What a nice idea

This morning I arrived at Streatham Common station to the sound of an alarm and the platform milling with police officers. As I crossed over to the London platform the siren stopped and it became apparent that the police were simply warning of mobile phone thefts. Not only that but they were marking peoples phones and batteries with postcodes and house numbers to make returning stolen phones to their rightful owners easier.
I of course had mine done and it was a really nice start to the day. Friendly smiling police in the community.

eurostar clouds

eurostar have an advertising campaign at the moment with pictures of idyllic scenery and a tagline of ‘better than looking at clouds’ Well if they had been on my roof ‘terrace’ these past few evenings they may rassess this. Beautiful sunsets over south London with silver and rose lined clouds have made me long for my parents house with the sunsets over the mersey bay and a sun setting into the Irish Sea.

lovely al fresco evenings

I have been enjoying London and more specifically my flat these past few days as I have spent more and more time outdoors on the roof ‘terrace’. Saturday was very hot and sticky but the real selling point for me is dinner alfesco with a glass of wine watching life pass along the road and the commuters file out of the station like ants from an anthill. It’s amazing the view I get. I feel like a voyeur sometimes as no one glances up to see me looking and I feel like I have a one way mirror onto the world. The roof is not overlooked as all the other properties in the area have pitched rooves and mine is the only flat roof. Sometimes this means I sunbathe naked and sometimes this leads me to forget that whilst I stand at the front wall I too am visible to the top storey flats opposite. I realised this when, this evening as I glanced up to be confronted by a naked [and quite cute] man in a window opposite. I tried not to look but the voyeur in me was too strong and I watched as he slowly pulled on fresh underwear having obviously decided to change when he got home. At this point I felt embarrassed and looked away only to see directly opposite me a man stood looking out of his window down at the street whilst wearing only the skimpiest of briefs. He was rather overweight and his belly was overhanging quite a bit. Quite offputting when you are munching on salad. It reminded me of a friend in New York who has a telescope and swears that regardless of how high you are and how you think you are not overlooked there will always be someone who can see you.

bus this morning

I awoke this morning to the strange sensation of quiet. I live on a fairly busy road and my bedroom is at the front so if I sleep with the windows open I invariably awake to the sound of traffic noise. Cars beeping and screeching to a halt by the zebra crossing. Today however there was almost silence. Partly because I had the window closed for the first time in months [I had the ceiling fan set on high and it was still lovely and cool] but the main reason was the broken down bus right outside my window. Police had blocked off the road and were allowing traffic alternately in single file which meant none of the usual aggrivation for drivers impatiently honking to try and speed up their journey. As I stood looking out of the window at the man pouring diesel into a watering can I realised to my horror that not only was he decanting diesel into a watering can in order to pour it into the bus fuel tank but that he had a lit cigarette hanging out of his mouth. I could see the headlines forming in my mind. ‘Explosion in south London creates havoc’ ‘Mass destruction as bus explodes’ etc etc. Today I checked my house insurance was up to date.

Panic On the Streets Of London

Panic gripped the streets of London this afternoon when patches of sky took on an unusual blue colour and a ball of fire appeared above the city.
The phenomenon, known as ‘The Sun’ and commonly found in Mediterranean countries, unleashed a terrifying heat and brightness upon the capital, causing many pedestrians to take off their hats and scarves, while motorists were able to turn both their headlights and wipers off.
Tony Blair urged people to be calm and return to work as normal stating: “We’ve seen this sort of thing before”, he said,”but it never lasts.”
There are forecasts that ‘The Sun’ could be seen throughout the weekend but a spokesman for No.10 said, “I wouldn’t hold my breath”.

San Francisco

I arrived at SFO and met up with Mr P at the gate. We were both a bit concerned how easy it was to wander around into the allegedly secure gate side of the internal flight area.
He had to wait as I was a bit late – makes a change though! Then we managed to find out how to get downtown and arrived at the wrong hostel. Luckily the one we were booked into was only 6 blocks away. Unluckily it meant a walk down Ellis Street in Tenderloin. I think I saw more homeless people in ten minutes than I have in London in ten years. Seriously there is a big homeless population in San Fran.
It was cold and foggy when we arrived and stayed like that for the rest of the day. Not that either of us saw much of it. We ensconced ourselves in our room and stayed there until the next morning.
Thursday morning was again cold and foggy. We managed to venture out though and wandered along Ellis until we hit the shops in and around Union Square. We had brunch first at Cheesecake Factory. American portions are such a bad move on the first day you eat properly. I mean even the side salads were huge.
We wandered around the shops, The Levi Flagship store with it’s wierd top floor. Oh and of course we took in the Abercrombie & Fitch store on Market St [which had no stock at all].
I also succumbed and saw Spiderman. We were wandering around the Metreon as it was too foggy to go to the Golden Gate Bridge, and it has a cinema in the complex so we saw the matinee.
Friday was Dave’s 28th birthday and so we celebrated in the evening with champagne and a fantastic meal at the stylish Ozumo. Dave is convinced he needs to write down the recipe with mint and lemon or something. He kept muttering for the rest of the holiday about it 🙂
In the morning though we had gone over to Stonestown Galleria on an Abercrombie mission – the one in Market St was pants. The one in Stonestown was not much better. In between seasons and nothing in either Dave’s size or mine.
The meal we had was nice though at the Olive Garden.
Saturday we decided we really should do some sightseeing even if the weather was no better. Luckily for us though it was much better. The views of the bridge and the bay are awesome. [Pictures to follow] It was not super hot but enough for both Dave and I to burn [although we think it may have been a combination of sun and wind]. The afternoon was spent on a pleasant walking tour along from Ghiradelli Square through Fisherman’s Wharf to the Embarcadero. We also took in Lombard Street you know as we were doing the tourist bit.
That evening we had sushi at the Metreon and then watched Minority Report.
Sunday of course was SF Pride which was really nice. There were big gaps though which was a bit wierd – not quite so well planned as Sydney!
It also appeared as if any Tom, Dick and Harry could have a float. Politicians galore and local store advertisments too all very erm… boring really. The only decent float sadly was the Smirnoff promotion. [Pics to follow]
The party was brilliant. London should just do the same. Instead of shipping everyone off to some park miles away. Block off a few roads in soho and have a party there!
After all of that excitement we decided to go back to the sightseeing on Monday. Alcatraz! Unfortunately the next available trips were Wednesday 🙁 So we went for the rip off the tourists Angel Island and Alcatraz departing Tuesday instead. Now I know it is a rip off as we went to Alcatraz like just the Alcatraz tour but we had to go to Angel Island first and pay more – so how does that work?
Anyways that kind of threw our plans for the day out so we went on a cable car back to Union Square and Market Street after wandering around the wharf area.
That evening we went back to the Castro for dinner and drinks abd I have to say I was a little disappointed in the range of bars. The only one we liked was Badlands 🙂 [just like DC eh!]
We didn’t stay out too late though as we had to be up early for the Alcatraz tour in the morning.
As it hapens Angel Island was really nice so it worked out okay. The weather had turned though and it was back to cold and foggy. Luckily we had seen the bridge on Saturday already as it was not visible. Alcatraz was very scary but not as fearful as we anticipated. It’s famous for it’s inmates more than being a nasty prison really. After the trip we wandered back via Macondry Lane [where they filmed Tales of the City. Also we took in Alamo Square and St Mary’s Cathedral and then back to our room for the last night in SF.
There’s plenty more I’ve missed like that damn game, the Bingham Cup [the Kings Cross Steelers were playing and all the teams where in the parade [pics], but when Mr P gets back from his next two weeks of holiday in Portland and Vancouver though he can fill you in. I’ll need to edit the photo’s and then upload them too.
All in all though I had a really nice time, fabulous company great city.
So now I am off to bed again – melatonin here I come 🙂

Meet me at Eros

I have lived in London for the past 13 years and never ever have I met anyone at ?Eros? in Piccadilly Circus before. So when Dave suggested meeting there I thought how strange. When he suggested 10pm I thought OMG but it?s a school night!
Some might think this was a romantic gesture. I am a realist though and figure it?s just where foreigners meet each other. It?s a well recognised landmark. Like meeting at the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
This was borne out partly when I met up with the other Dave and we realised simultaneously that we were the only 2 british people at the statue. About 20 minutes later the rest of the gang arrived with feeble excuses for lateness.
By the time we ensconced ourselves in the bar there was barely time for one drink and a photo/video shoot before we split up and went our separate ways.
Paulie, Dave, Dave and myself headed south the the 2 brewers for more drinks. Finally to home where I had the pleasure of entertaining the young antipodean before he heads off to American shores.
Completely forgot to give him his Kylie water and CD that Simon had given him the first time he left. I’ll have to pack them for San Francisco now.

Dirty Stop Out!

Lovely day. The whole dogs and babies thing happened again. My brothers house is in a square and I spent the day trying not to flirt with his neighbour! Gorgeous as he was.
A bank holiday weekend is not the same without a trip to B&Q so of course we managed to fit one in!
Back to London and I never quite made it back to my own flat.

Cold showers

No I am not talking about the weather here. Although it has been showery here in London and also quite cold considering last week I was wandering around in a tee shirt.
I am actually talking about at home. No not because I am horny. Although after the tube encounter I could hardly be blamed.
No this is the sad and sorry tale of my broken boiler and the inept plumber. Wednesday he came to look at it and then was supposed to come back on thursday – so a couple of days without hot water – I could have coped.
Unfortunately It is now Monday and I still have cold water. He didn’t arrive on Thursday and called to say he would be with me on Sunday but unfortunately he had an emergency job to go to [my cold water is obviously not an emergency] So now he would like me to reschedule for Wednesday – a week later. Grrrr
I need to take a day off work too – which is impossible with my current schedule. Bah.
Anyone know a good reliable plumber in South London? Please?