Arty pictures of Christmas at Canary Wharf

Sorry, feeling a bit abstract at the moment...it's sort of liberating not to worry too much about focus (and things) for a while... ;)

The Fall and Rise of my Nokia N73 Headphones

So, my (semi-hated) headphones for my Nokia N73 finally gave up the ghost...and not in a terribly peaceful way either...early last week I was rushing for my train (minor delays on the tube, caused by the usual congestion) came haring up the escalator at London Bridge, glanced up at the clock to see if I was going to make it, and in that split second two girls cut past me (from left to right) almost whacking me in the chest with an oversize rucksack causing me to twist to avoid them...however, I didn't quite make it...a stupidly positioned umbrella stuffed into one of the rucksack pockets had managed to loop around my headphone cables!

Everything sort of went into slow motion (one of those "NooooooooooooooooooooooooooOOOOOO!" moments) as I reached (in slow motion) to try (in vain) to untangle the wires, they suddenly flexed and became taught, my head leaning in towards the rucksack to try and minimise the damage, but it was too little, too late, both earphones flew out, followed by the neck strap snapping in half at it's (designed) break point (like those clever controllers for the original Xbox) and finally the connector at the bottom of the phone was torn out, flicking the whole thing up into the air behind the rest of the flaying cables, spinning a few feet (as it lost energy) in the direction of the vanishing vandals...I skidded to a halt next it it, snatching it up from the floor, my indignant gaze boring a hole into their bulging, receding backsides...but when I plugged it back in the right headphone didn't work any more...

Luckily though, as I told my tale of woe in the office (yes, I had moaned quite a lot about those headphones, but it's actually really nice to listen to music when navigating the crowds on the tube), the guy that sits next to me (Olly) said he had a set of brand new ones in his loft that he had never even used...this morning they were coiled up on my desk...thanks Olly! ;)

Cameraphone photography

Can't tell you how impressed I am with the tiny camera on the N73, it's reached the stage where I don't feel like I have to lug the Fuji all over the place - although the image quality is unquestionably hugely superior - for general purposes (i.e. the daily grind) the N73 does *okay*, which does mean I can get away with a slightly easier to carry rucksack...

...it's good with deep colours, even in fairly low light, but actually I think it lends itself especially well to black and white shots (with the slightly grainy results from it's Carl Zeiss optics)-



- I would have said that there was no chance of it ever replacing the S9600, but actually...in some situations...it kind of has... ;)

Nokia Headphones - New heights of embarrasment

My love/hate relationship with my Nokia N73 continues - it's managed to learn a a new trick now, a very, very annoying one...the other day I was merrily continuing my journey through the top 100 classical tunes of all time when I arrived at London Bridge station, tutted slightly at the reduced gate entry for the Jubilee line but joined in the scrum, suffering some inevitable gentle knocks/the odd rucksack in the face/briefcase in the shins...as I shuffled slowly forwards though the neatly dressed queue, the track I was listening to drew to a jolly (kettle drum filled) conclusion and there was a short pause while the gremlin in the phone threw his newspaper to the floor and scrambled to flip the tiny record over...oddly the next track was of noticeably worse quality, but I shrugged and turned the volume up a notch or two (nearing maximum), got to the barrier and slipped in my season ticket and began my two escalator descent into the bowels of London...

The platform was quite busy, I had to wait for around five minutes, surrounded by a crush of fellow commuters but eventually a train with enough room arrived and I "twister"'ed my way into a fairly comfortable position (i.e. one with a good amount of head room and minimal back pain)...as we pulled away from London Bridge (after a couple of attempts by the driver to get the doors to shut without any limbs poking out) I started to notice a young couple peering up at me through the forest of clinging arms, talking quietly and giggling (and then looking embarrassed at themselves as they noticed me noticing them with my slightly confused "is this *really* a laughing matter?" expression)...and then one of my ear buds fell out (as they have a habit of doing) and it immediately became apparent that for the last 10 minutes, not only had I been enjoying Mozart's Klavierkonzert (and whatever had been on before that, and maybe before that) I had also been broadcasting it at full volume through the (excellent) handset speaker to all of those around me...*sigh*...

Face+Palm...(still, at least this time it was pretty far from the worst thing I could have been listening to)...