...the bloke trying to sell you a copy of The Big Issue says,
"ello guvna!" as you walk past.
Wednesday 23 January 2008
Sunday 20 January 2008
fancy a tasty meat pie?
"There's a hole in the world
Like a great black pit
and the vermin of the world inhabit it
And its morals aren't worth
what a pig could spit
And it goes by the name of London."
the verse is from the opening of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd.
maybe it was true in the 18th century...
...maybe its still true now.
Last night I thought it would be a good idea to see the new film version of Sweeney Todd.
It has had some good review... and is rather well put together, even if the the blood does flow a little too freely (Mum you will not enjoy it!). Decided to have Chinese for dinner after... although for some reason I had an appetite for a pie...
The last couple of weeks have been a bit of a theatre-fest. A friend visiting London is always a good excuse to get out and do some of the things I have been putting off and while Nadia was in town we took the opportunity to see Avenue Q and The History Boys.
It good to finally be taking advantage of my proximity to the West End and the cheap tickets on sale at Leicester Square... roll on the next show!
Like a great black pit
and the vermin of the world inhabit it
And its morals aren't worth
what a pig could spit
And it goes by the name of London."
the verse is from the opening of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd.
maybe it was true in the 18th century...
...maybe its still true now.
Last night I thought it would be a good idea to see the new film version of Sweeney Todd.
It has had some good review... and is rather well put together, even if the the blood does flow a little too freely (Mum you will not enjoy it!). Decided to have Chinese for dinner after... although for some reason I had an appetite for a pie...
The last couple of weeks have been a bit of a theatre-fest. A friend visiting London is always a good excuse to get out and do some of the things I have been putting off and while Nadia was in town we took the opportunity to see Avenue Q and The History Boys.
It good to finally be taking advantage of my proximity to the West End and the cheap tickets on sale at Leicester Square... roll on the next show!
one night in York
Technology is a wonderful thing… here I am, on a train on the way back to London after a night York, typing up my latest blog entry… and yet I am frustrated that can’t get the laptop to connect properly to the wireless network on the train… therefore I can type the blog… but not post it until I get home… not that it really matters… but while technology is marvellous… the more marvellous it gets the more opportunity it has to frustrate!
But, ranting about technological inadequacies is not the point of this post… its all about the City of York
I travelled up on Friday for a one day seminar for work… the company very generously put the attendees up at a very pleasant hotel and fed us… and boozed us… so I figured I would take the opportunity today (being Saturday) to look about the city…
York is a charming place… narrow, twisting, cobbled and car free streets lined with ancient shops and houses. York is home to a very impressive cathedral, well a Minster to be precise. With a few colleges from work, who had the same idea as me, we climbed the 275 steps the top of the tower to take in the panorama it offered of the city. It’s a view over a city largely untouched by the second world war, which means it still has much of its old city intact including most of the city walls.
Only having a few hours I was limited in what I had time to see, and after the Minster, a 45 minute tour of the city on one of those open top tour bus things (they are kind of cheesy but they do show you a city quite quickly) and a bite of lunch headed for the Nation Rail Museum. It’s a bit of a boys museum… full of giant bits of shiny metal on wheels… but I think anyone who has any interest in history would find it a great place to lose a few hours.. I only had 2 and barely had time to take even a cursory glance at the exhibits… although I did linger over a few of the more famous bits, the great blue streamlined Mallard (which still holds the world record as the fasted steam train, set in 1938), the various carriages from royal trains, and the Flying Scotsman which is currently in pieces all over a workshop floor as it undergoes a full rebuild.
2 hours here is no where near enough and of course 1 day in York is not nearly enough either. I didn’t even get to Shambles Street. – not that it looked all that messy as I whizzed by on the tour bus. So I guess it gets added to the ever-growing list of places to go back to.
But, ranting about technological inadequacies is not the point of this post… its all about the City of York
I travelled up on Friday for a one day seminar for work… the company very generously put the attendees up at a very pleasant hotel and fed us… and boozed us… so I figured I would take the opportunity today (being Saturday) to look about the city…
York is a charming place… narrow, twisting, cobbled and car free streets lined with ancient shops and houses. York is home to a very impressive cathedral, well a Minster to be precise. With a few colleges from work, who had the same idea as me, we climbed the 275 steps the top of the tower to take in the panorama it offered of the city. It’s a view over a city largely untouched by the second world war, which means it still has much of its old city intact including most of the city walls.
Only having a few hours I was limited in what I had time to see, and after the Minster, a 45 minute tour of the city on one of those open top tour bus things (they are kind of cheesy but they do show you a city quite quickly) and a bite of lunch headed for the Nation Rail Museum. It’s a bit of a boys museum… full of giant bits of shiny metal on wheels… but I think anyone who has any interest in history would find it a great place to lose a few hours.. I only had 2 and barely had time to take even a cursory glance at the exhibits… although I did linger over a few of the more famous bits, the great blue streamlined Mallard (which still holds the world record as the fasted steam train, set in 1938), the various carriages from royal trains, and the Flying Scotsman which is currently in pieces all over a workshop floor as it undergoes a full rebuild.
2 hours here is no where near enough and of course 1 day in York is not nearly enough either. I didn’t even get to Shambles Street. – not that it looked all that messy as I whizzed by on the tour bus. So I guess it gets added to the ever-growing list of places to go back to.
Thursday 3 January 2008
Stand up if you hate Tottenham!
European football, soccer, the round ball game, whatever you want to call it...
it's actually quite fun to watch live.
I have tried, with limited success, in the past to watch European football on TV. Australia's (relative) success in the last world cup spurred some interest and I watched a game or 2 but found the game lived up to its cliche of a lot of effort for no result...
However, I have now seen a game in England, live, at the ground.... and my attitude has somewhat changed.
A few weeks ago now I was lucky enough to score a ticket to a Chelsea v's Valencia game with the boss. It was a very pleasant evening entertaining a client with dinner and drinks followed by the game.The game was very entertaining, Chelsea were at home and top of their table (the competition they were playing in was explained to me but I failed to grasp the details... it appears teams here play in several competitions at once...) and Valencia were pretty much out of the competition but put up somewhat of a fight... the atmosphere was great... the stadium was full... some 40,000 people turned up... and they were in fine voice.
I am still not sure how 10,000 blokes spontaneously burst into raucous song, but they do ...and much of it was directed at Tottenham, the traditional rivals of Chelsea (clearly they didn't give a damn about Valencia). The stadium was filled with the dulcet strains of stand up if you hate Tottenham, Tottenham, stand up if you hate Tottenham! ...and yes, they stood up.
The singing and raucousness was not due to alcohol! Well, alcohol bought at the stadium anyway... football stadiums in the UK are dry! God Forbid! not even light beer is served... but I suppose it helps stop rioting... the English are a tad fanatical when it comes to their football.
...and then of course there was the game itself... Valencia put up a bit of fight, but were held scoreless by the clearly dominant Chelsea. In fact Valencia never even looked like scoring... Chelsea on the other hand had at least 6 attempts at the goal, but despite their best efforts were also denied a goal... there was some bad luck involved with the ball striking the woodwork 3 times... but all in all they failed to capitalise on their advantage...
so... my first game of football was a lot of effort for no result... nil all!
But... if you are going to see all that effort, see it live!
Now all I have to do is choose a team to support... Chelsea maybe??? well, I did get a large, free team flag at the game (the Brisbane Lions would have charges $29.95 for it!) But I think I will reserve judgement... a football team is for life... so one much choose with care!
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