Model Santa Originally uploaded by RachelC. The shop round the corner which has had the summer lawn sprinkler outside every day for about the last 18 months (through 2 winters) now has a new attraction. A 5ft singing, dancing Santa that chortles, sings and gyrates to music all day long. Almost everytime I pass it, […]
Christmas Carols
Rachel has an invitation to a Christmas Carol concert next Wednesday in Parliament Square. Get together to sing a whole bunch of songs but be aware of one thing – you run the risk of arrest. Please note that if you attend this carol service, it will classify as a spontaneous demonstration (of faith, hope, […]
Snippets 18 Dec
I’ve got all these open tabs that I need to close…posting them is the best way. Scott Adams wants to adopt – an embryo. Does not need a lot of space (keep. it in the freezer), cheap (no toys or clothes) and no issue with a terror toddler or a truculent teen. It may just […]
Harry Potter at the movies
I went to see the latest Harry Potter movie yesterday. This is the first of the series that I have actually seen end to end, although I’ve probably seen all of the first one in dribs and frabs, and I quite enjoyed it. I’ve read all the books, which was just as well as the […]
Germ and Squirrel Free
A couple of articles caugh tmy eye in today’s Evening Standard. The first is about c2c who have just announced a new service (although not, apparently, in the news section of their website). They are going to provide cough-free carriages for the next few months, to allow their commuters to stay germ free. If a […]
Flickring Expectations
Last night was another of the Christmas functions at work, this time with the IT function. After dressing up and loading onto a coach, we arrived at our venue for the night – the Hard Rock Cafe – to take part in plenty of food, drink and karaoke. Scattered around the venue were dressing up […]
Saturday Conversations
Saturday was a day of interesting conversations. In the afternoon, I met up with Tara and Suw and we talked about life , the universe and blogging. Some of the conversation got recorded…I’ll need to work out if I can afford the bribe for that not to be broadcast anytime soon ;o). After that, it […]
Christmas Tube Rides
It’s that holiday season again and the parties are lined up. One of the occupational hazards of such festivity is falling asleep on the way home and missing your stop. But worry no longer, pop over to wakemeupat.com and get yourself some stickers, requesting your fellow commuters to wake you up at your stop. Thanks […]
IE Security Update
Since Wednesday I’ve seen at least 3 copies of an’ urgent security notice’ via different communications routes, noting that a critical vulnerability to internet explorer had not yet been fixed and warning us all to exercise common sense when browsing web pages. So far I’ve managed not to send my automatic reply back – use […]
George Best and the Newspapers
As George Best appears to be facing the end, the Metro newspaper put him on the front page today – with some very careful (and clever) writing. Last night, doctors were predicting that he only had a few hours left. He was alive as the papers went to press but the odds were that he […]
Holiday Season
As we move into year end the prevalence of US media and commercial interests not to use the salutation ‘Happy Christmas’ but instead to use the more niutral ‘Happy Holidays’ always makes be chuckle. And wonder what they call all the other festivals such as Eid, Divali, Hannukkah or Kwanzaa. We can’t call all of […]
BBC TV Ads
The new BBC TV advertising, for digital services, is rather disturbing. A crowd of disembodied heads floating around the countryside getting together in the shape of verious personalities. What were the creatives on when they came up with that?
Tourist London
My mother was visting today (she was down in London for a conference) so I took the day off to do some touristy stuff. No real plans were made, but we ended up doing a spin round the V&A and then visiting Harrods. As responsible adults you’d have thought we would have gone for some […]
Happy Birthday Harriet
Harriet is thought to be 175 years old today, or at least that is what is being celebrated.
Rugby Internationals
Yesterday, I took a trip to Twickenham to watch England beat Australia at rugby. Beforehand, I’d been at a lunch where Jeff Probyn had given a speech – un-reformed, targeting the many males in the audience ;o) – in which he had predicted a win by 10 points, with the front row playing the key […]
Lest We Forget
On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, The Great War, the war to end all wars, officially came to an end. Since then, the time has been used to remember the fallen, those who gave their lives for their country, with no though of politics. Every year, the […]
Nerobucks – what’s out favourite coffee?
Occasionally, it becomes necessary to go outside of work and get coffee from one of the many local coffee shops, forgoing the inhouse brand whose only real attraction is that is free and ocntains caffeine. The choice is usually Starbucks. Yesterday, we tried something different and ran a taste test between Starbucks and Cafe Nero. […]
What do I do again?
Tom at TrueTalk Blog writes about explaining what he does, how it is not a simple as delivering mail, but is about helping leaders create an environment that make people happy, in which they have fun, in which there is a deep sense of mutual respect and regard (love). Oh, and are wildly productive because […]
Socialising – Ballet and Dinner
On Friday I got an opportunity to go to Covent Garden to see the ballet Manon with Ricahrd who had some free tickets. An unexpected cultural treat, made better with tickets right near the front. Which meant I was close enough to come to the conclusion that the tights of the male dancers must have […]
Unlocking the Geek
Following the scifi channel’s survey, they have taken out a 4 page ‘advertising feature’ in this morning’s Metro. Their focus is on being a TV geek, clothes geek or travel geek in 1985, 2005 and 2025 (with Lost finally ending and a new TV reality show ‘Lost in Space’ where 10 contestants are set adrift […]