maplins is a shop i love. it’s the british radio shack though i don’t think they are related.
anyway, the one just off edgware road has recently installed a giant bouncer to keep trouble out of the shop.
there’s nothing worse than battling gadget nerds, and this red suited inflatable giant will quite literally be able to ‘bounce’ such people out of the shop. he takes up over half the door way !
our good friend andrew went to Japan for two days last week (as you do) in order to take these photos of bollard related strangeness.
here we see illuminated bollards and an animated manequin thing which apparently was waiving a glowing stick.
we went in to town this morning to do some shopping. i went off with kezia to look at guitars and cool stuff whilst esther and jane did proper girl shopping for clothes etc.
kezia and i ended up being in a shopping centre where they were announcing that they were going to turn the christmas lights on and some celebrities were on the way.
so we waited. for 30 minutes. but nothing happened. despite it being past the allotted time. eventually we had to run to meet the others back at the train station.
apparently we were waiting for Bradley Walsh. but we didn’t. So sorry about that.
here are some fairies getting dressed behind the tree and a giant bear giving out teeny weeny bears:
here is the bradley walsh detonating device.
i just love the low winter sunlight, it’s yellow glow and misty rays.
here are jane and julie wrapped up warm with the sun behind them.
we went out for a meal with our good friends julie, andrew, katie and olivia this evening. i had one of the best meals i’ve had for a long long time in a restaurant.
it was a Beefeater. Not quite a Bernie Inn, but never mind (whatever did happen to them ?)
i gave quite a lot to other people on the table but still felt totally fed-up at the end of the meal !
one of the other highlights was seeing a high number of bollards in the kids fun pack. On the cover picture it appeared that this young lad is being attacked by three bollards.
there’s a bit of the isle of wight which has fantastic coloured sands all in the same area. there’s a place where you can make your own coloured sand memorabilia.
esther and kezia made these:
here is the cliff from which the coloured sands come:
click to do a geological inspection)
click to inspect
following on from last’s year’s experiment, here is today’s consumption. much liquid, but little actual food until right at the end of the day.
banana, fruit juice and hot water for breakfast, blueberry muffin for lunch, crisps at 6pm-ish then a cheese fondle and banoffee pie.
i must remember to eat more food in a day. but notice the lack of chocolate (which is nowadays replaced with beer)
it struct me this morning that pigeons survive so well in london becaus they are camouflaged against the grey-ness of the sky, river and buildings.
doesn’t stop them being virmin though !
just look at this scene. it’s a proper building site.
it’s got everything you could wish for – men in flourescent jackets, hard hats, ladders, things high up on scaffolding, holes, dirt, shovels, tractors, wheelbarrows.
brilliant.
the poppy petals were still around this morning. apparently there was one dropped for every person who died in recent wars (including 1st and 2nd).
some cleaners were busy sweeping the memories up, but there were still lots left.
