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Crawling through technology, life and love Contact me: hotmail home 
Listening: Playing: Super Mario Bros Wii iTuning: Podcasts - Chris Moyles, Mark Kermode and Economist Reading: All Bits and Bobs: Wish List Gerry's Lyrics Pop Quiz Minipops Quiz Sites I like: Marc Almond Top 40 Singles News IMdb The Register Hacks Recent GBlogs Arsenal FC Some blogs I enjoy: bboyblues2000 bitful blogadoon brainsluice chig groc minkered scally sparky troubled diva Books recently read: Time Out Guide to Havana (and Cuba) And The Hippos Were Boiled In Their Tanks - William S Burroughs and Jack Kerouac At My Mother's Knee ... and Other Low Joints: The Autobiography - Paul O'Grady Star Maker - Olaf Stapledon My Booky Wook - Russell Brand When You Are Engulfed in Flames - David Sedaris Then We Come To The End - Joshua Ferris A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon The End of Mr. Y - Scarlett Thomas I Never Knew That About London - Christopher Winn The Arsenal Miscellany - Adam Gold Young Hearts Run Free: The Real Story of the 1970s - Dave Haslam Magical Thinking - Augusten Burroughs Veronika Decides To Die - Paulo Coelho Time Out Guide - Amsterdam Lillian's Story - Kate Grenville The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins Schott's Original Miscellany - Ben Schott Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J K Rowling A Gay History Of Britain - Matt Cook Time Out Guide to Madrid Time Out Guide to New York Kingdom Come - J. G. Ballard The Hours - Michael Cunningham Mutants - Aramand Marie Leroi A Young Man's Passage - Julian Clary Growing Pains - Billie Piper The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath Wild Swans - Jung Chang Highbury: The Story of Arsenal N.5 - Jon Spurling Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins - Rupert Everett Affinity - Sarah Waters Lighthousekeeping - Jeanette Winterson Tipping The Velvet - Sarah Waters The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini Of Human Bondage - W Somerset Maugham Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier Lucky Man - Michael J Fox Labyrinth - Kate Mosse Fingersmith - Sarah Waters The Night Watch - Sarah Waters The Pedant's Revolt - Andrea Barham The Republic Of Trees - Sam Taylor Written On tbe Body - Jeanette Winterson Untold Stories - Alan Bennett The Plot Against America - Philip Roth Read All About It - Max Clifford The Folding Star - Alan Hollinghurst Thursbitch - Alan Garner Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim - David Sedaris Staying Alive - Matt Beaumont The Bookseller Of Kabul - Asne Seierstad Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince - J K Rowling A Short History Of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson Count Karlstein - Philip Pullman The Shadow Of The Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood The Spell - Alan Hollinghurst The Double Life Of Daniel Glick - Maurice Caldera The Smoking Diaries - Simon Gray Straight- Boy George Digital Fortress - Dan Brown Deception Point - Dan Brown The Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency - Alexander McCall Smith Angels and Demons - Dan Brown Sydney - Time Out Guide Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood Eleanor Rigby - Douglas Coupland The Scarecrow and His Servant - Philip Pullman Tha Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown The Perks Of Being A Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky Planet Simpson - Chris Turner The Line Of Beauty - Alan Hollinghurst Barcelona - Time Out Guide The Closed Circle - Jonathan Coe The Clerkenwell Tales - Peter Ackroyd Copenhagen - TimeOut Guide The Butterfly Tattoo - Philip Pullman The Broken Bridge - Philip Pullman In Search of the Pleasure Palace - Marc Almond Brick Lane - Monica Ali Vernon God Little - DBC Pierre Last Exit To Brooklyn - Hubert Selby Jr You Shall Know Our Velocity - Dave Eggers Touching The Void - Joe Simpson Life Of Pi - Yann Martel Istanbul - Time Out Guide Millennium People - J G Ballard The Duchess Who Wouldn't Sit Down - Jesse Browner Hey Nostradamus! - Douglas Coupland Eats, Shoots and Leaves - Lynne Truss The Wind-up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami Our Man In Havana - Graham Greene The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon Lyra's Oxford - Philip Pullman Doran - Will Self Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides the book, the film, the t-shirt - matt beaumont High Society - Ben Elton Man And Wife - Tony Parsons I Was A Rat - Philip Pullman Harry Potter: The Order of the Phoenix - J R Rowling Great Apes - Will Self Barrel Fever - David Sedaris Round Ireland With A Fridge - Tony Hawkes Close Range - Annie Proux The Third Way - Anthony Giddens dot.con - John Cassidy The Salmon of Doubt - Douglas Adams One Hit Wonderland - Tony Hawkes The Thief Lord - Cornelia Funke The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen The Cloud Sketcher - Richard Rayner Keane: the Autobiography - Roy Keane A Wasteland of Strangers - Bill Pronzini The English - Jeremy Paxman How to Lose Friends and Alienate People - Toby Young Dead Famous - Ben Elton The Amber Spyglass - Phillip Pullman (again) The Subtle Knife - Phillip Pullman (again) Northern Lights - Phillip Pullman (again) The Bear and The Dragon - Tom Clancy 101 Reykjavik - Hallgrimur Helgason Forward The Foundation - Isaac Asimov Carter Beats The Devil - Glen David Gold The Tin Princess - Philip Pullman Atonement - Ian McEwan The Tiger In The Well - Philip Pullman The Rotters Club - Jonathan Coe Generation X - Douglas Copeland Perfume - Patrick Suskind All Families Are Psychotic - Douglas Coupland The Shadow In The North - Phillip Pullman No Logon - Naomi Klein The Dirt - Motley Crue Miss Wyoming - Douglas Coupland The Amber Spyglass - Phillip Pullman The Subtle Knife - Phillip Pullman Northern Lights - Phillip Pullman The Ruby in the Smoke - Phillip Pullman The Sandman - Miles Gibson Blood and Gold: The Vampire Marius - Anne Rice The Actrocity Exhibition - J G Ballard Shameless - Paul Burston Sing Out! - Boze Hadleigh Brilliant Orange - David Winner New Boy - William Sutcliffe London - Peter Ackroyd Wonder Boys - Michael Chabon One For My Baby - Tony Parsons How To Be Good - Nick Hornby White Teeth - Zadie Smith Lust - Geoff Ryman Tulip Fever - Deborah Moggach Dead Souls - Ian Rankin The House Of Sleep - Jonathan Coe A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - Dave Eggers What a carve up! - Jonathan Coe The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - Michael Chabon The Grapes Of Wrath - John Steinbeck Heartwood - James Lee Burke Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson Man and Boy - Tony Parsons The Map Of Love - Ahdaf Soueif e - Matt Beaumont The e Before Christmas - Matt Beaumont  
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Thursday, March 11, 2010
Doctor Who...
The first three episodes of the new Doctor Who have been confirmed as:
The Eleventh Hour, written by Steven Moffat The Beast Below, also by Steven Moffat Victory of the Daleks by Mark Gatiss They will be shown from Easter Saturday. Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Carol Vorderman - Swearing!...
The Genius Of Wenger...
Almunia - 2.5mil
Sagna - 6mil Campbell - free Vermaelen - 10mil Clichy - 0.25mil Song - 1 mil Diaby - 2mil Nasri - 12mil Rosicky - 6.8 mil Arshavin - 15mil Bendtner - 0.2mil Fabianski - 2mil Eduardo - 7.5mil Walcott - 9.1mil Denilson - 3.4mil Silvestre - 0.75mil Eboue - 1mil Traore - 0.25mil Total cost: £79.75 mil In the time since we bought these players we have made £140mil in transfers out. Also the average Chelski team (e.g. team fielded against us in November) cost £280mil - check transferleague.co.uk Wenger is a transfer GENIUS. Windows 3.1 in JavaScript
Clever reconstruction of Windows 3.1 http://www.michaelv.org.nyud.net/
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
How To Enjoy A 3D Movie...
Monday, March 08, 2010
Periodic Table...
Do you know what the chemical elements look like? No? Well look no further than here: http://periodictable.com/
Sunday, March 07, 2010
Jordan, UK: Day Twelve...
I barely slept our last night in Amman - excitement about going home, a strange door banging most of the night and a more than vague fear for the upcoming fight. The Marriott made up breakfast boxes for us as were leaving early and the transfer to the airport was easy. The flight was relatively calm (clear skies all the way) but I came down with a different kind of bump - on landing I got a call from the head office on my moby. Problems at work. So after dropping my stuff off at home I spent four hours in a freezing cold comms room trying to identify a dodgy cable connection. Not the best end to a lovely holiday to be honest.
Saturday, March 06, 2010
Jordan: Day Eleven...
Another early start for us and we were off touring some of thousand year old castles and forts as we made our way up (or should I say down) to the Dead Sea. Four hundred metres below sea level we had finally descended to the lowest place on earth.
Once in the water we tried to swim but just ended up floating. I'd never really quite believed all those pictures of people floating but it's really true. You just bounce up to the surface. We naturally did the newspaper reading too. We even had a mud bath. Having washed all (most?) of the mud and salt from ourselves we then drove up to Amman where we were to spend our last night before flying back home to the UK. Friday, March 05, 2010
Jordan: Day Ten...
Up early, we made our way down the valley slopes to the ancient ‘hidden’ city of Petra. Josef dropped us off at the entrance and we engaged a guide, Ali. It was an incredible day with one wow after the other. It started off with us both horse-riding down to the narrow crack in the mountains known as the Siq. This then lead to a deep path winding down through the solid rock for a mile to reveal the truly amazing pink Treasury building carved out of the mountainside. It was crawling with tourists of course but we still managed to get some good photographs. It’s used in the final scene of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and it just gave you a pink glow being anywhere near it.
Further down the valley we saw an entire city carved out of the valley walls – all in brilliantly red sandstone, We saw magnificent Royal Tombs, an amphitheatre, temples and then climbed up 800 steps to the top of a further mountain to see another edifice carved out of the mountainside known as the Monastery. All quite incredible. If you ever get a chance to come here, do. Thursday, March 04, 2010
Egypt, Israel and Jordan: Day Nine...
We were up at the crack of dawn in our Dahab hotel really and packed for our next adventure. This time it was to be three countries in one day: Egypt to Israel, twenty minutes or so crossing through Eilat and then on to Jordan. At the numerous checkpoints en route we pretended to be Australians – the Egyptian police were still a bit sore after the previous night’s drumming at footie.
The first guide we had for the day was Ahmed. He spend much of his time enlightening us on the virtues (pun intended) of a virgin bride and indeed the benefits of multiple wives. Our transfer through Israel was efficient and quick. A rather lovely Scottish lady made it all very easy for us. Gosh, there was a lot of paper work to fill in though. Once in Jordan a nice man called Josef collected us. We stopped off at a bureau de change to swap our Egyptian pounds into Jordan Dinars and at a pharmacy to pick up so antibiotics for Stu (he had picked up a tummy bug in Dahab.) Then we drove to the rather magnificent mountainous Wadi Rum (a few hours inland) for a Bedouin lunch and a jeep safari into the neighbouring desert. The driver was a Bedouin guy and his son. We stopped off to take some tea with the guy’s extended family and then on to listen to some Bedouin music at a neighbouring tent. All very interesting and it was funny how all the kids gathered round us to point and laugh. They thought Stu and I were brothers at first and seem fascinated by our cropped hair and blue eyes. The safari over we hopped back in the car and drove for a couple of hours on up to Petra to check into the Marriott hotel. Egyptian Reggae - Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers...
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Egypt: Day Eight...
Strange day this one. It didn’t start well. We got up and had a shower. Unfortunately we were both electrocuted in the shower. Ouch! 220 volts doesn’t really set you up well for the day. We think the extractor fan had a loose cable and touching the tap, the back wall or the shower shelf gave us a really vicious belt.
We complained – nicely - and were swapped (and upgraded) to a deluxe room. First thing we did was check the shower in the new room for electric shocks. After breakfast Sami picked us up and took us to the famous diving location the Blue Hole. Here we picked up some masks and flippers and did some snorkelling. The coral shelf was pretty spectacular although not quite as good as that off the coast of Jeddah on the other side of the Red Sea. Unfortunately it wasn’t my lucky day as I got a rather nasty gash from the coral that didn’t seem to want to stop bleeding. We had a bite to eat at a restaurant just off the beach where an Australian woman noticed by bleeding leg and produced an alcoholic spray, some brown antiseptic and a Band Aid. It rather put Sami’s neat lemon juice remedy to shame – both were much appreciated though. We wanted to head back to the hotel to chill out after lunch but Sami was getting rather persistent with his suggestions of things to do. We had to be firm and say, “Take us back to the hotel.” He meant well, bless him, but we weren’t really getting through to him that we wanted some time alone. Once we did get back to the hotel we checked out our new upgraded room, lounged around on oversized sun-loungers and swam in the infinity swimming pool. We even found a Jacuzzi, a sauna and a steam room to help us relax. We then had a luxurious bath back in our room (we were definitely water babies this day) before changing for a beach side beer, a posh buffet and another early night. Well, I say ‘early night’ I sneaked out to watch the England vs Egypt football game being shown on the hotel’s terrace bar. 3-1! Get in! The Friends of Mr. Cairo - Jon and Vangelis...
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Egypt: Day Seven...
We got up early on our last day in Cairo and met up with Sayed – our transitional rep – for our drive though the Sinai desert to Dahab. Sayed had two drivers for the minibus with him as Health and Safety (Egypt branch) dictated that drivers can only drive for four hours at a stretch and the trip was estimated up to eight hours (yeah, right!)
The trip was actually fairly uneventful taking over an hour to get out of Cairo and then largely involving hundreds of miles of desert roads. It was however quite exciting driving through the tunnel under the Suez canal. Oh yes, and we got a rear flat tyre in the middle of nowhere which wasn’t much fun. For starters the wheel wouldn’t come off the axle as it was too hot so we sat by the side of the road waiting for it to cool down. Thoughts of proceeding on camel crossed our minds but sadly no Bedouins or Lawrence of Arabia types came to our rescue. Once we got those wing-nuts loosened, the wheel changed and everything tightened up we were on our way again - passing through a total of nine security checkpoints en route. At each one the driver would gesture his thumb back at us and say, “English”. The armed checkpoint guards seemed happy with this simple explanation and we were waved through. Apparently American tourists are obliged to have a security guard with them at all times. The English are considered harmless and less of a kidnap threat I guess. After nearly nine hours we were finally in Dahab. At a petrol station the local rep Sami joined the merry throng in the van. Budge up everyone. He seemed a nice enough guy and after Sayed and his drivers had all been suitably tipped, we were dropped off at the rather posh Le Meridien hotel to settle in and shower and change. Our room seemed pretty fabulous (more of that later) with a sea view and we arranged to meet up with Sami early evening so he could show us around downtown Dahab. We sussed out the best places to buy beer and settled upon the rather touristy Ali Baba restaurant on the front to eat - surrounded by cats, flashing lights, Bedouin kids begging and our rep playing gooseberry. The food was fine – only fine mind you – but we didn’t hang around too long. We fancied an early night. Walk Like An Egyptian - The Bangles...
Monday, March 01, 2010
Egypt: Day Six...
Our friendly neighbourhood guide Abdo was there to meet our train at Giza station as we pulled in at 5:30am – the hero – and we were soon transferred and checked into the palatial Marriott Hotel in downtown Cairo. We even managed to get a couple of hours of shut-eye before our arranged meet with our favourite Egyptologist Hamdi at 10am. First on the agenda was Coptic Cairo – specifically The Roman Towers and The Hanging Church (so named as it was built high above the then ground-level upon a gate). Next we ventured uphill to The Citadel district and the impressive Turkish influenced Mosque of Mohammed Ali – complete with twinkling chandeliers and panorama view of the whole city. Finally we headed to the bustling Khan al-Khalili bazaar where thousands of local businesses vie for the tourist pound. All great fun but after all that walking we were ready for some rest.
We got back to the hotel for some nosh and on the way back to our room decided to have a quick hair-cut - a hair-cut that turned into an up-sellers dream of facials, shaving and exfoliation. D'oh! £75 later we felt great but also very poor. An early night was ahead of us as it was to be another very early start in the morning. We were leaving Cairo and had a seven hour drive across the Sinai to look forward to. Night Boat To Cairo - Madness...
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Egypt: Day Five...
We took a day off from sightseeing today. We got up late, did a spot of sun-bathing by the pool and generally just enjoyed the rest. At the end of the day we gazed out across the Nile towards sunset past the Valley of the Kings on the opposite bank. Later on we got changed and headed for Luxor station for our second sleeper of the trip – a night train back up north to Cairo.
Unfortunately this was a miserable experience from start to finish. In the sleeper cabin next to us was a guy with a DVD playing at full blast. We were going to say something but as we opened the door to the corridor we saw that he had a very large automatic gun over his shoulder – the type you see in terrorist films. We careful reversed back into our cabin and closed the door deciding that caution was the better part of valour. Later on we discovered that there was a VIP in our carriage and that explained all the security personnel on board. As if the noise of the DVD man wasn’t enough the top bunk in our cabin kept banging violently against the wall as the train progressed its way down the Nile so we ended up having no sleep whatsoever – despite taking something to knock ourselves out. Bah! Saturday, February 27, 2010
Egypt: Day Four...
It was an early start for our second day in Luxor – breakfast at 6am and then hitting the trail to the West Bank of the Nile. Our Egyptologist Ahmed was all smiles as he said he wanted to show us his favourite sites in Luxor. First was the Habu Temple – a huge structure with massive columns, brilliantly vivid hieroglyphics and what has to be the oldest surviving bathroom in history.
Next we visited the Al-Deir Al-Bahari Temple which had been partially restored by an American team. The temple had been built against a rock face and looked pretty dramatic. Originally the place had been constructed by the New Kingdom’s very own female fatale pharaoh Hatshepsut. By all accounts she was a pretty strict ruler and when her son-in-law/nephew/step-son (inter-marriage was big back then) Tuthmosis III took to the throne he had all her images chiselled off this temple. Actually he had her image chiselled off EVERY temple. The sort of ancient Egyptian equivalent of cutting people out of old photographs, I suppose. Last, but by no means least, we visited The Valley Of The Kings. Looking rather like an old quarry the places was littered with entrances to tombs. The three we chose to visit were: Ramses III - a beautifully decorated tomb with highly detailed depictions from The Book of Gates. Tuthmosis III – this tomb was deep, colourful and in pretty good shape. The guy obvious loved his mother as they were both painted on the same boat in the burial chamber – a rare thing to do. He obviously died at short notice too because what with only 70 days to mummify the body they didn’t have time to properly carve the hieroglyphics – most were simple painted straight onto the walls. Ramses IX – a very big tomb full of pictures of Ra, slaves and serpents from The Book of The Dead. It had a real wow factor that valley I can tell you. Afterwards we headed back to the hotel to rest, eat and take it easy. You do a lot of walking on these site visits. Friday, February 26, 2010
Egypt: Day Three...
The sleeper train from Cairo to Luxor was a bit of an adventure. Sure, it was comfortable enough but it’s hard to sleep properly when it’s all stop/start and side to side lurching. We were met at the Luxor train station by our second rep of the trip, Ahmed. Another minibus journey through Luxor’s pleasant and sun drenched streets and we were in our palatial hotel beside the Nile called, appropriately enough, the Nile Palace Hotel.
First we had lunch by the pool before heading off to do a bit of exploring. For this we had engaged another Egyptologist, also named Ahmed, who took us to the rather wonderful Karnak Temple (a massive structure on the Nile) followed by equally impressive Luxor Temple in the downtown area. Both temples were upwards of three thousand years old and furnished with numerous obelisks, pylons, sphinxes and hieroglyphics covered walls telling tales of Hatshepsut and Tuthmosis III (more of these two later), Ra the sun god and various Pharaohs through the ages. All pretty amazing stuff, I can tell you. Having had our full for the day of Egyptian antiquities we headed back to the hotel for some supper and an early night. For tomorrow we would be doing the West Bank. Thursday, February 25, 2010
Egypt: Day Two...
What a day this turned out to be! We were up early to pack and to grab some of the carefully selected buffet breakfast in the Mena House Hotel’s palatial dining rooms. We’d heard many tales of Egyptian belly so were picking the safest options (avoiding peeled fresh fruit and things that had obviously been washed in local water). This culinary pickiness was confirmed by our tour guide Abdo, who we meet later down in the lobby, with the simple explanation that Egyptian water had too much purifying chlorine added to it and so was disagreeable to Western tastes. An argument that seemed slightly self-serving but was delivered with such a broad smile we could not help but take it was the truth.
We had engaged an Egyptologist for the day whose name was Hamdi. He was a pretty friendly chap and soon put us at our ease. Once aboard the Egypt Lady van we drove all of sixty seconds to the Pyramids proper (I told you it was close!) We had the full statistical tour chat from Hamdi (the largest of the three pyramids has two million blocks, weighs six million tons, was built by farmers not slaves etc.) took our snaps, fended off the annoyingly persistent touts and climbed up one or two of the levels on the Great Pyramid. The tourist police let you get to level three before blasting their whistles at you to climb no further. The middle sized Pyramid we decided to enter. Crouching down we scrabbled in. It was hot, humid and really rather fun. No cameras were allowed in sadly. Well, not officially anyway. Tee hee. We when drove round to the panorama location for the obligatory tourist snaps. Sadly, it had just started to rain but we didn’t let that spoil the view or our excitement. Hamdi knew just the right places to stand and suggested one or two fun shots to take too. An old hand at this obviously. Back in the van we circled round to see the Sphinx. Carved from a solid piece of rock this noseless guardian of the Pyramids was as large as it was impressive. After that four and half thousand year old spectacle we dropped by a Papyrus factory to see another one. We watched a demo of how the plant gets peeled, sliced, soaked, laid out and pressed to form the ancient paper material. I ended up buying a couple of replicas too. Well, you would, wouldn’t you? Then it was on to The Egyptian Museum to get what was the merest whiff of some of the treasures it contained. Numerous antiquities were on display from statues, vases and mummies to Tutankhamen’s death mask and his solid gold coffin. It was quite some collection. We were both rather surprised at quite how easy it was to touch the exhibits though - forbidden to do so but the finger stains told a different story. In fact one of the Egyptologists we spoke to thought that both France and Britain should hang on to their Egyptian treasures until the new Egyptian Museum is completed (it’s currently under construction). Prime example cited was the Rosetta Stone. “Keep it for now”, he said, “It’ll be safer.” After the wow factor of the museum we headed for a bite to eat at the downtown and rather down market Egypt Lady hotel – a rather tacky experience to be honest made even more bizarre when the heavens opened and the rain poured through the roof into the restaurant. We scrabbled to the bar for cover but the rain just kept on coming down - in buckets. On advice we left for the train station early just in case there were any weather related delays. Cairo traffic is pretty much the worst I have ever seen in my life – add to this the torrential rain, the mud and the weekend crowds - it made the traffic in Blade Runner look like a ride in the countryside. It was bumper to bumper gridlock all the way to the station. It got so late that we had to abandon our minibus and leg it down the dimly lit mud slide that was highway 1, jumping a spike covered wall to make it to the station on time. Once there we ended up waiting for two hours on the platform anyway as all the trains were delayed. Grrr. Still, at least we hadn’t missed our train. When the train finally arrived, we climbed aboard and prepared ourselves for a night in a sleeper cabin and the 500 mile journey down south to Luxor. What a day! Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Egypt: Day One...
We packed for our holiday rather late - as usual. As you may know, dear Reader, I detest flying so anything to delay the inevitable trip to the airport gets my subconscious plotting like softie Walter trying to avoid bumping into Dennis the Menace on the way to school. These tardiness tactics included the multiple rechecking where my passport was – still safely secured in my left front pocket some hours previously - the endless questioning of Stuart over what clothes to take, “should take TWO pairs of jeans or one?” and the desperate last minute time-waster “I’m just going to have a shave.” Again.
In spite all of this procrastination we made it to Heathrow T3 a good three hours before the flight was due to leave. Damn you subconscious. You must try harder next time. The flight was a code share. So whilst we’d booked with BMI we were actually due to enjoy the delightful service as provided by almost bottom leaguers Egypt Air. Check-in was a breeze however and luckily the Egyptian national carrier had ditched most of their dodgy Russian-bought fleet so we were actually boarded upon a relatively safe Boeing 777/300. Joy on joy the flight was half empty too so take-off was on time and the on board food service fast. The single central aisle-shared video screen left something to be desired in the in-flight entertainment department but we coped. On that note, does Sandra Bullock EVER make a good film these days? The flight lasted five hours and passed without much incident. The landing was a little bumpy but then that was to be expected what with all the cloud cover. Yes, we were flying into a desert region that had a weather forecast of heavy rain for two days. Ugh. The guy from Egypt Uncovered who met us at Cairo’s new terminal was called Abdo. He was very charming if a little over-friendly in that tour guide kind of way. The van that picked us up was called Egypt Lady. Quite. The hotel we were booked into was called the Mena House Hotel and was in Giza. It was a grand, gold leafed hotel with what could only be described as an intimate view of The Pyramids. They were pretty much in the hotel’s back garden. As it was getting close to midnight we simply grabbed a nightcap in the lobby bar (G&T and a beer came to just under £20 sterling - who said Egypt was cheap?) before heading to our room for a good night’s sleep. Egypt - Kate Bush...
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Bass-o-matic - Fascinating Rhythm...
Gosh, I love this song. Good old William Orbit.
(Got ya) (Devastating) Give me some of that bass line on your stereo / Give me the funky rhythm and we're ready to go / A little something for the heart, some medicine for the soul / And now we got it under full control. Monday, February 22, 2010
Doctor Who coming Easter 2010...
Watch the new trailer here.
iPad vs Blu-tak...
 Sunday, February 21, 2010
Depeche Mode...
 Anyway, the gig was fab; loud, brash and full of sing-along hits. We loved it. The set list was: In Chains Wrong Hole to Feed Walking in My Shoes It's No Good A Question of Time Precious World In My Eyes Freelove Home Miles Away/The Truth Is Policy of Truth In Your Room I Feel You Enjoy the Silence Never Let Me Down Again Encore: A Question of Lust Stripped Behind the Wheel Personal Jesus Friday, February 19, 2010
Gary's Party / RVT...
Last Sunday was Gary's birthday so we all headed down to the RVT for a party. A lovely end to a lovely weekend. More snaps and video here.
 A Well-Bred Person...
A well-bred person appears in print on only three occassions: birth, marriage, and death. "Yes, darling," he said, "but I'm not that well-bred."
Thursday, February 18, 2010
A Small Crucifiction...
It was a fantastic weekend just gone; party on a boat, party in club, Duckie, Carpet Burn, S*L*A*G*S*. As I was leaving Carpet Bun a man nudged me and whispered in my ear, "we are having a small Crucifiction after. Hope you can make it."
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Where is that web site hosted?...
Every wondered where is that web site is hosted? Look no further. http://geotool.flagfox.net/
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
iPad mini...
Sources in Cupertino have exclusively confirmed that Apple intends to follow up its anticipated iPad success with a miniature, pocket-sized version boasting added voice technology. "The iPad's a great device," an executive familiar with the matter said yesterday. "But think how great it would be if you could carry it in your pocket. And it's got a SIM card in it - which opens up an exciting prospect, that you'd be able to call people up on their actual phones."
But what would this elusive Unicorn of a device possibly be called? Monday, February 15, 2010
The Triplets...
I went over to see Ben, Sarah, Dylan, Eve and Lola the other Friday. We had a great time playing in the park. The kids are so chatty and so much fun to be with. Bless. More pix here.
 MPs call for jobs blow to be reversed...
Best headline of 2009. http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/mps-call-for-jobs-blow.5919884.jp
Friday, February 12, 2010
Aliens Rap...
This is simply fabulous. The film Aliens told as a rap with clever lines of dialogue completing the rhyme.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
What's brown and kills babies?...
What's brown and kills babies?...
John Terry's wallet. Laser Fusion...
A major hurdle to producing fusion energy using lasers has been swept aside, results in a new report show. "It's going to happen this year." Yay, for clean energy!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Mimó - Will You Be There?...
 Why all the secrecy up until now? Well, Andy was keen to release his new solo material under a pseudonym and chose the name Mimó as a tribute to his friend Tomeau Mimó. Sadly however there is already a musician working as Mimo who has legally challenged Andy's right to use a variation of that name for this project, so from this point forwards all further releases will be come out under Andy's own name. Will You Be There? is produced by pop maestro Pascal Gabriel (Dido, Kylie, Ladyhawke) and capturing the essence of the dance floor classics and unforgettable pop anthems that made his name, the single includes remixes by Seamus Haji, Sonic C and French Horn Rebellion, which push the boundaries of club classics. TRACK LISTING Will You Be There? (Original Mix) Will You Be There? (Seamus Haji Big Love Radio Edit) Will You Be There? (French Horn Rebellion Mix) Will You Be There? (Sonic C Vocal Mix) Will You Be There? (Seamus Haji Big Love Remix) For those of you who may have missed it here's Running Out and Running Out (VEGA Italo Dub Mix) The debut album from MiMó will be released in 2010. Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Tim's Birthday Kazbar...
On Sunday Stu and I headed down to the Kazbar in Clapham to help Tim, along with this lovely friends and family, celebrate his birthday. Great fun.
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