Wednesday, August 27, 2008

August is over?

So the Bank Holiday weekend is over and once more I come crashing back to reality.

I spent my time visiting H and C at H's house down in Essex. This necessitates a train journey which would have been more bearable had the coffee machine on the train been working. Ah well; I kept myself entertained with M&S picnic food (artichoke hearts are delicious, and also a little harder to eat on the train than you'd imagine; their stuffed vine leaves are too salty).

The theme of the weekend was, once again, the consumption of much food and wine. This was great; I haven't needed to eat yet today because I'm still so full of barbecued meat and delicious chocolate cookies. Oh yes.

J came over from Geneva, which was wonderful! We went to see the new Mummy film, which is terrible, but that's what makes it good. The amusement value was infinitely raised by C eating about seven pounds of ice cream and therefore having the biggest sugar rush I've seen for a long time. He was slightly blurry round the edges, he was moving so fast.

After the film we went to meet H's brother in town for a quick drink. This did mean we were exposed to some of the nightlife, which was unfortunate. Of particular interest (in a kind of car-crash way) was the rather corpulent lady who seemed to be dressed only in underwear. Her bra strap was doing a sterling job of staying together, possibly in defiance of several laws of physics. Gods forgive me, but I could not stop looking. Then there was the guy on his stag night who had a collar of hair around his neck, on a level with his adam's apple. I don't know whether he'd shaved above and below it, or simply picked a line and not shaved below it, but either way the effect was... striking.

Other highlights of the weekend include playing Portal for the first time. So. Much. Fun. I particularly enjoyed some of GLaDOS' lines: "Please note that we have added a consequence for failure. Any contact with the chamber floor will result in an "unsatisfactory" mark on your official testing record... followed by death." Oh dear. Interestingly, you only die in the acid if you try to move. Not sure how that could be used, but still.

Now, however, it's back to work. Luckily it's only a 3.5 day week - wedding to go to on Friday afternoon \o/

Friday, August 15, 2008

Brum-brum

I have just passed my driving test! I can now legally be a menace on the roads.

Thursday, August 07, 2008

A few almost-related things

- I have Lollapalooza'd and it was fantastic, although I need another holiday to recover.

- Airport designers know the secret of bending time and space; they're just not sharing all that timey-wimey stuff with the rest of us, hence my 25-hour waking day last Wednesday.

- Terminal 5 at Heathrow is as big as Hyde Park.

- Marker pens are great at festivals.

- Offering Budweiser, Bud Light and Bud Select does not mean you're offering a choice.

- Music is good.

- Factor 50 sunscreen is also good.

- Next time I see R. will be in Auckland. That's dizzying.

- I must get back to work.