Cornish yarg and Littlemore goat

I've been going to the gym - 4 times in the last 10 days. For me, that's impressive.
Also not touched a drop since Boxing Day festivities at godkids', and no plans before Russian New Year.
Went running-jogging-walking to the top of Primrose Hill via the canal yesterday.
Ah, the gym - a Moorish pool is empty, as is the steam room, and the jacuzzi - today I went from one to the other just to experience the beauty of the still warm sensations. Like the ultimate onanism! But without the cuddles afterwards.
So each time I go to the gym, I stop at the Bloomsbury cheese shop on the way back and buy £1 of cheese - my locker room money.
Hence the title, yesterday mild cow's cheese and today a soft mild goat's cheese from Somerset. When I've been to the gym 50 times, I will be fit and have eaten all the cheese...
Liz has had a few issues that prevent - yet again - me getting my hands on any Christmas presents this year...

Christmas strike at my flat!

So that's Ta Zu and above the van is my window - the satellite vans are there for No.39 and the Rail Maritime and Transport Union HQ. Train strikes, tube strikes - it's just like New York!!

Cricket!!!

Saw Al and Kenny B. on Tuesday - the Old Reptilians (come on, you snakes!) are now an ex-lizard, deceased, gone from this world...
We had a few beers and saluted ex-Reps including Pete, much missed, and Si Bates, crying off with exhaustion.
Hope to make it an annual reunion - based around watching at Lords perhaps?!

Nearly famous...

Featured for helping Christian Sandvig on his driving scanning for WiFi hotspots in Oxford last year.

Perfect day!

Yesterday:

1. Joined a gym, Cannons at Mecklenburgh Place - and could swim in my own pool, use my own jacuzzi, use my own steam room and then my own sauna. Joy! £25 a month...
2. Watched some criii-ckittt...
3. Ate a delicious full English breakfast for lunch! Choice of 3 cafes within 25metres of my front door:-)
4. Had a lovely siesta
5. Spoke to Greggo, Daffy and Pro - 3 of my favorite people and reminders of [1] Hebrides at Easter and Lake District and Manchester and Hampton Court Palace; [2] Barcelona, wine tasting and the one that got away; [3] Tokyo, London and soon Norway!
6. Watched 'The Constant Gardener' - Ralph Fiennes in good form, bit PC as a film. Delightfully empty cinema.
7. Had a lovely Vietnamese meal of won ton soup and Saigon pork curry with green tea.
8. That set me up for 'King Kong' - fabulous!
9. Wandered home and had some textual intercourse with Elena M. - I wish! Audrey Hepburn meets Miranda Cohen.
10. Slept a solid 8 hours...
Yup, birthdays can be better when you don't plan to see anyone. Am I a misanthrope?

20 New Years

A good test for the old memory - 20 disasters or non-events:
1986: 1st year at LSE, don't remember! Maybe Southampton?
1987: Trafalgar Square with a Yugoslav, then Irish nonsense on walk back to Clapham
1988: Glasgow? Ian McCall's Rangers party. We were drunk, Kev more than me...
1989: Cairo? Just after the Christmas office party trio of mistakes.
1990: Edinburgh: John's girlfriend. Freezing cold!
1991: Bondi, Sydney; Ronelle after Christmas Eve Danes
1992: Chiswick? Just back from Pakistan - my first chavette.
1993: Israel; prototype Lena
1994: Astrid left me with instructions to put some muscle on. I don't recall New Year.
1995: Copenhagen breaking up with Astrid, then on to see a sick Marie and heartbroken Ylva
1996: Sacha came over to go out, I stayed in while they went out. She pulled!
1997: New Year in Galveston, party at Ricky's flat.
1998: Heard from Yseulys that she was pregnant (guess that means we'd broken up!), in Austin
1999: Millenium in Auckland - declarations of undying love to bruised Lena in Austria
2000: Recuperating from the hernia op, Clare breaking up with me.
2001: In Bayswater, Marie messing me around. She's got in touch with me after seeing me on Swedish TV being rude to the presenter on a dating show. They'd interviewed me outside Embankment tube when I was waiting for Clare, the last time I saw her. She'd not eaten for 3 days after her car got shunted on the M1, I was going to Cambodia, funny meeting. Even stranger that Marie should contact me and that she STILL managed to mess it up.
2002: Barcelona, messed around by Monica from Medellin.
2003: Barcelona, with Lara the Indian-Canadian from Geneva. Went over to France to see her next day, didn't work out.
2004: Barcelona, in my given-up stage. Ate myself silly instead!
2005: London after Alina.

The village of Marsden

This is lunch in Marsden, West Yorkshire in summer 2003 - yours truly pointing to a lovely plate of F&S. Mel and Carol (sorry can't remember) are doing their usual giggling along as we later went round the graveyards finding 18th century Marsdens. I'm publishing it now because I just had birthday dinner of Harry Ramsden's F&S, and I'm approaching 200 years old...

Marsden memories 2003

This was Daffy's hen party- except as her friends were utterly rubbish, I was with Lucas, Ivan and Sam and some Basque girls he knew, in a tapas bar in Madrid - I'm wearing Daffy's wedding present. I know, class is permanent...

Merry Christmas your arse - scumbags and maggots

Thursday 22nd December Brixton Academy - we'll be DRRUNK!!!

Russian para hat and Frost Fair

Two stories - I bought this genuine ex-military paratrooper hat in Warsaw's famous Sunday flea market in March '04 - and on Saturday in London it was cold enough to wear it! I'm in front of the Frost Fair by the Tate Modern, a photo taken by Mattie en route to our brunch in Borough Market: venison burgers; frankfurters with rotkohl; fabulous chocolate-pecan tarts; cheeses especially Cheshire...The old Frost Fairs were on the frozen shallow filthy Thames, now broad fast-flowing and with no 12-arch bridges like the old Father Thames. Very pleasant - and look at the sunset!

Endless summer

Greggo might get a visit in Perth in mid-December 2006...

Birthday weekend continued...

But there's more. This means I can see Matt-Matt-Mattie tomorrow after a good night's sleep (nearly went out on the piss tonight, but best not with that bug).
It also means I can see my old flatmates from Chiswick 1994, whom I haven't seen for at least three years - Neil an expectant dad, Simon back en famille for Christmas from New Zealand, Clare still with her brood of 3 living in Salisbury. That's tomorrow evening after I see Mattie.
And hopefully Sunday I'll feel fit. Monday I was taking leave with a luxury hotel in Derry in mind - might take it off anyway to do something nice.
Answers on a postcard please...
Off to watch Alina's DVD of 'Love Actually' (another sarcastic title, thanks Vampira) and eat her Christmas present Belgian Pralines...

Birthday weekend

A dramatic start - as Cliff Morgan watching the Lions might say...(1973 Gareth Edwrads against the Barbarians).
So I had planned the weekend in Derry with Alina - whom I very much liked. And that's despite having all the distractions of Elena in NY and London, R. in Budapest and various others, like the punk barmaids. But I was a good boy and looking forward to seeing my girl again.
A week ago, she says we're incompatible - our phone conversations apparently involved me making fun of her and not being serious ('are you serious? you cannot be serious?').
Then when I'm in Brussels - with R. - she emails again to say she's too busy and better if I don't come. Ever tried telling Ryanair that? And too busy? Per-lease!!! My birthday weekend.
So Marsden decides, bugger that, still going to Derry, girlfriend or no girlfriend. I'd booked a nice hotel for Sunday night already for the two of us, so I booked a lovely B&B.
Last night - I'd had a bug since last weekend, too much Christmas and no sunshine, worn out - I had a quiet Christmas party with friends - particularly as Alina's emails were getting increasingly offensive in the face of my Charge of the Light Brigade approach to inappropriate amorous brush-offs. I had 'won' an iPod Shuffle and the fucking thing of course kept crashing my computer yesterday and this afternoon.
In consequence, I'm late for the train I want, to get to Stansted by 6.45 or so. I get the tube from Kings Cross to Moorgate - where it stops indefinitely for signalling problems. Bollocks!
So - iPod Shuffle blaring out noise - I run from Moorgate to Liverpool St, only 500m or so, and make my train.
Except - train cancelled. Get this one, they say, only takes 15 minutes longer. On I get to the sarcastically named Stansted Express at 5.40.
At 6.45 it arrives via lots of stops, official and unofficial, at Stansted. By now I am punching the carriage walls in frustration, so deep in the Incident Pit that I need to stop digging.
At 6.47 I run to the counter - closed! Why with 33 minutes left? Two jobsworths inform me that dispatch just closes at 40 minutes prior and that's it - doesn't matter if its domestic, they don't care. Ever heard of domestic flights closing that early? You have now.
So its £40 more to get the flight the next day or - claim back the train fare, cancel all the hotels and give it up as a bad job.
Yes, you're right, I finally admitted defeat.
What a start to a birthday weekend!

Possible?

If there's no gazumping....

Describing television: in its own words

Had a chat at the opening of the new Nobel exhibition at the British Library last night, with one of the brightest people in Whitehall. We agreed with this Oz blog.

Christmas Trees

London: Somerset House at Christmas

Punk party photos

Oh dear!