Adverts On The BBC
The only television I watched was BBC World and it was good to see such as Nick Gowing, who I once met on holiday.
However, I was rather fed up with the adverts, for products I weren’t interested in. Although, one was for a mini diabetic meter, much like the device I use to test my INR. Although it was very small. It does show the way these devices are going.
I wonder how long before cruise ships such as the Oriana have a digital television service based on Freesat.
The Galician Gaita
I hadn’t realised that there are bagpipes in Spain, but I saw this guy in Santiago de Compostela.
The Galician Gaita
They are called the Galician gaita and they seemed to my untutored ear to be less harsh that those of our friends in the North.
I Don’t Know My Port From My Starboard
Although, I was a private pilot for many years, if you ask me quickly I always had to think, if port is left or right.
You can do it by remembering that port has the same number of letters as left or by noting that POSH could stand for port out starboard home, which meant that passengers going to and from India and the Far East from the UK, got the northern or cool side of the boat.
There’s a discussion on the explanation of posh here.
My next door neighbour, at one time, had been a British Army colonel, who’d served in India and he told me the standard explanation many years ago. He also told me, how on the voyage back to the UK, they used to throw their pith helmets into the sea with great gusto after they had passed through the Suez canal.
I have no evidence to the origin of the word, but having heard many tales of life in the Army many years ago, the word could have been cooked up as a friendly term of abuse, by a group of very hot squaddies. I bet today, those serving in Afghanistan and Iraq, have developed some words of their own. After all, the word Blighty for the home country, was very much a word developed by those stationed overseas, that has entered the English language.
A Proper Memo Book
I like to carry paper, so that I can write notes as I explore the world.
In recent years, I haven’t found anything that suited my tastes, but today in the excellent newsagent in One New Change, I found this one.
A Proper Memo Book
Not only was it what I want at just £1.50,but it proudly states British Made on the front.
In fact on checking up on Silvine, it appears to be Yorkshire Made in Otley.
Sometimes, I do think that some of the progress we make with computers, is not as good as how our grandparents managed.
Aftre all, most of the things I type in this book will just be the ephemera of daily life like shopping lists or the next appointment at the gym or physio.
In time, this little book, might just prove to be the ideal companion for my non-smart mobile phone.
A New City Is Growing Up
Forty years ago, when we lived in the Barbican it was a good place to live, and it was very convenient for me to get to my various jobs in the City and for C to get to University College. But it wasn’t a place for living at the week-end.
Now though, with places like One New Change, the City is becoming a complete place to live, work and play.
As it’s only a short bus ride from where I live, I can partake of the good life. I have found in recent months, that I’m visiting shopping centres like Eastfield less and less.
Dark Skies Over Germany
I met a German visitor from Bremen on the top of One New Change.
She said that the winter there had been the darkest since 1951.
One New Change
I said in this post yesterday, that I would go to One New Change to check out the views.
I did this morning and although the weather wasn’t good, the views from the top were stunning. I also had a pot of tea in Madison’s cafe on the roof, which did cost me £3.91. This was worth it, as I got two full cups, sat in very comfortable leather arm chairs and had magnificent views of St. Paul’s.
The charge to go to the roof is a big fat zero and for that you got a lift with views of the cathedral. Surely, if you want to have good views of London from above, this is even better value than walking to the top of Primrose Hill.
I think One New Change could be the prototype in London and other places for this type of development Only six floors high, but with a double basement, it mixes high-quality offices, shops, bars and restaurants, to create a working, shopping and visiting community. Read their ecological statement here. The building is so much better than that monstrous erection by London Bridge station; the Shard.
I know we won’t see it, as the plans are probably fully in place and approved, but wouldn’t a building with this ethos, fit well into the railway lands, between Kings Cross and St. Pancras, which will probablt be filled by more anonymous high-rise buildings.
Leadenhall Market
Despite the awful weather, today was a good day to walk through a virtually empty Leadenhall Market.
Note the date of 1990. Was that when the art students repainted the inside, as I reported here?
Wet Sundays aren’t generally that nice, but in London, they do mean that you can often walk the streets of the City more or less totally by yourself.
Construction Seems To Have Resumed At The Pinnacle
The cashpoint I used at Tower 42 was opposite the Pinnacle.
Work seems to have resumed, which must say something about the economy. Although there are reports, that they may be demolishing it and starting again. There’s a piece here in the Architect’s Journal.
607 Bridges And Still Counting
The Times also tells the tale of Toni Rüttiman, a man who has helped to build 607 bridges. There are more details here on Wikipedia. He is summed up by this sentence.
Toni Rüttimann has no home; he carries all he needs in two small bags. One is for his personal effects, the second one for his suspension bridge building materials. Rüttimann works with destitute people to build or re-build their own bridges, often after a hurricane, an earthquake, or a war event.
He works for free!
He is definitely one of the world’s unsung heroes.
The Anonymous Widower 