I'm going to be offline for a week having holidays in Wales. So no new postings for a bit. And because I've been getting a lot of comment spam recently I'm going to turn comments off too. Sorry about that. They'll be back in a week. In the meantime, talk amongst yourselves or have a go at Grant's splendid new assignment over at his blog.
I'll post the debrief to assignment 5 when I get back.
cheers
Passing time at Heathrow.
I'm currently wifing at a Starbucks because every fire and burglar alarm in our building is going off and they've been tripped in such an extreme manner that it seems like no-one in the country has the authority to turn them off. I think we need a Jedi Master to do it.
Which is an interesting co-incidence because our flat is right next to a Holiday Inn and last night we had another false alarm incident there. It happens quite often, maybe every three or four months. We're awoken in the night by what sounds like a huge crowd quitely muttering outside our windown. And it turns out to be exactly that. Under our window is the mustering point, so they assemble thre in our pyjamas until the fire brigade tell them they can go back in.
And it never occured to me that hotels must have false alarms all the time but that unless you work in one, or live next to one, you wouldn't really know.
Anyway. No real news or information here. Just passing time until the Jedi Master arrives.
Here's Arthur excitedly modeling my splendid new Battle of The Ad Blogs t-shirt which just arrived. Many thanks Adland.
It was my birthday on Saturday and Anne organised a weekend in Brighton. I have to say, it was one of the best weekends I ever remember having. Nothing extra-ordinary, just really, really good.
There was time on the pier.
And on the slotties.
There was breakfast at Tiffany's.
Great views from the hotel.
And in the hotel.
There was pebble-throwing with the children of some friends, who were splendidly enthused by everything.
There were dodgems and more pier-based fun.
There was browsing for cool rubbish in Snooper's Paradise. I acquired this strange basketball playing urchin which will be nice at work. And these skateboarding glasses, from when skateboarding was nice and brightly coloured. Not all moany and whiney like it is now.
Plus all these brilliant camping club flags.
And there was high tea in the hotel with old friends, scampi and chips at Harry Ramsden's, excellent birthday presents, a swim in the hotel pool the next morning, a big fat hotel breakfast, Brighton aquarium, a nice cup of tea and a think and a very pleasant drive back home.
All in all one of those weekends to treasure.
Some excitement in our house because egg, bacon, chips and beans has been shortlisted in the non-fiction category for the blooker prize - which is a prize for books based on blogs, sponsored by Lulu. A literary prize. It's very exciting.
It was originally to be announced yesterday, but then they thought it might be overshadowed by the Oscars. Not sure why they should think that.
Jet-lag strikes at 2.30 in the morning. Can't get back to sleep. Ah-ha! Fantastic opportunity to catch up with work but mind won't let me. So stroll down the empty streets to Bar Italia for caffeine.
I landed at Heathrow this morning, then Heathrow Express, then tube to Great Portland Street. And walking back to the flat was lovely. It was one of those fantastic London mornings - crisp, cold and sunny.
Arthur'd made an excellent welcome notice for me and laid a trail of arrows to a welcome home gift - a Tintin book. (He's decided I like Tintin).
After a bit of catching up I popped out for a shave. It's a splendid post-red-eye ritual. You can close your eyes for a second but you can't really sleep.
The walk down to Goodge Street was great, sharp shadows and glare off the manhole covers, misspelled signs and the bar detritus of Saturday night revelry.
Then we popped out for lunch and Arthur told me everything that's happened in the last two weeks.
The only challenge now is to try and stay awake until bedtime.
