London Is Heaving
There must be something going on in London later in the week.
I was trying to locate some lights for my hall, so I decided to take the Underground to Warren Street and then walk to Selfridges by way of Habitat, Heals, John Lewis and Marks and Spencer.
A couple of years ago I bought some bedside lights from John Lewis, that are touch on and touch off. I would show you a link to their web site, but they are not there, although they were in the Oxford Street store. Here’s a picture of the bedside light.
John Lewis Touchable Table Lamp
They work well and what I want is three tall ones, so that I can place them at strategic points in my hall. And as I walk past in the dark, they will automatically switch on, when I touch them.
In fact, you can play lots of games with this type of concept. Perhaps, when you are out or it is pitch dark, they should switch on and they could text my mobile phone to say that someone was about.
The possibilities of this sort of technology are endless. The text message facility could even be used to locate where you have put your mobile phone. I once had an e-mail from a friend, asking to call his mobile phone, as he’d left it somewhere in his house and couldn’t find it. Like many these days he didn’t have a landline. He does now!
I finally found an elegant tall lamp in Selfridges, but why are there so few?
I can’t be the only person, who when they enter their house in the dark, doesn’t have a light in the hall, that is close to hand. But I have a space between the door and the wall, where I could put such a light.
A Space for a Tall Lamp
Ideally it would be touchable, but a foot switch would be an alternative. Note the switches on the wall. They are for the outside lights, or at least I can’t get them to work any others. At least, I’ve got a suitable powerpoint, but note the cracked plaster above it. Jerry’s electrician didn’t have a clue.
You might argue, why I don’t have a light in the hall? Jerry didn’t put one in to save money and to put one in would mean trunking all over the place as the ceiling is a concrete slab. Wall lights are so naff! And yes, I’ve got lots of really hideous ones, probably bought in some bastion of good design like Fred’s El-Cheapo Lighting Emporium in Dalston Market. Don’t knock that market, as I think, Lord Sugar started his business careeer there.
The trip wasn’t helped by the fact that London seemed to have many more people about than normal. To make matters worse there were lots of smokers lining up outside the shops having a cough and a drag. Some were even sitting on the floor, creating more unseen hazards for people with limited vision. I did think about deliberately falling over a particular well-upholstered couple dragging away with one hand and eating a burger with the other but I decided against it, as I would have hated to have contact with such an awful pair of individuals.
Let’s hope that London gets a little bit less busy as the week goes on. I have a lot of shopping to do!
Bilingual Signs
I’ve said before that I don’t like bilingual place names. Mainly with concern to Belgium, where they suddenly change language of the signs to the place you are going. In one case it led to a detour of about fifty kilometres.
Take this sign in Cardiff station.
Cardiff or Caerdydd
Surely, it should be in English or Welsh but not both! If the inhabitants of the city want Welsh to be the name, then so be it! An interesting example is London, where although there is a French name for the city, most French of my acquaintance, have used the English form, when speaking to me.
Obviously, where there can be confusion, like this informational sign both common languages are needed.
Bilingual Information Sign
In a few years time incidentally, this sign will be unneccessary as new regulations will mean that toilets will not be able to flush directly onto the track.
How Not To Put Up Blinds
The blinds in the living room are broken and haven’t worked since I moved in.
The Best of the Broken Blinds
This picture shows the best of the unuseable blinds.
Yesterday, I decided I’d had enough and decided to take them down.
It wasn’t as easy as it should have been as Jerry or one of his ilk had struck again.
Plugs In a Wooden Batten
Look how in the picture, he’s used plastic plugs to attach the brackets to the wooden batten under the lintel. Consequently, he’s split the batten.
What a Grade A Tosser!
The Latest Example of Jerry’s Handiwork
One of the features of my house is the chocolate-coloured steel beams used to hold up the roof, form the staircase and as a design feature. This picture shows the beam above the windows in my living room.
Steel Beam Above the Window
You will notice what looks to be brass bolts holding the beam up. In fact they are not bolts at all, but crude brass-coloured pads stuck on the beam.
Yet again Jerry has done the cheap and nasty, rather than followed the instructions of the architect. Well I hope so, as if the architect specified foundations in the same way, the house will fall down.
It looks like I’ll be making some special bolts again.
It’s Bad Friday Today
I’ve always hated Bank Holidays. I can remember as a child, that unless there was football at White Hart Lane, I’d generally be left to my own devices. At least when my father had his print works, we’d generally go down there and do something. You can never have said he didn’t have a work ethic.
When C and I had the children at home, it wasn’t as boring, as usually we’d find something to do. After the kids had left, we’d often go racing or shopping at somewhere like Bluewater. But generally we’d arrange to be away, as after all everything is crowded. Although on one memorable Bank Holiday with sunshine everywhere, we did decide to go to the Norfolk Coast with the dogs for a swim for her and perhaps a paddle for me. But we got sea-fog and were back home by one after one of the most miserable Bank Holidays we ever spent.
Today, I’ve nothing planned and will probably go for a walk or to a museum or art gallery. It’s the same on Saturday and Sunday. But on Monday, I’m off to Swansea to see Ipswich. But after last night’s disaster at Portman Road, that is unlikely to be a happy experience.
And what with the Royal Wedding and May Day coming up, this few next weeks has the impression, that it is not going to be very fulfilling. But saying that I do have friends coming for the wedding.
A Nice Touch From Hackney Council
Today was recycling day and my box came back with my house number on it. It must have been the recycling crew.
It saves me buying some paint and a brush!
Good for them!
The Blind Saga Ends
I posted earlier that Juhn Lewis mucked me about with the blinds for my house. In the end a few weeks ago, I did get the blinds for my bedroom on March 14th. And very nice they are too! They work as intended and couldn’t be better.
One thing that was rather annoying was that they’d originally charged me for the two larger blinds for the living room and the one for the bedroom was cheaper. This wouldn’t have mattered too much, as they refunded the difference. But because of all the messing about, the refund didn’t go through on the same statement, so I ended up with having to pay interest of £29 on my credit card account. I did get a few extra points, but their mistake in making up the wrong blinds cost me money as well as the embarrassment of being without bedroom blinds for several weeks.
Now that I’m happy with the bedroom blinds and as I’ve replaced the two broken panes in the living room, I felt a week or so, ago, that at the right price, the blinds might do for the living room, as I know the style and quality.
In fact, when they delivered the wrong blinds, I was asked if I would accept them for a consideration. I said no, as at the time the windows needed replacing in the living room and my glazier preferred to do this before the blinds were fitted.
So I wrote to John Lewis, saying that if the right consideration was on offer, I might accept the blinds for the living room, that were now sitting in their store.
Yesterday, I got a phone call on my mobile from John Lewis asking if I wanted the blinds. As I had told them before to call on my landline and I was busy at the time, I asked them to phone back in the afternoon.
But as in a couple of cases before, they didn’t.
So today, I took the bull by the horns and went to the Oxford Street store and saw someone in person, to whom I told the whole story. He said he needed to talk to the departmental manager and he would be a few minutes.
Whilst he was away, I looked at several other blinds on offer and felt that as I had signed nothing to say I wanted the blinds they had made in error, there might be something that was better and possibly cheaper. You also have to take into account, that I’ve firmed up on the chocolate colour scheme highlighted by brass, since I had the room measured for the blinds. So perhaps they need to be different anyway.
The consideration that I was offered was not in my ball park, so I politely declined the offer and left.
So this morning was a complete waste of time.
What I will be doing I do not know, but I think my days of dealing with the accident-prone curtain and blinds department in John Lewis are over.
What they do with the blinds they accidentally made for me is totally up to them!
Damned If He Does and Damned If He Doesn’t!
There are reports questioning what David Cameron will be wearing to the Royal Wedding. It looks like he will break with tradition and not wear a tailcoat.
My view is that as the Palace has said that you can wear either morning dress or a lounge suit, the decision is up to him.
It should not be determined by any of the press on any side of the political spectrum.
In some ways, I wonder if he’s hoping that something comes up and he can’t go!
Table Tennis at the Duke of Wellington
I did try to play table tennis a few months ago, but my eyesight wasn’t good enough.
Tonight though, I went down the Duke of Wellington in the Balls Pond Road and played a couple of games for charity. I was a lot better.
I also had some very good Wye Valley asparagus with a poached duck egg on top. I did have a chat with the manager and they know their gluten-free.
The strange thing about the pub is that it is a few doors away from where some my ancestors lived in the 1850s. I just wonder if, I’m not the first member of my family to drink in the pub. I’m certainly the first to play table tennis.
The Anonymous Widower 