The World Naked Bike Ride 2006

Another "Housmans" gem - Apparently once a year a load of people strip off and cycle around in order to protest against societies dependency on oil...quite why one's clothing needs to removed in order to achieve this objective isn't made terribly clear on their website, which makes me suspect it's just a bunch of nudists fishing for an excuse to flaunt public decency legislation... ;)

The first ones to take place in England were in 2004, the event is now spread over several locations with varying numbers (between 2 and 250) participating in each place, from the looks of things some police forces in rural areas try to get the participants to cover up their naughty bits, but the MET have a history of just leaving the London group to get on with it, for once effectively demonstrating that they *do* have more important things to be worrying about than a few people in their birthday suits cycling in a "leasurely" fashion around Hyde Park...perhaps Londoners are just more jaded than most...

Takes all sorts I suppose, although I do wonder why they have "World Naked Bike Ride" T-shirts on sale...it's a bit of a contradiction if you ask me to celebrate/commemorate a naked bike ride by buying items of clothing... ;)

Funny T-Shirt...

...spotted in "Housmans" window - reads "TEENAGERS - Tired of being harrassed by your stupid parents? ACT NOW! Move out, get a job and start paying your own bills while you still know everything." ;)

Blogs and social media forum 2006 - update

...wifi too! This morning saw a lot of excellent speakers, you probably wouldn't be interested in the details, and an absolute hammer blow approach to getting the message home about how good social, web 2.0 style interactions can be for the proliferation of knowledge...I had a nice lunch of Irish meat pie and a pint, met some of the other guys from work and now back to the action...I'm going to champion putting our docs on a Wiki when I get back to the office...so obvious! ;)

Wow...

Full signal down here..! ;)

Blogs and social media forum 2006

At the Hilton in Edgeware Road today for the Blogs and social media forum, wasn't sure I was going to make it, been really quite ill the last couple of days, but despite everything public transport could throw at me, here I am, have registered already, just having a cup of earl grey in the local greasy spoon (as I got here about half an hour early) more later perhaps, but maybe not as the conference facilities are four stories underground! Could be a signal issue! ;)

This is just a hunch...

...but I *think* we might have a number of West Ham supporters in our road... ;)

Tesco Water Garden update

Just watching the F1 qualifying, but thought I would post a couple of pics from the garden -

- the water garden is coming along nicely, those clay blobs do make the water murky though (i'll keep flooding it with rainwater, we'll get there), and the tiny basil seedlings are really thriving (so my experiment may be successful...) -

- (anyway, back to the racing now!)... ;)

The Lincoln Lounge and Chop Chop!

Bit worse for wear today, went out for a few drinks last night with some chaps from the office...it *was* going to be karaoke in Soho, but that was all booked up, then it was going to be pool at the "Elbow Room" in Islington, but then there weren't enough of us, so we ended up in the Lincoln Lounge, which is a very small, normally smoke filled and packed out (ages to get served) bar (with interesting decor) -

- just across from the office...the choice of beer has improved since my last visit (about a year ago), and thanks to the decidedly clement weather most people were standing on the pavement outside -

- so it was largely smoke-free and actually very easy to get served...! We whiled away a pleasant few hours chatting, and then (as blood sugar levels began to plunge) sought food in the form of Chinese at the perfectly named "Chop Chop!" -

- which is basically the "McDonalds" of the Chinese food world, in fact, and sorry for not taking a picture of it, but it's worse(better?) than McDonalds because you actually have to fill out a form to make your order, it looks a bit like a national lottery slip...everything has a number on the menu and you just put a tick next to what you want, and specify a quantity...so I had hot and sour soup for my starter (which was very tasty indeed, but spilt all over the saucer by the hasty waiter) -

- the others had a selection of other classic dishes, which arrived within about 90 seconds of ordering (looking pristine) -


- the nice thing was, despite the conveyor belt-style rapid service, they were still able to knock me up a sweet and sour pork (hong kong style) that wasn't on the menu (why?) for my main, and the *really* nice thing is nothing on the menu is more than about £3.90 (and the portions are extremely generous... ;)
Anyway, my last train home was at 21:55, so I had to dash from the table (before paying my bill, so I owe someone some cash), but missed my connection at East Croydon and had to sit around for 25 minutes, ran from the train when I got to Redhil to the bus stop (as there was a bus sitting there) but unfortunately it was going the wrong way, the driver said he would be back round "in ten mintues" - so I wandered around Redhill a little bit to waste some time -

- but twenty minutes later the 100 turned up, so I got on that, but the 100 stops at the hospital, so I had to walk the balance, suppose I finally got in at about half twelve... :(

Bah...

Barbecued spare ribs with Peri Peri and Mango...

...for supper last night, prior to cooking marinade in a mixture of sliced peri peri, mango, olive oil, garlic, sticky american-style smoked BBQ sauce, a generous grind of pepper and a good few shakes of tabasco habanero sauce (omg! Tabasco now comes in gallon jugs!) for as long as you can, then stoke up the BBQ.

Meanwhile soak your sweetcorn in water (for at least ten minutes), pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees and put the ribs on a baking tray, bake them for 25 minutes, turning once, then, when the BBQ coals are completely white and the heat is intense, cook 'em, turning frequently and moving them away from the worse of the flames that will spring up when the oil hits the coals...they only need a couple of minutes...

Take the sweetcorn out of the water, chop it into four bite-sized bits (cuts down on the greasy face factor), put them on a skewer and liberally cover the kernels with butter and a nice grind of seasoning, then cook on the coals...

Oh and Flyingpops had a veggie burger, but I've no idea how Mr Tesco made that...you'll have to check his blog... ;)

The Crinan Street Ghost

The office where I work, in Crinan Street (in Islington (in London)) is not a modern structure, it is an imaginative conversion of a building constructed on the banks of the BattleBridge Basin in 1903 (in order to house a bottling plant, administrative office and warehouse)...so it's got a bit of history behind it...

Now, (stick with me) this is my desk ornament, from the "Kinder Egg" scary halloween range from last year...Flyingpops built it at Earlswood station, kindly gifted it to me, and I brought it into work and it's been living on my desk ever since...very strangely though, each day when I come in he has either moved or bits of him have been dismantled, and the empty shell cases next to him are usually under the keyboard...a bit annoying...but I just pick him up, or pop him back together and get on with things...(thinking incautious cleaners)...
But, it turns out, little incidents like this are not uncommon around the place, when I began to prod, stories of desk events of a similar scale began to emerge from all over the office, and not the kind of thing you would think that the sole, kindly-looking cleaner could even conceivably have *time* to accomplish during her rounds, let alone have the inclination to - Moving mice, vanishing pens, repeated keyboard leg retractions (always the same one, night after night after night) so much so that one colleague (DJMathu) resorted to firmly selotaping his up!
Stories have also emerged from colleagues who work in the office late at night having odd feelings, or seeing things, one report spoke of a floating apparition, that when stared directly at promptly vanished, and another eye witness who wished to be referred to as 'ego sum mercator' said "one time I was walking up to a door with nobody around and for no logical reason I completely jumped and span around, convinced a person was right behind me"...he is also the person that clued me up to a hidden treasure, lurking in one of the fire escapes -

- looks like a number of loyal workers passed away during the war, did they die here, or on the front, perhaps leaving unfinished business...?

So, do we have a bored security guard, a cleaner who could be a bit more careful - or - is something else going on...of a more supernatural nature...?

BOO!! ;)

Kings Place, York Way - update

Snuck onto the building site a few days ago to see how they are getting on (last time I checked on them this was the scene)...and...it's a big hole! Funny to think that just on the other side of that wall is the canal! If that gave way you would have a lot of drowned builders....

...wonder how they are going to free the diggers of the hole when they are done...? ;) Or do they just entomb them in the concrete (kidding ;)...anyway, if you want to see what it's going to look like when it is finished you can check it out here, really amazing facade, glass like waves...it's still a long way off though!

Gone to the Dogs - Greyhound racing in Hove

So Saturday night we headed off to Hove (near Brighton) to go and watch (and place bets on) the Greyhound Racing, this was my second time so I kind of knew what to expect...They do this quite good deal (well, for me anyway) whereby you pay £12 entry and you get a form guide and a number of vouchers - one is like a lottery scratchcard, no idea what you can win but none of us did, one is a free £1 bet on either a 4-race or 6-race accumulator (I did a lucky dip and lost, but the odds are terrible), one is a voucher for dinner (which was pretty bad, I *think* they were trying to do tandoori, but they should have picked a bit of chicken with some meat on it) -

- and the last two get you free drinks at the bar (a pint of anything on tap or a soft drink), oh yes, and then you bet money on the races! We decided to bet £1 each per race...Flyingpops picked her dogs based purely on their names and went for "Place" bets which means the lucky dog can come in either first or second and you still win...I decided to pick the favorites (I'm not much of a gambler) and go for "Win" (which means they must come in first), and between us we cleaned up - either she or I had a winning ticket for every race! We came home just over £4 up, so if we had scaled that up and bet larger sums we could have come home considerably richer...but it's just not worth the risk if you ask me! ;) I think the whole evening wound up costing under £30 (for the pair of us) which isn't bad for a whole night's entertainment!

I did try to take a few shots of the dogs zooming around the track, but in the low light they just came out as streaks (or pitch black) because the use of flash photography is banned (for obvious reasons)...so it looks like you need a nice bright day to shoot anything that moves quite that quickly... ;)

Interestingly, this isn't the only way to approach the racing, you *can* book a nice table right by the window and go for the a la carte menu rather than the "chip van"-style "Next! Whacha want?" canteen, but then you might miss out on the amazing atmosphere down by the track (during the 10th race of the evening I saw people *still* tucking into their main courses)...it's a tricky one to call...might try it posh-style next time... ;)

It's excellent fun though, regardless...(but then, we didn't loose loads of money :)

ABC's LOST - The Lost Experience (game)

...if you are playing along with "The Lost Experience" then may I recommend this website, it's been rather helpful for me a couple of times already...(and will help you catch up if you have no idea what I am on about)...it's certified safe to people who aren't up to date with Season 2 btw... ;)

Careful what you are doing while you are playing though, at one point I nearly dropped my glass of water in suprised shock (bloody monkey)!!

On another note, we are off to watch some dog racing in a little while, pictures later if I take any good ones (but it is raining pretty hard unfortunately)...

Update - if you want to start the game yourself from the beginning and see how far you can get spoiler free (it’s supposed to run for several months), it begins with this 'phone number - 0206 861-5017 (which appeared on Channel 4 in a fake advert for the Hanso foundation a few weeks back) – and this website - http://thehansofoundation.org/

ABC's LOST - "Two for the road"

OMFG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BEST EPISODE EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!

I watched it on my PSP on the train, and when...*that*...happened I GASPED, LOUD (perhaps that's the wrong word)...everyone in the carriage looked round at me in *PANIC*...so it was the kind of noise that would provoke that reaction from 50-odd bored commuters...I had to mouth "s o r r y" to the crowd afterwards...but what on EARTH is going on????

I suspect M is framing HG...got to watch it again though before I make up my mind...I *heart* LOST 4 eva...

Evidence of Global Warming...

...(if further were required) is that I have now had my second BBQ of the year (Peri Peri pork ribs with Mango, got some new marinade from the tiny African shop in Redhil), the weather reports were quite correct, it was glorious....

- (okay, perhaps a bit too much propellant on reflection there ;)...The first one was last Saturday - 29th April - which was admittedly only marginally good enough (Flyingpop's opted to eat her kebabs in the living room), so I checked back on the blog and last year the weather didn't get good enough until the 16th of May...that's a pretty dramatic jump! So it looks like global warming is real (and making our weather better)...Damn... ;)

BBC Countryfile Photo Competition

So the BBC have launched a charity calendar competition, with a theme of "The Weather", thought I might try my hands at it, already got some nice pictures (imho) of various conditions, what do you think of these..?




Never know, might stand a chance, these are last years winners, all very dark interestingly...Only problem is that they won't accept emailed entries, which is a bit old fashioned of them, so in order to enter I'm going to need to get them printed and actually post them in...bah... >;P

UK Local Elections 2006

Well, today is polling day for the local elections (I spotted this car stuck in the traffic jam around Kings Cross obviously trying to do a bit of last minute canavassing for "Nuruxxaman 'Mukul' Hira" of the "Respect party")...our area, oddly enough lacking a "Respect" party candidate, is (as I mentioned once before) a Tory safe seat, with a smattering of other parties holding sway regionally...Flyingpops was approached by a Tory canvasser the other day and innocently asked who was likely to win our seat (Earlswood and Whitebushes) and was told that it was a close run thing between the Tories and Labour...but was this reverse psychology to stop us tactically voting Lib Dem? It's been bothering me! Being politicians though the answer is probably no...they just aren't that clever... ;)

update - Whittleman just told me that the "Respect" party are (and I quote) "Galloway's bunch of monkeys"...and he's right too...can you imagine Galloway as PM? Hahaha... ;)

Anyway, in other news it's forecast that the temperature today is going to reach 25 degrees (hotest day of the year so far), in direct response the car park at the station had loads of spaces, the trains were *empty* and I have left my coat at home... :)

01:02:03 04.05.06

"Tonight, shortly after 1 AM, our clocks will show a really funny time and date combination: 01:02:03 04.05.06. This is something won't happen again until next millennium". - found on Boingboing... ;)

I guess it was last month in the US then...sorry, you missed it... ;)

Nyko AirFlo mouse

My new mouse for the office - on the face of things it's a pretty standard optical mouse (3 button and wheel) but built into the interior is a little case fan that blows cool air onto your palm! They are quite reasonable too! Not sure I would use one at home as it isn't exactly whisper quiet but in the office (with it's general ambient babble) you can't detect it at all... ;)

So I'm going to have a nice cool mouse-hand this summer... :)

Marwell Zoo

So, Bank Holiday and another exciting trip out exploring, this time Marwell Zoological Park...! It had been a tough decision in the morning because the weather report was pretty bad, but as it turned out the weather was awesome...so a good call! ;)

Now, wandering around the zoo (it's huge, by the way), it was clear to see that not every animal is happy in captivity...and I can break it down thusly - any ground (or) -

- water-based bird life - Very happy indeed -

- Any grazing animal -

- of any shape or size -

- Extremely happy (as long as they had plenty of grass/hay and weren't kept too near predator pens -

- Any birds that normally like to fly around a lot - a bit miserable -

- and finally, anything that normally kills and eats any of the above -

- are generally extremely miserable, pacing in small circles, over and over again (making them easy to take pictures of) -

- but then, what kind of zoo would it be without some big cats? They really, really need a much bigger place to live, with some forest (like the new enclosures at Chessington)...and I know some people are going to disagree with me here, but they should be given the opportunity to hunt live prey, or at least some realistic simulation of it...meat zooming through the enclosure on wires or some such solution...Anyway, animal wellfare aside, the grounds are fantastic -

- the animals are (largely) happy looking (especially the lemurs who even seemed content enough to sunbathe) -

- Getting around the place was easy, we managed to see everything in the space of about 3 hours, but if you were dragging a push chair it would probably take all day. They even have a tropical hothouse with insect and fishy displays, but it wasn't quite as impressive as the London Butterfly House, nor quite as hot, but they did have some *huge* fish -

- Food inside is basic (chips/burgers/hot dogs) and drinks are expensive, so bring your own...oh and *don't* go in the bat house (it's pitch black and it stinks), but all in all, a good day out... ;)

If you want to see the rest of my pics then the flickr stream is here...