Archives for the '365' Category
365: The Wheatsheaf: what now?
An urgent bulletin for my Australian-based reader: word on the street is that The Wheatsheaf has gone into administration and may soon close. Given that there’s been a pub here for hundreds of years (since the surrounding area was fields, hence Wheat Sheaf) this is a sad state of affairs. I know of at least one operator who’s keen to turn this into a gastropubbish sort of place. Good news for me and my middle class chums, but where are the hard core drinkers of Tooting Bec to go?
Watch this space.
365: Doorstepped
For the first time ever I’ve been canvassed in the run up to the elections, and not once but twice in the same day! Respect to Labour for having a far more organised operation than the Tories, surprising given this is a reasonably close seat if the polls are to be believed (insert your own joke here). Heck, even the local MP himself shook my hand and was willing to engage in conversation.
It was all rather unexpected so I was kicking myself for not having anything to pick up with him, indeed I was quite impressed by his knowledge of homeless issues and seemed quite genuine. I did have one small dig, when he handed over his leaflets with his face plastered all over them, when I pointed out that ‘you’re not a shy man, Sadiq’. ‘Thank you very much’ was his dead quick answer. Please refer to my regular moans re: who becomes an MP etc.
So, still a floating voter and it’ll have to be a tactical move. Having been slightly politically engaged and uploaded the leaflets to the interweb, I was amused to see that the Rt Hon Khan has had his pamphletting criticised before by those much more powerful than me.
365: Wimbledon FC Memorial Sculpture: FA Cup 1988 Final (Allegedly)
Towards the end of a 16.3 mile LSR (long slow run) today I came across this peculiar piece of public art. Having read the sign I still didn’t really get it, and nor did any other Londoner – here’s the Flickr discussion, or lack of it, to prove it.
365: To Kent via semi-HST
And so to Kent on the newish South Eastern High Speed Train service. This is an illogical move since the trains go from St Pancras rather than Victoria, they’re more expensive and the whole journey from Tooting is slower than the ’slow’ train. But it is a significant rail commuting revolution for someone who grew up in Rainham, so off we go.
The trains themselves are impressive albeit rather quiet on a Saturday (I was the only person in my coach). It’s odd to see Japanese-built bullet trains, for that’s what these are, operating in Britain but being forced to trundle along slow lines and through a 200 year old canal tunnel.
The High Speed bit of the journey is fast, but also short – twenty minutes to Ebbsfleet then crawl up a hill and onto the old Kent Coast line. You can get an idea of how fast they are in this video wot I made.
http://www.vimeo.com/9288532
My favourite part of the trip was probably walking through St Pancras and seeing trains to the Midlands, Kent, France and Belgium all from the same terminus. This is how train travel should be.
365: How many Porsche Carrera 4s does a man need?
Two.
365: Bugget and bin it
Now, I don’t speak Turkish so am not really in a position to criticise, but there is something impressive and delightful about the effort that has gone into advertising the bread in the local supermarket, and how far the spelling is off target.
(The bread, coincidentally, is fresh and excellent.)
365: Introducing the Panasonic DMC LX-3
This is the latest addition to the camera collection: the Panasonic Lumix DMC LX-3. It’s a cracker, with an ultra-wide angle lens (compared with most compact models) and it shoots in RAW. The downsides are that it’s not quite small enough for my pockets, the RAW format that Panasonic uses is not compatible with my version of Photoshop and the tradeoff for that wide angle lens is a weak zoom. On the plus side the lens is outstanding, such that I’ll very rarely have to use the flash, even indoors, as the glass lets in so much light.
I’ve added a couple of mods – the Ricoh LC1 lens cap replaces the stupid fall-off-and-lose-it original, and the leather case is nice and retro as well as protecting the camera. I’m really pleased with this camera, which came with me to Tanzania and is in my bag almost every day. If it were just small enough to fit into my pocket it would be perfect; as it is, it’s very, very good.
365: Ms Lezi
Okay, guilty, I’ve been very bad at uploading my shots in this final stretch to the end of the picture-a-day project. Sorry. But I am now back up-to-date and, since it’s been a quiet month, here’s one from the archives.
I spent a lot of last summer travelling with a fellow researcher, Lizzie, who was booked into the same hotel as me in Cairo. As I was first through immigration, and her name wasn’t on the board, I told the hotel representative that Lizzie was on her way. He used his initiative and wrote her name on the board…
365: Palindromic
It’s not immediately obvious from The Guardian’s mast head, but today’s an ever-so-rare palindromic date! (01022010.)
365: Porridge Pot or Bust!
Now, this was a hard day. A second attempt at a Helly Hansen adventure race promised a more evenly balanced team, but after some chopping and changing I ended up two super-fit guys, one ten years younger than me and the other a BMF instructor and professional fit person. And me, 36, creaking, reasonable stamina but slooow.
It was snowing at the start of the race (but at least not as muddy as in December) and -2 degrees but that was soon ignored as we pushed on with a few hundred others on an unmarked course through the woods. I kept pace with the fit lads for the first mile but backed off to conserve energy and was two or three minutes late into transition. However we were well matched on the mountain biking and (forgive me for saying this, mate!) I was relieved when CA cramped up on the second of three runs, which gave me a chance to get ahead. After the kayaking we were all together on the final run back to the cargo nets, wall and finish line.
I felt I’d pushed myself hard, and the others had a fair crack too, so it was great to find out that we finished 48th out of 350 teams! 2h46 of pushing, my legs cramped on the very last obstacle, but a good day.
And this time I didn’t fall asleep in the bath…
