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the lookout

we went to the lookout in bracknell today with our friends Ian and Carolyn. it’s a forest and used to be a major Roman settlement and is very nice (if you like trees, which we do).
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and here’s a view from the top of the viewing tower:
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The viewing tower told us that Paris was 200 miles away, which is nearer than Lands End. It also told us that Australia was 8,800 miles away and the Great Wall of China was 6,400 miles away.
Ultimately it made no difference as the trees had got too high so you couldn’t see Paris, let alone China.

gloves

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picture of a dog

it’s been ages sinces i’ve found a new sign of a hound. so it gives me great pleasure to present you with one today.
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who’s that on the phone ?

here is a lad on a bike on a phone box. a bunch of them had their BMXs and were bunny hopping up benches, across flower beds and up walls in the name of fun.
they were wearing crash helmets which was a little dissapointing. if they were in to danger and destruction they should have gone all the way.
the lad in the picture hopped (whilst still on his bike) off the phone box on to the grey box and then on to the black bin before dropping to the floor and cycling off.
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busker

here is a man playing an instrument which just had one string and a funny thing to wiggle to make the note go wobbly.
it was like a theremin without the electronics. i was very impressed. i asked what it was called and he told me. i was none the wiser as it had a chinese name.
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yet another different style of street cleaning vehicle

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crazy roofs

esther and i spent a lot of time looking at the sky this morning. here is a building we saw with a roof like stairs (according to esther). on the ground level it was very boring shops. the downside to our amateur architecture event was that we kept bumping in to each other.
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inflation hits pound shops

pound shops were so 1980s. inflation has taken it’s toll and nearly a quarter of a century later, we’re got £5 shops in the high street.
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another china tea cup

here are three photos sent to me from cousin mike.
the chap with kermit is probably my wife’s mother’s sister’s husband. but might not be. spot the china cup which i becoming a regular feature. the other is a dog i think.
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and here are some pebbles. i hope they were shadow-proof.
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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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what’s the hold up ?

here are some ladies on the Euston Road making themselves useful
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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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