fireman uniform

Over the past few weeks I’ve noticed a disturbing trend in some of my friends to look at a uniform before they look at the person in it. Okay so some of them have always been like that but it seems to be getting worse.
Now I’ve noticed that even though I have never really been into the whole ‘fireman uniform’ or ‘sportskit’ look I’ve begun to use phrases like ‘ooh firemen’ when a fire engine whizzes past.
Who says your friends don’t affect your behaviour!
Tuesday for instance. Mike and I were on our way home when I wandered up the platform so we could get on the carriage with the guys in shorts. It was obviously a football training night or something. I mean I know I’ve been to my own fair share of sports kit nights but it’s not because I am really into it. More because all of my friends seem to want to go there.
So anyway back to the fireman uniform. Matt and David were discussing wearing theirs to Pride in the Park at the weekend. I think they have decided against it now. Matt mentioned though that searching for ‘fireman uniform’ brings my site up. Quite why he was searching when he already has one only he can answer 😉 Although he isn’t as bad as Ben who sits and bids on items via text message on eBay.

Panther

I installed and played with Mac OS X Panther yesterday as we have the developers preview at work. Whilst Exposé was very nice (and strangely practical) there seemed very little that had changed apart from a few interface tweaks. Certainly not enough to give OS X 10.3 a radical new name Panther. OS X 10.1 and 10.2 (Jaguar) are way too similar. It’s almost as if Mac have gone down the route of Microsoft and releasing new versions of Windows at the drop of a hat. Windows ME anyone?

Another cool feature was the fast user switching. As always Apple make it easy to share well with others. Hardly an essential though as most peole now have their own Mac and have little need for sharing.

Still it’s very nice 🙂

Gai Paris

I was in Paris at the weekend. Well Saturday night actually. It sounds like a romantic extravagant gesture. It wasn’t 😉

Essentially 4 friends have birthdays around the same time. I only knew one of the birthday boys and a few of the forty people going. Mark one of the birthday boys works for eurostar and so we got a very good deal on our trip. We had an entire coach to ourselves and it was just as well I can tell you. With only 1 girl that made 39 boyz ready for a night out.

Mike and I arrived at Waterloo with bubbly and wine raring to go. (okay so not exactly raring but ready). We met Matt and David and a few others before fighting our way through the crowds of desperate people trying to get last minute tickets due to a flash strike by BA staff at Heathrow. We briefly considered selling our tickets for an obscene profit and going into soho but soon we were checked in and spotting the others who we though might make up the party.

Starting early with beers, fizz and wine on the train. Lots of it ended up on people and the floor but a fair proportion ended up making us fairly merry by the time we arrived in Paris. Despite Mark egging us to join ‘The Mile Under Club’ (eurostars equivalent to the mile high club) and the fact that the baby change room had ample space to make joining fun and hassle free we managed to restrain ourselves. Well most of us did at any rate! Plus we only have 20 minutes of being in the tunnel and it simply is not enough time for some of us 😉

Mark truly was a star what with complimentary tickets to the lounges and pre buying metro tickets, we breezed through Gare du Nord and headed off into the balmy summer evening in Paris.

Lovely meal at a 4 star hotel (with more booze) before heading to the bars. Yet more booze and some cute french boyz later we headed off to le Depot for some dancing and some cruising. Boy was there some cruising! The rest of he night was a blur of music and naked flesh before we headed out into the quiet of a Sunday Paris morning. We arrived back at Gare du Nord almost 12 hours later we had arrived and made short work of the croissants and coffee in the lounge. Despite not having had any sleep the group managed to break only one glass and burn two slices of toast in the lounge.

The coach on the return journey was a lot more subdued than the way out. I think the baby change room got more use though 😉

So that was pretty much my weekend. Next weekend it’s Pride in the Park. So we’ll see how that goes! Then of course there is Brighton Pride, Manchester Pride, Edinburgh Festival and the list goes on. I love summer 😉

Pics to follow courtesy of David

Litter Louts

I watched a young man throw his old season ticket on the platform this morning. So I took my headphones off and tapped him on the shoulder and suggested he may have dropped his ticket. His reply?
“No it’s okay it’s my old one. I meant to throw it on the floor”
To which my response to the amusement of a few onlookers was
“oh I see. I always thought that’s what bins were for”
He glared at me but left the ticket on the floor.
The youth of today…

Dullest

Okay well again lots has been happening and I’ve been too busy having a life to document it 😉

The end of last week I was asked to go to the US with work and I flew on Sunday. So here I am in hot and humid Dulles Virginia learning more than anyone would ever want to about registers, widgets and debugging.

I’ve also managed to fit in a quick shopping trip to Tysons Corner where I purchased a sparkly new iPod (yes I know I had an iPod already but it was last seasons darling). The staff had bright orange shirts on with the Apple logo and the word ‘CAMP’ underneath. Now either ‘camp’ has a different meaning in the US like ‘pants’ or …

Prior to that I’ve been looking at flats in Balham and Tooting. Yes I already have one of those too but it’s in Streatham 😉

Fuckers

Some fuckers decided that not content with what they had in the world they would go and steal something of mine. So they broke into my car, breaking the door in the process so it no longer clses flush. They also broke the steering column in an inept attempt to steal the whole car. I never keep anything of value in the car so basically they have managed to cause a lot of heartache and damage and got nothing. At least they went away empty handed I guess.
I should realy report it to the police but since it is only insured third party I can’t be bothered (no wonder it looks like Labour are winning the war on crime).
the really annoying bit is I hardly ever use the car. I just had it put through an MOT and was about to tax it. In fact I have not driven it since it was at the garage so it was still parked where they left it. So I need to tax it and then get a quote to see how much it will cost to fix – no doubt much more than the value – or how much I will use it.
I am a public transport boy normally – but occasionally, just occaisionally it is really convenient to use a car, going to Liverpool, going to the supermarket etc.
Grrrrrr

weekend sans hyperlinks

It started early Friday evening with a trip down the dogs. Yes I ended up in South Wimbledon at the Greyhound Track for a friends 30th celebrations. Lots of fun it was too. Sarah and I spent a lot of time checking out the guys to see if there was any scally straight boy totty to be had. She threatened to fight me for one of them. I didn’t need to though as we had both been beaten to him by some blonde girl with very little visible sign of taste.
So then a few more beers later and ?15 down on the evening we headed back to Jacs and Helen’s to carry on the party.
By this time a bunch of drunken thirtysomethings decided to relive the eighties in music. So everything from Ultravox and Depeche Mode through to The Wonder Stuff and Japan was played very loud until the early hours.

Saturday I headed into Tooting to meet Matt as we were going house hunting. After a bit of research on the net we ventured into an estate agents and then met Mike before heading off to look at some potential areas. It started to rain around 4pm so we took cover in the Trafalgar. Not a good move to start drinking that early. Still it set us up for the night ahead. We headed into Clapham and had another drink before meeting the rest of the gang at the Admiral Duncan. The lovely Lee then joined us as we strolled to the Duke of Wellington for yet more alcohol and we were joined by some of the outintheuk crew including the ever chirpy Scally. (I’m so not wearing A&F there anymore).

To round off the evening we went to London Bridge and ended up in a car park the boys assured me was a club. It turned out to be a very nice club too. XXL to be exact. Luckily I was not the only one to have never been before so I kept close to the group 😉 Way too many sweets later (I love flying saucers and fruit salads)

A few hours later (well actually more) and Matt, Mike and I arrived back in Tooting to catch a few zeds.

Mike took his life in his hands waking Matt and I before midday. He did however offer cups of tea by way of apology. Neither Matt nor I are what you might call morning people! After catching up with Andy Roo we ventured down to the flat below to see the carnage that happens when you gut your flat completely. We’d worked up an appetite by this time and we headed back to the Trafalgar for Sunday Lunch – quite possibly the largest portions outside the US! The girls from Friday night had joined us and we had a laugh and a few beers before Matt and I decided we really should resume house hunting. We bade farewell to Mike and Andy Roo before wandering aimlessly around South London. Well not so aimlessly we passed every estate agent window in our travels and tooks some details of flats we want to see. Finally a coffee and catch up with the lovely PR Paulli before heading home for an early night.

How did I manage to cram so much in this weekend? It’s becoming a bit of a habit since Jack has been staying with Nigel. I should really be saving more since I am buying somewhere new.