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Neglected blogs are terrible things

And this one is no exception in its terribleness.

Here’s a picture I took of some polos:

Gemma with a ball

Gemma with a ball

Originally uploaded by bigsky.

Sending this from me phone as a test.

Wash your mouth out

The company I work for makes toothpaste, amongst other things. We recently had a brochure printed, to hand out to dentists and such people. We had 15,000 of them printed.

They were delivered today. Just spotted a typo: “…helps to inhibit the build up of bacteria that can lead to cavities and plague build-up”.

Hope trade descriptions don’t see it.

Thirst

Do you ever find that, when you go to take a drink of water and tip the cup or glass up to pour the water into your mouth, only to find that there is no water left, that for that second when the anticipated water doesn’t materialise in your mouth, that you are, suddenly, the most thirsty person in the whole wide world?

Or is it just me?

Bless you

A couple of minutes ago, one of my colleagues sneezed. Someone else said “bless you”. In any other office, that would have been the end of the matter.

Not here. My boss just marched out of his office and instructed everyone that if they felt the need to sneeze, they should either go outside to do so, or sneeze directly into a bin. Like he does. The batshit fruitloop.

It’s my birthday

It’s raining on my birthday

That never happens.

Where did Napoleon keep his armies?

Following a pub quiz question last night about the five countries in the world with over a million troops, I was perusing this list of active troops per country.

Antigua and Barbuda has an army consisting of 170 people. 170! That’s awesome. They must all know each other and everything.

More Coolest blogness

Loads of good stuff on the CoolestBlog at the moment, so I’m gonna plug it again:

 www.coolestradio.com

Traditional British Bank Holiday

Went over to a friends for a barbecue on Saturday. This picture pretty much sums up the weather:

If that picture doesn’t sum up a British bank holiday weekend, I don’t know what does.

Coolest Blog Ever

Loads of good stuff on the Coolestthingever blog at the moment. Check it, yo:

http://www.thecoolestthingever.co.uk/

London Pie Festival!

The London Pie Festival is coming!

New Years Day Parade

Since I was in central London anyway, I went and watched the London New Years Day Parade yesterday. I’ve always been a bit of a sucker for marching bands, and there were lots of them:

Parp! Cool.

The parade consisted of about 50 American High School marching bands, interspersed with displays from all the London boroughs, vintage cars and other assorted randomness. I liked the contrast between the highly polished, energetic bands and cheerleaders, who were usually followed by, say, the London Borough of Hackney’s entry, which consisted of a grubby minibus with some balloons tied to it whilst four bored looking teenagers in unmatching fancy dress trailed along behind.

Ealing, my home borough, totally had the best entry. Loads of carnival style dancing and the only proper loud sound system I saw/heard all day:

That’s what I call dressing up.

Stuck on the tube

Stuck on the tube

Originally uploaded by bigsky.

I sent that photo to my blog when I was stuck on a Distrrict Line train at 1:30am, busting for a piss and having just being told we might have to walk down the tracks to the next station. We didn’t, in the end, but it was a very uncomfortable 30 minutes.

Teabagged

Earlier today I was sat in Pret A Manger*, drinking tea and reading the latest issue of Smoke – A London Peculiar. With a start, I realised I’d completely lost track of time, and was due back at work. As my tea was only half-drunk, I replaced the lid so I could carry it safely back to the office. This meant the teabag, which I had previously placed on top of the lid, was now sat, drooping and seeping, on the tabletop. I felt a bit bad about this, so I picked up the teabag, intending to chuck it in the bin on the way out. But when I got to the door, there was no bin to be seen.** Momentarily, I dithered in the doorway, then, not knowing what else to do, walked out into the street carrying a magazine in one hand, and a cup of tea and a soggy teabag in the other.

I immediately felt deeply foolish. I looked around desperately for a bin, but couldn’t see one. Why would any sane person be carrying a used teabag down the road? I blushed. I had to walk for a good 40ft until I found a bin and could dispose of said teabag. My face reddened with every step. “Who is that shambling fool with the teabag?” For shame! It was me!

* I know, I know, they’re part-owned by McDonalds and therefore evil, but there were no seats in the first two beverage vendors I walked past
** There would’ve been a bloody bin in McDonalds, that’s for sure.

PLASA

IMGP3742

Originally uploaded by bigsky.

I went to the PLASA show yesterday. It was cool. Lots of bright flashing lights. Saw lots of cool music tech stuff that I really want but don’t have a hope in hell of ever affording. I especially liked the turntable with a built in CD player, controllable via time coded vinyl.

calvin

calvin

Originally uploaded by bigsky.

This is quite the most dperessing thing have seen recently. Click it to make it big.

The Coolest Radio Ever

That is all.

Embarrassment

I always think it’s good to start the day with an embarrassing incident. It wakes me up, a bit like a strong espresso. This morning, on the way to work, I had to drop off a van I’d hired to move house with. I’d managed to drive it without killing myself or anybody else, which I was quite proud of. I’d even managed to fill it up with the correct sort of fuel. I pulled into the van rental place, carefully maneuvered into the most appropriate-looking parking space, switched off the engine and got out.

I thought I’d better check I hadn’t left anything in the back, so I opened the back door and jumped inside. As I walked to the front of the back of the van (if you see what I mean), I heard the door swinging shut behind me. It was suddenly very dark.

Fuck.

The nice man from the rental company opened the door a minute or so later, and found me frantically trying to access the torch function* on my mobile so I could find the bloody handle to open the bloody door.

Him: “You alright mate?”
Me: “Yeah, fine, except I just sort of locked myself in your van”
Him: “That was a bit silly, wasn’t it?”
Me: “Yes, yes I suppose it was.”

I haven’t felt that much of a prat for quite some time.

*Note to Sony Ericsson, having a torch built into a mobile can be very handy, but not if you have to scroll through 17 sub-menus to activate it.

Lunch

Well.

I tried to go to the new pizza/pasta place in Hammersmith. They do a big paper cup filled with your choice of pasta and sauce, plus a can of drink, for £2.99. But after having stood at the counter for nearly 10 minutes and being completely ignored, I gave up and walked out…into the posh deli round the corner. This place is full of so much tasty looking food I don’t ever let myself go in there. Their range of salamis and parma hams has to be seen to be believed. They made me a baguette filled with French ham, cheese, tomatoes, olive oil and black pepper. They sliced the ham and cheese fresh, which is *much* nicer than that dried out pre-sliced stuff most places have.

It’s pretty yummy actually. The bread is gorgeous. My only complaint would be that my face and hands get covered in flour every time I take a bite. Small price to pay though.