Like an ant with a snout full of aspartame, yesterday I:
- Got up at 5.15am to catch a train to Leeds at 6.35am. Hauling myself from bed felt like nothing so much as a man digging a well, levering out that last big rock.
- Train ride. Made some notes on work-related things I needed to look at in Leeds, did my morning writing, realised that National Express trains have free wireless! Thank goodness for the demise of GNER (who, we reckoned last night, used to charge something like £10/hour)! And although Lisa recommends the use of a Blackberry for on the go posting, I'm afraid the EeePC is like a cherished baby to a Blackberry's charming pet. All the comforts of home in something the size of a hardcover book.
- Thought about how pretty the English countryside is. It’s not grand or majestic, but it is very pleasant and calming.
- Leeds. Got some breakfast and had a little wander around the Victorian quarter in the centre of town. All very nice, but didn’t really blow me away.
- Visited OK Comics to chat with Jared about work stuff. They have a really nice store, making the most of limited space. Their displays flow well, and they highlight good stock.
- Visited Travelling Man, who really are a bit of a mess. Too much stock, too much indiscriminate ordering.
- Had lunch at a 300 year old pub. CBLT. Very nice.
- Train home. Wrote some notes on what I achieved for the day. Not as productive as would have been ideal, but still a worthwhile visit.
- On the bus ride from King’s Cross I realised that the hayfever season has well and truly started.
- Frantically tidied in preparation for our house guest.
- Andrea came to visit for the night on her way to Singapore. Was very nice to see her and catch up. She brought us cava, I fed her unimpressive pasta. Not necessarily a fair swap, but an agreeable one for us!
- Felt a bit bad, but I was totally flaking out by 9pm, so went to bed.
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Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Things I Did Yesterday 30/04/08
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Here's Why...
...I love Charlie Brooker:
(From the latest Comment is Free column)
- posted from the train. THE TRAIN!
Things I Did yesterday 29/04/08
Rather excitingly, I'm writing this from the free wifi-enabled train to Leeds on my EeePC. Right now I'm whipping past mist-shrouded early morning countryside. Actually, we've just gone from mist-shrouded countryside to mist-shrouded train. But yesterday I:
- Worked, including installing the latest version of Kaspersky to the work computers. It's amazing how cheap anti-virus solutions are now. When we bought a 6-pc license for the program a year ago it cost us (with a 30% discount) about £120. Yesterday a 5-pc license cost £42. However, thanks to a cumulative combination of following a re-up link that gave a 30% discount and a 30% discount coupon sent as an incentive to re-up, it wound up costing just over £20.
- Took the time I was owed from last week and went to Angel to work on my course book. There was a lovely old woman at the table behind me who kept offering me her spare ginger crunch biscuits. She wound up engaging the guy behind the counter in conversation for a about half an hour, which he seemed happy to do, so that was nice.
- Went home and proceeded to do none of the things I intended. Cooked a tuna pasta bake for dinner.
- Watched a bunch of trailers, including one for Blindness, a new film by Fernando Meirelles, who I'm always excited to see new work from. Constant Gardener and City of Men are both films which have sat in my mind long after seeing them.
- Was shocked to see the goings on in Eastenders! How is Shaun going to talk himself out of this one? Err...I mean, grudgingly watched Eastenders over dinner.
- Watched more Peep Show. Funny. Horrible, but funny.
- Emailed a Croatian villa place about available options for our honeymoon.
- Went to bed early in preparation for a 5am start.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Things I Did Yesterday 28/04/08
Quite simply, yesterday I:
- Worked, including getting ready for tomorrow’s visit to Leeds. I’m off to visit the apparently very nice OK comics to talk about closer relations and about using their lending library idea.
- Was pleasantly surprised by the weather to the point that I made the bold seasonal move of daring to go to work without my jacket. Hell, even more amazing was the fact that I didn’t regret it!
- Treated myself to Wagamama for lunch. Ordered a chicken itame, but when I got back to work I had been given a chicken tama! Hilarious! Oh, how I laughed.
- Decided I rather liked chicken tama.
- Watched new Battlestar Galactica, which was very good. I’m expecting, given that this is their last season, there will be very little filler. So far, so good.
- Flaked put at about 10.30. So damn tired at the moment!
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Things I Did Yesterday
Like a calm blue ocean, yesterday I:
- Got up later than I intended, but actually really needed it.
- Wandered with Alex up to Newington Green for brunch. Found a new Deli/Cafe hybrid place that was quite nice, and did very nice food indeed. I had eggs Benedict, Alex had mushrooms and garlic on a bed of spinach, all on farmhouse toast. Hers was better.
- Made our way down to Paddington, where we met Claudia (Mrs Parker), Wolfie (pampered pooch) and Polly (on loan from New Zealand). Went to a pub in the rejuvenated area behind Paddington where we chatted for a bit over some more food.
- Headed for Hyde Park. Wandered for a bit then sat down and enjoyed a bit of London park life.
- Went back to Claudia & Morgan’s for tea and biscuits.
- Popped to a great Malaysian place around the corner from C & M’s. Seriously, those two are the go-to guys if you’re looking for undiscovered restaurant gems. You would barely know this place exists for all the signage it has. It has the low-fi/high quality attributes of an ethnic restaurant frequented by people of that ethnicity. And cheap to boot.
- I continued on alone to the birthday celebrations of one Nathaniel Metcalfe, Esq., while Alex went home to minister to a friend. Nice time, but by about 10.30 I was completely knackered and - having to work today - called it a night.
- Zzzz (but quite poorly).
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Things I Did Yesterday 26/04/08
Like long Summer days, I:
- Did a bunch of blogging stuff.
- Scanned a stack of old photos I grabbed when I was visiting Mum. Some more photos of me when I was young and a whole lot of vintage shots of Mum when she was a kid and so on.
- Picked out photos for the next travel blog entry.
- Did the dishes.
- Went to a local cafe to grab some breakfast. My usual place was closed, so I went to another which wasn't nearly as good. How hard can poached eggs be?
- Had dinner at a Ponti's downtown. Classy! For those who don't know, Ponti's are an Italian chain restaurant that are just a little chintzy. But it was very nice, thank you.
- Went to Phoenix, a pub on Cavendish Square, for Ali's birthday drinks. It was all very pleasant, and the pub was a lot less of a wank-fest than it looked from the outside, especially once all the after-work crowd had emptied.
- Watched the first episode of Peep Show. Wondered why I had never watched this before. Watched 3 more.
- Ordered a new hard drive for Caleb and Nathaniel. 500gb for £50! Unbelievable.
- While cleaning I watched the Milius/Schwarzenegger (my spell-checker recognises "Schwarzenegger"! Fantastic!) commentary on Conan the Barbarian. If you've never heard it, I can't recommend it enough. Absolutely hilarious, as Arnie completely misses the point of a commentary. For example, Milius refers to something and Arnie blurts "Yeah, I know that!", or indeed the classic "I'm gedding on the horse!" Watch it.
- Set up internet account management for BT.
- Spent too much time on the internet.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Things I Did Yesterday 25/04/08
What's that Lassie? Why, yesterday I:
- Walked in the door of work, filed standing orders, served customers, have lunch, do more filing and serving, close up. Oh, for a bit of variety I reported some damages and shortages to the publisher of the new Sam & Max collection. 'Cause I'm crazy like that.
- Watched the first episode of Reaper. It was okay. I can certainly see why they got Kevin Smith to direct the first episode.
- Watched the latest Battlestar Galactica. Bloody good.
- Had my hair cut. Due to a little accident it wound up a mite shorter than I would normally have, but I'm used to it now.
- Tried to stay up late. Failed completely.
