Archive for the ‘The World’ Category

Leaf

Posted on in My Life, The World.

There was a leaf perched on top of his head.

He was sitting at one end of the train carriage. Middle aged, slightly podgy, blue business suit and on top of his dark, side-parted hair was a solitary autumnal leaf.

It was easy to imagine how it had got there. Walking to the station gravity had tugged the leaf from a branch and gently floated it down onto his head. So gently that he hadn’t noticed.

Everyone else in the carriage must have noticed. But no one said anything. Not the smartly dressed couple sitting next to him. Not the young woman sitting opposite him. Not the trendily dressed man with the iPod across the aisle. Certainly not me standing halfway down the aisle. How could we?

The leaf was gone by the time we reached London Bridge. I don’t know whether gravity had taken hold of it again, or whether a casual touch of the hair had dislodged it. I do know that I didn’t hear anyone say anything.

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Running on autopilot.

Posted on in My Life, The World.

“Good morning. Thank you for waiting. Would you like a small bag?”

“No thank you” I said as I unzipped my rucksack.

At least she looked slightly embarrassed as I took everything out of the carrier bag she’d put them into and transferred them to the rucksack.

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We’re all Welsh today

Posted on in Sport, The World.

Pretty much the only decision of David Cameron’s that I’m ever likely to whole heartedly support is the flying of the Welsh flag above Downing Street today.

Wales have been playing well this tournament, a close loss against South Africa and then four good wins. France have taken their customary unpredictableness to a level that somtimes approaches insanity. If we get the France that lost against Tonga then we should win easily. If we get the France that beat England then it will be a close match.

Wales have only made the semi-Finals once before and have never been in a Final. Forty minutes to go until kick off. Fingers crossed.

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Sunday evening on the Brighton Road

Posted on in The World.

She had sunglasses perched atop masses of curly blonde hair. She wore a full length blue dress that was cut low at the front to reveal a very small dog nestled contentedly in the cleavage of her rather ample bosom.

She was wandering round the One-Stop, looking for the wine, chattering constantly to herself, her mate and her dog.

Only in Croydon.

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Voted Yes to AV

Posted on in My Life, The World.

I’ve just voted. If you haven’t already done likewise, you have two hours left to do so.

I voted Yes.

I don’t think that AV is a great system – it’s no more proportional than FPTP. But it’s what’s on offer and it is slightly better than FPTP in two respects.

It helps to mitigate a situation where a candidate is elected to whom the majority of the electorate are opposed. e.g. a Labour candidate getting elected because the right wing majority in the constituency is split between UKIP and Conseratives. MPs that are at least tolerable to the majority of their constituents must be a good thing.

And it helps us to more accurately judge the support for medium and small parties. Under FPTP many people don’t vote Green, etc., because they see it as a wasted vote, and hence we have no idea how widespread the real support for these parties is. Better knowledge about what people really support must be a good thing.

I think we’re going to lose, and that we’ll be stuck with FPTP and (with a Lib-Dem collapse likely) a strengthened two party system for another generation. That seems like a bad thing.

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Pointless Fluff

Posted on in The World.

As [info]pink-weasel asked for it, here is my theory on clothes.

Clothes fall into two categories. Those that generate fluff and those that attract fluff. The only way to maintain sanity is to maintain two separate wardrobes, two separate laundry baskets, two separate washing machines and even two separate irons and ironing boards. Every day has to be either a fluffy day or a non-fluffy day. Only with this level of discipline can the fluff generating clothes be kept away from the fluff attracting clothes.

Something to think about when contemplating your Christmas jumper.

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The Force is strong in this one

Posted on in The World.

Seen today – a police officer outside New Scotland Yard with a Rebel Alliance insignia pin on his stab vest. In light of the demonstrations (lots of police vans and horses around today but no sign of any confrontations) some people may find that slightly peculiar.

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How many days to Christmas?

Posted on in My Life, The World.

So, first Christmas in the new house. How’s it shaping up?

Cards written, half of them in the post, need to buy more stamps tomorrow.

Tree bought, carried back from Purley and assembled. Decorations up. (It feels wrong to be putting up decorations before Christmas Eve – I know nearly everyone else puts them up early these days but it still feels wrong to me.)

First variation of the edible sprouts recipe tested, a moderate success.

Two work Christmas parties to go to, need Film Noir/1940s Jazz fancy dress for one of them :-(

What have I forgotten? Presents. Bought so far: None.

Tomorrow. Central London. How bad can it be on a Monday morning? Don’t answer that.

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Google Gordouli

Posted on in The World.

Checking out the Broad Street colleges on Google Maps and I saw something interesting.

Google Maps - Balliol and Trinity colleges

Good: Balliol is shown with an appropriate higher education icon, whilst Trinity is shown with an appropriate primary school icon. :lol:

Bad: Trinity seems to be located in the middle of Balliol’s front quad. :-?

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Casting suggestion

Posted on in Films, The World.

The home page of BBC News is currently reporting on BP CEO Tony Hayward getting a telling off from the US Congress. And they are illustrating it with this picture:

Tony Hayward

If Michael Sheen is looking for his next real life role then he need look no further, the similarity is much greater than with Brian Clough, David Frost or even Tony Blair.