July 2004
big ben
my meeting/reception thing in whitehall finished around 8.30pm. as i came out i noticed the amazing summer evening sun shining on the houses of commons. i spent the next half an hour wandering round taking pictures of this amazing thing. hope you like.
square dancing
i walked through trafalgar square last night and saw these chaps cleaning a glass stage. there are some seats underneath the stage so i suspect it’s a special underneath performance dance thing.
it looked very good (from my angle) but i had to make haste to reach my destination so couldn’t linger.
found passport photo
i really will get round to updating davescollections soon. i was thinking about this today and how i hadn’t found a photo for a few weeks. and there on park lane was this little chap waiting for me.
park lane has treated me well for photos over the years.
might be a glove
might be a glove. or a sock. dunno. i should have gone and picked it up, but i didn’t fancy it. so i didn’t.
an old bollard
i’m trying to remember. is this what all bollards used to look like ? massive, heavy solid plastic triangles ? perhaps someone can help me here ?
breathtaking
this is a bit mysterious. it’s a green bollard with a red one hiding inside (see it poke out of the top). and look how the sign below declares itself.
truely a breathtaking
anything (including bikes) goes
i’ve seen this sign many times, in fact i may even have posted it more than once. but this is the first time i’ve seen it coincided with the Anything Goes sign above.
how to avoid the congestion charge
it’s a little known fact that the congestion charge only applies to vehicles which have the driver below 10 metres from the ground. if it’s above 10 metres then you are clased as an aircraft and are exempt.
this has lead to the creation of all sorts of strange vehicles, including an attempt by London Transport to relocate their drivers upstairs in double decker buses (they abandoned this idea when they realised that they are exempt from the congestion charge anyway).
here is one such example. the driver sits in the bucket dangling on the chain on the end of the arms.
tesco
the tescos next to my office has been under construction for about a year and now it’s finally opened. hoorah.
so, having spent millions on refurbishing it, how did they celebrate the opening ? by hanging some balloons up and making a chap walk about with some cardboard on.
head and shoulders
i’m giving a talk at a conference in september and they’ve asked for a head and shoulders picture to accompany my written paper. so i stood by the window as john the telecoms engineer took my photo.
it was hard to strike a balance between total fool and utter nutter. but i think i managed it.
it took me ages to put all that masking tape across the window.
and here is one i took of me looking more jovial:
apologies for this unnecessary me-ness. it doesn’t happen very often (thankfully)
nicola donati
i walked past the shop where the owner kindly let me shelter last friday. it’s called Nicola Donati and it was Nicola himself who i met.
if his fine tailoring is as good as his kindess to wet strangers then i’d highly recommend him. visit his website
grief
overcome with grief they throw themselves on to the burial mound
giant games
we found a magic shrinking machine so esther could play jenga more competitively.
bollynda
here is our friend lynda. she had a birthday party to celebrate her significance. she occasionally contributes fine items for this site and i was delighted to learn she’s got a new digital camera so we may be seeing more things like this.
i was also delighted to see she had a bollard slung between two sheds in her garden. there was a story behind it which was very good but i won’t tell you what it is. it’ll spoil the surprise if i tell you so you should ask her yourself.
kids under a shrunkened gazebo
having a party ? spitting with rain ? simply send the kids out and make them sit under a gazebo. parents can stay inside the in dry and everyone’s happy.
and then when it drys up then can all sit in a row and eat their puddings:
