sweet

Posted on February 13, 2011 by | Leave a comment

So last night I was out and about. No where grand but on a Ghost Walk in the City. It was excellent. I learnt (and have already forgotten) quite a few nifty facts about death (some corners have pretty grisly tails of hanging and murder) and also of life in London many century’s ago.

As much fun as the time spent trooping about was the most memorable part occurred well after the walk. Just as were leaving the place where we had grabbed a bite to eat and to defrost fingers and toes. A lovely young man went down on his right knee and asked his girlfriend to marry him right in front of St Paul’s Cathedral. It appeared she said yes and it also appeared that she was delighted! I base this on the hand across her mouth, a nod and then a fairly impressive kiss! awwww sweet.

It was quite amazing to see this from a far, and I guess also to see such a momentous question being asked. Certainly it will be the closest I will probably get to that particular question!

It was so incredibly sweet.

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film: you win some, you lose some

Posted on February 13, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Going to see a film can be such a delightful pass time or it can be honestly the most excruciating 90minutes. In the last week I have had both experiences.

Shall we start with the win?

The Kings Speech actually managed to live up to the vast amount of hype, yards of press and bulging awards haul. What a funny and lovely film about a mans determination to be better – certainly the future King George was portrayed as rather quick witted and a doting Dad of two very well behaved little girls. Who knows how accurate it is. However definitely an enchanting film for a Saturday night!

Sadly though less luck was had with “Never Let me Go” and now that I have seen it and googled it, done appropriate due diligence I should have known better. It is based on a book by Kazuo Ishiguro who I have previously tried to read. His novels always have great reviews, much like this film – but generally they are completely indecipherable. Boring and detailed and most of the time just plain weird!  There was another sign – Keira Knightly was in it. She has the inability to enthrall me. She always jolts about and looks like a wooden doll – a beautiful one but really there is no fluidity in that woman.

So two films – one great, one….. well really really bad….

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53 days ….

Posted on February 6, 2011 by | Leave a comment

February – god its grim.

If I was ever asked to do a word association for London at the start of the calender year – the words would be grey, drizzle, cloudy, drab….. tripping off my tongue in a moment, without the need for a thesaurus or in fact too much thought. Grim, grim, grimmity grim!

And just as the daylight starts to hang on too the edges of 4pm…..Valentines Day arrives.

It is honestly enough to put you over the edge. The windows of every shop are adorned in red hearts, bows, cupids and there are 2 for 1 offers for those with a special someone in every restaurant. I must say even when completely loved up I would prefer a bunch of flowers on any day with the exception of the 14th of February. I must be in the minority judging by the love propaganda down Oxford Street today.

The good news is that there are only 53 days until April!!

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The things you see on sundays

Posted on February 1, 2011 by | Leave a comment

So these guys are hanging about near the Houses of Parliament in Victoria Gardens for the next month. They are called Nuestros Silencios by Rivelino a Mexican artist. They are in good company with the Burghers of Calais at the other end of the Gardens by Rodin. You have love these surprises on grey London days.

 

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the holiday equation

Posted on January 22, 2011 by | 2 Comments

Possibly not as well known to all as the E=MC2 but for those who respond to a alarm each morning like a Pavlovian creature, dash about with blackberry’s and iphone’s, and spend their days compelled to be connected this less famous relationship will be known.

For every week you have away from work you achieve a single day of zen like calm. So in my case – 3 weeks away = 3 days of a devil-may-care, calm, controlled smiley existence.

But on day 4 when the cheery alarm bleeped me awake – the realisation that while I was away my inbox absorbed more than 1000 emails, the deadline that was weeks away is looming next week (gulp!) hit me right between the eyes. That lovely bubble of calm was popped and I was back on the get-up-get-out meeting roundabout of no time and lots of demands.

 

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Return to London

Posted on January 16, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Well – made it there and back unscathed. Survived the worlds most uncomfortable seats on a plane, watched as Queensland disappeared under torrents of water, basked in the sunshine and was amazed by the quirks of Australian political…. weirdness.

For instance Melbourne’s Lord Mayor, Robert Doyle (who use to be an English Teacher at my High School) wants everyone to walk on the left of the footpath…

….”I know it sounds trivial but keeping to the left as a pedestrian in our main streets means everyone can move more freely and more comfortably,” he said. Herald Sun 2nd Jan 2001

This reminds me of the sign that did the rounds which divided the footpath into tourists and locals, I think originally from Barcelona. So while I agree that it is annoying when people stop in your way, London is crawling with these people, but my goodness is this really the best we can expect from the Lord Mayor of Melbourne.

Then there is the Bike Scheme which has less than 70 users per day.… and why is this… well Australia has a compulsory Helmet law… and you can’t hire the helmet with the bike. Kind of scuppers the spontaneous use of the bikes.

Anyway, I am back in the big smoke where people walk where they fancy and you don’t need a helmet to cycle!

 

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hopeful in heathrow

Posted on December 22, 2010 by | Leave a comment

So it may well be that the travel gods are smiling. I am currently sitting in Terminal 3 waiting for my flight to go from the “gate open 19.25″ to the lovely “go to gate” which hopefully will be followed by the “Plane Departed” status on time and without mishap.

The good old BBC has been full of stories – missed planes, missed weddings, missed Christmas’. And to be fair it is actually pretty grim until you get into the terminal building. 100s of people looking wistfully at signs that will seal their christmasy fate.

For those that don’t know Terminal 3 – I believe it was built by the worlds most misguided architect. What sort of crazy person builds an “open air” waiting area in this country?

While I acknowledge that snow and frost are not the standard fare even in the depths of winter – it is not exactly tropical in temperature at the height of summer either! And all of these people are being asked to mill about under an enormous glass awning waiting for the opportunity to join an outside queue, which will hopefully lead to a nice person and a boarding pass!

Anyway, I have been boarding pass and it is the standard situation in Heathrow – over tired children, people of phones and everyone looking like they have already been traveling for hours.

So with any luck I will see you on the other side of the world!

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