Do Advertisers Get Value?
I wanted to read a report on the Ipswich match at Birmingham on Saturday, so I typed “Birmingham Ipswich” into Google.
I got a few serious reports from papers as I expected, but I also got an advert trying to sell me a cheap flight from Birmingham to Ipswich.
I assume they meant Ipswich in Australia.
All very helpful.
Skyfall
I went to see it this afternoon. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s only about the fourth or fifth Bond film, I’ve actually seen. I saw the three early ones; Dr. No, From Russia With Love and Goldfinger, before I went to University.
Although C and I were together for forty years, I think we may only have seen one together and that could have been Thunderball or You Only Live Twice.
She wasn’t really keen on that sort of action film.
For many years too, whilst we were raising the kids, we rarely had time for the cinema and tended to go to the theatre or out for a meal.
I did see Quantum of Solace on the way back from Hong Kong, but does that really count as it wasn’t in a cinema.
In fact, I must be one of the few people, who’ve never seen a Bond film on the small screen. After all, Bond has always been on a channel with adverts and I don’t like intermissions.
I don’t think we even took the children to see any of the others.
So if my memory is correct, Skyfall was the sixth Bond film, I’d seen in the cinema.
I said that I enjoyed it and in some ways very much how I enjoyed the early ones. It was fresh and different with just the right amount of humour to go with the action.
I’ve read all of the novels, including some in French, and I think Sam Mendes has captured the exotic themes of the books. To someone like myself growing up in a London suburb, places like the Caribbean and Istanbul were very exotic to say the least. The choice of Hashima Island for the villain’s lair was the sort of idea of which Ian Fleming would have approved.
So in some ways the film went back to the 1960s for me.
As ever though, the computing in the film isn’t as good as it could be. But that would be my only major gripe. Although, the tube train is a deep-level one running between sub-surface stations. It’s actually because it was shot in the old Charing Cross platforms for the Jubilee Line, which turn up in quite a lot of films and videos.
A Chinese View On Peer-To-Peer Lending
I found this article in the South China Morning Post.
It would appear that peer-to-peer lending is taking off in China in a big way. Here’s an extract.
According to an unofficial source, there are an estimated 100 such Chinese lenders in operation, with projected total outstanding loans this year of 18 billion yuan (HK$22 billion)
That sounds a lot to me.
Told Off For Not Buying A Cheap Ticket
I came back from Liverpool to Birmingham by London Midland. I didn’t have much time to get a ticket at Lime Street, especially as the one machine near my platform was broken. I was told that I could get a ticket on the train, which in fact I did.
The inspector said, I should have bought it on-line before I left, as that way I’d have got it for a fiver. I can’t remember what I paid, but I did get a normal Off Peak.
My trouble though had been that I might have stayed later in Liverpool and gone straight back to London missing the football in Birmingham.
I suspect that London Midland have been getting complaints about overpriced tickets and they’re trying to do something.
Wouldn’t it be much simpler, if we had some sort of electronic system, that worked out your cheapest ticket.
A few more ticket machines at Lime Street would have helped too!
Ipswich Finally Get A Win
I was there on Saturday, when at St. Andrews in Birmingham, Ipswich finally got a win.
What a relief!
A Pedestrian Crossing From Hell
I could have labelled this crossing between Bordesley station and Birmingham City’s ground of St. Andrews, the worst I’d seen, but the pictures didn’t do it justice.
A Pedestrian Crossing From Hell
They don’t show how there was no signs, lights or a policeman on a road, where cars took the junction at well over the legal limit. Two cars actually touched as I waited to cross.
But nothing will be done, as a proper solution would slow the cars. And cars are of course kings in Birmingham, with only losers using public transport.
One day, there’ll be a serious accident.
Is This One Of The Worst Stations In The UK?
There are two things that really despress me in stations; steep staircases and poor lighting. Bordesley station had both.
I actually tripped and fell into the train taking me back to the centre of Birmingham.
Is This The Cheapest Rail Ticket In The UK?
Look at the price on this ticket.
Is This The Cheapest Rail Ticket In The UK?
The train wasn’t bad either, even if it was an immaculate nearly-new Class 172.
So £1.25 return was definitely good value.
A Small Cathedral For A Big City
Birmingham’s cathedral is the third smallest in the country.
A Small Cathedral For A Big City
Surprising really, considering the size of the city.
It Has To Be By Anthony Gormley
This sculpture just has to be by Anthony Gormley.
And it was, as the plaque shows.
The Anonymous Widower 