The real deal

Check out this link to Greg's Digital Archive - it shows how images of models and advertisements and how much retouching goes in to creating the 'perfect' image

time traveling

Have just finished a fabulous book, The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger which I highly recommend. It's the story of Henry, who is chronologically impaired, and keeps on involuntarily jumping back and forth in time. He falls in love with Clare, and keeps on appearing at different stages of her life, at different stages of his.

cross-blogging

I've made it on to someone else's blog! Check out the reference to me on Jon's blog, discombobulated. There is also a great gallery on the site which displays photos of Jon and Lisa's travels through Spain. Keep up with them as they cycle 62 km a day!

Swimming with the fishies

I'm going diving!

I've just booked a trip to the Red Sea to go diving. It sounds like a lovely trip and I'll finally get to scuba dive properly, not just at the bottom of the pool in Harrow. I'm going with one of my workmates, Nicola. I've actually been to Dahab before, about eight years ago, on my Egypt Top Deck tour so it will be interesting to see how much it's changed.

a posh evening

We had a work function at the Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner last night. There are a couple of balconies at the top where one can stand and enjoy the view, along with cocktails and canapes. It was a lovely evening and we could see right into the garden of Buckingham Palace, especially the tennis courts where some palace staff were playing (not the Queen sadly). We enjoyed the mini food at the function, especially the tiny beef wellingtons and flavoured creme caramels in a spoon.

beady

Yay! New Bead & Button magazine has arrived. Projects for this month include "whimsical bead embroidery" and my personal favourite, a Mona Lisa beaded hanging. Perhaps someone will be getting one for Christmas...

the caribbean life

Sue and Will are sailing around Antigua at the moment on Chrisoffel's Lighthouse, They're hoping to leave Antigua around May 28th, heading up to Newport or
Maine, USA and going via Bermuda.

Kingdom Hospital

I had high hopes for Kingdom Hospital, hoping that it would be a new TV favourite along the lines of Six Feet Under. However, I have to say I'm not that excited about it. I've sat through two episodes and just think it's a bit self-consciously wierd. The recreation of Stephen King's accident was extremely gruesome, and I can't work out whether ant-eaters are meant to have teeth or whether there is just some no-so-hidden meaning in it. Oh well. It was nice to see Andrew McCarthy again after so many years.

confusion

So I am now having to teach myself the difference between a courgette and a cucumber after a disastrous mistake yesterday. We very nearly had courgette-flavoured Pimms.

Stop the traffic!

Major incident in Timaru today when two cattle escaped from a stock truck near Briscoes. Apparently traffic was delayed for twenty minutes while the cattle were captured and dealt with. No word yet as to whether my cousin Moray was involved.

sushi ichiban!

Had some great sushi at Taro in Old Compton St last night - delicious and with enough wasabi to make my eyes water severely! Great value though, very convenient and fast and not smoky!
Then we went to see Delays at the Astoria who were very good. 'Crazy' keyboard player, bass player with a scarf, drummer with annoying flicky hair and angelic voiced singer. Great sound, good performance.

A whole lotta Soul

Li-Ann and Andrew spent some time in Warwick Avenue's Prince Alfred pub talking to David Soul last night. From his site, it looks as though he had been at the launch of his 'new recording project' which is essentially a new version of 'Don't Give Up On Us'. Li-Ann said he was very nice though.

congratulations Christian!

Christian O'Connell, who presents my breakfast show of choice on XFM (when it's not being interupted by the Holloway radio pirates) has won the Sony Award for DJ of the year. Even though he plays Muse a little too much, I always find him and the team amusing in the morning, even when the radio wakes me at 7am - argh!
Chris Smith, his lovely sidekick, has his own blog as well.

cheap eats

We ate at Cafe Emm last night, a cheap but quite nice restaurant in Frith St, a bit of a step up from Simon's favourite Pollo round the corner.

Landform

The Scottish Museum of National Art which I visited with Steve and Aoife recently has won the Gulbenkian Museum of the year award for its Landform landscape sculpture. Unfortunately when we were there we weren't allowed to run around on it, but there are sculptured spirals and ledges around a central pool. Not an exhibition that is quick to strike however!

for all your timber supplies

John's got a new job at Bunnings Warehouse . He's on induction this week but already thinks it's going to be his dream job!

Easter eggs

Now that we've got our DVD player sorted out, I'm going to catch up on all the special edition DVDs I've missed out on. For example on the 'Best of Bowie' DVD that I spent most of Saturday watching there are loads of Easter Eggs. Perfect for a nerd like me!

I'm also looking forward to spending a weekend sometime watching the entire extended version of 'The Two Towers' including, no doubt, long segments of Richard Taylor talking in monotone about visual effects.

The Life of London

Lots of good stuff on the BBC site about Peter Ackroyd's "The Life of London" including walks along the routes he talks about. You can even download the map and then walk the route listening to a commentary on your mobile!

The not-so-wise sister

Fiona's got to have all her wisdom teeth out. I may have gone through all the teeth-extraction trauma when I was young but I so don't envy her having to have them out now. Take lots of Novocaine Fiona!

I've "won"!

I've won my first ever eBay auction. Sadly it's not very exciting, just a silver Velux blind for my bedroom. And I've still to complete the transaction so it could all go pear-shaped. I'm amazed at how much odd stuff is on the site - I really should have sold more of my belongings when we were moving.

Loss of the definitive

So what's this with bands not having a 'The' at the start of their name. First I discover that it's just 'Pixies' and now everyone says that The Delays are actually just called 'Delays'. So why is their site URL http://www.thedelays.co.uk/?
I hate having to be a pedant!

I Love Pixies

Only got 15 out of 20 in the I Love Pixies quiz. But I'm swotting up on their albums in preparation for the June 3rd concert.

Still waiting...

The latest ETA for my iPod mini is four week's time. Apparently it's now in Alacra's offices in New York and their European CEO is going to bring it over when he makes the journey next month. Mine's the blue one by the way.

The hobbits are taking over the station

I'm going to have to forsake XFM for one night to listen to Elijah Wood taking over for a holidaying John Peel on Radio One. Will be interesting to see whether he's picked up on any New Zealand music during his time in Godzone.

Swimming and jumping around

I'm pleased that since we've moved I've been able to find a new pool. In fact, I now use two pools! The Cally Pool on Caledonian Rd is about 5 minutes on bus (haven't tried walking it yet) and that's ok for swimming. And then I've been going to the Archway Leisure centre for Water Aerobics (they don't seem to call it Aqua there). It's quite good. I'm sad that Danny and his ballet moves and the ABBA soundtrack is now more, but never mind.

Brasil 40 degrees

Li-Ann and Emily and I went to Selfridges on Sunday afternoon to experience
Brasil 40 degrees which is the theme of the store at the moment. As well as buying shoes, we lounged illegally on a giant purple cushion and drank caipirinhas from the Caipirinha Bar. Thankfully not too much drunken shopping eventuated! There is a giant polystyrene Jesus at the front of the store, similar to the one in Rio.

The first blog post

Hello, this isn't a real posting, just a test.