My Blog

Exciting update #753

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:02:00 GMT

Late last week Gar & I booked tickets back to my homeland. Good ole Qantas gave us a 2-4-1 deal we couldn't resist. We'll be winging our way back to Wellington, with some overland trips to Hastings & Dunedin planned.

In other kiwi news - the All Blacks won a lackluster game against the Welshmen in a cold Millenium stadium. Fortunately the roof was closed to provide rain-cover as it wasn't a pretty night. Garmon and I made the London-Cardiff round trip which totalled 8 hours travel, plus hours waiting in Cardiff after the game thanks to the stupidity of FirstGreatWestern trains (they aren't "first" and they definitely aren't "great"). They failed to put on any additional trains to London despite the rugby crowd & 100s of advanced bookings, then couldn't even get the trains they had scheduled to leave on time. It was a frustrating end to the day. From getting up Saturday morning to returning that night I was awake 20 hours.

And some good news to end this on - today I received a Christmas parcel from NZ... and it's not even December yet! I have to take it home for Gar to hide from me until the 25th.

It's been way too long since I wrote a blog post....

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:48:00 GMT

Tonight I'm off to my local tenants & resident's association meeting where I think our street is going to get voted out of the association. It may not be an entirely bad thing as the other "local community" is a good 10 minutes walk away, so not really all that local.

On Friday night I'm off to see Sigur Rós play at Alexandra Park - which I am VERY excited about.

Then on Saturday I'm having a day trip to Cardiff to watch the All Blacks beat the Welsh team! I absolutely can't wait despite the 7am start and return trip on the train after the game.

Promise to write again soonish.

Man and JBC digger dance

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:24:00 GMT

On Saturday Garmon and I grabbed our bacon butties, headed across the road to London Fields and stood watching a man dance with a 13 tonne digger. It was an exceptional performance lasting about 20 minutes, and I wish the crowd was triple its size so more people had seen it! The dance was delicate, almost a love story, between a man who appeared to be in his 50s and machine. It was a very unlikely duet & hard to describe its beauty! It made me think more about the skill and artistry of the machinist and his machine - and I think I appreciate more the art of the construction worker when I next pass a building site. If you've not seen the clip on YouTube, check it out below!

Here's a link to an interview with the dancer, Dominique Boivin and a YouTube clip:

Banksy does over a New York pet store

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:59:00 GMT

The Village Pet Store And Charcoal Grill is Banksy latest art offering and it's not graffiti but rather a social commentary about the orgins of our food, set in a faux pet shop. If you can't get to Greenwich Village, New York, visit the website to watch video of animatronic fish-fingers, hot dogs hanging out, and an old sad-looking Tweety swinging back and forth in his cage.

My favourite? It has to be the chicken nuggets...

The law to cut off alleged copyright infringers in New Zealand

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:40:00 GMT

I found this article fascinating - my government wants ISPs to stop providing their Internet service to anyone accused of copyright infringement - no requirement for proof needed. Fortunately there is an election coming up soon... oh, and a Facebook group.

Update - blog posts on this issue: Guilty till proven innocent - New Zealand copyright act, In Defense of Piracy, Inimical to the public good

Book launch to open our eyes to Coca-Cola's ethics

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:15:00 GMT

Last night I attended the book launch at Amnesty's headquarters of Mark Thomas' new book: Belching Out the Devil: Global Adventures with Coca-Cola. Thomas is a comedian and activist. He was speaking about his trips whilst researching this book and about his desire to see Coca-Cola held corporately responsible for their actions. The book describes the Coca-Cola company's ethically questionable behaviour in developing countries. To be honest I'd only ever seen Coca-Cola's own advertising & sponsorship, never realising the part they've played in exhausting community water reserves in India, falsely accusing & jailing Colombian union leaders and other anti-union behaviour, amongst other things. It's the kind of info that Coca-Cola doesn't want you to know.

Here is a short video of Mark Thomas promoting his book:

We don't have foxes back home

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 10:17:00 GMT

So Gar and I, in joint-partnership with our bank, are now homeowners! We've moved into our new pad - east-side - and have inherited a few interesting pieces from the former owners. The rusted bike, two vaccuum cleaners, two TVs, microwave, desk, dodgy (i.e. not working) oven and never-finishing washing machine were to be expected. Although I'm not a fan of a washing machine that takes 3 hours to wet the clothes then doesn't spin them dry. (Continuing this rant - yesterday I put the dripping load of washing outside on the stand to dry, we went out, a fox came into our back yard, knocked over the stand & peed all over my clean washing... I was not happy.)

Anyway, of the more interesting items we now own:
- a red kilt found under the bed
- two bags of shoes (about 20 pairs in all), some have never-been-worn (one pair is from Harrods)
- enough food to last for several weeks, including salmon steaks
- a full bottle of Green Tea perfume (one of my favs as it turns out)
- a Sky digi box (that we received a notice from Sky demanding it's return or we'll be charged for it)
- a bikini & snap-shots of the holiday it was worn on

Once we clear out the roof-space I'm sure I'll have more to update here.

Free Run Champs at the Roundhouse

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:58:00 GMT

Last night I went along and saw some impressive jumping, climbing, flipping & street acrobatics at the Free Running Championships.

There were 20-something competitors from around the world, and three rounds until the winner was announced (judged by co-competitors). The first contestant completely wiped-out trying to jump down from a high platform, losing a tooth in the process - so at the very start there was a short delay for the ambulance to come and collect him. Unfortunately, the comperes were at a loss as to how to fill-in the 20 minute break, so we suffered some inane chit-chat about the fact the sport is dangerous (you don't say?!) then some rubbish impromptu rapping. As my husband pointed out, with the big-name sponsors (Barclaycard, Ericcson etc) you thought that they could've sourced a good DJ/compere for the night, rather than the two guys whose favourite phrases: "Let's make some noise" and "Big ups" were repeated incessantly.

That grumble aside the Free Runners were entertaining, especially in the later stages when they pulled off some really good tricks. My favourite was when one guy held his body parallel to the floor using only his arms then proceeded to cycle his legs and lift his body higher than horizontal. That takes a fair bit of upper-body strength! Other good moves included the handstand jump from a platform to the floor, a running forward somersault over a distance of five meters from a height of 3 meters, and jumps on a bar to another bar.

The winner was some Yank who was a bit of a show-man. Well, honestly, they all loved themselves a little too much. For instance after competing their 90 second run their t-shirt immediately came off to show off their 6-packs to the crowd. The egos aside I recommend you check these guys out:

Guardian article on the event

YouTube action:

More on cops...

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:21:00 GMT

If you live in Greater London you can now check out the crime rate for your area using the Met's Crime Mapping site

After the theft of my second bike, the one I borrowed off lovely Jon, from the street outside the office, I am taking rather an active interest in crime.

Apparently I live in an 'Average' crime rate area. Although comparing crime rates to the rest of the country would probably make this figure 'above average' I'm guessing. Bl@%dy theiving Londoners.

Cops calling card - kids magnets

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:58:00 GMT

This article in the Manchester Evening News is unbelievable. It begins:
"An investigation has been launched into claims that cheeky cops are said to have left a fridge-magnet calling card after smashing into the wrong house."
So the Policemen invades the wrong house and the reasoning of the man in charge goes like this: opps, blimmen heck we got the wrong house, well we better tell the residents, and it should be official, but I don't have any Manchester Police Dpmt headed paper - or a pen, should I write it in marmite on the benchtop? I know! I'll use the fridge magnets...

Windy city

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 12:59:00 GMT

Proving that my home city of Wellington is one of the windiest cities in the world. A Boeing 737 gets blown away from it's airbridge!

And here's one of a landing:

and they don't have the greatest amount of space to get it wrong either:

map of Wellington airport

My Superhero

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:54:00 GMT

Doing the rounds of the office so had try out the Create Your Own Superhero tool.

Here's mine: The Wench

A badge for the other side

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:54:00 GMT

I just whipped up this little badge for 'the other side' on Webjam. I have been adding a few links in the right-hand column of my page, and what's missing are badges for other sites - rather than badges for my own. Solution? Make it myself:

Mooooo! Get mates to join and get yourself some Moo cards!

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:05:00 GMT

I am all over Moo minicards! I already have 3 sticker books from Moo filled with gorgeous cartoons, photos and animated characters. And now Webjam is making it easy for you to get your hands on your own pack of 100 Moo minicards for free. Simply invite and add 10 friends on Webjam between now and August the 8th and you'll get a pack. Simple as that!

For more info go here

Update to the stolen bike saga

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 12:34:00 GMT

I very nice bloke called Jon, that I know from COTC, has lent me his second bike whilst he is off working in Melbourne. This means I can commute to work again on wheels. And it's a super speedy blue machine too. YAH! So thank-you Jon, you're a star!

This is Jon:

A website for the paranoid

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:05:00 GMT

I just came across this website that helps you request information from Government departments under the UK Freedom of Information law. It is aptly called 'WhatDoTheyKnow?' and it's says its purpose is "to help you find out inside information about what the UK government is doing." Cue the 'Conspiracy Theory' theme music. I recommend reading the requests and answers.

This is the 'shock-horror they-know-too-much' photo found on their banner:

Some pathetic no-hoper stole my bike

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:09:00 GMT

Yesterday my husband and I had planned a day out biking along the canal... it was not to be because some weasel broke into the basement in the apartment complex where we live and stole my locked-up bike. Instead of a picnic in the sun I went to the Police station. I walked there via Brick Lane where I witnessed all the local-area thieves selling the bikes they'd stolen to anyone with as few scruples as them. It was sickening to see these thieves standing around with other people's property. Why are they allowed to be there at all?

Now I'm back to walking for an hour to work. I've been wishing all sorts of horrible things happen to the thief who nicked my bike. Not a very Christian ethos but I'm still so indignant that I will have to spend my hard-earned money on a replacement bike whilst some low-life rides around on mine.

Drinking role model ad from Aus

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:42:00 GMT

I've just found this new Drinkwise Australia ad campaign. It cleverly hammers home the point of the drinking cycle.

The Magnetic Fields rocked

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:18:00 GMT

Last night I went to Cadogan Hall to watch the great band that is The Magnetic Fields. The venue was magnificent, the band as brilliant in concert as they are on CD, despite their instruments all being left in Ireland. Stephin Merritt the lead of the band was a lot quieter (and shorter) than I had expected, although he was suffering from ear-ache & tiredness from sitting on the runway in Dublin for a couple of hours. Their best song of the night was 'Papa was a Rodeo':

Darren Hanlon, an Aussie musician I like for his quirky songs was in support. I didn't know this til I arrived at the venue so it was a wonderful surprise! He finished with this lovely ditty about brushing elbows with a film actress at a wrap party (for a seriously bad movie):

It was an absolutely brilliant night. If you can see them in concert you should.

Interesting webcam - the Panama Canal

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:41:00 GMT

I visited the webjam of a sea captain who travels around Central America in his sail boat the Quicksilver, and I was fascinated to see a link to a webcam of the Panama Canal. It was very early morning when I viewed the camera and I saw a large container ship and a few smaller vessels pass through. It's a great watch especially if, like me, you've never seen this canal.