Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Raising money for MacMillan
I've opted for MacMillan as my cause for the Cov half marathon.
People who looked at my sponsorship page, looked at the photo and looked at the caption were unanimous with their response of: "Ooh, that's a bit soon."
Meh.
People who looked at my sponsorship page, looked at the photo and looked at the caption were unanimous with their response of: "Ooh, that's a bit soon."
Meh.
Labels: MISDEEDS, SELF IMPROVEMENT
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Sumo - aki basho
Thursday, September 24, 2009
The EU's dark secret
Did a presentation in class yesterday on how European funding is available for local government initiatives.
I hadn't really researched it terribly well, but I think I was just about carrying it off until I declared my belief that the source of EU finance was its vast stockpile of Nazi gold, Inca treasure pillaged by the Conquistadors and diamonds plundered from the Belgian Congo.
Thankfully, none of this was in my group's accompanying handout, so I don't envisage it having a particularly detrimental effect on anyone's revision.
I hadn't really researched it terribly well, but I think I was just about carrying it off until I declared my belief that the source of EU finance was its vast stockpile of Nazi gold, Inca treasure pillaged by the Conquistadors and diamonds plundered from the Belgian Congo.
Thankfully, none of this was in my group's accompanying handout, so I don't envisage it having a particularly detrimental effect on anyone's revision.
Labels: SELF IMPROVEMENT
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
My new flat
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
New half
Attention tossers: I will be taking part in the Coventry Half Marathon on October 25th.
At the moment, I'm not involved in any charity, although I may look into that option over the next week or so.
After much searching of my soul, I've decided to sack off my initial plan of trying to beat Mr Edwin Silvester's Half Marathon PB while wearing a clown suit.
At the moment, I'm not involved in any charity, although I may look into that option over the next week or so.
After much searching of my soul, I've decided to sack off my initial plan of trying to beat Mr Edwin Silvester's Half Marathon PB while wearing a clown suit.
Labels: SELF IMPROVEMENT
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Living arrangements
My host while I am in London is one Peter Myton, footballing colleague of yore, whose interests include booze, cricket and lechery.
I am prepared to overlook all of these vices as I have been staying with him in a magnificent multi-storey residence with a service lift a stone's throw from Euston at no charge. I have the third floor all to myself. It's great.
I got a phone call on Wednesday from Pete himself to say that he was practicing hobby #3 that evening and could I arrange to watch the England game and be back a bit later than usual?
No problem, I said.
Big problem as it turned out: Pete and his exercise partner got stuck in the service lift with his phone sitting on the kitchen table. He therefore borrowed her phone to text the one friend whose number he could remember to get his girlfriend to text someone else they knew to get my mum to phone me to high-tail it home and bust Pete free.
Unsurprisingly, this chain of communication broke down on two counts: firstly, the message that got through was merely "Pete stuck in lift"- no expansion on how this parlous situation was to be remedied. Secondly and even more fatally, the final two links in the chain were on holiday in Barcelona together and not answering their calls, so I never got the message.
Pete related all this to me the following morning, along with the heroic details of how he actually had broken out of the lift. I'll spare you these right now, as they're too heroic.
I digested this in silence over an instant coffee.
"One more thing, Dan," Pete said, his always husky voice dropping to a strangely conspiratorial whisper, "we've got an art exhibition going on in the basement. I'm not too sure what the score is there- they come and go from time to time. Just so you're not surprised when you run into them."
I am prepared to overlook all of these vices as I have been staying with him in a magnificent multi-storey residence with a service lift a stone's throw from Euston at no charge. I have the third floor all to myself. It's great.
I got a phone call on Wednesday from Pete himself to say that he was practicing hobby #3 that evening and could I arrange to watch the England game and be back a bit later than usual?
No problem, I said.
Big problem as it turned out: Pete and his exercise partner got stuck in the service lift with his phone sitting on the kitchen table. He therefore borrowed her phone to text the one friend whose number he could remember to get his girlfriend to text someone else they knew to get my mum to phone me to high-tail it home and bust Pete free.
Unsurprisingly, this chain of communication broke down on two counts: firstly, the message that got through was merely "Pete stuck in lift"- no expansion on how this parlous situation was to be remedied. Secondly and even more fatally, the final two links in the chain were on holiday in Barcelona together and not answering their calls, so I never got the message.
Pete related all this to me the following morning, along with the heroic details of how he actually had broken out of the lift. I'll spare you these right now, as they're too heroic.
I digested this in silence over an instant coffee.
"One more thing, Dan," Pete said, his always husky voice dropping to a strangely conspiratorial whisper, "we've got an art exhibition going on in the basement. I'm not too sure what the score is there- they come and go from time to time. Just so you're not surprised when you run into them."
Labels: COMRADES
Monday, September 07, 2009
Get cracking
Saturday, September 05, 2009
London calling
Unreal City,
Under the brown fog of a winter dawn,
A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,
I had not thought death had undone so many.
from The Waste Land
From tomorrow, I'm going to be staying in London, studying journalism.
Hmm.
Having lived in Osaka, London doesn't hold the same terrors for me it might formerly have done, although even now my mental image of the place corresponds pretty closely to Victorian-era Whitechapel.
Under the brown fog of a winter dawn,
A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,
I had not thought death had undone so many.
from The Waste Land
From tomorrow, I'm going to be staying in London, studying journalism.
Hmm.
Having lived in Osaka, London doesn't hold the same terrors for me it might formerly have done, although even now my mental image of the place corresponds pretty closely to Victorian-era Whitechapel.
Labels: EVIL, SELF IMPROVEMENT
