
Original shakespeares, da vinci notebooks, the magna carta, the original handwritten Alice In Wonderland, original Beatle lyrics etc. All to see and enjoy. and there’s some impressive bookshelves too.
there is even a section on stamps which got me thinking. you can stick a stamp on nearly anything and it will travel to nearly anywhere in the world. that’s why we have the phrase “philately will get you everywhere”. i think
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(the blue dog in the foreground is reminding us to be s@fe on the internet)

some lad from CBBC

i went to a conference today and this chap from CBBC was wandering about. he had an entorage of about 10 school girls (who were also presenting). they were hanging on his every word and giggling furiously. it was most amusing.
i think he’s called jake or something
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austin powers egg shot cup

jane ate a boiled egg last night, but the girls had used the egg cups so she used an austin powers shot glass. i think it works.
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Mr Gilbert RIP

Mr Gilbert, the great wig man, has died. and so it goes.
and all his belonging have been thrown in to the street by a company which does that kind of thing.
he was one of the first people i (tried to) blog and it’s the end of an era. i liked walking past his shop door and looking in to see if i could see his bearded head.
i nearly went in last week to ask for a picture. i wish i had now. my last blog of him was in october
i’m blogging this from paddington station, so these photos are but 2 minutes old.
top tip: if you go up to the top floor in paddington station, there is a free wifi hotspot !
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they’ve zapped my strength

i’ve noticed my google page rank has dropped from the heady highs of 7/10 to 4/10. have the quality control people moved in ?
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i’m still number one for a google search for ‘junior pop idol’ which is good. and still the only result if you do a search for “macaroon macaroon macaroon”

chalk alien on pavement by pub

i love chalk graffiti as it’s so temporary. here is a lovely little alien next to the pub opposite my office.
when i took the photo a baker delivering bread said to me “i’m not a real baker, i’m just the driver”, so i said “why are you wearing a bakers hat then matey?” and he couldn’t answer
actually that didn’t happen. he said “that’s not very artistic”. and i said “maybe, but it’s good enough for me”.
because it was and still is.
and it is artistic because of the choice of subject (alien), its style (minimilist) and the choice of media (chalk on pavement by pub)
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glove

here is another fluffy glove. the one on the right looked like it was a glove from a distance so i got my camera out as i approached it.
unfortunately it was not a glove. it was in fact a “doggie-do” which had been deposited in a glove resembling way.
i deliberately didn’t use flash. (perhaps i should have used ‘flush’)
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marsh mellows

these things are neither mellow nor marsh like.
they are simply little clouds that the cloud people have packaged up and send down to us.
they aren’t even good clouds. they are cloud people rejects (they keep the good clouds to use as real clouds). they are but cheap imitations built and packaged up for the tourists.
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no photography signs

in order to fight the system head on and take matter in to our own hands, i’ve decided to collect photos of signs saying no photos.
here is my first one courtesy of cousin mike. i spotted the sign in the background of a photo he sent via the method of email. i’m not sure if the sign was in the background when he dispatched it by email, but it was certainly there when i received it.
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the cost of water

here’s a really exciting story for you. when we moved in to our house just over 2 years ago we were told we would have to pay £55 a month for our water.
quite a jump from the £16/month in our old house. so we said we wanted to go on a meter and we would jolly well show them how little water we used.
after waiting a couple of months for them to install the meter our bill dropped to £21/month ! And now, a year later, they’ve dropped the bill even lower to £13/month. hoorah.
so, the lesson to learn is: get a water meter and ban your family from using water. i suggest turning it off at the main as the ultimate deterent.
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birthday kez

one good thing about starting work so early this morning is that i can take a few breaks and enjoy kezia’s birthday. she’s reached the grand old age of 2.
here is some present opening (kezia is wearing her sleeping attire):
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new sparkly wellies (left) and my (her) little poney and esther
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Read More »birthday kez

sports cars

following a request for car information and pictures, here is some useful information and pictures for anyone doing coursework.
here is a drawing of a sports car (thanks cousin mike). this picture captures the mechanics and the spirit of sports cars. you almost imagine it to drive right off the page. and aren’t those colours great ?
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sports cars have their spiritual side too. here are three sports cars going to a church (thanks pete’s son tim):
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Sports car fact – The addition of a magic tree can increase performance by as much as 8.2% (pete’s son’s tim’s fact).
So there we have it. a comprehensive guide to sports cars.

worms

it’s 4am and i’m sitting here working. the early bird catches the worm. but i think even the worms are still asleep.
it’s kezia’s birthday today and i’ve got a ton of work to do so this seemed the best plan. we’ll see …

accidental self portrait (with rubbish)

here are some found things. i didn’t realise at the time but it’s also a self portrait (it proves i’m wearing a synthetic tie today)
also … doesn’t the basin bottom look like a smiley face ?

click for big versions
update1: this isn’t me after all ! see comment …
update2: They were filming the sequel to Bridget Jones’ Diary around Borough Market (where i took this photo) so this collection of junk may have been an artfully arranged prop.

shoe throwing

here’s something you can do in your lunch breaks. tie a pair of your favourite shoes together and throw them over an electricity wire. i imagine it’s very satifactory when you get them to stay up there.
probably best to use your own shoes for this.
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stopped by the police

i got stopped by the police this morning. sort of. a police van was reversing out of an alley way and i had to stop walking for about 30 seconds so i didn’t get run over.
but it just goes to show how close i am to the edge of the law most of the time.
a few minutes later i saw this sign.
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