Armand David’s personal weblog: technology, media, stuff and nonsense.
To all my non-UK readers, the temperature in London is a balmy 18 degrees. You can tell by the heat and, more to the point, the fact that EVERYONE is out on the streets of London taking advantage of it to shop. And the tourists are out too. Oxford Street was absurd today.
London in the summertime… Call me now use the satellite…
I’ve noticed a large number of (often quite bad) pubs recently getting a very superficial makeover, being decked out with black and gold trim and a new nameplate. Why’s this happening? Anyone know? The Globe, on Marylebone Road, the Stage Door and the Bag of Nails in Victoria are a few that I’ve noticed…
I normally get a bit frustrated with the commercialisation of Christmas; carols playing in September, lights up from August, freelance Santa Clauses job-hunting from June… but this year, due to my ongoing refusal to shop on any high street, I’ve not really noticed anything.
In part to help recover from post-holiday anticlimaxia (a well known condition), I have bought the Barenaked Ladies holiday album, which I listened to on the way in to work this morning.
Made me smile.
Of course, I then noticed the second Christmas thing of the season… An Ann Summers windowfront with a Sexy Santarina in it. It seemed somehow apt.
Is anyone else completely grossed out by the new Lynx dry advert? I have no desire to use that product. If you haven’t seen it and want to be disgusted, press play below.
Man, cycled for about an hour and a half today. Which was cool - just surprising as my ‘winging’ it policy completely failed to stand up as I got lost in West London on my way to Portobello. Still, in the end I made it and enjoyed the scenic route. And I managed to fix Arvind’s wifi (well, mostly) which was geekily satisfying.
How I was able to cycle for an hour and a half given the lack of sleep (was out till the small hours at a v. fun birthday party on Sat…) is really beyond me, though.
Oh, at said party Lou inferred that I say ‘man’ too much. Which is probably a fair criticism. And Pob told me off for starting a sentence with ’so…’. Apparently doing this makes me not only American, but a Microsoft Employee. I’ll resist in future ;).
Whoever said it would be a hotter August than it was a July, you’re an idiot. Damn I’m cold. Had to dig up my slippers tonight just to walk around the flat.
[sigh]. Looks like the Summer is properly over. It’s starting to get dark on the way back from work, the weather sucks and I can feel my S.A.D. kicking in. Have to counter by spending lots of time in rooms where you don’t notice the weather - bars, cinemas, work… etc.
Given how September and October seem to be lining up, that probably won’t be a problem…
A new Ladbroke’s has opened near me, and a couple of people have already moved into permanent seating positions. I don’t know what it is about betting shops that they need to generate such depressing environments for themselves; the windows have all been blocked (in what was quite an attractive, well lit storefront) and white mountingboard seals every wall. It looks like it must feel like being on the inside of a coffin.
Matt seemed to think that they shut out external sources of light so betters in residence wouldn’t notice the passage of time in the outside world, which seems rational enough in that respect… but if these guys are watching races/football matches, etc, they’ll know exactly what time it is…
Ah, ’tis a wonderful and variegated world we live in. The best I can hope for is that the Ladbroke’s faces the same end that the three preceding coffee shops that inhabited that space did: lack of custom.
Is an under-used phrase.
I’m going to go right ahead and define procrastination as searching for things on eBay you don’t really need and only sllightly want. The funny thing is, as I’ve remarked before, I hate shopping. I just like having… stuff. I might have to tell Firefox somewhere not to let me access the ebay.co.uk domain…
Ah, self-discipline through needless technical jiggery pokery. Or is that just another form of procrastination, and I should just find some willpower. Who knows?
I’ve felt this for years, but last night, after a few drinks, on a friend’s balcony overlooking the entirety of London — well, it was breathtaking. I wish I’d had my camera, or that my phone camera could cope with low-light conditions. Even the Wheel looked awesome.
So if I’ve left you a message saying something about the wheel, or the view… that was the inspiration. Share and enjoy, that’s my motto…
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