Grrrrrrrrrrrr!

Boy! Saturday was fun. About about a month ago I realised that I could save a bit of money if I switched from my current phone company (BT) to one that also provides my cable (NTL), The only weekend that they could make it was this weekend. (I wasn't really in the mood to use up holiday time just to get my line switched.)

They give you the usual time slot (AM, in my case) and I waited. To my surprise the engineer turned up at 9:30. Wow! He should be donw in no time and I can have the day free to go out and do stuff.

Okay, so he's only looks about eighteen and is from Eastern Europe (or somewhere that gives him a thick accent with lots of rolled rrrrrs.) I have to listen hard to understand what he is saying. I'd even tidied up the flat the night before (long overdue) chucked out loads of old magazines and bills and stuff (through until 3am!) and pushed the TV out a bit so that he could get to the phone socket. My TV is mega-heavy so I thought that if he needed more space to work, we could probably shift it out more together (it takes two...it's THAT heavy).

He took a look at where the socket was and asked, "Do you know where the main switch box for the aparrrrrrrtments arrrrre?" (rolling Rs, remember?)

This wasn't a good sign. It meant that he'd never been to my apartments before (engineers in the past who'd known where to find the main swu=itch generally impressed me in the past as they knew what they were on about) but I knew where the cabinet for this was (ground floor).

We headed down and I pointed it out to him.
- "Errrr, I don't have a key for this. Do you have a key for this?"
- "No, the engineers generally bring them with them. It's a utility cupboard. I don't have access."
- "I will have to ring superrrrvisorrrr."
- *sigh* "Okay"

He goes out. Obviously can't make the call in front of me. He comes back in.
- "Superrrvisorrrr says that managerrrr in flats have key?"
- "Errrrrrm, no, there is no managerrrrr (he had me doing it now!) The engineer always bring the keys."
- "I call superrrrvisorrrr again"

So off he went, outside again. Ten mintes later he knocks on my front door.
- "Someone come with key laterrrrr."
- "When, later???"
- "About two hourrrr"

Okay, so it was still early. I had planned to hang around in the morning anyway.
Obvious what happens next, really. Nobody came. I rang up NTL mid afternoon and they said that someone was still coming. There wasn't much point complaining yet as it wasn't anything to do with the person on the other end of the call.

Six o' clock came, and still no sign. I ring customer services again.
- "NTL customer services is now closed. Normal Saturday hours are 8am until 5pm"

Arrrrrrggggghhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Must remain calm. Breath in....Breath out.....

Boy, was I pissed off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have wasted an entire day of my weekend waiting for some stupid muppet who never turned up. And to top it all off, when people ring me up, they hear ringing but the phone doesn't ring at my end!

There is probably eff all chance of them contacting me to rearrange. And I am out for the next few weekends anyway. If they can't agree to a fixed time in the evening over the next week I am going to be.......Grrrrrrrrr!

Wishing For Snow

Winter has arrived in style in the UK, people stranded in Cornwall, caught out by the weather that had been advertised for the past few days(don't they watch TV?), but still no sign of snow in London :(

London covered in snow is such a cool thing. Something that I really look forward to it. It covers up all the crappy bits (and until it all goes slushy) it makes everything look clean and conjours up visions of Christmas and cheery thoughts in me.

Loads of people nowadays moan about Christmas. It's too commercial, doesn't really mean anything, too many crowds, who cares, bah humbug, blah blah blah.

Well sod them! I love Christmas! Okay, so I don't really have a family to buy presents for or stay over with, so I can do whatever I like, so that may be a big factor and it can be lonely time too but just putting up my tree, cards and a few decorations still warms me more than I can explain why.

Perhaps I'm filled with fantasy-fueled visions of Christmas from old movie classics like "It's A Wonderful Life," or else like the time off work, our office shuts down for almost two weeks, though I'm working three half-days before the new year to get back as full-day holidays. Who knows?

The loneliest I get, I guess, starts at midnight mass. I used to do this with my mum and then stay over at her place on Christmas day for a nice stuffed turkey and all the trimmings and then a nice nap with a full stomach :)

That I miss the most...I guess but I try not to think about it too negatively. It's a good time to remember my folks over a few drinks. I still stuff myself (though not a turkey) and have a nap in the afternoon :)

So, I bought myself a new camera on the internet on Friday. It's a compact 8 Mega Pixel jobbie. Only 140 quid, so cheap and cheerful, really. (By a company called BenQ...Who?) It's not really a replacement for my trusty old 5 Megapixel Nikon but is a lot easier to carry around and will come in handy to smuggle into gigs. I wish I had it last week for the Natalie Imbruglia concerts where everybody and their next door neighbour had a camera.

I got thrown out of the same venue a couple of years ago for taking a camera and refusing to give it up. I showed the bouncer how crap my photos were, "Look, I'm not a professional!" but he wasn't having any of it! And it was only a Cowboy Junkies gig where I found out that the band posed for photos after. Sodding over zealous bouncer!


Oh...and I even bought a frigging lightweight tripod so that I can take night shots without the Shakin' Stevens special effect that I normally get, even with my Steady-Eddie hands.

Anyway, I've attached a few shots taken with the camera taken using the tripod. The top one is of Trafalgar Square and the second a close up of the signage(is that a word?) at Piccadilly Circus. Will probably go and take a few more with the Nikon next time to get a decent comparison.

Oh....And I saw the Harry Potter film earlier on in the week. If you like fantasy films you'll find that it's bloody good. 9/10 from me!

Dreaming Of Natalie

So what have I been up to in the last week? Well, shiver me timbers if I didn't just go a whole nine days without going to the cinema! Wow! Feeling dizzy. Withdrawal symptoms kicking in. Arggggghhhhh! Calm down....Watch DVDs...Watch DVDs....Watch DVDs....Phew, that's better. Truth is, it's been so bloody cold in London that I went into hibernation over the weekend. I did make an attempt on Sunday evening to venture out and try and see the new Harry Potter film but it was sold out through to the last showings. That was a quick trip into the city but I didn't care. Needed the fresh air... During the week I've mananged to go to two gigs to see Natalie Imbruglia twice! Nah, never done this before, even if I really like an artist or band, I'll settle with just one gig. Most people do.

I've always looked on those fans that follow an artist around on their tour or go to every night at a particular venue as weird. But hey, I can be weird too and fuck me if my reasoning wasn't perfectly sane:

Number one, I only bought a ticket for the first gig, on Monday and it was crap! Well, Natalie and the band were great but the crowd was the biggest bunch of duffers/muppets/zombies that I have ever come across at a gig. They just stood and watched with no reaction. Truly bizzarre!

There was me and a few around me clapping and bobbing around and then there was the rest, decomposing with body parts falling off. That's really how it felt.... Poor old Natalie. Imagine performing live and having an audience like that!!!

So I decided, I've got to see her with a better audience. It just had to be better on Thursday....IT JUST HAD TO BE! PLEASE!

Number two, the venue is a quick quarter of an hour bus ride away. So bloody easy to get to. If I'd have had to travel across the city, I may not have bothered with going back after Monday's Mogadon crowd.

And finally, I didn't want to read the forums on her website and hear that the Thursday gig was awesome and I'd be kicking myself that I got the night of the living dead audience instead!

So along I went tonight and thank God, the gig WAS awesome! The crowd was brilliant and Natalie's performance reflected it. No doubt, although she was excellent on Monday, even with the dead muppets watching(!) tonight she took it to another level. I even got a good standing position and bopped along all night with a big smile on my face. She pointed to me along with a few others around the venue, later on, to say thanks. SO FRIGGING COOL!

To top it all off, I managed to get a ticket from someone with a spare, deperate to get into the gig, outside the venue, for a fifth of the regular ticket price!!! The nearest tout looked really pissed off that I'd bought one off someone else but screw you! Nobody likes a tout. Ha!

Mostly Normal

You Are 40% Weird

Normal enough to know that you're weird... But too damn weird to do anything about it!

How Weird Are You?

Your Personality Profile

You are funky, outdoorsy, and down to earth. While you may not be a total hippie... You're definitely one of the most free spirited people around. You are very impulsive - every day is a new adventure. However, you do put some thought behind all your actions. Still, you do tend to shock and offend people from time to time!

The World's Shortest Personality Test

Night Walking

Boy has it been cold the past few days! So when someone asks, "fancy going to the pub?" or cinema or whatever, I shiver and think, "Wow I'll have to drink loads so that I won't feel the cold on the way home" That's my excuse anyway!

Today I was too tired to stay out long but then found a sudden reservoir of energy and walked all the way from the top of Baker Street to South Kensington!!! Normally a quick journey across Hyde Park, now takes a bit longer as obviously it's dark by the time I leave work and the park is closed to all but the strange ones that hang out in parks at night.

So walked all the way around. *phew* It took me over an hour (much longer than usual!!!) but I got to check out the latest ice rink to open over Winter in London, in front of the Natural History Museum. I don't think that many people know about it (I think it only opened this week?) so it wasn't too packed. I'll have to grab a few friends and pop along before it takes off too much.

The Christmas lights have all been switched on the main shopping streets in London and I took a few more photos as I walked home yesterday down Marylebone High Street. It was closed off to traffic for the switching on of their lights. Unfortunately, I just missed Nell McAndrew who switched them on. They had snow machines at full blast setting the scene, though according to the weather-people we're due to have a really cold Winter with loads of snow this year. Last year we had about half a day of snow in London. I'm starting to forget what it looks like!

Plus then I walked past Burlington Arcade (by the Royal Academy of Arts off Piccadilly) and wondered what the big crowds were about there too. It turns out that the Duchess of Cornwall (Prince Charlie's other half) was turning on the arcade's lights! Thought it would have been a bit beneath her personally *meow!* Haha!

Trouble was, none of my night time shots came out. I thought I had a steady hand but obviously not steady enough. I'm off to hunt for a tripod tomorrow, so hopefully some better London at night shots in the next few days.

Popped out after work on Tuesday to see my 56th(!) film of the year, "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang." It's directed and written by the guy who did the Lethal Weapon movies but has a lot more swearing and violence. Well it is a 15 certificate! I liked it. 8/10. It was a fun movie and Robert Downey Jr. makes a great film comeback after all his problems.

Annoyed but still happy

Things that REALLY annoyed me this morning:

Missed a tube train at Acton Town by an inch. The doors shut in front of my nose as I raced down the stairs. It was half empty too!

The next train was packed but I squeezed in and enjoyed the scent of eau de unwashed masses. Why are there still people in this world who don't use deodorant?!

The woman who insisted on sitting crossed legged, kicking my shins with her outstretched leg as I stood in the aisle in front of her.
"I don't have anywhere else to go. I have to stand here!"

Missing my second train at Green Park by an inch because people insisted on using the stairs, reserved for people entering the platform, to leave it!
"Don't you know what "For emergency use only" means !!!"

Finally getting a seat on the next train only to find that the two suits on either side of me insist on stretching out their legs and arms as they read their respective newspapers.

Getting to the exit at Baker Street to find a bunch of French school kids blocking the way out as they don't know how to use the ticket barriers!
"Because ticket barriers in France are soooo different, n'est pas?"

So that great start to the day put me in a great frame of mind, as you can imagine!

Things that made me happy this morning:
It wasn't as cold as the day before.
It wasn't raining.
A girl smiled at me as I came out of Baker Street station.
(She must have been high on drugs or something!?)
Blogging to let off steam rather than taking it out on those around me.
I'm still healthy and alive!!!

PS: Spell-checking at blogger.com continues to bring a smile to my face. It insisted that 'Blogging' was not a valid word and suggested 'flogging' as its replacement!
So you can do the replacement yourself above and have a free grin on me :)

The photo is another one taken in one of my favourite parts of Regent's Park by the bridges at one end of the lake.

Kashmir’s earthquake: don’t care or don’t know?

Cor Blimey. Two blog entries in one day! But no, wait....This is important!!!

We're all familiar with the tsunami appeal. It raised billions. Hurricane Katrina got even more. The Kasmiri earthquake appeal is struggling to raise even a fifth of the money needed.

Really struggling!!!!!

It's cold out at night. You thought the streets where you live are bad. Over 3 million are homeless in Kasmir. Children are dying as the cold sets in.

Don't think, bloody foreigners, who cares about them! Don't think a little won't help. Don't think, I've already given money to Asia last year...

GIVE MONEY. ANY MONEY...
BUT WHATEVER YOU DO, DO SOMETHING TO HELP!

Make it your good deed of the day

The Kashmir death-toll is rising yet aid remains a trickle. Beena Sarwar asks why and calls for action.

http://www.opendemocracy.net/conflict-india_pakistan/earthquake_relief_3024.jsp

Brrrrrrr....

Well I guess that Autumn is in full swing. So here's a picture of a very red looking Autumunal tree in Regent's Park to prove it. It was weird coming back from Peru (especially from the jungle) where everything was so green to land back and find most of the leaves fallen back in old blighty.

Plus it's f-ing freezing in London today.

When does Winter officially start(?), 'cause I think it's bloody well here now!

We're going to be lucky if the temperature makes double figures, so my woolly hat is well and truly required! Plus I got a haircut on Saturday, so that's not helping!

I've had a nice weekend. On Friday I went along to the inaugural LU bloggers meet. This is a bunch of people who either blog or comment on blogs linked in one way or another (tenuously, sometimes) to the London Underground or are just interested in seeing what a bunch of weirdos we are :)

Well, thankfully I can say that there weren't any weirdos (well no more weird than usual) at the meet up!

It was a bit strange though. I turned up at the pub where we had arranged to meet only knowing what two people looked like from pictures they had posted on their blog and the pub was packed! So, I walked around looking at groups of people thinking "is that them?", not really recognising anyone.

But hey, since I was in a pub, I thought I'd get a drink (not something I would normally do when on my own, mind) and decided that if I hadn't spotted anyone that I'd recognise by the time I had finished it, I would head off.

So I settled down in a good vantage point, wedged by the cigarette dispenser and leaning on the fruit machine.

Today was Rememberance Day in the UK and the pub being near where lots of the main government departments are based and just down from Horse Guards Parade and Trafalgar Square was packed with civil servants and military types doing their reunions (lots of singing!)

So this is how the dialogue in my head went as I scanned the pub:
"Hmmm, what about that group?", "No, too old", "and that one?", "No too dressed up", "Hmmm, they look about right over there but it's a huge group! I didn't think that we were expecting that many." :( "I wish that I'd got someone's mobile number!!!!"

And then, just as I was about to reach for the last gulp of beer. Ta dah! I spotted someone off in the distance to my right. "Yep, that's him. Seen his picture. Phew!"

Well, it all ended happily ever after, as the group of bloggers and their familiars :) was a good gathering and we had all sorts of things to chat about (helped on by liquid lubrication, no doubt.)
Just have to wait for the next gathering now. Blimey, I'll have to think of something new to talk about!

On Sunday afternoon I popped along to the flicks to see The Constant Gardener. It was an excellent film 9/10 and a nice way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon. Interestingly, the film was completely subtitled, so must have been a showing for the hard of hearing! Didn't say that when I bought my tickets though. Oh well. You could ignore the subtitles after a while.

And finally, for those travelling, working or just interested in the origins of the London Underground, check out this book: The Subterranean Railway. It tells of how the Underground came to be and has some good reviews. I'll be popping along to the bookshop tonight to buy mine. It'll probably be an appropriate thing to read on the tube too!

PS: Spell checking, before I sent this, came up with "Brouhaha" in place of "Brrrrr." Does anyone actually use that word????

Also, rather bizarrely, "blog" is an unknown word in blogger.com's spell-checker. Duh!!!

Busy / Lazy

Hey all. Sorry, I've been either really busy or really lazy over the past few days to update this blog. *sigh*

Well, what have I been up to? Ermmm, I walked on a lot of graves in Abney Park Cemetery last week. It was all part of a voluntary work program my company sponsors. A group of us cleared briars and other prickly things away in sections of the cemetery so that they can use them for nature talks etc for the local school kids. Sometimes you just had to step on the graves to get to the bits you needed to clear out! It was a good day's work (though muddy) and the weather was nice too!

Then I managed to see Sheryl Crow live and as a bonus found myself in the fourth row at the Hammersmith Apollo. My crappy mobile-camera didn't like the dim light though and none of my pictures came out particularly well, despite her being just in front of me :(

Plus I've managed to see two films over the past few days (well, I've got to keep my quota up!.)
They were "The Brothers Grimm" which I'd give 7/10 because I like Terry Gillian films and fantasy type stuff and "Broken Flowers" 8/10 which is the new Bill Murray one. I've liked his past few films when lots of people I know have hated them. Lost In Translation, in particular is one of my favourites but some people just didn't get it and fall asleep watching it!

Oh well. The whole jet lag, living from a hotel in a country where the culture and language is so different is captured so well and is something that I can understand from my few travels that I just love the film!

Oh, and finally, whilst I haven't actually written a hell of a lot about my Peru holiday here, those that are interested can check out the site that I've knocked up for photos and a brief synopsis of what I got up to when I was over there.

Find it here.
PS: Don't look to closely at the picture of a roast Guinea-pig that my mate is about to eat if that kind of thing is likely to disagree with you!!!

Jet Lag

Despite having travelled a lot over the past few years I have been lucky never to have got jet lag...Until now that is.... :(

Waiting at the traffic lights outside Baker Street tube on my way out for lunch, my legs suddenly felt like jelly and I felt numb all over, like I could just fall asleep on the spot.


Well, it was either jet lag or narcolepsy!

I felt a bit better after having eaten something but it caught up with me again on the train on the way home. Granted we all feel tired on the way home but again it was all I could to do stop myself dozing off and ending up in a different county.

So sorry, no Peru update yet, just a taster picture taken on the edge of one of the pre-Inca ruins I visited. Around the corner was a path four feet wide with a sheer drop hundreds of metres down on one side!!!!

Well, I'm off early to bed again!
nn

Peru Prologue

I'm back from Peru!

I had a great holiday but after almost 24 hours of travelling and just one hour of sleep, I'm absolutely shattered!

So in 14 days I managed to travel by plane, train, automobile, motor-boat, canoe and a boat held aloft by recycled plastic bottles!

I've stayed for a night with a farming family on an island in lake Titicaca, in a lodge with full mosquito netting(!) in the middle of the Amazonian jungle, did the last day of the Inca trail and have seen the brilliant Machu Pichu with my own eyes. And that's just brushing the surface!

Bed time for me now....More soon....

Lucky?!

Bizarrely I've had two things happen to me this week which though inconvenient would have been a lot more troublesome if they had occurred whilst I was off on holiday.

First I woke up on Wednesday morning to find that my fridge-freezer door had popped open at some point during the night and in the process of defrosting itself had left a big puddle of melted ice all over my kitchen floor!

I'm completely to blame though. It's been in dire need of defrosting for weeks now and it was actually quite fun watching the ice build up in the top freezer compartment and start to descend into the fridge section.

Like a glacier slowly pushing, it had decided that down wasn't the only way to go and had pushed out as well. As soon as the door was open into my (always warm) flat, it was like global warming on a smaller scale with floods of huge proportions (for my ant flatmates anyway.)

I had to frantically chip away at the near-impervious ice with a screwdriver whilst keeping an eye on the time as I was running late for work!

But can you imagine if it had happened whilst I was on holiday!?
The ants would have had a free feast. Walking in on a Saturday night, knackered and finding something like that! ARGH!

Actually whilst cleaning the house up last night to make sure there's no chance of any stray crumbs around the kitchen, I spotted a spindly-legged spider surrounded by loads of dead ants in the corner behind one of my cupboards.

So if the poisoned bait doesn't get you, the spider will!

He's my new friend :)

---------------------

And then earlier on in the week my all-singing, all-dancing heart rate monitor-compass-altimeter-barometer (it tell the time too as an added bonus) watch's battery ran out. Getting one of those in Peru would have been hard and it's amazing how annoying and inconvenient it can get having to rely on others to know what the time is.

The watch is made by Suunto, a Finish company (I think), and I bought it on E-bay from someone with a very good rating (I never buy from anyone below 100, ideally 1000!) for massively less than RRP.

I worried for a day or so that the watch was faulty but one new battery later, everything is hunky-dory. Excellent!

I'm off from work early today so I can actually do my packing. Everything is in a pile at the moment. I've tried using telekinesis to get it to pack itself but it's not working :(

A cab is picking me up at the ungodly hour of 04:30 ! 14 hours flying!

Luckily KLM, who I am travelling with, allow you to check in online and even choose your seats, so that's out of the way. So, leg room seats sorted! Thank you internet!

So thank you for reading and see you all in 2 weeks!

Found Serenity

Sorry all, I've been living a secret second life. An addiction. I've tried to hide it; not let it interfere with my real life but it just took over me for the past week.

So I'm off to Peru on Saturday for detox from the drug that is World Of Warcraft.
Me, Doobrie, currently a 15th level Paladin resting soundly in a local inn :)

I did discover that, like cocaine (apparently,) playing WOW is a great aid to dieting. You just sit at the computer playing, chatting to others, ganging up on monsters, solving quests....
Just one more quest...Just one more level and before you know it, it's 3 in the morning, you're starving and it's time to hit the sack.

Okay, perhaps I didn't get THAT bad but I could feel myself slipping over to the dark side once or twice. Luckily, I have strong will power so can switch off if need be.

Is my life really that boring? Well, no but the World of Warcraft is just so damn interesting. Childhood fantasies of being the hero, casting spells. The amazing creatures you can meet, the whole surround sound, 1600x1200 experience is just too good to pass on.

And it IS fun, why else do hundreds of thousands partake (posh word!)?
Are they all obese computer geeks with no life? Hell, no. People from all over play these things. It is cool in a geek-chic type of way.

Will I ever survive two weeks without it in Peru?! Of course I will :)


Back to the real world, I went to see Serenity at the flicks last Thursday (Played WOW when I got home though.)

The film was awesome. I'm a sucker for sci-fi action and this film (and it's sequels) were what the last 3 Star Wars film can only aspire to be. Exciting, funny, action-packed with characters that get fleshed out better than George Lucas seemed to be able to do lately. Needless to say, I loved it. 10/10 and that is a rare thing with me. I saw the original series Firefly and perhaps that has biased me as obviously the characters are already known to me. However, regardless it was
a good film and with the right word-of-mouth, I hope it does well.

I'm planning to see Night Watch this week if I get a chance. First, I still need to sort out holiday insurance(!), clean my flat from top-to-toe before I go (to lessen the ants' holiday experience whilst I'm away) and sort out what I'm taking and start packing pronto! *stress*

One less thing to worry about though was I did manage to get a really good exchange rate for my currency today from a funny little exchange booth on Baker Street where the guy basically out-bid all the banks and Bureau De Changes in the area who were trying to give me 1.68 dollars to the pound and gave me 1.74 instead. I didn't have to haggle even though it looked like the kind of place where you could. It does look legit, just a bit strange compared to his surroundings. He's squashed between a restaurant and a dentists!

Also, I asked for a receipt and he gave me a hand written note with a stamp on it. LOL!

I'll probably go back in two weeks to find that he's disappeared *grin*

Geek!

I bought World Of Warcraft today...A few people at work have been raving about it.

I just had to try it.... I'm a reborn geek!

If it's good....You may not hear from me for a while.

That's either good or bad. I don't know....

You decide...

Do Stuff!

I'd been suffering from apathy a bit this week. Not just blog apathy but generalised apathy. But now I've had enough of that and it's time to get off my ass and do stuff!

Okay, so it's not as if I haven't been doing anything. I managed to go to the cinema twice (having started to suffer withdrawal symptoms from not having been for the past fortnight!), discovered that High Street Kensington is the place to go to buy travel gear (I hadn't been there for over 10 years) hence bought the perfect holdall for my holiday and checked out Oxford Street on Saturday whilst it was closed to traffic for it's rather weakly named 'Celebrate Oxford Street - Dress To Impress' day.

I was planning on seeing 'Revolver' but the universal panning by critics (pah!) and people I knew who had seen it (oh dear) scared me off.

So on Thursday, I went to see 'Land Of The Dead' instead. I never used to be that much into zombie flicks but the humorous gory aspects of Romero's films are quite cool.

'Land' was quite good. Not perfect but watchable nonetheless. Plenty of 'cool' gory killings but definitely not scary. If you don't like this kind of film, then this won't change your mind.

Reading between the lines it's about the masses rebelling against the governments and corporations driven by profit that try to control their lives. Just to make it really obvious, at one point the main 'bad man' played by Dennis Hopper, says "We don't negotiate with terrorists" when talking about one of the 'bully boys' that he has created to do his dirty work who is trying to blackmail him.

It could have been made at any time in the past three decades really. So a cool zombie flick but not really pushing the bounds of the genre anywhere new. 6.5/10 from me.

I went to see a completely different movie, 'A History Of Violence' on Friday. At least, this time, the cinema had more than six other people, as had been the previous day.

It was okay but I couldn't help but feel that Cronenberg's direction was a bit off. It's one of those films that you feel you shouldn't not like because everyone else seems to like it. As I said, it was okay but once again, not exactly genre busting. The story was interesting enough but bits of the movie felt out of place. There were a few scenes that felt a bit redundant.

The film was over an hour and a half long and I have to say that I didn't notice. So I guess that it did enough to keep me interested. I'd give it a 6.9/10. Could have been a lot better though.

I'm really looking forward to seeing 'Serenity' this week though, hopefully on Thursday, as I couldn't beg, borrow or steal any premier or preview tickets :(

Anyway movie reviewer bit over. HAHA!


As I mentioned, I popped along on Saturday to check out Oxford Street's traffic-free day. It's another one of those promotional attempts to get shoppers back into London's main shopping street after the events of July and various other factors have apparently knocked loads off the profits of the shops on the street. (Shame!)

It certainly worked in terms of the number of people who turned up. I was there after 3pm and Oxford street was packed to the gills. A few bands were performing on stage in the middle of the traffic-free section and various Z-list celebs were in some of the stores trying to feel important.

My friend, who popped down to London with me, had a good point though when he pointed out that although there were thousands of people packed into the street, practically none of them seemed to be carrying any shopping bags. So I'm not convinced that the shops along the street would really have benefited that much.

In fact at one point when it started raining, loads of us popped into Waterstones, the book shop that faces the main stage. Waterstones were well prepared. They had one security guard on duty and he struggled to keep people away from the entrance as the door alarm was going off non-stop!

Then we got bored of seeing reality-show rejects on stage and tried to head back the way we came. It took us twenty minutes to work through the, now, very compressed crowd. Some fights almost broke out as some people tried pushing a bit too hard!

Policing was a bit of a mess too. A one point there were about eight community police trying to form a chain across the whole street to stop more people getting through to the stage section.
Needless to say that eight against a few hundred doesn't work. Later on, proper London Metropolitan police turned up and sorted things straight away.

Frankly we were glad to get out of there in the end. I'm sure that all that happened was that they weren't prepared for the numbers that turned up around the main stage. Stupid really!

Anyhow, I was happy in the end as I managed to get a decent holdall for my Peru trip and just need to get some US currency now to spend over there.

Thirteen days and counting!

PS: Reading back I realise that I sound really cynical about the whole Oxford Street Event. I think that it probably was a good event so long as you stayed out of the over-crowded areas as I hope that my pictures of the wacky geishas on stilts and spinning teapots show.