Posted by Alan on March 30, 2009
Quick picture thread tonight on some of the mad March things I’ve missed out. Very careless indeed.
Bogle 09 – some more photos.
Big Dave at Bogle - Manchester Uni
Bogle 09 - Welcome to Macclesfield
Illuminating eh?
Lights at the Camden Centre
Lights at the Forum, Kentish Town
Lights at the Royal Albert Hall
And lastly… some epic fail:
5 a day Fail!
Estate agent trying to be clever fail. It was like this for over a week!
The last one is actually from February but had escaped…
Danger! Fail!
Posted in Buildings and Places, Charity starts at home, Culture | Tagged: 2009, architecture, bogle, camra, fail, Liverpool, London, mersey, photos, pictures | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Alan on March 29, 2009
Not much on lately really. The pie shop in Wanstead disappointed hasn’t opened yet, but I did get to buy this enormous Red pepper in the shop. See. It really was a no-news kind of a week.
Sunday night we went to the Royal Albert Hall to see the Teenage Cancer Trust comedy gig. Pretty good. Highlights included were Sean Lock, Noel Fielding and someone called Jack (possibly Whitehall?) who I hadn’t heard of before. Horne and Corden were passable* as compares and the lovely Lauren Laverne hosted.
*They even did some comedy. It wasn’t awe inspiring but it could have been a lot worse.
Posted in Charity starts at home, Culture | Tagged: comedy, Kensington, London, n95, royal albert hall, Wanstead | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Alan on March 22, 2009
Just a quick post this weekend as there’s still loads of stuff to do for the week ahead.
Friday night saw me up at The Forum, Kentish Town (now dreadfully branded HMV forum) to see Sparks. It was good. Not on the level of awesome of Radiohead last year but very well executed show covering a recent album and Kimono My House, their breakthrough. Was cool to see so much energy in performers who have been working for 30 years or so..it mustn’t be easy.
Saturday, a trip up to Aylesbury to see Ruth’s relatives. Caught the second half of the England vs Scotland match with a pint of Black Sheep. Twas ok, the usual England-Scotland Rugby tie with lots of kicking and not many tries. Unfortunately had to walk out on the Wales – Ireland tie after 5 minutes but looked like it would shape up to be an exciting game.
And Sunday. Just lazing around. Nice brunch, quick walk down Leytonstone for the weekly shopping and then chores to which I must away again……..
Sparks – Lighten up Morrissey (Exotic Creatures of the Deep, 2008)
She won’t go out with me, no, she won’t go out
‘Cause my intellect’s paper thin
She won’t go out with me, no, she won’t go out
Since my intellect’s not like him
So, lighten up, Morrissey
She won’t hang out with me, no, she won’t hang out
‘Til my biting wit bites like his
She won’t hang out with me, no, she won’t hang out
‘Til my quick retort’s quick as his
So, lighten up, Morrissey? Lighten up, lighten up
Lighten up, lighten up
Lighten up, Morrissey
Lighten up, lighten up
Lighten up, Morrissey
She won’t have sex with me, no, she won’t have sex
‘Less it’s done with a pseudonym
She won’t do sport with me, no, she won’t do sport
Says it’s way, way too masculine, look at him
So, lighten up, Morrissey? Lighten up, lighten up
Lighten up, lighten up
Lighten up, Morrissey
Lighten up, lighten up
Lighten up, Morrissey
I got comparisons coming out my ears
And she never can hit the pause
If only Morrissey weren’t so Morrisseyesque
She might overlook all my flaws
So, lighten up, Morrissey
Lighten up, lighten up
So, lighten up, Morrissey
Lighten up, lighten up
Lighten up, lighten up
Lighten up, Morrissey’
Lighten up, lighten up
Lighten up, Morrissey
She won’t dine out with me, no, she won’t dine out
Says my t-bone steak is at fault
She won’t dine out with me, no, she won’t dine out
With a murderer, pass the salt
Lighten up, lighten up
Lighten up, lighten up
Lighten up, Morrissey
Lighten up, lighten up
Lighten up, lighten up
Lighten up, Morrissey
Lighten up, lighten up
Lighten up, Morrissey
Posted in Culture, General Meh, Travelling around | Tagged: England, Kentish Town, London, lyrics, music, Rugby, Scotland, Sport, The Forum, wandering | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Alan on March 19, 2009
Possibly the last London Drinker beer festival at the Camden Centre, Kings Cross. Pretty good – some nice beers. Food was OK and it was far to busy. Took ages to get the the bars and in the main hall there wasn’t really much space to do anything.
We did however find some space in the balconies, hence the random questions about “dying a death”, then celebrity deaths…
Posted in General Meh | Tagged: ale, camra, Food, London, n95 | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Alan on March 14, 2009
On Friday we went to King Lear, at the Young Vic, Southwark.
It was pretty awesome. Very good use of props and the stage space. During the storm monologues, it rained. There’s about 15-20 minutes of storm and it rained the whole time. Infact, it rained so much that during the interval between Act 2 and 3, some stage hands appeared with mops.
However the most disturbing bit for me was the gory bit. I’m good with gore. At all. So when the earl of Gloucester had his eyes gouged out by Regen and the Earl of Cornwall I didn’t feel so good! Before I turned away “blood” had shot across the stage floor (falling just short of the audience). I missed the most gory bit, though Ruth did delight in telling me on the tube on the way home.
If you are booked to see it – enjoy! If not… I think it is sold out now 😦
Posted in Culture | Tagged: architecture, London, n95, Shakespeare, south bank, theatre | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Alan on March 9, 2009
This weekend, I walked half of Manchester RAG’s bogle event. The event consists of a 55 mile walk around Manchester. I elected to start the 55 mile walk, but I wasn’t at all too sure how far I would get round. In the end I made 29 miles – just over half way, and just in time to meet Ruth who was only doing the ‘north loop’ – the final 26 miles.
It was hard work. Normally I walk from my flat to the tube stop (c. 10 mins) and back again. Even if I’m going to another building at work if it’s more than 5 minutes away I tend to get the bus, I am that lazy. So this was hard.
Training, well that didn’t really happen. I made 5 miles though some fields near the river Severn. And then went to the pub.
But the shoes worked! I got one blister, on my little toe but other than that seem unscathed. So… here are the vital statistics:
Twitter’s record of events.
| 20:10:00 | Nous sommes départs. |
| 21:10:00 | Sainsbury fallowfield. Buying replacement trousers. |
| 22:10:00 | Northenden. Have ice cream. |
| 23:06:00 | Heald green. So close to check point one |
| 23:15:00 | Checkpoint 1. Circa 10 miles in. Arches and calves hurt. |
| 23:23:00 | Mmm. Cup of tea. It’s lovely to stand still for a bit |
| 23:40:00 | Leaving checkpoint 1 |
| 23:59:00 | Just into cheadle hulme, by the welcome to macclesfield sign |
| 00:03:00 | What is the queen doing now? Asks Bill.via Twitter |
| 00:23:00 | Acre lane. 12 miles down. |
| 00:41:00 | Checkpoint 2, 13 miles in |
| 00:55:00 | Leaving checkpoint 2 |
| 01:32:00 | Jacksons lane. 15 miles. Just witnessed a man kicking a car. Lovely. |
| 02:02:00 | Hazel Grove, almost 17 miles in. My feet hurt! |
| 02:28:00 | 18 miles. |
| 02:54:00 | A bit of rage against the machine has helped me pick up the pace again. Outskirts of stockport now |
| 03:08:00 | Checkpoint 3. No hot food but the kebab shop has jacket spud left! |
| 03:22:00 | Leaving checkpoint 3 |
| 03:43:00 | Cheadle heath. 21 miles |
| 04:04:00 | Cheadle centre, 22 miles. |
| 04:29:00 | Tesco east didsbury. 23 miles. I’m really feeling it now |
| 05:06:00 | East didsbury. 24 miles |
| 05:33:00 | Checkpoint 4. 25 miles in. Not sure how far I can get. |
| 06:03:00 | Fallowfield 26 miles. |
| 06:35:00 | Top end of rusholme. 27 miles |
| 06:57:00 | Aquatics centre. 28 miles |
| 07:15:00 | Checkpoint 5. I give in. 29 miles is enough for me! Now to help run this event |
Stats
Total time on route – 11 hours and 05 minutes, an average of 22 minutes per mile (just under 3 mph)
Total walking time – 10 hours and 12 minutes, an average of 21 minutes per mile (still just under 3 mph!)
| CheckPoint 0 – Checkpoint 1, UMIST – Heald Green |
| Distance: 10 miles |
| Duration 3h 5m |
| Average speed 3.2mph |
| CheckPoint 1 – Checkpoint 2, Heald Green – Bramhall |
| Distance: 3 miles |
| Duration 1h 1m |
| Average speed 2.9mph |
| CheckPoint 2 – Checkpoint 3, Bramhall – Stockport Edgeley, via Heald Green |
| Distance: 6.5 miles |
| Duration 2h 13m |
| Average speed 2.9mph |
| CheckPoint 3 – Checkpoint 4, Stockport Edgeley – Withington |
| Distance: 5.5 miles |
| Duration 2h 13m |
| Average speed 2.5mph |
| CheckPoint 4 – Checkpoint 5, Withington – UMIST |
| Distance: 4 miles |
| Duration 1h 42m |
| Average speed 2.4mph |
Posted in Charity starts at home | Tagged: 2009, bogle, Food, manchester, PowerShot A470, rag, wandering | 2 Comments »
A Grim North 