Darklyte and Darklyte II
1 month ago
16 July, 2005
Three chapters in...
...and I'm as happy as a man who thought a cat had done its business on his pie, but it turned out to be an extra large blackberry... ;)
Watering the garden...
...I spotted a lone, struggling figure in smart blue and red livery making his painful, sweaty way up the row of houses, I stopped my watering of the front garden for a moment (dripping can in hand forgotten) and the words "Harry Potter?" came from my mouth in a hopeful voice...
Reaching out to hand me the parcel, the postman replied "Don't talk to me about bloody 'Arry Potter, had twenty of these to deliver to one bloody road! Saturday round is normally about 6 letters...total!" (he held out the tiny selection of letters he had been expecting to breeze round the estate with)...I laughed, probably quite cruelly, waved the parcel to him, popped the watering can down, and came inside...
"It was nearing midnight, and the Prime Minister was sitting alone in his office..."
Reaching out to hand me the parcel, the postman replied "Don't talk to me about bloody 'Arry Potter, had twenty of these to deliver to one bloody road! Saturday round is normally about 6 letters...total!" (he held out the tiny selection of letters he had been expecting to breeze round the estate with)...I laughed, probably quite cruelly, waved the parcel to him, popped the watering can down, and came inside...
"It was nearing midnight, and the Prime Minister was sitting alone in his office..."
15 July, 2005
Just sat watching the...
...Proms on the BBC (it's taking place at the Royal Albert Hall, don't bother with the BBC link at the moment, it's rammed *hard*)...quite extraordinary performances so far, in fact "virtuosic" as they say (looks quite different in there too from my visit to see "circ de soleil" do their interesting "thang")...I know there are a bunch of people watching it sat in Trafalgar Square on big screens this evening in the early summer, early evening sunshine...that might be nice... ;)
In a state of *minor* panic (*under the breath* - "I *can* deal with this"), I have also been trawling the web for a copy of HP6 in electronic form, just in case Tesco muck up, and none has been forthcoming (even .RU sources)...But I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that in this aspect the internet simply cannot provide for me the means to "fair use" what I have paid for in advance of the event...*cry!*
*Fink throws his dummy to the floor *and* blanket from the pram DELIBERATELY *so* awkwardly as to catch it in the front wheels thereby stalling it in the middle of the busiest aisle of the supermarket* *SULK* :(
(Sincerely well done to the publishers for keeping it *totally* off the black market thus far)...damnit... ;)
In a state of *minor* panic (*under the breath* - "I *can* deal with this"), I have also been trawling the web for a copy of HP6 in electronic form, just in case Tesco muck up, and none has been forthcoming (even .RU sources)...But I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that in this aspect the internet simply cannot provide for me the means to "fair use" what I have paid for in advance of the event...*cry!*
*Fink throws his dummy to the floor *and* blanket from the pram DELIBERATELY *so* awkwardly as to catch it in the front wheels thereby stalling it in the middle of the busiest aisle of the supermarket* *SULK* :(
(Sincerely well done to the publishers for keeping it *totally* off the black market thus far)...damnit... ;)
I am really starting to regret...
...ordering HP6 from Tesco...I would rather have been in a queue at a store at midnight...then holding the book in my hand - waiting for the delivery seems like a bit of a lottery, they didn't say *when* in the day they would deliver, they might try and deliver it while I am out and about...this was a BAD IDEA™... :(
Please, Tesco, prove me wrong...
Please, Tesco, prove me wrong...
Flyingpops has got the camera...
...today and I must confess that I feel really quite lost without it (which is interesting). Two ideas for things that sprang into my mind to say today have had to be put on hold because I couldn't take the shot I wanted...
I have my C500, but camera/phones can't (yet) be compared to even a basic point and shoot...I mean, I always have been guilty of taking a lot of photographs, but since starting this little venture the trusty FinePix basically hasn't left my side (apart from the Xbox LAN party) some redundency in this system would be nice...(and thus, item -
- "a new camera"
- moves slowly up my mental priority list)...
Unexpectedly made the paper...
...a photographer (you can just see him in this shot, top right window) was sneaky enough to go upstairs in McDonalds and take a shot of the whole crowd from above (wonder if they made him buy a Big Mac? ;)...
I honestly didn't notice him until we were leaving the scene, and had no idea I had snapped him until I was looking through the pictures later. This is exactly why the police asked for copies of all our photographs (I did send all mine in btw, never know, perhaps the Bus bombers missing minutes might have been spent in my vicinity, I'll have to go back and look through them again now I know what he looks like)...
- The picture is on page 3 (which is a claim in itself, "Yes, I was on Page 3 once, back in the day"... ;) in the Daily Mirror if you fancy having a look (it's a really stunning shot, from where I was stood I had *no* idea quite how many people there were)...take a peek, if you get the chance, it's heartening stuff...(and if you peer very carefully you might even be able to "spot the Fink" wearing his grey shirt ;)
I honestly didn't notice him until we were leaving the scene, and had no idea I had snapped him until I was looking through the pictures later. This is exactly why the police asked for copies of all our photographs (I did send all mine in btw, never know, perhaps the Bus bombers missing minutes might have been spent in my vicinity, I'll have to go back and look through them again now I know what he looks like)...
- The picture is on page 3 (which is a claim in itself, "Yes, I was on Page 3 once, back in the day"... ;) in the Daily Mirror if you fancy having a look (it's a really stunning shot, from where I was stood I had *no* idea quite how many people there were)...take a peek, if you get the chance, it's heartening stuff...(and if you peer very carefully you might even be able to "spot the Fink" wearing his grey shirt ;)
14 July, 2005
Walked down to Kings Cross...
...at lunch time with a load of colleagues from work. We went to observe the two minutes silence to remember the victims of the attacks of 7/7, the logical place to gather seemed to be the shrine that has sprung up in the tiny garden at the corner of the station...
...it almost goes without saying that lots of other people had the same idea...
...the media were present, represented most intrusively by the Paparatzi who didn't stop taking photographs the whole time (mine were all taken as we waited for the hour to approach)...
...the Police were out in force too, even some on horse back...not that there was any trouble...I've never had 2 minutes vanish so quickly in my life before...and almost without a word everyone went their separate ways as soon as the time was passed...
...it was a profound experience, and very surreal, for London to fall so silent that the sound of a camera mechanism seems loud and intrusive...and it was chillingly reminiscent of the day itself, with so many people standing in just the same places as after the attacks, and so many police around....
You will fail...
...it almost goes without saying that lots of other people had the same idea...
...the media were present, represented most intrusively by the Paparatzi who didn't stop taking photographs the whole time (mine were all taken as we waited for the hour to approach)...
...the Police were out in force too, even some on horse back...not that there was any trouble...I've never had 2 minutes vanish so quickly in my life before...and almost without a word everyone went their separate ways as soon as the time was passed...
...it was a profound experience, and very surreal, for London to fall so silent that the sound of a camera mechanism seems loud and intrusive...and it was chillingly reminiscent of the day itself, with so many people standing in just the same places as after the attacks, and so many police around....
You will fail...
Really good, simple idea...
"The Ambulance Service have launched a national "In case of Emergency (ICE)" campaign with the support of Vodafone.
The idea is to store the word "ICE" in your mobile phone address book, and against it enter the number of the person you would want to be contacted "In Case of Emergency".
In an emergency situation ambulance and hospital staff will then be able to quickly find out who your next of kin are and be able to contact them. It's simple and effective.
For more than one contact name ICE1, ICE2, ICE3 etc"
Article here...might have helped a few days ago...
The idea is to store the word "ICE" in your mobile phone address book, and against it enter the number of the person you would want to be contacted "In Case of Emergency".
In an emergency situation ambulance and hospital staff will then be able to quickly find out who your next of kin are and be able to contact them. It's simple and effective.
For more than one contact name ICE1, ICE2, ICE3 etc"
Article here...might have helped a few days ago...
13 July, 2005
"Gravity doughnut promises time machine"...
Thanks to Luton being...
...totally shut down yesterday (was lucky to get home) because of the terror threat (and controlled explosions that were conducted later), all the trains on the Thameslink were severely disrupted, so today I was expecting trouble on my way in...The announcement "The service today is only made up of 4 coaches, and I must apologise to inform you that it has been reported as being 'Full and Standing'"...I groaned and walked down the platform expecting the worst, but amzingly the train door stopped right in front of me, lots of people were fussing about with luggage and one seat right in the corner was still free (I made it!) ;)
12 July, 2005
It's funny just...
...how quickly things get back to normal, today (although on the seven o'clock train again), I got on, opened my book (Anne Rice - Pandora), and just slipped off into ancient Antioch for the duration of the journey...the arrival at Kings Cross suprised me (I got rather used to the train terminating there and being told to get off during the cross-link works, you see... ;)
The only thing marking today out from any other (they even had the ticket barriers back on) is the huge number of Police everywhere (which does make me wonder where they all are normally), there were at least 10 of them in the queue at Burger King (which looked quite funny, I did take a snap but their HVJ's just flashed back at me and ruined the shot), at least one on each of the stations we went past (although I spotted 6 at East Croydon and 5 at Kings Cross, if you count the two outside the door that I took a picture of yesterday)...The railway also seems to have suddenly sprouted a "security" arm, with white shirts and cracking radios joining the ranks of police officers in giving everyone suspicious looks...makes you feel quite secure though...
The only thing marking today out from any other (they even had the ticket barriers back on) is the huge number of Police everywhere (which does make me wonder where they all are normally), there were at least 10 of them in the queue at Burger King (which looked quite funny, I did take a snap but their HVJ's just flashed back at me and ruined the shot), at least one on each of the stations we went past (although I spotted 6 at East Croydon and 5 at Kings Cross, if you count the two outside the door that I took a picture of yesterday)...The railway also seems to have suddenly sprouted a "security" arm, with white shirts and cracking radios joining the ranks of police officers in giving everyone suspicious looks...makes you feel quite secure though...
11 July, 2005
"'Get back to work' Londoners Urged"...
...easy thing to say, difficult thing to actually put yourself through...especially walking the streets again for the first time where everything took place...but, life must go on...set off an hour early today, with the aim of catching up a bit, and also avoiding the peak commuting time, I noticed a few other people from my normal train had done the same...
...there are new announcements on the boards today...urging vigilence...a little late...as we came into the city, I started to hear the sounds of sirens, normally just a part of ambient city life, I wasn't the only person to look up at the sound...
...the streets are almost getting back to normal...(traffic-wise at least)...I am an hour earlier today, so not suprising they are a *bit* quieter...
...the missing posters are all over the place...
...it starts to get really difficult not to choke up when faced by all this...
...the police are everywhere interviewing, standing guard, patrolling...
...and no-one is checking tickets anywhere round here either, or selling them...
...sat at my desk now, the booming crashes as they continue to demolish things next door keeps shaking the building, each time making me jump...(which I could really do without)...
*deep breath*
Anyway, it's time to see what my email in-box has to hold....if I can hold my hands from shaking... :(
...there are new announcements on the boards today...urging vigilence...a little late...as we came into the city, I started to hear the sounds of sirens, normally just a part of ambient city life, I wasn't the only person to look up at the sound...
...the streets are almost getting back to normal...(traffic-wise at least)...I am an hour earlier today, so not suprising they are a *bit* quieter...
...the missing posters are all over the place...
...it starts to get really difficult not to choke up when faced by all this...
...the police are everywhere interviewing, standing guard, patrolling...
...and no-one is checking tickets anywhere round here either, or selling them...
...sat at my desk now, the booming crashes as they continue to demolish things next door keeps shaking the building, each time making me jump...(which I could really do without)...
*deep breath*
Anyway, it's time to see what my email in-box has to hold....if I can hold my hands from shaking... :(
09 July, 2005
Woke up at 5am this morning...
...after the oddest dream, nothing to do with what has happened as far as I can tell (it was 2099 and Christmas time, I was with all my family, (even recently departed grandparents) my two sisters were both about 7 years old (they are both considerably older in real life) in the old family home in Reigate. I was opening cards and presents, the cards were all full of the kind of junk inserts that fall out of newspapers and magazines, and the presents were all multi-coloured socks...on Christmas afternoon we went to a theme park where I watched my sisters compete with one another on various obstacle courses)...still, when I came to conciousness from this baffling dream my mind didn't take much time to fill back up with all the "missing" posters and the story of the young lady who escaped a tube bomb only to get on the bus that blew up...of all the bad luck... :(
Today so far has been spent in preparation for Bug Jam, which is only a couple of weeks away now, we had to fix the tent pole (which snapped in the high winds we suffered on the camping trip before last) -
- this was actually (once I got a sharp blade on the hacksaw) rather easy, so I cut a couple of spare poles to take with us in future (just in case) -
- next job was to test the "pup tent" for Squiz (who is coming along with us, but isn't equipped for the outdoor life), as you can see, it looked fine...had to adjust one of the poles as it was trailing a huge amount of elastic, but essentially it looked like it had come out of mothballs the same as it went in -
- next was testing the pipe rig I built to see if we could run the camping fridge on LPG (it's nice to have cold beer in the tent), after about ten minutes of looking around to see where the flame was supposed to be, and a 1 foot tall, quite scary burst showing *exactly* where the exhaust was (not sure it has *ever* been run on gas before), the tiny indicator waved over into the green (to show good gas pressure), and the contents have now started to frost up -
- last thing was to get all the little camping bits and pieces assembled, air bed, folding chairs and tables, cutlery, cooking utensils, cooker and camp kitchen, leatherman "Wave" (never go camping without it)...and all the other crap that will pack out the car for our drive north...
I'm now sat watching a movie on my xbox, and chilling out...
Today so far has been spent in preparation for Bug Jam, which is only a couple of weeks away now, we had to fix the tent pole (which snapped in the high winds we suffered on the camping trip before last) -
- this was actually (once I got a sharp blade on the hacksaw) rather easy, so I cut a couple of spare poles to take with us in future (just in case) -
- next job was to test the "pup tent" for Squiz (who is coming along with us, but isn't equipped for the outdoor life), as you can see, it looked fine...had to adjust one of the poles as it was trailing a huge amount of elastic, but essentially it looked like it had come out of mothballs the same as it went in -
- next was testing the pipe rig I built to see if we could run the camping fridge on LPG (it's nice to have cold beer in the tent), after about ten minutes of looking around to see where the flame was supposed to be, and a 1 foot tall, quite scary burst showing *exactly* where the exhaust was (not sure it has *ever* been run on gas before), the tiny indicator waved over into the green (to show good gas pressure), and the contents have now started to frost up -
- last thing was to get all the little camping bits and pieces assembled, air bed, folding chairs and tables, cutlery, cooking utensils, cooker and camp kitchen, leatherman "Wave" (never go camping without it)...and all the other crap that will pack out the car for our drive north...
I'm now sat watching a movie on my xbox, and chilling out...
08 July, 2005
It's 49...
...now already...and this definitely doesn't include those still crushed in the dark...feeling really, really sad...lots of people missing... :(
Pictures now seeing over 12K hits, this is showing everyone worldwide as concerned as us in London...please let our prayers for those missing (Muslim, Christian et al) bring everyone home where they belong... :(
And those terrorists? Well, what more can I offer than that I wish you would eat sh1t and die...
Come to my house and I'll give you a hand if you like... >:(
Pictures now seeing over 12K hits, this is showing everyone worldwide as concerned as us in London...please let our prayers for those missing (Muslim, Christian et al) bring everyone home where they belong... :(
And those terrorists? Well, what more can I offer than that I wish you would eat sh1t and die...
Come to my house and I'll give you a hand if you like... >:(
Oh God...
...so now we start to hear the pleas for those missing...this is such a reminder of 9/11... :(
Not including...
..."trapped bodies", we are up to 48 fatalities...so how many is that *really* then?
Queen and REM...
...have cancelled their gigs for this weekend in reaction, the Cricket is undecided, the British GP is definitely going ahead...apparently, last night, for the first time since the 2nd World War, the west end was basically closed...no shows...not suprised...
There was an evocative picture I spotted on Flickr earlier though...man holding a sign - reading - "Call that terrorism? My granny could do better, losers"...cue small smile from Finkangel... ;)
There was an evocative picture I spotted on Flickr earlier though...man holding a sign - reading - "Call that terrorism? My granny could do better, losers"...cue small smile from Finkangel... ;)
I just got round...
...to checking out the other posts on the 7/7 community (as we seem to have come to be called), those flickr users who were in the vicinity and others around the world who have left messages (and a lot of pictures of flowers)...
Check out some of the other amazing shots posted (there is stuff there that hasn't appeared in the press)...this one is from Times Square in NY -
- the aftermath of the bus bomb -
- on one of the tube trains -
- and outside one of them (*ouch*) -
- commuters walking through a (normally not open to the public) foot tunnel under the Thames -
- "all hell breaking loose" at Canary Wharf as people surged to get onto the limited number of water taxis -
- walking through the tube tunnel to the station -
- there are loads and loads more, lots of snaps of the emerging story on various TV stations and websites...take a look...
Check out some of the other amazing shots posted (there is stuff there that hasn't appeared in the press)...this one is from Times Square in NY -
- the aftermath of the bus bomb -
- on one of the tube trains -
- and outside one of them (*ouch*) -
- commuters walking through a (normally not open to the public) foot tunnel under the Thames -
- "all hell breaking loose" at Canary Wharf as people surged to get onto the limited number of water taxis -
- walking through the tube tunnel to the station -
- there are loads and loads more, lots of snaps of the emerging story on various TV stations and websites...take a look...
Flickr must have done...
...something, they *used* to cap bandwidth (as the Volksworld event pictures showed me), a number of my pictures from yesterday had almost 6000 hits which should have *totally* wiped out my account for the month so either I have infinite bandwidth (not had a chance to investigate, only spotted that my usage is still at just a few % of total capacity) or they have flagged up these pictures in some way to not count (which I wouldn't put past them either, being the cool guys they are)...
More pictures from 070705...
...some from behind the police line (now I have a bit more time on my hands) -
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
