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04 December 2011
Ready for Christmas
Have stocked up the cellar (cupboard under the stairs) so we are ready to go. Probably need to stock up on Paracetamol too!
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- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
01 December 2011
St. Pancras Station
Look! Look! A Christmas tree made completely out of Lego. But it's a tree! A Christmas tree! Made of Lego!
Took three months to build apparently.
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Took three months to build apparently.
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Location:St. Pancras Station
28 November 2011
London Book Barge
This made me look twice as I walked through Paddington basin. It's always a treat to walk along the canal in a morning on the way to either of our Paddington clients, especially when it isn't chucking-it down with rain. The sight of the floating bookshop really made my morning though as it is such a beautifully bonkers, brilliant, British thing to do. By lunchtime he had quite a crowd round the gangplank; good luck to him.
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- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Paddington
18 November 2011
17 November 2011
Children in Need
R has been busy making cakes for J to sell in work.
I know I said "composition" and "lighting" but this one is about me being inspired by a very determined nine year-old!
I know I said "composition" and "lighting" but this one is about me being inspired by a very determined nine year-old!
A-picture-a-day (ish)
It's not often that I'm inspired by a programme on Channel 5. To be honest it's bloody rare for me to actually watch Channel 5 as I have never been particularly impressed with its mixture of low-quality, lifestyle magazine programming and old films that I carefully avoided when they were in the cinema.
Still, a programme on how to take better photographs (I think they may have had loftier aspirations for it) caught my eye so I gave it a go. It didn't greatly change my opinion of Channel 5 but something that the presenter said has stuck in my mind.
He was making the point that we all have cameras with us, pretty much all the time, in our phones. In addition the fact that it is "only a camera phone" a) isn't true because it's probably at least half-way decent and b) shouldn't be an excuse for not thinking about composition, lighting, etc. As a serial chopper-off of heads and as someone who's subjects are often a dot in the distance this rang a bell.
So I'm going to have a go at a bit of a photo diary. I can't guarantee that every shot will be inspirational (or even interesting to anyone other than me) but I will attempt to capture things that seemed important or amusing at the time. Target will be more than one per month but less than one per day.
Let's see how it goes.
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Still, a programme on how to take better photographs (I think they may have had loftier aspirations for it) caught my eye so I gave it a go. It didn't greatly change my opinion of Channel 5 but something that the presenter said has stuck in my mind.
He was making the point that we all have cameras with us, pretty much all the time, in our phones. In addition the fact that it is "only a camera phone" a) isn't true because it's probably at least half-way decent and b) shouldn't be an excuse for not thinking about composition, lighting, etc. As a serial chopper-off of heads and as someone who's subjects are often a dot in the distance this rang a bell.
So I'm going to have a go at a bit of a photo diary. I can't guarantee that every shot will be inspirational (or even interesting to anyone other than me) but I will attempt to capture things that seemed important or amusing at the time. Target will be more than one per month but less than one per day.
Let's see how it goes.
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27 September 2011
Childrey 10k 2012: the countdown starts here
Went for a great run on Sunday - sun just coming up, not a cloud in the sky, birds singing, blah, blah, blah - and so I was tempted to push on when I got to one of my usual turn-around points.
I spotted a track up, onto the Ridgeway that I hadn't used before and (after a continuous 2k climb) I found myself looking down onto the Vale of the White Horse and perspiring heavily. In the mood to explore I hacked along for a bit and then found another new (to me) track that Jeremy had told me about, back to the village.
As I got home I was delighted to find that the route was almost exactly 10k and would therefore (with a little manipulation) make a perfect, more challenging version of the Childrey 10k.
It's much more off-road than the existing route but shouldn't be too weather dependent. I'm going to try it a few more times over the next couple of months and then get a notice in the village newsletter before Christmas so that we can get the race on people's New Year's resolution list.
If anyone fancies joining me to try it out, drop me a Tweet or leave a comment below.
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I spotted a track up, onto the Ridgeway that I hadn't used before and (after a continuous 2k climb) I found myself looking down onto the Vale of the White Horse and perspiring heavily. In the mood to explore I hacked along for a bit and then found another new (to me) track that Jeremy had told me about, back to the village.
As I got home I was delighted to find that the route was almost exactly 10k and would therefore (with a little manipulation) make a perfect, more challenging version of the Childrey 10k.
It's much more off-road than the existing route but shouldn't be too weather dependent. I'm going to try it a few more times over the next couple of months and then get a notice in the village newsletter before Christmas so that we can get the race on people's New Year's resolution list.
If anyone fancies joining me to try it out, drop me a Tweet or leave a comment below.
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Location:On a train
23 September 2011
Home is where the heart is
Back from a brief business trip and I'm reminded how much comfort I find in the familiar setting and customs of home.
I love travelling, even when it is for work. I never cease to be touched by how lovely people (generally) are, how happy to look after you and be helpful, and how proud they always are of their country. This trip was no different and we sampled some excellent Milanese food last night and the odd glass of some excellent vino.
But there is nothing like being back in Blighty after a few nights away. Just getting onboard the BA flight starts that gradual re-acclimatisation and gets me looking forward to being back with the family and enjoying the weekend.
Enjoy yours!
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I love travelling, even when it is for work. I never cease to be touched by how lovely people (generally) are, how happy to look after you and be helpful, and how proud they always are of their country. This trip was no different and we sampled some excellent Milanese food last night and the odd glass of some excellent vino.
But there is nothing like being back in Blighty after a few nights away. Just getting onboard the BA flight starts that gradual re-acclimatisation and gets me looking forward to being back with the family and enjoying the weekend.
Enjoy yours!
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Location:Up in the air
22 September 2011
Confessions of a technology junkie
It is really only when sat in an aeroplane, stranded on the tarmac due to a "security incident" at my destination with a fading iPhone battery that I realised quite how dependent I have become on technology in general and the iPhone in particular.
As a regular commuter I have my little rituals and habits. I check the weather as I get up and that the train is on time (on my iPhone) before getting in the car. I go through my to-do list in OmniFocus on my iPad as soon as I'm seated. I check out the headlines from my favourite websites and newspapers in FlipBoard (iPad) and then get down to email or reviewing material that the team have tagged for my review in Box.net (iPad again). Before the train pulls in, I'll have had a couple of text exchanges with one or other of the team or another member of the management team (they know I sit in the quiet carriage!).
And then I'm sat on a plane with a phone battery that I thought would have lasted until I got to the hotel and my MiFi device is flat because I forgot to charge it before leaving the office. Sure my iPad is good for another couple of hours but I'm deprived of the Internet as it is WiFi only. No Twitter. No headlines. No being able to look up what the security incident is and find out how long I'm going to be bloody sat here!
Nothing else for it then: I'm going to have to talk to my fellow passengers...
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
As a regular commuter I have my little rituals and habits. I check the weather as I get up and that the train is on time (on my iPhone) before getting in the car. I go through my to-do list in OmniFocus on my iPad as soon as I'm seated. I check out the headlines from my favourite websites and newspapers in FlipBoard (iPad) and then get down to email or reviewing material that the team have tagged for my review in Box.net (iPad again). Before the train pulls in, I'll have had a couple of text exchanges with one or other of the team or another member of the management team (they know I sit in the quiet carriage!).
And then I'm sat on a plane with a phone battery that I thought would have lasted until I got to the hotel and my MiFi device is flat because I forgot to charge it before leaving the office. Sure my iPad is good for another couple of hours but I'm deprived of the Internet as it is WiFi only. No Twitter. No headlines. No being able to look up what the security incident is and find out how long I'm going to be bloody sat here!
Nothing else for it then: I'm going to have to talk to my fellow passengers...
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Heathrow
20 January 2011
"I Speak Because I Can" by Laura Marling
I had a couple of revelations just before Christmas.
The first was while I was on the motorway to IKEA (what's not to get excited about in those words on their own?) and I'd grabbed a pile of un-listened to CDs to relieve the boredom. The one that made it into the CD player first was Hidden by These New Puritans; none of the others got played as I was utterly blown away by the sheer breadth, depth and fantastic ambition of the album. I realised that this was probably the first really new (to me) band that I had "got into" for quite a long time.
The second came a few days later when I read a blog by Nick Southall (@sickmouthy), a fellow These New Puritans acolyte and former music journalist. He had written a post about his Top 2010 Albums and I realised I hadn't heard of any of them. Of course that doesn't mean that I've been living in musical isolation all year (some of the bands are a *bit* obscure) but there has probably been way too much Radio3, Radio4 and buying "best ofs" like this one. There certainly hasn't been enough listening to 6Music and discovering new stuff.
So, thinks I, the time has come to discover some new stuff and @sickmouthy's top 10 seems like as good a place as any to start. He has informed opinions on this stuff and that makes him a better guide than the album charts or Amazon reccommends.
I don't intend to write a detailed review of the albums, just a few impressions really. The reason for blogging about this is to see if I can reinvigorate my love of new music and expand my horizons rather than just extending my already huge music collection with more of the same.
So I decided to start with Laura Marling as I've been building a bit of a folk collection thanks to my complete love affair with The Unthanks (discovered by way of a session on the excellent Radcliffe & Maconie Show). Maybe this wasn't the most adventurous start but I had to pick one and... it's lovely. Not outstanding or earth-shattering but lovely.
Laura Marling has a great voice (I would say she bears some comparison to early Sandy Denny but with the odd - alarming - hint of Alannis Morisette and k.d.lang) and the tunes here are good enough to set her apart from the slew of of female singer/ song-writers who seem to be kicking around at the moment. It's not too pop-y (unlike the tedious Ellie Goulding) and neither is it so scarily folk-y (which I admit some of the Unthanks stuff is) that it's inaccessible to your average punter.
I'm enjoying it and I'll chalk this one up as a "hit" but I wouldn't say my musical tastes have been expanded yet.
Some of the others on the list look a bit more challenging...
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The first was while I was on the motorway to IKEA (what's not to get excited about in those words on their own?) and I'd grabbed a pile of un-listened to CDs to relieve the boredom. The one that made it into the CD player first was Hidden by These New Puritans; none of the others got played as I was utterly blown away by the sheer breadth, depth and fantastic ambition of the album. I realised that this was probably the first really new (to me) band that I had "got into" for quite a long time.
The second came a few days later when I read a blog by Nick Southall (@sickmouthy), a fellow These New Puritans acolyte and former music journalist. He had written a post about his Top 2010 Albums and I realised I hadn't heard of any of them. Of course that doesn't mean that I've been living in musical isolation all year (some of the bands are a *bit* obscure) but there has probably been way too much Radio3, Radio4 and buying "best ofs" like this one. There certainly hasn't been enough listening to 6Music and discovering new stuff.
So, thinks I, the time has come to discover some new stuff and @sickmouthy's top 10 seems like as good a place as any to start. He has informed opinions on this stuff and that makes him a better guide than the album charts or Amazon reccommends.
I don't intend to write a detailed review of the albums, just a few impressions really. The reason for blogging about this is to see if I can reinvigorate my love of new music and expand my horizons rather than just extending my already huge music collection with more of the same.
So I decided to start with Laura Marling as I've been building a bit of a folk collection thanks to my complete love affair with The Unthanks (discovered by way of a session on the excellent Radcliffe & Maconie Show). Maybe this wasn't the most adventurous start but I had to pick one and... it's lovely. Not outstanding or earth-shattering but lovely.
 |
| I Speak Because I Can |
Laura Marling has a great voice (I would say she bears some comparison to early Sandy Denny but with the odd - alarming - hint of Alannis Morisette and k.d.lang) and the tunes here are good enough to set her apart from the slew of of female singer/ song-writers who seem to be kicking around at the moment. It's not too pop-y (unlike the tedious Ellie Goulding) and neither is it so scarily folk-y (which I admit some of the Unthanks stuff is) that it's inaccessible to your average punter.
I'm enjoying it and I'll chalk this one up as a "hit" but I wouldn't say my musical tastes have been expanded yet.
Some of the others on the list look a bit more challenging...
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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