On The Road ...
Booked my train tickets this morning for a day trip to Birmingham on Saturday. Why ? To see the original manuscript of On The Road by Jack Kerouac - a book I was more than a little obsessed with for a while !! The cool thing about this manuscript is that the entire novel was written on one continuous roll of paper so he wouldn't need to change pages and interrupt his stream of conciousness writing.
Couple of interesting links for those interested in this kind of thing ...
http://www.barber.org.uk/ontheroad.html
http://www.ontheroad.org/
I'll let you know if it was worth the trip !
Couple of interesting links for those interested in this kind of thing ...
http://www.barber.org.uk/ontheroad.html
http://www.ontheroad.org/
I'll let you know if it was worth the trip !
If only you could see what I have seen with your eyes ...
Tonight I went to see Bladerunner at the IMAX cinema. Very impressive on the huge IMAX screen. To be honest, I don't think I have really appreciated Bladerunner that much before. But tonight, for some reason - maybe the big screen, the composition and lighting of some of the scenes really struck me. Made me want to take more photos. But then again : I always say that.
Brrrr to Grrrr
Out Of The Fridge ...
... into the freezer. The cold snap which saw daytime temperatures of about -4 degrees in London has finally come to an end, leaving us with balmy days of 10 degrees forecast. Now that things are warming up here in London I am off on a work trip on Wednesday to Romania. As I write this entry it is currently -13 degrees C where I am heading. Brrrrrr. I've updated my weather feed (to the right above my profile picture) to let you share my pain !!
Jumping On The Twitter Bandwagon
Better late than never - I've joined Twitter . I'm hoping it might make for more frequent, albeit small, updates. What is Twitter - well according to their website it is
"... a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?"
Why ? Well, the thing I like most about facebook is the status updates, and Twitter is kind of like that. Check out the "Twitter Updates" section on the right hand side of my blog for my latest inane updates :).
Happy New Year Y'All
Whoops .... there goes another year. It was a bit of a strange year that one - nothing much really changed. Not much ventured. Not much gained. I have a good feeling about this one though. Not sure why.
Fotos Desde Espana
(1) Office buildings in Madrid at Puerta de Europa.
(2) Horse statue in Puerta del Sol in Madrid
(3) View of the alcazar in Toledo
+3
I got home from work last night to find a Royal Mail parcel collection notice on the floor just inside the front door. The only thing that I could think it could be was my Working Visa extension application, including passport, that I had sent off about 3 1/2 weeks ago. But, and this was a big BUT, that wasnt due for another couple of weeks. It couldn't be .... The collection notice had all the right boxes ticked - "Special Delivery", "Signature Required","Small Packet". "Small Packet" ruled out the occasional gig tickets that gets sent to my house instead of work. I didnt want to get my hopes up though. Why did I care so much ? For a start it costs £750 to apply, so failing to get the extension would be a costly exercise. Not to mention I would have to stop working. But, more importantly, my company weekend away is the last weekend of September and I had been more than a bit worried that I wouldnt get my passport back in time. I had been running scenarios through my mind in which I ran to the Post Office the morning of my flight for the weekend away to collect my passport before heading to the airport - and that was the "happy day" scenario. Cruelly I had to wait until this morning to find out what the parcel was. After getting out of bed like a kid at Christmas time and dashing down to the post office this morning I was relieved to find it was indeed my Working Visa extension reply - complete with a new stamp in my passport allowing me work until September 2011 ! What a relief ...
Last.fm
Considering I am so slack at updating this blog it is nice that some parts update themselves. Check out my last.fm chart on the right hand side. It is a pretty neat little widget that shows you the music i am currently listening to. You can also check out my last.fm profile here to see what gigs I have coming up. Nice.
Momentum
I started this blog to keep people up to date with my travels. This year has been pretty sparse on the travel front - Oz in January and Italy for a weekend in June. Correspondingly the blog has been pretty quiet - laying dormant waiting for something to happen. Well not much is planned on the travel front but I am going to make more of an effort (again!) to update the blog. It is easy to take life in London for granted - settling into the work/weekend routine - and I really dont want to fall into that trap. I have been here over 3 years now and at the end of September I will have been in my current job for 3 years too. Almost as long as I was in Perth. Well, okay, another year, but at the speed this year has gone that wont take too long. Anyway, this entry is really just an effort to start building up some momentum again. It seems that inertia is not just for mass.
Why I Live Here ...
Just got to see these guys play an outdoor gig two nights in a row .... sweeet. (Yes it was taken with my mobile and cropped something fierce :( - can you tell who it is ???)
History
It is scary sometimes reading my blog and seeing what I was up to at the same time in previous years. Three years ago I was in Moscow. Two years ago I spotted the Queen on her balcony. Last year I was getting excited about going to Glasto. Today. I don't really know what I'm doing. I think I've been listening to too much Radiohead !
Aaaargh
I was really happy when I took this picture. I thought it would kinda capture the whole "lazing on the grass in London during great weather is awesome" vibe, but all it really ends up showing is how bad the chromatic aberration can be on my Fuji F30. Oh well.
T-Shirt Weather
I try. I really do. But it is so damn hard not be obsessed about the weather over here. It is such an English stereotype - "always talking about the weather". I've come to understand why though - the transformation that takes place when the sun comes out is truly impressive. Anyway, in case you hadnt guessed, I'm happy because the suns out and it's t-shirt weather again. A whopping 22 deg C. Sweet.
Bjork Take II
Bjork was one of those artists that I thought I would never get to see live. Tonight I saw her for the third time in less than a year. The advantages of living in London. (And hopefully I will see her again at Wild In The Country !) The show tonight was pretty similar to that last Monday, except she played "I Miss You" tonight which was cool. Anyway, as usual, photos below.
And just as importantly, the beats & bleeps gang.
And just as importantly, the beats & bleeps gang.
Another Day, Another Gig
Just got back from seeing Bjork at the Hammersmith Apollo. Absolutely brilliant gig including an amazing version of hyperballad.
One of the instruments used on stage is something called a reactable. Its very cool, follow the link for more info or check out the videos below. I want one !
Reactable Demo
Bjork at Glastonbury with reactable action on stage !
Another Day, Another Post.
Today was the 90th Anniversary of the formation of the RAF and to mark the occassion the Red Arrows did a flyover. They flew down along the Thames and over the bridge I work near. I managed to duck out at lunch and get a couple of snaps. No works of art but hey :)
BST
This weekend saw BST roll around again, better known as British Summer Time. The sun even put in an appearance to acknowledge the fact. Even better is that now when I leave the office there is still an hour or so of day light. Today's photo isn't the most exciting subject but it is cool in its own way - its the view from my office window.
The big tall thing on the left is the chimney stack of the old Bankside Power Station, which has been restored and is now better known as the Tate Modern. Moving further to the right on the horizon is the much malignedCentre Point tower. Even further to the left is the BT Tower, perhaps better know to a lot of Australian folk as that building that gets knocked over by Kitten Kong in a fine episode of the Goodies.
The big tall thing on the left is the chimney stack of the old Bankside Power Station, which has been restored and is now better known as the Tate Modern. Moving further to the right on the horizon is the much malignedCentre Point tower. Even further to the left is the BT Tower, perhaps better know to a lot of Australian folk as that building that gets knocked over by Kitten Kong in a fine episode of the Goodies.
Perth Outbound
Well here I am sitting in the Perth International Airport - it has got to be one of the best places to fly from ... at check in / security / customs i walked straight up to each counter - no queing *at all* - gotta love that. Anyway ... the trip has gone way to quick and has kept me busy - hence the lack of posts. Scary to think i have to be at work "tomorrow" .... grrr. Hey ho ... so it goes. See you in the UK !!
Singapore
Am currently killing time in Singapore Airport. Havent been in this neck of the woods since May 28 2005. I guess keeping a blog is good for something .. my own memory !!! Anyway .. that makes it about 2 yrs and half years ... yikes. Too long - looking forward to some sunshine :)
In One Week (Almost Exactly!) ...
I will be back in Adelaide. Can't wait. Am in Adelaide from Wed 19th to Sun 23rd, going home for a week then off to Perth for NYE + 1 week and then back to London. Hopefully I'll be seeing y'all along the way.
Sevilla
Am currently in Sevilla which is a beautiful city. Am again studying at a Spanish language school four hours a day - is good fun but am covering a fair bit of the same stuff as I did last week. Has been beautiful weather, sunny and up to 20 degrees during the day, but at night it gets pretty cold. Only one day left of school, then spending the weekend in Sevilla and then catching the train to Malaga to fly back to London to work for two weeks.
A few photos from Seville ...
A few photos from Seville ...
Estoy en Granada
Have been in Granada (Spain) almost a week now. Has been great fun, but is colder than I thought it was going to be !! Am doing a Spanish language course - four hours of lessons a day - it's hard work - much practice required ! Leave Granada tomorrow and head to Sevilla (via Cordoba - well that is the current, rather hazy, plan) for a week. After that, back to London for two weeks of work before heading home to Oz for 3 weeks. Can't wait !
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