message query for transport

RE: Anyone care to leave a message in English?

Ok.. the Orient Express trundled into the Harbour station this afternoon, which was a surprise as I was led to believe the final visit was in November 2007?

On that subject, the penultimate visit(?) of the Golden Arrow steam train will take place this Saturday (5th). Make the most of it!

Folkestone Central and Folkestone West to get high speed trains (but not Sandling)

This info from this week's KM Extra free sheet, but has been made public by Southeastern Trains. I did wonder just how fast the high speed service could be if it stopped at all the little stations along the way.

No mention of the services from Central, but apparently Folkestone West will only get one high speed service an hour.

Have you noticed they're doing up Folkestone West? Station buildings on both sides of the track are being renovated. It makes sense to me if West became the main station, as there's room around it to expand and use for parking, Folkestone Central seems a bit penned in.

All good news for Folkestone anyway (though less so for Hythe).

West is best right now too

The wife ideally wants to go to Victoria, but just about anywhere in London is good, and that's good from West. Also the proposed (and I think actually due within the next two years) high speed rail link will be using Canterbury West so that'll shave about forty minutes off the journey time, so it doesn't really matter where in London you want to go.

My journey from home to Westenhanger will go back up to about an hour I think, ie about the same as if I worked in London. But on 2/3 the salary, hooray! If I get a car, that knocks it down hugely, most of the time will be spent waiting for a connection and changing at Ashford I think, but then if we did get a car we'd have nowhere to park it. It's a complex business...

Still loving Canterbury though and very keen to move there.

Do you really think DeHaan has made any money on this yet?

He's spent money but is unlikely to have anything other than humungous losses so far I'd have thought.

Are you a homeowner in the area? I am, I'm hoping to make some money, damn this property slump, roll on the high speed rail link and the hordes of loaded evacuees!

Festive Fun

Welcome back after the christmas break, hope you had a good one. We did, felt a bit quiet though, no big late nights or anything. Kind of handy really, as I'm back in work today, I volunteered to be in on these (hopefully) quiet days between christmas and new year.

Last night: GOOD. We went to the Chambers christmas quiz, there were free drinks for all, and presents and hats and sweets, and a bundle of spot prizes during the quiz; I picked up a bottle of champagne for my speedy recognition of a Meat Loaf track, nice! We were in the lead after the first two rounds, which got us a bit of a shout out for the website which was nice, and we were in the running right up until the end, but then we somehow dropped twenty three points to another team on the music round. There were about fifty of them on their team, and they obviously cheated, and we were only three for most of the quiz and good gracious losers and not at all bitter, oh no... I stayed a bit later than I ought, seeing as I had work today.

Our team was slightly embiggened to start with, as I met up with Friend Neil and his girlfriend who were staying down in Sandgate with family, and very nice it was to see them too. they left us early to disappear for an outdoor hot-tubbing, because you can do that sort of thing down here on the coast, becuase it's that much nearer the equator.

This morning I just about got up for work on time, had breakfast and everything, but had a FORTY minute wait at the station, because I didn't realise they'd changed to a Saturday service today, bah... don't see why there shouldn't have been a normal service, it's not a public holiday or a weekend or anything. Any excuse for them to mess things up I think.

Visiting a friend tonight, and then a curry - and not even a takeaway! My body is here at work, but my spirit is partying like it's christmas
Rated 7.88/10 on Folkestone Gerald

10 myths about vegans

www.bboheme.com (who I once bought some shoes from) emailed me today to tell me it's world vegan day and to share with me an advert for their shoes and things, cunningly wrapped in a "10 Myths about Vegans" list. They know bloggers love lists like free London papers like made up opinion polls, and will republish them at every opportunity, so here goes:

1. Vegans are the pale anemic bunch

No way Jose! Get yourself a bucket of cold water before you click into Vegan bodybuilders. Olympic champion Carl Lewis, gorgeous Alicia Silverstone and hot Joaquin Phoenix are amongst famous vegan hotties. You may find the list of vegan celebs at www.goveg.com.

2. If you want to know what�s in fashion, don�t bother asking a vegan

The best fashion accessory for Vegans is the one matching their beliefs. The mainstream has now caught on that "Green is the new Black" and compassion in fashion is in vogue. Stella McCartney is one among many designers who refuses to use fur or leather in any of her pret-a-porter collections.

3. Vegans are Fruit loops

There may be a few fruit loops amongst them but there are a few rather brilliant minds too. Mr Janez Drnovsek, president of Slovenia, is vegan, and just to name few revered veggie brains - Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Schweitzer, Albert Einstein and Leonardo Da Vinci. Maybe tofu is the next brain food �

4. Vegans live on rabbit food

Vegans love their rabbit food but they also love to tantilise their taste buds with scrumptious cuisines from around the world. Does the sound of Brazil Nut Choc Temptation sound too good to be vegan? Go to www.veginity.com for this recipe and more. For delectable ice cream, try B'Nice Rice Cream.

5. Vegan = Stylish footwear = Oxymoron �.. not any more!

Happy Vegan feet can now step out in style with stores like Bourgeois Boheme, www.bboheme.com. Footwear and accessories for both men and women are ethically sourced from around the world. Look out for the new collection under their own label coming out in the vegan month of November.

6. Vegans love animals more than people

The furry, scaly and warty ones are their passion but high on their priorities too is the welfare of their fellow 2-legged Homo sapiens variety too. Wherever possible, vegans look out for fair trade produce; see The Fair Trade Foundation for further information.

7. Vegans will not rest until they convert the entire world into Vegans

They would love everyone to be vegan of course but they do understand that this is the real world. Another way around is to set up a little country of vegans! One group hopes to purchase an island to establish their very own vegan island community.

8. Vegans are all crazy animal rights activists

There are many passive ways to be the voice for animals and to have fun at the same time. One such "cheeky" way is getting for them to get their gear off and run nude along the streets of Pamplona. Intrigued? Go to PETA's (People for the Ethical treatment of Animals) www.runningofthenudes.com for more details.

9. Vegans are tree huggers

Indeed they are and they love hugging lots of other things too! Actually, veganism and environmentalism go hand in hand. Did you know that farmed animals, cow�s flatulence for one, produce more greenhouse gas emissions (18%) than the world�s entire transport system (13.5%)? Go to the Vegan Society for further interesting facts.

10. Vegans have a chip on their shoulders

"Let�s say you were stranded on a deserted island and your only food source was a turtle, would you eat it..?"

Vegans are bombarded with such absurd scenarios everyday; it�s not surprising that they may snap back! If you really want to know what vegetarian ethics is about go to Vegetarians International Voice for Animals website.

So there you go, that's what all vegans think and what all vegans are like and that's A FACT!

(Also, just for the record, as it has been proved above that all vegans are high achieving and intelligent and attractive, don't even think about coming back at me with "Hitler was a vegetarian", no he wasn't)

Folkestone bullet train trial

A micro-writeup and picture here in the Evening SubStandard on the high speed rail link. Yeah baby, we'll soon be only 63 minutes away from the stinking metropolis.

yourshepway.co.uk also has the story here,

The site of the Hitachi High Speed Rail depot in Ashford, was unveiled on Tuesday by transport minister Ruth Kelly and Japanese ambassador Yoshiji Nogami.

The new depot will become the base for the Japanese Class 395 six-car bullet trains for Southeastern's high-speed service.

so it's not all bad news for Trashford at the moment...

A friend at work was saying this week how Folkestone used to be nice, and like all seaside towns that have become a bit rundown Brighton, Hastings, etc it was London's fault, all of the mentals are being shipped out to the coast, to our detriment. It was hours later before I realised he might have been having a dig at me, I've been so long out of London that I forgot that I lived there.

Very busy at work today, a big announcement about us buying another company, I'm still not sure I'm allowed to talk about it, but now it has been officially announced I'm sure I can refer to in an oblique manner like this.

Train news

Hey London tube travellers, Here's a song for you. Only listen to it if you like lots and lots of swearing, and weak b3ta style graphics over a tune you've heard before mind. I'm not really that arsed about the tube strike today as, HEY, I'm well out of London, but a good friend pointed out that striking over things including pensions these days only draws attention to the fact that you HAVE a pension, not so many people do these days. I just started a contributary one six months ago, far too late for it to be paying me out any significant amount of money ever. I'm going to have to rely on keeping my livers in good condition and selling one of them when the time comes.

In other transport news, COOL, Eurostar smashes a speed record, yes on the English side of the tracks. We will not actually ever be travelling by Eurostar from Folkestone to London, and in face things could start to get a bit less convenient down this way if they're really going to scrap services from Ashford to Paris, but faster tracks between here and London are part of the plan to reduce our commuting time. One BR employee told the wife this week it would be thirty something minutes from Folkestone to London. A mistake on his part, almost certainly, but if it goes down to an hour, that's nice.

I say "our" commuting times, I don't actually mean mine, obviously.

Hey I still haven't written up our trip to York yet.

Ooh lightning strike!

No trains from Folkestone for the forseeable, because of a lighting strike over night, we do get all the action here don't we. They can't put on any replacement busses until after the school run as they're all in use. I'm getting a lift in today so I'm fine, but Clare is sat in taxi queue trying to get to Trashford, where there are trains. Can you believe it takes an hour to get from here to there by bus?

UPDATE: from the BBC. It's really booting down with rain now here, and I have to walk to the station, and I have no coat. Bah. I'm sure I wrote more old man whinging about the weather this morning before I came into work, must have forgotten to hit the send button. I did an hour's work on my new local venue info page, sped up the processing, might stop the site erroring quite so much...

RE:

To all concerned with Knotweed Pulling - be very careful.
You may well increase the spread of the plant by pulling it out of the ground. It is not a recognised method of control.
Not wanting to dampen the enthusiasm of the local community, but trust me when I say BE CAREFUL!!
There are much more effective methods of control and if pulling is to be done it would need to be done for a number of years (10+) to be effective. There are also legal issues regarding the transportation and disposal of Japanese Knotweed as it is classed as a Controlled Waste and subjected to the Waste Carrying License etc etc.
For further information please visit www.t-c-m-rd.co.uk or other sites such as the Cornwall Knotweed Forum web site.
Many thanks
Philip Rusted
Rated 5.71/10 on Folkestone Gerald

Quad bike jet ski

Be master of the land and the water with one of these:

Kev, this is what you should get, perfect for Miami, or any place where you might want to switch from driving on the road to the water:

Transport updates

Journey times have been much better since Monday. If I race out of the door here at six, I get a train at Cannon Street that gets me home without changing for eight fifteen. Bit boring travelling on my own, but I'm plodding on with these book, and reading newspapers and things. And ACE, my tea's ready on the table when I get in, and the ironing's all done! As chum Ralph says "it's like living in the 1950's"...

You know that old saying "yes, there is such a thing as a free lunch, you can get one, and it will be free"? I'm not so sure it's 100% right. They offer a free lunch here at work, and I didn't expect it to work out for me (being a vegan and all), but the first day of stir fry was great, and hot, and free, and everything. Day two was some kind of moussaka, so I went out and bought an expensive sandwich instead. Day three I've no idea what the lunch was, as by the time I'd got down there (about twenty minutes after the starter pistol went off) everything was gone and it was all packed away. Yesterday's was toasted ham and cheese sandwich, or toasted cheese and vegetable sandwich for the veges, but I made do with just the side salad and fries. Today, who knows, I will brave it and report back. It's quite a cool place to work, I half expect them to do something funky on Friday lunchtimes, like open up a free bar and all start dancing. We'll see.

Playing more with JQuery and Drupal today, and having some really stupid grief with the zoom functionality of my google map application I'm building here...

Ooh, Gmail has changed today, bit of a neater layout and even more dropped shadow, looks nice... boxes have shadow on three sides though, how would that happen?

Hmm, The Harp Club has closed it seems it always seemed to be closed when we went past, but we didn't go past during pub hours really. Someone who used to do something there is doing some kind of all night party at Lanterns, that will be popular with the people who live there, the noise does carry from that place...

From: 7.30 pm till 6 am
Cost: �5
Ticket Info: tickets brought on the door, arrive early to avoid disapointment
More: Well the Harpclub in Folkestone hosted some of the best parties in Kent, but due to it being closed down we have moved to a larger better venue...wooo hooo.
Music: Trance. Hard Trance. Hard House. Breaks.

Weekend plans: off to Tunbridge Wells to pick up Habitat Radius furniture that I just bought. Maybe some christmas shopping, or maybe putting that off for a few more weeks...

UPDATE: I was right about funky Friday, at 5.30 someone came round with beers, great! It's so dot com here...

Folkestone on popbitch

Not real popbitch (ie the popbitch newsletter), just something someone just posted on the board. I repeat it here for your delectation and delight:

Meanwhile, on the last train out of Charing Cross on Saturday night...

Your actual Cheryl Baker out of Bucks Fizz (and thinning hair advertisements) being accosted by a horde of very drunk 40-something Folkestone slappers on their way home from the Scissor Sisters gig in Trafalgar Square. She was utterly charming to them, posed for photos, put up with their rambling �80�s reminiscences, guard-defying smoking, mobile phones playing out Snow Patrol on speakerphone etc. And got off at Sevenoaks with her friends. One of the more battle-scarred ladies got off with a likely lad from Dover whose technique included the classic exchange: "43 are you? Well I�d still do yer up the arse" "Oooh don�t you be so rude, young man" "Oh, sorry, I thought you said you was from Folkestone..." Cheryl laughed.

OK I think it's cool now

It wasn't really that exciting, our office was burgled. When I got in the place was crawling with cops, and then soon after the full CSI team arrived dusting for fingerprints and things. Seems we were done over while there were still people in the building, and it seems a bit organised, but not really all that smart - things were cut away instead of being unplugged, etc.

Yes, of course, it was one of those big secure transporters driving into the back of the Old Bailey.

RE: Sunday Times takes the Orient Express

You can see it rumble into Folkestone Harbour every (Thursday, I think?) lunchtime. A magnificent sight. It always amuses me that these folk, who have splashed out on this most exotic mode of transport have to decamp from their luxury train onto possibly Britains most run down station! From what I understand, Mr de Haan intends to rip the tracks up as part of the refurb and the train will terminate up at the tunnel station? So check it out while you can...

Buy Jay Kay's Segway

Jay Kay's Segway. "A few scrapes and marks but is otherwise in good order"...

So, one week as a married man

Damn, do you think they make these but not in leather? I think I need one.

It's got built in massagers and a fridge and a phone, as well as being a regular comfy recliner... You can get it at www.drinkstuff.com, I should see if they have an affilliate programme, it's nearly a grand...

Raining today, though still felt hot enough to have no jacket, looks pretty gloomy out though. Not a good start to the weekend for those heading off to V Festival.

The cute little Time Team style trench that was cut into the road in front of Cannon Street station has now become a major disaster area! The whole of the road is closed, dug up, a right mess, and the smell is still there. I took some pictures today (I like holes in the road) and I will post them up here soon. It's part of Queen Street Pilot Scheme, but it looks like it was the same pilots who took down the World Trade Centre to me.

Speaking of pictures, I'm well into Flickr right now. Signed up ages ago and though "I can do that", but now I realise how great it is, I might transfer all my snaps over. I am at flickr.com/photos/folkestonegerald right now, CHECK ME OUT! They can organise these things a lot better than I can, and I can probably integrate my pics from their site more easily than from my own.

In other news, possibly trying to organise a booze run, sort out an unspeakable misunderstanding between chums, organise a booze run, get a new mobile phone for free with Ro's help, find out which Farringdon hairdresser doubles up as a strip club, and being disappointed yet again by the world of stocks and shares. Oh and working, really really really hard. I could do with a sit in that lazy boy right now.

hmmmmmm...............

These are poor families in low-rise estates.

The estates are home to nearly as many single parents as traditional two parent families. There are many school age children and families are larger than average. There are also some couples whose children have left home. Housing is usually in the form of low-rise council terraces, perhaps with three bedrooms, but still crowded for the size of family.

To be earning anything approaching an average income is rare. Long-term unemployment is high, and employment is routine factory or manual work.

Travel is on foot or by public transport since few own a car.

With money tight, food shopping might be in Aldi or Kwik Save. Clothes might be bought at Asda, New Look or frequently from catalogues.

In common with other low income types, the pub, betting, football pools, lottery and bingo are common activities and entertainments. One luxury might be cable TV.

I aspire to a gold card, but I struggle to pay off my debts

What's your postcode saying behind your back? Mine's not being very complementary at all:

Incomes are quite low. People have average educational qualifications. Their relatively routine jobs are in shops and offices, and there is some unemployment. With the elderly contributing to higher than average numbers of people with long term illnesses, these areas are beginning to experience some need for social services.

While the younger people aspire to gold cards, interactive TV and telephone banking, the reality is they have low limits on their credit cards, plan to pay off debts, and possibly need a loan. Their spending on food is low, and catalogue shopping helps them economise. Few people own a car, with those who do paying high insurance premiums. Most get about on foot, by bike, or public transport.

The pub is a relatively popular place for eating, either at lunch-time or in the evening. Leisure interests tend to be football and betting on the horses. At home they might unwind by listening to music or reading a novel. There is a keen interest in self-improvement and education.

Pah, this is what they said about Notting Hill! This could probably do with a bit of attention, "there is a keen interest in self-improvement and education" because there is a college and a language school at the end of the road. The pub thing is probably just profiling, but they could add in "they have to walk quite a long way to the pub, so their feet probably hurt", it is you know...

This week's transport rubbishness

This week's bad thing was her train from Charing Cross being cancelled last night, so she was 40 mins late home. Poor flower! My journey was fine, except that I was concerned that I was on the wrong train when she didn't meet me at Ashford. I even spoke to a fellow commuter to see!

Annoyinglyy IPOD is getting bummier and bummier, the battery runs down as if it was playing, even if it's turned off, so if it's charged in
the morning it doesn't quite last me until I get home. What am I to do? I've had it over two years now, and I don't think I've had a personal stereo last this long or be used this much, so it's not so bad, but if I can get the battery replaced it might be worth it... Clare's after getting a personal stereo now, maybe an ipod mini, though we also like these little sony nw-e500's, a couple of friends have got them and they're SMART, and Clare wants a radio for some reason. For not much more than that price you get 6 times the capacity with an ipod mini. ALTHOUGH battery life is better than I thought on the Sony. Anyone got any tips?

Thanks for the emails, but posted responses are always nice! Even if it's just to say hi?

Doesn't that last post look a bit weak now?

We're allowed to leave work, but we're advised not to - our journey is two hours at the best of times, we're going to have to try and make a move soon. With Clare being on the other side of town to me, and no transport within zone one, we're going to be walking for a good long while and hoping to meet up. And we're going to be out of touch, not able to phone each other or anyone else, as all the mobile networks are down. Feels like going on some crazy expidition, it shouldn't be like this.

Seems someone's claimed responsibility for this. Odd thing to say but I hope it's a clear cut terrorist case, and not some crazy conspiracy... personally I'm ready to go to war right now, so I hope it's clear who the target is. Perhaps I should sleep on it before attempting to sign up.

Heading to Charing Cross now as we hear it's reopened, and if not we'll just wait there until it does.

High speed rail link confirmed (again)

I thought this high speed link to Folkestone was already confirmed? A chum in the world of news just sent this:

The SRA announced that the following stations will be served by high-speed CTRL domestic services: Ramsgate, Minster, Sturry, Canterbury West, Wye, Folkestone Central, Folkestone West, Sandling, Ashford International, Broadstairs, Margate, Birchington on Sea, Herne Bay, Whitstable, Faversham, Sittingbourne, Rainham, Gillingham, Chatham, Rochester, Strood, Higham, Gravesend, Ebbsfleet, Stratford International, Kings Cross St Pancras, and Dover Priory (provisional).

More here... main announcement today was that the four preferred bidders can now submit detailed bids, or something. Man these documents are boring... Still it's nice to read that Transport Secretary, Alistair Darling, said:

The CTRL domestic services will operate on both domestic railway tracks and the new high speed channel tunnel rail link track where they will reach speeds of 140 mph. Journeys from Ashford to central London will be reduced by 40 minutes each way.

A bit of 'ush please

Nice evening out at the Cross Keys and then to the Punjab. The combo of Spitfire and curry have given me a touch of wind today, but at least I have finally asked my ushers to Ush for me on the big day. Still got plenty more to do for the wedding, according to the list:

Compile guest names and addresses
Coach transport for guests
List of guest houses, hotels etc. + map ((get some of that from here)
Book hotel for wedding night
Book honeymoon
Wedding gift list arrangements
Wedding favours
Ceremony details
Wedding rings
Formal Wear
Best man's gift
Ushers gifts
Music entertainment

Plenty to do still. Looks like I've done nothing so far innit?

Seems Steve Jobs did announce the iPod mini mini flash based player, or the iPod shuffle as they're calling it...

Stokey in the news

An article in the Independent, about leaves on the line...

Not a cat in hells chance of the high speed rail link being on time

says The Independent... also "It is thought that the only way of guaranteeing full trains would be by keeping the cost of tickets down. Ministers still hope that a premium rate can be charged for the super-fast services, possibly double the rate paid on comparable routes on the far slower suburban network"... NO, do it on time and keep the fares down!

Blogging on the iPAQ: UNCUT

And here's how that was before I tidied it up:

Chaos on the bus x od..ay and itx.s plsslng down.Mein a t shirt too... Writing this using Hne transcribes' feature of the new toyas I can touch typeso 1 find the little keyboard slow s I I Not quite gor to grips with it yet as my writing is5Ho(FIN9 (that should say snaking J F . - I - 1 - ten past eight and so.1lonhhl tube, not good. Picked up the sonic fro , mouse scorer or the way in. Don't have too much faith in it though. Kind of predictable report from pop bitch below- Pde Doherty was meant lo play Bar Hy last night. But noshow He isbooked in for Thursday too bor i wonder it thekids will have snag patience left Poor mugs who bought Foot tickets on Ebay no refund tot them. Might be ott to 5uga sug a thatday any way for the returrot the P.opbitch soiree. Lopin 's good.
Babyshambles at Barfly tonight predictably ended up in a no-show from Pete. According to member of the roadcrew, he had done a secret gig earlier in the night, "got paid, got fucked and fucked off". Poor the hyper-dedicatIt'5 better Xor me thaned indie kids. "Never trust a junkie" was their rallying cry as they filed out - I think this may be the tipping point in the fans' perception of him tbh. Ah well, fuck em, I've got fois gras on toast for a bedtime snack so what do I care? *cunty london media cackle*
dr_deadmeat, 1:25 3/8, Reply
So. On the way home again now. Thisidea of blogging
from public
Transport will work better when I sync at work) as well as from home.Andwhen 1 learn to write"4.

Chaos on the bus x od..ay and itx.s plsslng down.Mein a t shirt too...

Writing this using the "transcribe" feature of the new toy, as I can touch type, so I find the little keyboard slow... Not quite gor to grips with it yet as my writing is 5Ho(FIN9. That should say "shocking", no not snaking, I'm going to edit this I think.

Ten past ten and still on the tube, not good. Picked up the sonic mouse scarer on the way in, don't have too much faith in it though.

Kind of predictable report from popbitch below - Pete Doherty was meant to play Barfly last night. But no show. He is booked in for Friday too, but I wonder if the kids will have any patience left. Poor mugs who bought tout tickets on Ebay, no refund for them.

Babyshambles at Barfly tonight predictably ended up in a no-show from Pete. According to member of the roadcrew, he had done a secret gig earlier in the night, "got paid, got fucked and fucked off". Poor the hyper-dedicated indie kids. "Never trust a junkie" was their rallying cry as they filed out - I think this may be the tipping point in the fans' perception of him tbh. Ah well, fuck em, I've got fois gras on toast for a bedtime snack so what do I care?
dr_deadmeat, 1:25 3/8, Reply

This idea of blogging from public transport will work better when I sync at work, as well as from home. And when I learn to write.

I'm ready for my close up Mr Burton

They're STILL filming something on Manor Road, in a big old building that has "Depository" on the front, the trucks have been camped outside it for a few days now, and you can see lights and things inside. In my mind, it's Johnny Depp filming Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, or maybe the Chris Morris / Nathan Barley thing. But probably not.

In too early today, public transport was just too good. Job for the day, want to find out about accessing referer info with Javascript. Oh and my popup database insert is having trouble with names with single quotes in, Javascript to the rescue again.

Ooh new Google thing, a report on their homepage says today they're searching 4,285,199,774 web pages, that number is possibly is � them.

Whopper of a weekend

Well that was a mighty BEAST of a weekend, took a couple of extra days to go round Kent checking out wedding venues, so I have a nice short working week now. We have finalised a venue and it is the previously mentioned Lympne Castle. It's not cheap, but it's ace, a real castle, great atmosphere and views and only ten minutes outside of Folkestone. Seems reasonable to lay on some sort of transport back into town though for our guests, a coach or something. If we invite anyone that is, we might just lord it up playing King and Queen in our own castle for the day, on our own.

Other things we did over the weekend were; EAT, and also DRINK. Did the quiz at Chambers, but did terribly again, even with a much extended team.

Having a few probs with Gmail, I've used up my gigabyte of storage by redirecting all my popex mail at it, and that gets a tonne of spam. Google say they'll empty the trash and spam after thirty days, but they've not yet. So, sorry if I'm bouncing you, I'm deleting as fast as I can by hand, but it's not easy.

Pops, you were right, my Derelict London pubs link below does seem to have been posted on Sunday, though I wasn't near a computer all weekend... it's just because someone posted a response then, bit misleading, I will fix this up later...

Fun of London Transport

Cacky journey in today, missed the train, then a passenger alarm shut the Victoria line, a signal failure the Picadilly. AND, there was a drunk guy at the station ticket office, leaning on the counter like it's a bar, bit intimidating really, he seems to be a friend of the super slow ticket seller.

Last night's journey home could have been worse, the driver of the 106 went to the wrong stop, the old stop at Finsbury Park, just handy someone in the queue noticed, or he'd have driven off without us, what a smashing fellow. Seems the metblogs.com thing has kicked off even more, see what the Inspector has to say...

Nice day today, hot, sunny, that's what made theu tube journeys more stressful I think.

You may have noticed I put my London Bloggers link back up, only for Stoke Newington and Chalk Farm. Though that will be changing soon, more news when it's cleared... Those links are nearly all as interesting as this one...

I think I might make my first purchase through Karma Download today, they have a Killa Kela album, he's the human beatboxer who supported Super Furry Animals, got to be worth a listen...