Now here's a good idea. Sadly still just a concept rather than a product, but just imagine the fun you could have experimenting!
Thursday 15 November 2012
Tuesday 16 October 2012
Double Take
I had the pleasure of visiting a customer in Canary Wharf today. I was quite early so decided to stop in the nearby shopping centre for a coffee before heading over. Afterwards I popped to the loo nearby but was rather surprised upon opening a cubicle door to see this:
Now, I generally assume that people do what may seem like odd things for what are in fact sensible reasons at the time and tend to try to understand what those reasons might have been. For the life of me though, I really can't think of anything that seems sensible to explain this. Any suggestions welcome!
Now, I generally assume that people do what may seem like odd things for what are in fact sensible reasons at the time and tend to try to understand what those reasons might have been. For the life of me though, I really can't think of anything that seems sensible to explain this. Any suggestions welcome!
Thursday 6 September 2012
Web Cartoon #1
This is the first in a, most likely, very occasional series of web cartoons. In fact I'd be fairly surprised if there were any more but you never know. It was inspired by misreading a newspaper headline. So, without further ado - enjoy!
Friday 24 August 2012
Tuesday 17 July 2012
Ear Spider
On the train this morning I suffered a jolt of alarm, the man next to me had a huge spider on his head. Oh no, my mistake, it's ear hair. Yuck.
So you see the lengths I go to for you, dear readers, it wasn't easy to snap a picture of this monstrosity without attracting attention. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did - I felt strangely queasy for the rest of the journey.
I mean really, is there any need for this kind of thing?
Tuesday 19 June 2012
India, Part 2 Pune and back to Mumbai
Pune is much nicer than Mumbai! The city is around 600m up, it's less humid and there is a constant breeze. I also didn't see a single insect the entire time I was there, which made a very pleasant change from Hyderabad, where every mosquito in a 10 mile radius seemed to want to fly in my ear.
The taxis the office had arranged were a damn sight better than the ones in Paris too. If anything though they were too keen, turning up 45 minutes early and then being sent away by the hotel, which caused a fair amount of confusion as I had to get in touch with them somehow and have them come back. This was a minor inconvenience compared with being dropped off in a totally different part of town.
My first surprise upon arriving was finding out I had an office!
Quite what they thought I was going to do with it, I have no idea, but I appreciated the thought. I did actually go and sit in it for 10 minutes just for the hell of it.
Otherwise, there's not much that was eventful to report about the week. I mainly avoided Indian food due to my sadly delicate stomach and was taken to an excellent Italian. Although they did serve their pasta cold...
We did go to a rather nice Indian on the last evening but I avoided anything that was obviously going to give me problems.
I did notice one weird thing though, in India apparently, a Spar is a major attraction. No, seriously. Spar is an awesome superbrand - FACT!
And so, we finally come to the return journey.
Let's just say it was hell. Four hours, in the dark driving into Mumbai at peak traffic time. Next time, if there is a next time, I'm going to try and fly direct to Pune.
The taxis the office had arranged were a damn sight better than the ones in Paris too. If anything though they were too keen, turning up 45 minutes early and then being sent away by the hotel, which caused a fair amount of confusion as I had to get in touch with them somehow and have them come back. This was a minor inconvenience compared with being dropped off in a totally different part of town.
My first surprise upon arriving was finding out I had an office!
Otherwise, there's not much that was eventful to report about the week. I mainly avoided Indian food due to my sadly delicate stomach and was taken to an excellent Italian. Although they did serve their pasta cold...
We did go to a rather nice Indian on the last evening but I avoided anything that was obviously going to give me problems.
I did notice one weird thing though, in India apparently, a Spar is a major attraction. No, seriously. Spar is an awesome superbrand - FACT!
Let's just say it was hell. Four hours, in the dark driving into Mumbai at peak traffic time. Next time, if there is a next time, I'm going to try and fly direct to Pune.
Wednesday 30 May 2012
India, Part 1 - Mumbai to Pune
Yes, I am in India for the week.
My initial impressions weren't great. Stepping out of the airport at Mumbai was like walking into a steam room. I then had the fun of an almost four hour drive to Pune, nearly half of which was just fighting our way out of the city.
Mumbai itself, or at least the bits of it I saw, was pretty grim. Great piles of rubble and filth lining the sides of the roads and makeshift shacks all over the place. On the plus side, the drive itself wasn't nearly as scary as the trips I'd had in Hyderabad. People seemed to generally drive in a rational manner, stopping at red lights and junctions, remaining on their own side of the road almost all the time, you know, the usual. Of course there was the constant swerving between lanes to try and get round slower moving vehicles, not that 'lane' really applies given that lanes seem to be defined only by how many vehicles can squeeze side by side on a given piece of tarmac.
Once we were out of the city and onto the expressway the journey was fine. The road was fairly clear and apart from a few parts where hugely laden ancient trucks laboured up hill at 5 miles an hour while my driver whizzed past them there were no incidents.
Pune itself is much nicer than Mumbai, the air isn't so humid and the streets are much cleaner. I was a little concerned by the security at the hotel, which is more thorough than is common at even an airport. Upon arrival the car was swabbed (presumably for explosives), searched and checked underneath with mirrors before being admitted to a kind of airlock. The car wasn't able to proceed until the gate behind was closed, at which point the huge spikes which had been blocking our forward process were lowered. That wasn't the end of it though. After exiting the vehicle I had to pass through a metal detector and have my bags x-rayed, before finally getting into the hotel.
So, I started to wonder. Is someone trying to blow up international hotels in Pune? Should I be worried? We didn't have security like that in Hyderabad, but maybe they assumed the traffic would get us before the bombs did...
My initial impressions weren't great. Stepping out of the airport at Mumbai was like walking into a steam room. I then had the fun of an almost four hour drive to Pune, nearly half of which was just fighting our way out of the city.
Mumbai itself, or at least the bits of it I saw, was pretty grim. Great piles of rubble and filth lining the sides of the roads and makeshift shacks all over the place. On the plus side, the drive itself wasn't nearly as scary as the trips I'd had in Hyderabad. People seemed to generally drive in a rational manner, stopping at red lights and junctions, remaining on their own side of the road almost all the time, you know, the usual. Of course there was the constant swerving between lanes to try and get round slower moving vehicles, not that 'lane' really applies given that lanes seem to be defined only by how many vehicles can squeeze side by side on a given piece of tarmac.
Once we were out of the city and onto the expressway the journey was fine. The road was fairly clear and apart from a few parts where hugely laden ancient trucks laboured up hill at 5 miles an hour while my driver whizzed past them there were no incidents.
Pune itself is much nicer than Mumbai, the air isn't so humid and the streets are much cleaner. I was a little concerned by the security at the hotel, which is more thorough than is common at even an airport. Upon arrival the car was swabbed (presumably for explosives), searched and checked underneath with mirrors before being admitted to a kind of airlock. The car wasn't able to proceed until the gate behind was closed, at which point the huge spikes which had been blocking our forward process were lowered. That wasn't the end of it though. After exiting the vehicle I had to pass through a metal detector and have my bags x-rayed, before finally getting into the hotel.
So, I started to wonder. Is someone trying to blow up international hotels in Pune? Should I be worried? We didn't have security like that in Hyderabad, but maybe they assumed the traffic would get us before the bombs did...
Monday 21 May 2012
The Amazing Scratching Man
Scratching Man,
Scratching Man,
Does whatever a scratching can.
Which sadly for him, is getting eaten by me.
Scratching Man,
Does whatever a scratching can.
Which sadly for him, is getting eaten by me.
Wednesday 9 May 2012
Parisian Taxi Drivers
I've had plenty of 'fun' in Paris over the years getting taxis, up until now my favourite was when I booked a cab for 8:30, he turned up at 7:30 (I was still asleep) and then charged me 40 euros waiting time after I stumbled down bleary eyed 20 or so minutes later.
Now though, I have something even better. We ordered a cab to take us to our office in La Defence, here in fact:
He duly drove in the right direction and dropped us off outside a large office building. We all got out and wandered over to the building and he drove away. At this point, I started to suspect something might be up as the building wasn't number 21 - it was called Europlaza, there was no sign of our company logo in reception and most telling, we were on the wrong street. I whipped out my trusty iPhone (OK, it can be useful for something) and discovered this:
Yes, that's right, our helpful taxi driver had dropped us over a kilometre away from where were were supposed to be. Those of you who have been to La Defence will of course know that it's a complete maze, full of walkways, overpasses, underpasses, stairways and lifts. We did manage to get to the office though. Eventually.
Now though, I have something even better. We ordered a cab to take us to our office in La Defence, here in fact:
He duly drove in the right direction and dropped us off outside a large office building. We all got out and wandered over to the building and he drove away. At this point, I started to suspect something might be up as the building wasn't number 21 - it was called Europlaza, there was no sign of our company logo in reception and most telling, we were on the wrong street. I whipped out my trusty iPhone (OK, it can be useful for something) and discovered this:
Yes, that's right, our helpful taxi driver had dropped us over a kilometre away from where were were supposed to be. Those of you who have been to La Defence will of course know that it's a complete maze, full of walkways, overpasses, underpasses, stairways and lifts. We did manage to get to the office though. Eventually.
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