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January 2011

Wednesday, 26 January 2011

links 01/26/2011

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted by on Wednesday, 26 January 2011 at 23:30 | | Comments (0)

Tuesday, 25 January 2011

links 01/25/2011

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted by on Tuesday, 25 January 2011 at 23:30 | | Comments (0)

Unfare Zoning

I work three days a week and often ponder whether it's cheaper to get a season Travelcard or to use Oyster Pay as You Go. My fuzzy thinking is, if I only work 3 days, the PAYG is cheaper.

If I do a lot of local travel (buses to Brixton, Clapham or Streatham) over the weekend, a Travelcard might save me a bit of money, but because these are often unplanned, I might also lose money, as I would if I were absent from work for sick, unplanned annual leave, or working at home or out of town. If I go to work four days, or go into town on a day off it 'probably' makes sense to get a Travelcard.

Last night I decided to apply an accountant's rigour to my fuzzy thinking. It's actually more complicated because of my occasional but not obligatory use of Zone 1 Tube stations: details below the fold for anoraks!

I originally looked to see the value of a weekly or monthly card, before I got side-tracked by the Zone issue. I work 3 days a week or between 12 and 15 days a calendar month, not including planned and unplanned absences. So, I wanted to compare the weekly or monthly travelcard to the daily cap.

Very simply, I divided the monthly cost by the Daily Peak cap. I discovered that for Zone 1-2, a Monthly card is the equivalent of 13.3 daily caps. For Zone 1-3 it's 12.3. For Zone 2 only it's the equivalent of 10.  For Zones 2-3 it's 7.9.

That astounded me! Depending on which Zones you use, a monthly travel card makes a relative saving of half as much again compared to the daily cap. One could argue the special case for Zone 1 but a 1-2 monthly is already a lot more than a 2-3 monthly.

The distortion comes from the cheap fares in the central zone compared to the suburbs. The daily cap on Zones 1-2 peak is £8; in Zones 2-3 it's £10. This can't be defended by tourism, because tourists can save by waiting til 9.30 to get public transport, no great hardship. Offpeak, Zone 1 is £6.60, 1-2 is £6.60, and Zone 2-3 is £7.30. So, season travel is more expensive in town than in the 'burbs, but daily travel more so than in the 'burbs.

One can argue for ever about how many days 'free' travel a season ticket can buy you, but it ought to be consistent across the board. The disparity between 7.9 and 13.3 is huge, and this is largely because of the seemingly totally bizarre way of setting the daily cap for each of different combinations of zones.

People accept that they have to pay a large proportion of their salary on travel costs. But I think we have a right to expect fairness and consistency, and, above all , transparency. It has taken me a certain amount of concentration to analyse this, and I'm an accountant.

At least it gives me the chance to use the word 'Byzantine'!

The anoraky details about Uncertainty of Zone!

Continue reading "Unfare Zoning" »

Posted by on Tuesday, 25 January 2011 at 13:54 in London my London, Transport | | Comments (2)

Monday, 24 January 2011

links 01/24/2011

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted by on Monday, 24 January 2011 at 23:30 | | Comments (0)

Saturday, 22 January 2011

links 01/22/2011

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted by on Saturday, 22 January 2011 at 23:30 | | Comments (0)

Friday, 21 January 2011

links 01/21/2011

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted by on Friday, 21 January 2011 at 23:30 | | Comments (1)

Thursday, 20 January 2011

links 01/20/2011

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted by on Thursday, 20 January 2011 at 23:30 | | Comments (0)

Wednesday, 19 January 2011

links 01/19/2011

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted by on Wednesday, 19 January 2011 at 23:30 | | Comments (0)

Tuesday, 18 January 2011

links 01/18/2011

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted by on Tuesday, 18 January 2011 at 23:30 | | Comments (0)

Monday, 17 January 2011

links 01/17/2011

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted by on Monday, 17 January 2011 at 23:30 | | Comments (0)

Sunday, 16 January 2011

links 01/16/2011

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted by on Sunday, 16 January 2011 at 23:30 | | Comments (0)

Lippen schweigen on You Tube

Mr Suave

 

See the stage-presence between Plácido and Anna just sizzle!

 

Ana Maria plays it cool

 

Ice Queen Kiri close to melting

 

I suppose in July I will have the pleasure of seeing Morticia being waltzed around the O2 stage!

 

Posted by on Sunday, 16 January 2011 at 13:05 in Placido Domingo - my hero! | | Comments (2)

Saturday, 15 January 2011

links 01/15/2011

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted by on Saturday, 15 January 2011 at 23:30 | | Comments (0)

Iphigenie en Tauride in Madrid

Previews

Susan Graham: Interpretar a Ifigenia es como hacer dos meses de psicoterapia

Grandes de la ópera mundial al servicio de Gluck

Escena_Iphigenie_Tauride

 

 

First-night reviews

You know when I wrote 'I hope for everyone's sake that Plácido doesn't attempt Keenlysidesque acrobatics' (eg walking up wallls horizontally)

Well, Photo0 it seems that:

Y que cumpla los 70 años de edad no sólo haciendo un Orestes convincente sino subiéndose por las paredes, tendiéndose y levantándose raudo en el escenario, ágil y radiante, recuperado de un cáncer de colon, tras medio siglo de carrera y más de 3.500 funciones representadas.

Google translates that as 'climbing the walls'.

El caballero Plácido entre los Tauros

Some people have commented recently that he is looking old. To that, I can only reply: Not when it matters!

Oreste

Plácido Domingo vence a los virus y lo borda de nuevo en Madrid

Basically, says that he sang despite having a cold that's going round.

Plácido puede hasta con la gripe: El tenor logra siete minutos de aplausos en el estreno de «Ifigenia en Táuride» en el Teatro Real

The reviewer didn't like the production

Plácido Domingo regala un brillante Orestes al público de Madrid

De modo que, mientras cantaba, el tenor madrileño, que el próximo día 21 cumple 70 años, tenía que revolcarse por el suelo, dejarse mantear y vapulear por el grupo de las siniestras ayudantes de Ifigenia, la traumatizada sacerdotisa de Diana, y correr descalzo por el mojado escenario en busca de la muerte, la única capaz de terminar con el terrible remordimiento que destruye a su personaje, Orestes. Hasta trepa por las paredes.

(Google Translates this as:

*** PORN ALERT ***: roll on the floor, tossing and thrashing ... and run barefoot by the wet stage ... To climb the walls. *** END PORN ALERT ***

Primera noche....

Se mueve por todo el escenario, como he dicho antes, como un hombre de cuarenta.

Posted by on Saturday, 15 January 2011 at 18:06 in Placido Domingo - my hero! | | Comments (0)

The Fifteen Minute Rule

I picked up the 'Fifteen Minute Rule' from someone I know as Lynne, who some people will know as the owner of the Blogging Brits webring, one of my earliest blog 'friends' and inspiration, though we have never met.

The Fifteen Minute Rule applies largely to housework and related chores, although I suppose it can be adapted to other matters. It acknowledges that housework is never done. As soon as you've 'finished' something it will crop up again eg once you've done the washing up, you want to make a cup of tea.

It is particularly useful for Spoonies, but also for people who feel constantly pressed for time or who feel daunted by the seeming overwhelming volume of tasks to do.

So, how does it work?

Divide your household chores into large fairly clearly defined chunks. Mainly room-based, with additions for extra on-going tasks. So I have 15 minutes for each room, plus washing-up, laundry and paper-sort.

Work through them in a pre-determined order.

Using the timer on your phone* and set it to 15 minutes. Get on and do what seems the most pressing things in the first 'room'. Don't sweat the details eg if it's the living room, remove the dirty plates and the detritus of post and magazines, plump the cushions and wipe the coffee table. Don't get anxious about the cobwebs in the corner.

When the timer goes off, stop. And I mean it. If you've gathered all the rubbish into a plastic bag, obviously, you can throw that into the wheelie bin, but don't say - I just need to put those DVDs away or clean the window.

Move on to the next room, say 'laundry'. For me, that's sorting clothes to be washed, and putting them into be washed. Usually only after putting away the last lot that has been drying in the airing cupboard and/or over the bath. Again, stop at 15 minutes, and again apply that with common sense - if you're poised at the machine about to load it, carry on. And at some time, you'll need to take them out, an obvious flaw to this otherwise excellent system!

Do three lots of 15, then reward yourself with a break, also 15 minutes, where you may sit down with a cup of tea, catch up on Twitter etc, before starting again, or not.

You will never keep a house spic-and-span just using the 15 minute rule, but it stops you drowning. I try to do 3x15 on a work night, if I'm in, but don't beat myself up if I don't.

It's important to look at the tasks in manageable chunks, such as rooms, but it's also okay to flex the boundaries a little. So, for me, if the washing up is finished before the 15 minutes, I put things into recycling, even though a pedant would class that as 'kitchen'. Or if I'm vacuuming  the dining/computer room, it also makes sense to vacuum the stairs.

Sometimes there are jobs that need more than 15 minutes, or only need doing occasionally. For example, if you feel the need to go through your wardrobe, cupboards and drawers to chuck out what you no longer wear, you can still break this down into 15 minutes chunks.

If you know you don't have a beauty regime and figure that maybe you ought to, add certain tasks to the 15 minute rule: face mask, varnishing toenails, all that girly crap I pretend doesn't matter but sort of does. Sometimes there is something you enjoy doing but can't get back into because of 'writer's block' - for me, editing photos and hand diary writing - so add them, too.

Keep a standing list of what should be done in rotation. If you do it often enough, you will find yourself in a spiral that means that by the third rotation you are able to do more - eg tackle the cobwebs in the corner. Or focus on one specific area eg tidy the computer table, clean the cooker.

The advantage of this is that if you have casual non-judgemental visitors you never need to feel ashamed that your house is a tip. And when you realise that it's time to do a bigger job - sorting out cupboards, spring cleaning, you don't let the smaller mundane tasks become an excuse for not tackling it!

* people with iphones may want to use a mechanical kitchen timer

Posted by on Saturday, 15 January 2011 at 13:20 in Gert's Cottage | | Comments (0)

Wednesday, 12 January 2011

links 01/12/2011

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted by on Wednesday, 12 January 2011 at 23:30 | | Comments (0)

Oreste in Madrid

It's going to to break my heart to blog about this. I love the opera Iphigenie en Tauride with a love so exquisite it hurts. I was so hoping to go to and see it in Madrid , and tried in vain to book tickets, even though reason after reason have presented that it wouldn't be good to go abroad at this time, and anyway like so many other people I am to all intents and purposes broke*.

It takes a long time to go through all the available articles and selsct the best bits, and my new years resolution is to go to bed at sensible o'clock on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. (And I'm aiming to be out tomorrow night).

But as a taster, a photo from the Dress Rehearsal of Iphigenie en Tauride, which opens in Madrid tomorrow (Thursday) night, with a second performance on Sunday and others subsequently.

Iphigenie en Tauride

Source: Comienza el maratón Domingo

Which mentions his desire to carry on singing for another 3 or 4 years - he's slipping, for the past nearly 3 decades it's always been 'another 5'!

If anyone who is going wants to write a piece to be put on the blog, full credit to the writer, do let me know!

By the way, this is the same production that I saw in London with Simon Keenlyside as Oreste (both with Susan Graham and Paul Groves...very good in their roles). Simon also did it in Chicago and San Francsico, IIRC. He spent most of the Act II Mad Scene walking horizontally up walls, much to his vocal detriment. I hope for everyone's sake that Plácido doesn't attempt Keenlysidesque acrobatics. Otherwise, I seem to recall I did enjoy the production greatly.

* Not being dramatic, certainly not seeking sympathy, still looking forward to Il Postino in Paris and Tamerlano in Barcelona. Feel enormously privileged but wish I could be in Madrid

Posted by on Wednesday, 12 January 2011 at 23:01 in Placido Domingo - my hero! | | Comments (6)

Cultural norms

Obviously, and I want to say this right at the outset: I have absolutely no qualifications in anything that relates to medicine or psychology, nor have I ever been, in any practical sense and to my knowledge, in close observation of anyone with any marked mental illness, other than depression and various addictions.

There's been a lot of kerfuffle about some sociopath plugging some so-called 'managed anorexia' pill. Best source to read about it is in this interview by the excellent Johan Hari

I've felt very uneasy about quite a lot of the kerfuffle. For a start, I feel slightly queasy about the general assumption that as anorexia is classified as a mental illness, that is a fixed and incontrovertible fact. Yet, homosexuality was classified by the World Health Organisation as a mental illness as recently as 1990. In some contexts addictions are treated thus, even when it can be clearly demonstrated that they are not - or not even addictions: such as a 19-year old male from a conservative Christian background labelled a sex addict for wishing to masturbate five times a day and being aroused by the sight of his half-naked cousin.  Or women labelled and treated at considerable cost for 'sex-addiction' when the destructive behaviour is actually a manifestation of something different, more complex and much more profound. Drug addicts are regarded negatively as being agents of their own downfall and their parents blamed for poor parenting, not least by themselves.

I am also, on the whole, not one for using extremes as an excuse for banning moderation. For example, I wouldn't ban the sale of alcohol in shops and bars, despite what I have observed of the dangers of alcohol abuse and the destruction of alcoholism, but nor would I wave a bottle of whisky under their nose to taunt an alcoholic.

I want to avoid accusing 'the media' or 'people' of hypocrisy because the media is very diverse: those speaking out against something generally aren't those encouraging it in a different way, and even if individual people do happen to display double-standards, it may be because they're confused or torn, and probably not because they're malicious or hypocrites.

Given that anorexia is accepted as a mental illness, I don't think that marketing a particular pill is particularly significant. I know that people do seek out miracle pills for weight-loss (I know at least two who were given amphetamines from clinics, both in Clapham, coincidentally or not). It's almost like saying that because people get depressed, one mustn't have bad news, factual or fictional, on TV. Hmm, Eastenders, cot death. Don't go there: didn't see it.

I suppose what worries me is that while that vile little creature was getting his kicks and trying to make even more money from selling some pill from a website that people had to seek out, there is an awful lot more going on in all media which in my view is far more harmful. Terrestrial TV has run programmes - for sheer entertainment - of The World's Fattest Man and some competitive weight loss programme for morbidly obese people.

I suppose my instinct told me to despise the vile little man because of the absence of logic in his argument: basically, get thin and he'll pay you to shag him. It's part of a patriarchal view that women have to fulfil certain specific criteria in order earn the privilege of shagging a rather ordinary, nay unattractive man, whereas - gross generalisation coming up - ultimately, men aren't that fussy and it's women who get to do the choosing, except when men do the paying, which is an irrelevant point to most women. So, it's actually men who should shape up in order to be 'chosen' by discerning women.

I couldn't start to count the magazines that target women and girls in a constant message about dieting, get thin and so on. Celebrity magazines, Take A Break-style, magazines that aim to be a least partly cerebral, magazines about 'the home' and, of course, the fashion magazines. Echoed in the national newspapers and on the TV, in features as well as adverts. Get thin.

Stay thin.

Get thin.

Be obsessed by thinness.

Buy clothes for thin people.

Be thin.

Stay thin.

Don't enjoy your food.

Diet.

By this faddy diet book, this expensive food 'replacement'.

Be self-absorbed. Judge yourself by your appearance. Judge others by their appearance.

Be thin.

The body is everything. Neglect the brain. Be ignorant.  Let your critical judgement decay. Be thin.

It is so mainstream, so embedded in the way we live our lives, it's almost impossible not to be affected by this. I've seen it written that younger and younger girls are becoming more and more obsessed by their body image and by a media-driven 'ideal' of a superthin woman.

Not that I'm advocating obesity. I am overweight. That is an indisputable fact. Not just because the scales say so. Not just because the tape-measure says so. Not just because it's obvious to anyone that looks at me. But for all of those reasons, and more. It is clearly in my own interests to start exercising again, having let it slip, and to re-assess what I'm eating. It is certainly not in my interests to embark on some crash diet 'rapid weight loss' eat only bananas for a week followed by lean chicken as long as you do it standing on one leg whilst incanting in tongues nonsense. I want to lose fat because of the health benefits in doing so, because I don't want to fork out for new clothes when my existing ones no longer fit me. And, to be honest, I want to look 'good', too.

But I just don't see how people can get all irate about one here-today gone-tomorrow tosser who may or may not be selling some pill which may further encourage vulnerable people into self-harm, and yet they stay quiet about the incessant brainwashing that your worth as a woman is measured only by how thin you are.

Johann describes him as a sociopath and from the little I know that would make sense. Yet, surely, sociopathy is also a mental illness, but one that we as a society, ironically, have no sympathy for. Arguably, a sociopath has as little control over and responsibility for their actions as does an anorexic. Maybe, as I say, I don't know. We must publicly display sympathy for someone who at least at some level and at some time has, like the addict, chosen to self-harm, yet many of us instinctively think of a sociopath as tantamount to evil.

New Statesman has a commentary which nicely dismiss claims to free speech based on illegality; someone being free to say something doesn't remove the right of others to criticise or condemn. I just find it unconvincing that selling a 'weight management pill' can cause someone to become anorexic, especially considering it is a mental illness. And regarding people with an existing condition, who should be avoiding 'triggers', shouldn't we focus more on the constant brainwashing by Big Business rather than the rather amateurish marketing attempted by one obviously very disturbed individual.

Perhaps if we confront the brainwashing of Big Business, we would also have to examine our won complicity in it and our own desire to be manipulated. Just because I understood and long ago accepted my curvaceous figure and my superior intellect, doesn't mean that just sometimes I'd like to buy that top and be satisfied with unchallenging pursuits.

 

 

Posted by on Wednesday, 12 January 2011 at 21:54 in Health, Spare rib | | Comments (0)

Monday, 03 January 2011

Joanna's Restaurant

We've walked past Joanna's on Westow Hill, Crystal Palace many times but have never gone; it's been open for years and gets good reviews. So what could possibly go wrong?

We arrived and did the usual 'table for two'. The front-of-house bloke asked whether we wanted a drink at the bar. In my experience, one is generally shown to the bar if you need to wait until a table becomes available or if it's the practice to present the menu and take orders before leading you to the table. Neither was the case here, so I just ended up sitting on a too-high bar stool drinking an aperitif I didn't particularly want in a howling draught. Eventually we had to tell Mr FoH we wanted to go to our table - like we had wanted to when we first arrived, and like everybody else was doing.

We ordered and that was fine. The order included 'some tap water', so the waitress brought us each a wine glass of water. It was fine, it was chilled, but I thought it was petty and grudging. Either you use a wine glass with a jug of water, or at least bring half pint tumblers.

We ordered wine as well, which was placed in an ice bucket beyond our reach. It's a long time since I've been in a restaurant that does this. It's very old-fashioned and it's rude to customers to forbid them from controlling the wine they've ordered and intend to pay for. I had taken about three sips from my glass when the FoH came over, poured some more wine in, without pausing long enough for me - cutlery in hand, food in mouth - to react.

I asked for the wine to be put in our reach (they were woefully understaffed and I sure wasn't going to sit around waiting to catch their eye when I did want my glass refilled). His response alone was enough to spoil the meal and make sure we will never return.

"I'll put it in a cooler on the table shall I? None of the staff will lay a finger on it again"

in the most sardonic withering tones of contempt. I thought he was an arrogant jumped up cock; Jimmy's view was that he was an arsehole.

The food was of startlingly poor quality. It was as if they'd tried but not quite understood what they were trying to achieve.

I ordered a Sweet Onion & Parmesan Tart with rocket & walnut dressing. The walnut dressing was a smear of tasteless  sludge far away from the rocket. The rocket had some parmesan grated on it, looking like they'd use the bit of the grater most people would use for cheddar. The actual tart tasted rather nice despite the pastry being burnt. It seemed odd that it came in a triangular lump cut from a whole pie. Just looked very dated and amateur. Jimmy said his marinated ribs were very nice; again, they looked to have been dumped unceremoniously on the plate.

Unfortunately, there is nothing good to say about the mains. I had a crab linguine which tasted mostly of the cheap olive oil the linguine had been tossed in, and I had to abandon it. It looked completely unappetising, just a sludge thrown into a bowl and hope for the best. Home-cooking, I guess, but not in a good way.

Jimmy abandoned his seabass which was undercooked on one side and on the other side, burnt, and imbued with the residue of everything else that had been cooked on the griddle. That was just thrown down on a plate. Separately he was given two undercooked boiled potatoes, with skins still on - but they weren't new potatoes - and some boiled spinach, without any sauce or even a knob of butter.

From where I was sitting, I could see the pass, and most of what was coming out looked burnt and generally unappetising. The chips looked greasy, singed and lack-lustre.

We remained painfully polite, but when we asked for the bill and it was clear we weren't staying, it was thrown down on the table and we were glared at.

This was our first time out for two weeks and the night before Jimmy's first whole day off work in three. The place wasn't cheap - although not especially pricey, either. We were just astounded at how rubbish it was. But even if the food had been acceptable, we wouldn't return because of the rudeness of the front of house man.

Posted by on Monday, 03 January 2011 at 14:10 in Food and Drink | | Comments (1)

Sunday, 02 January 2011

links 01/02/2011

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted by on Sunday, 02 January 2011 at 23:30 | | Comments (0)

Saturday, 01 January 2011

Meh To AV

Someone started a hashtag on Twitter Meh2AV

It brilliantly summarised my feelings about the forthcoming UK referendum on the voting system.

I used it once, to state:

It's not proportionate but may either hasten or delay PR. Assuming that one has a view either way on PR.

And I was lectured by someone describing himself as a 'first year student at Cambridge University'.

I resisted saying: 'I was thinking cogently about voting systems before you were born' because I hate the implication that being older necessarily confers greater knowledge.

(Below the body of the post, I insert tangential ruminations about the essence of politics).

The discourse ended when he said:

You'll make your own mind up will you?

To which, naturally, I replied:

No, I'm a middle-aged bloody woman. How on earth can I make my fucking mind up without having it explained to me by a teenager?

My indifference to AV is: it changes the electoral system and appears more representative when it's not. (Not that I especially support PR: it's logical, but in weakening the local link it may create MPs divorced from what they represent).

I consider AV to be inferior to FPTP because it caters for negativity and cynicism in politics. It's brilliant for those who want to vote for the party most likely to unseat the incumbent but can't identify which party this is.

I suspect this will lead to more negative campaigns: rather than 'Vote for our package of life-improving measures' it will, even more, be 'Vote for us because we're not as evil as the other lot'. Hmm, that argument is probably enough to convince me of the need for a properly proportional system.

In its favour, it can allow for tactical and true voting where there is a risk of BNP being elected  - the only circumstances I can envisage myself voting Tory would be to stop the BNP (or similar). In doing so, I am sort of disenfranchising myself. Under AV, I could vote Labour 1, Tory 2. Even so, I'd have to cross my fingers and hope that BNP didn't exceed 50% of first preferences. If I was unsure of this, I'd end up voting Tory 1; my Labour 2 would be eliminated before Tory, so I'd still have disenfranchised myself.

It would lead to different results in some constituencies. I suspect under AV, where I live, Streatham, would have elected a LibDem, as the anti-Labour and anti-Tory voters  combined in a ill-defined mealy-mouthed centre. Elsewhere, it would further reinforce the inherent 'natural' majority.

It is difficult to see how it would advance the representation of smaller parties, whether it be the Greens - whose growing influence enriches politics - or the BNP - who earn the votes of significant numbers of people however repugnant I find this.

If one supports a change to the electoral system from FPTP to PR,  a move to AV may not help this. Granted, it will demonstrate that change is possible. Conversely, most people who aren't political geeks will think 'we've already changed the voting system once, I can't be doing with this constant meddling'.

In all the years on-and-off that I have been politically active, PR has only been an issue on the doorsteps inside student Halls of Residence.

There is no ideological argument for or against AV. I see no reason to get out and campaign for or against. I probably won't return to the subject on blog, certainly not with new insights, before May.   I don't know how I shall vote in the referendum, because I don't care.

My 'don't care' isn't the product of apathy. There exists a strong case for constitutional and electoral reform. We still have an unelected Upper House of Parliament and an unelected, hereditary Head of State. Applying patches to the First Past the Post system of voting is a spit in the ocean. It does not further a debate about how we should be governed or how society should be arranged. It is just a numbers game to fascinate the geeks. (And coming from me...!)

Continue reading "Meh To AV" »

Posted by on Saturday, 01 January 2011 at 14:06 in UK Politics | | Comments (2)

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  • Cathedral bells

Mojacar

  • Sultan's Courtyard

Elephants

  • Trafalgar Square

New York

  • St Patrick's

Brockwell Park

  • Model village

Cityscape

  • Ironmongers

Trooping the Colour

  • Beating Retreat

Wetlands

  • Hut

Boats and ships

  • Car ferry

Summer

  • Thistles

Windsor

  • Up river

Kew Gardens

  • Fountain

Paris

  • St Sulpice

USA and Canada 99

  • Liberty

Bush visits London

  • Convoy

Sweet Chariot

  • Webb Ellis Trophy

Archives

More...

Notes

Comments

  • Comments welcomed in all languages - probably best in Latin script, I think!

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