London Calling

Jubilee

2012-06-02T14:26:00.001+01:00

Google are joining in the Jubilee Celebrations with their Google Doodle. If you're going to enjoy the river pageant or concert in London this weekend, remember to dress for the weather!

Flying the flag

2012-06-02T14:22:00.001+01:00

Uploaded by nat_mach on September 3, 2011

Taken in St. James's, London

There are a lot of Union Flags around at the moment, fluttering on this long grey Bank Holiday weekend to celebrate Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee. What does not appear to be common knowledge is that there is a right and a wrong way to fly the flag; as I've seen a good few the wrong way up!

The correct flying of the flag comes down to the history of the Union Flag. The flag of the United Kingdom originates to 1606 and the unification of England and Scotland under King James the first- the Cross of St George - a red cross on a white background (England,which at the time of the design of the flag included Wales, so St David doesn't get a mention) was joined with the Cross of St Andrew (a white saltire cross on a blue background).

The current flag dates to the Act of Union in 1800 which added Ireland to the Union forming the United Kingdom. This meant that St Patrick's Cross (a red saltire cross on a white background was added onto the flag). In order to maintain the precedence of the nations on the flag (St Andrew's cross was already behind St George's) the cross of St Patrick was counterchanged on St Andrew's cross.

This means that the flag is not symmetrical, and there is therefore a right and a wrong way to fly the flag. The correct way is with the broad white stripe of St Andrew's cross uppermost against the flag pole/mast.

To fly the flag the wrong way up is considered lèse-majesté (literally injured majesty), an offence against a reigning sovereign or state. The internet is full of citations that this is 'theoretically still a crime' although I can find no evidence of this other than the translation of lèse-majesté as the crime of violating majesty. It is certainly not a listed offence under the current Treason Act!

The first time I was aware you could fly the flag the wrong way up was when I read Jeffrey Archer's 'A Matter of Honour' in my teens; in which a the hero realises he is in the wrong car as the flag on the front of the car is flying upside down!

Google Doodle

2012-05-30T08:33:00.000+01:00

Today Google's Doodle is celebrating the anniversary of the birth of renowned maker of jewelled eggs Peter Carl Fabergé.

Meetings

2012-05-29T13:32:00.000+01:00

(Nearly) every Thursday I have to go to site for meetings which take up the entire day. It's not a good site to get to being over in the City which is a long way from Mayfair; although travelling from one place to the other can be very scenic.

The shell of what used to be offices is now a great open space like a warehouse, freezing cold in winter (most people took to wearing thermals) but quite temperate now the weather has got warmer.

The amount of people required at the meetings (regularly over a dozen) and the size of the site outwith the small meeting room leads to interesting problems trying to assemble the various parties.

This is a timetable of how my last Thursday went down:

08:00		I optimistically arrive at site hoping to catch people before the meeting. Meeting room empty. The site manager offers me coffee, which I happily accept. I am trying to work out columns of numbers with my very tiny pocket calculator.
08:30		Chap wanders into the meeting room (empty apart from me) and asks "Is this where the meeting happens" to which I reply "Eventually, in about an hour and a half - yes".
08:45		I give up sitting in the meeting room (and trying to make the numbers add up) in favour of a wander around the site. End up chatting with a couple of the M&E guys about nothing relevant to the job.
09:20		M&E guys leave in search of colleagues they need to 'catch up with'. I go back to sit in the meeting room.
09:30		Several people arrive, leave their jackets and bags and wander off. It is like herding cats.
09:50		Even less people ready for the meeting start (in 10 minutes) than usual, just me.
10:15		Meeting leader arrives, wishes me 'Good Morning' and wanders off again.
10:25		New low. Meeting still not started. The one person who had been persuaded not to leave has now left to 'measure something'. Just me again.
10:35		Meeting finally begins over half an hour late.
11:15		Meeting descends in (relative) chaos as coffee, tea and biscuits arrive
11:40		During a (fairly heated) discussion the observation "talk is cheap" is heard. There are less people than usual present which seems to be leading to more distraction.
12:40		Have passed the two hour mark at which point the meeting usually loses its thread and breaks into smaller meetings. Still going.
13:25		Meeting finally ends.
13:30		Everyone who I was hoping to catch for five minutes has vanished, presumably because I need to speak to them.
13:50		2nd meeting due to start in 10 minutes. The room is empty apart from me (again).
14:05		1st new attendee arrives and apologises for late arrival. I point out (not for the last time) that the meeting will start late as its predecessor started late and everybody has wandered off.
14:15		2nd new attendee arrives and apologises for late arrival. I re-state opinion that meeting will be late starting (now evidenced by the fact it should have been in progress for 15 minutes).
14:20		3rd new attendee arrives and apologises for late arrival. This one I meet on my way to the Ladies as I have given up waiting.
14:40		All parties (escaped from morning meeting around the site) are eventually rounded up and herded into meeting room for 2nd meeting.
16:45		2nd meeting finally finishes. I've still a couple of people to catch up with before I can finally leave. It's been a long day.

Outing to the Park

2012-05-27T17:00:00.000+01:00

Maryon Wilson Park

A set by nat_mach

» You can also view all 123 items as a slideshow

Time for our local animal park to have it's annual open day. Blessed again with glorious sunshine it was a great day for mixing with the birds and animals.

Not only can you get up personal with Peking the Duck (seen above) and some of his furry friends (rabbits, guinea pigs, and even a rat) but you can wander amongst the pigs (Bangers and Mash), ducks and hens; walk up to the fence and pet the ponies (Honey, Minstrel and Teddy); watch the sheep being shorn and see a tent with an eclectic collection of owls.

The park was under threat of closure from by the local council; but has now formed a limited company with hopes of gaining charitable trust status.

I was lucky to grown up in a country village surrounded by wildlife, but for children growing up in the city this is probably one of the best opportunities they get to see these animals.

Google Doodle (interactive!)

2012-05-23T13:16:00.002+01:00

Today's Google celebrates the birth date of Robert Moog (inventor of the Moog Synthesiser) whose 78th birthday it would have been today (he died in 2005).

Turn on you speakers - you can play with this one. It is pretty limited but quite addictive fun.

Please note the aggressive marketing by Chrome (who have done what Firefox never did and over-taken IE). In times past it was only if you were using IE you'd see that little 'use chrome advert'!

Sunshine

2012-05-23T06:17:00.002+01:00

The showers of April are at last behind (halfway through May) and the sun has broken through with some clear skies and warm weather. The Queen seemed to be having a garden party as lots of ladies and gentlemen in finery were around Buckingham Palace yesterday evening; there were plenty of other Londoners shedding the layers and opting for summer outfits.

Sunshine on the Thames

Flag at Southwark

Pigeon roost

Probably coming back not going

Is it a cloud... is it a wave

Working in the sun

Cutty Sark still dressed in finery

If you look closely you can see the cable car in the distance

TV Time

2012-05-13T15:20:00.001+01:00

It's that time of year. The American TV channels are deciding which programmes make it and which ones don't. It's time to clear house in front of the up-fronts; when the channels show their new offerings to advertisers - and journalists can finally coherently summarise the new shows so we can decide whether we want to watch them or not.

A few freshmen shows (as ever) get canned after their first seasons, a few old favourites (or once favourites) are winding up after their years and years.

Every channel wants that magic gift, a hit with the audiences; maybe something that will give five seasons, get that magic 100 episodes and float off into syndication.

Networks and viewers are less tolerant than they once were - shows have less and less time to impress and make an impact before the axe might fall. Even a proven creator, writer or actor is no longer the advantage it once was (golden boy JJ Abrams 'Alcatraz' was cancelled after the first season).

The saddest of all - there is so little quality in British TV these days that what happens to American shows really does matter; at least in this house.

2012-05-09T08:44:00.001+01:00

Today's Google celebrates Howard Carter discover of Tutankhamun's tomb.

Passage of time

2012-05-04T18:51:00.001+01:00

This week I've had two occasions to pause and think about the passage of time.

The first occasion was when a friend posted our class photo on Facebook and I realised that it was taken nearly twenty years ago. I scanned the faces and realised that a lot of them I'd lost touch with... the good thing was that the photo helped re-connect some connections.

You leave school, you go to University, you move around a lot. Addresses over those few years change regularly, and things get lost and left behind (remember this was the days before the prevalence of internet and keeping everything on computers!). Classmates got married and changed their names - no wonder I couldn't find them!

It was strange looking at all those fresh faces in the early 90s... with no idea where the path of life was going to take them... the me in that photograph certainly had a very different career path planned from the one I ended up on!

It is great to catch up with so many old friends again though, and now the possibility of a 20 year school reunion is being mentioned (good grief!).

The second occasion was when I realised that this week marked 10 years since my diagnosis with Multiple Sclerosis. This surprised me slightly as it didn't seem like a decade had passed. That certainly is not a path anyone would choose - but I feel that I'm at last getting to manage my work and life in a satisfactory manner and live up to that old maxim "I have MS, but MS doesn't have me."

Looking back 20 years makes one wonder what the next 20 years will bring...

Out and about in London (2)

2012-05-04T08:30:00.001+01:00

Here are some more shots from my wanderings in London... some days it rains, some days the sun shines!

As always, click on the photos for a larger view.

The Shard - dominating

Discarded umbrella

City bollards

Cathedral reflections

Abandoned station

Surveillance post

Free papers

New Routemaster

Old Routemaster

Channel 4

Groovy van

Calm after the storms

Out and about in London (1)

2012-05-04T08:11:00.000+01:00

I've had to do a regrettable amount of travelling around our fair capital these last two weeks as I the project I'm working on has weekly meetings in the City.

As the underground is too much torture for me and the crutches I usually get a cab there (as being there for the start of the meeting is critical) and then a bus back (as time is less critical).

As I go I snap photos of little bit of London that catch my eye... (click on photos for a larger view)

Benetton shop window

Oxford Street - patriotic

Outside an Art Gallery

Symmetrical

Centre Point windows

Peacock style!

Google Dooodle 24/3

2012-04-24T13:12:00.000+01:00

Today we celebrate Gideon Sundback - inventor of (you've guessed it) the zip.

World Book Night 2012

2012-04-23T19:14:00.000+01:00

World Book Night is here again. Encouraging those who don't read regularly to read (or indeed those who don't read at all).

I'm quite impressed that I've read a few of this year's 25 books.

Room - Emma Donoghue
Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic - Sophie Kinsella
The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
Good Omens - Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

Nat's wbn2012 book montage

Nat's favorite books »

Happy St George's Day

2012-04-23T09:15:00.003+01:00

This is Marathon 2012

2012-04-22T11:17:00.000+01:00

My street is a little past the two mile marker of the London Marathon.

Every year on a Sunday late in April people in large parts of SE7 a stranded on an island as the runners set off from Blackheath; come along through Charlton Village, head down towards the Thames at Woolwich and then back along the Woolwich Road towards Greenwich.

Every year people come out of their houses to support the runners - me included. It makes me feel very humble when I spot the orange vests of the MS Society and the green vests of the MS Resource Centre; humble and grateful that people will put themselves through 26 miles of what I would consider torture to raise money.

Now watching the runners (I think I saw some of them out on the street) on TV as they round the Cutty Sark (resplendent in its restored glory). As always, my deepest respect to all the runners; I can't even imagine how you do it.

St George's Day Festival 2012

2012-04-21T18:17:00.001+01:00

St George's Day Festival 2012, a set on Flickr.

Having complained every year about the St Patrick's Day Parade and us not being Irish I decided I was duty bound to go to the St George's Day celebrations in Trafalgar Square.

Lucky the weather held out as it was nice in the sunshine, but wouldn't have been much fun in the rain.

The theme seemed to be nature and gardens as the Square was transformed into all sorts of garden.

Examples of urban gardening from Pimp Your Pavement, Capital Growth, Febreze and Thames Water inspired me to get in the garden sometime again soon.

There was plenty for the children too with origami, face painting and mini-golf.

I had lunch in an excellent tea tent with some really great tea, and even a tea plant growing on my table!

My only criticism of the day. No flags. We are celebrating our patron saint so surely we should fly our country's flag. Not the Union Flag (there were a few of those). The flag of St George. You remember it, white background, red cross. Hardly ever see it these days.

Via Flickr:
Mayor of London Presents...

St George's Day Festival
Saturday 21st April 2012

Without any flags.

Cats in odd places (nr 577)

2012-04-20T13:18:00.005+01:00

Casper wants to be on the radio - he has taken it a bit literally!

Also he wants to be a panther as he is copying the pose of the one on the wall hanging!

Hall of mirrors ii

2012-04-20T13:18:00.002+01:00

A new hall of mirrors! I didn't get a photo as I shot past in the car but it's the hoarding on the new development 62 Buckingham Gate on Victoria Street.

Skywatch Friday (61)

2012-04-20T13:17:00.001+01:00

Magnolia with a stormy sky

Uploaded by nat_mach on April 5, 2012

Join in!

Language

2012-04-14T12:08:00.001+01:00

I have a friend whose partner is Dutch. It is her fond hope that her daughter (not yet two) will grow up bi-lingual speaking both English and Dutch.

Language is a great gift - some people find it easy to pick up languages others not so much. One of my bosses for example fluent in Russian, French - smatterings of Italian and Arabic (and that's the ones I know about!).

Uploaded by nat_mach on September 19, 2011

I learnt French. Frequently and sustainedly. My mother had an ambition that I be a fairly fluent French speaker (she herself speaks beautiful French, even though she is English). The result of this is that from the age of four I started learning French. At that age it wasn't so much learning but reading stories (I particularly remember one about an owl and a lost tea-spoon), counting and letters; the same sort of thing that you do in Kindergarten really!

The upshot of this was that I was disgustingly precocious and when at some child development study (aged around 4 or 5) and asked to count to ten I did so in French (horrible show off).

I was lucky enough from the age of 8 to 11 to go to a private school. Here we were taught French. So I got my second solid grounding in the language. This meant that by the time I got to secondary school and started (for the third time) from the beginning I found it all rather dull. I didn't pay attention in class and soon found myself in the next to bottom set.

This didn't put me off though; and I continued to study French for A-level. Sadly lack of practice means that (after a while) I can understand spoken French and I can read French, but I can't really speak or write it.

French wasn't my only foray into the learning of languages. For two years at secondary school I was obliged to learn Latin. A mixture of a lack of application and a teacher who was far too nice for the hooligans he was teaching meant that my Latin never got much beyond declining nouns (altogether now "Puella, Puella, Puellam Pueallae, Pueallae, Puella..."). I wish I'd paid better attention, Latin is actually very interesting in discovering the roots of our own language and understanding the rules of grammar.

I also took German for GCSE - which, to my horror, shared many of the peculiarities of Latin grammar (including the neutral gender). Thanks to a native German speaking teacher I managed to pass my exam; but the only things I remember now are "IIch habe meinen Paß verloren" and "Wenn das Wetter schoen ist, gehe ich spazieren". Very useful.

I have on further occasions tried and failed to learn other languages. Mostly because they gave away a free course with a newspaper (Spanish) or I heard them spoken on TV and liked how they sounded (Japanese and Arabic). I didn't get very far in any of these endeavours; my Japanese is limited to 'thank you' and 'good-bye' and my Arabic is limited to the traditional greeting (as-salaam 'alaykum).

At least I never had to 'learn' English the way that I learnt other languages. Grammar and spelling are much easier when you have a solid base to start from. I was lucky. My primary school (the one that taught me French) also insisted pupils learn spelling and grammar. Extremely unusual, as the line from 'My Fair Lady' goes "...whereas others are instructed in their native language, English people are-n't." This means that not only do I know parts of speech, I know what to do with them!

I know, for example, that you cannot end an email "If you have any queries please contact myself" as 'myself' is a reflective pronoun (hence "Me, myself, and I"). It is my current bug-bear so I thought I'd slip it in (you hear some quite intelligent educated people doing it).

It isn't just what you say though. It's how you say it. As Henry Higgins sang in 'My Fair Lady'; "An Englishman's way of speaking absolutely classifies him. The moment he talks he makes some other Englishman despise him.". I think as true today as it ever was. I was born and brought up for seven years in Hampstead. I didn't learn to speak with 'received pronunciation' (BBC English) but not far from it. When we moved to Kent I was teased for sounding like Margaret Thatcher (I'm not sure how to describe the Kentish accent, but there's maybe a bit of Estuary in it?).

I still have (when I need it) beautiful spoken English (rolled out for my telephone voice and similar); although I think my everyday accent has softened. I think that the South of England has a very neutral accent and mine has certainly been influenced by living and working with people from places with stronger accents (particularly Scotland and Ireland). I think ex-Pats find the same sort of thing.

I spent years when I first started work desk-mates with an Irish girl; and I will still sometimes refer to 'that chap over there' as 'your man'. I have now worked for eight years at a Scottish accent, and often if asked for assent I will answer 'aye'.

Incidentally. I may have been taught spelling and spent many sad hours at weekends learning my spelling - that doesn't mean that I can spell. The spell-checker is always busy for me!

Types of books

2012-04-09T19:47:00.000+01:00

Uploaded by nat_mach on November 5, 2011

It has come to my attention that there are many types of books in the world...

Bath books: 1st you have to not care about their condition in case they go for a swim; 2nd ideally they should be 'bite-sized' books otherwise you end up losing track of time and getting very wrinkly. Good examples are those fascinating fact type books.
Coffee table books: these are the sort of books you buy on a whim; usually paying too much... high on image and looking good; low on actual content. They end up on a lonely shelf gathering dust and never really pay for themselves.
Books you love: for whatever reason; a good time of your life, the way they made you feel... you keep them and come back to them again and again. I have a few. 'My Family and Other Animals' by Gerald Durrell; as a youngster I had a horror of staying away for home and would avoid it whenever possible. When not possible I'd take this book with me. My original copy has long since disintegrated but the book still holds a special place in my heart. 'Dragon Prince' by Melanie Rawn (and the series); I had a summer job which involved a lengthy period of doing not very much waiting for dishwashers and things; I sat up in the attic kitchen and was taken to a different magical world. 'Gone with the Wind' by Margaret Mitchell; first read (preciously) when I was 9 or 10 - enchanted by the world that was 'gone with the wind'. The first copy I read was a hard back and the spine eventually fell off to be replaced with brown parcel tape (elegant). My current copy I bought cheaply in New York and used to read in queues for tourist attractions!
Books you hate: for me these are almost exclusively books I was forced to read as part of a literature study at school. My taste seemed to rarely coincide with that of the exam board. I also don't like reading 'to order' and a few books have later read and forgiven; some were so good that they never made it to the 'hate list'; my list includes (in no particular order) - Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice', George Orwell's 'Animal Farm', Albert Camus's 'La Peste' and Harper Lee's 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. Irrational; many people have good things to say about these books, but I have taken against them.
Kids books: the favourites from our childhoods... we've all got them! Mine was 'The Nickle Nackle Tree' by Linley Dodd. My original copy was somewhere in my mother's lost and a replacement was not to be found. I eventually bought a dog-eared second-hand copy on eBay. Then suddenly all the kids from 1975 grew up and wanted the book for their own kids - it went from being out of print to freely available on Amazon. Every child I know gets given a copy... just for the pictures, I can still recite the story by heart!

Time spent with children...

2012-04-08T19:46:00.001+01:00

...is never wasted.

Uploaded by nat_mach on April 5, 2012

I was lucky enough in my holidays to catch up with several friends and their little girls (and I'm seeing my god-daughters and their brothers tomorrow).

Busy lives and scheduling difficulties means that I don't get to see my friends and their kids as often as I'd like. This means that I notice far more than people who see them regularly how amazingly they turn from babies into little people.

One minute they are toddling around and falling onto their bottoms; the next walking and even running around all over the place. I certainly can't keep up with a two year old!

One time you see them they have only a few word 'book' and 'no' being common ones. The next time they are holding entire conversations, requesting that you 'read this book' and saying 'yes' and 'please' and 'thank you'.

Also you get to play games (the toys are so much more fun than when I was a kid) and read stories.

Can't wait until some more holidays come up and I get to see everyone again.

Easter

2012-04-08T19:28:00.003+01:00

Uploaded by nat_mach on September 19, 2011

Taken in Hadlow, England

When I was growing up I sang in a church choir. Easter was one of the busiest times of the year for us (apart from, of course, Christmas).

Holy Week began the week before with the joyous and triumphal Palm Sunday. Following the service a long suffering donkey (he served as Santa's reindeer at Christmas!) was pressed into service to head the procession from the church to the village hall; palms (which I suspect may actually have been pampas grass) and song.

There was a great deal of preparation during the week that followed, including the Easter Garden. A tray of turf with the tomb constructed from large pebbles and other bits of flora and fauna; to make the garden from the Gospels.

On Maundy Thursday the solemn part of Easter began with a serene and quiet vigil.

Good Friday (being a Bank Holiday) meant that the service could be observed at the traditional noon time. Another solemn service; the church stripped of all finery and decoration. Unfortunately the crucifix scene behind the alter always looked faintly ridiculous held up, as it was, by red steel legs.In the afternoon I'd usually listen to either Handel's Messiah or Jesus Christ Superstar.

Although the choir got the day off on Saturday others were busy transforming the church. On Easter Sunday morning the austerity of Good Friday was banished. The church would be a joyous riot of flowers and colour with joyous music to celebrate the risen Lord.

The church as I remember it is gone, several changes in clergy and staff, and most people I remember moved away - but I still hold a faint longing for those wonderful Easters past.

April Fools

2012-04-01T10:10:00.000+01:00

As always sites all over the internet are vying with each other to come up with the best April Fool's jokes.

Disappointingly I have received no April Fool emails - which given the amount of bulk mail I receive in my e-mail is an achievement. I can only put it down to it falling on a Sunday.

Here are a few of the most amusing and bizarre that I've stumbled over so far today.

Daily Mirror goes with the unlikely launch of Titanic Two. The give-away (should you really need one) that the story is a hoax is the section "The only new technology on the new version of the Titanic is a Search Engine Optimiser, a device that can instantaneously geo-locate key celebrities should Titanic Two encounter any problems at sea."

The Independent goes for a hose-pipe amnesty. Hand in your hosepipes in advance of the upcoming hosepipe ban.

The Daily Mail chooses a story on an antidote for the 'pasty tax' which is a 'bubbly tax'. Cleverly this story links into climate change - just to really incense readers.

Reddit has come up with a twist on Facebook's Timeline which goes back to pre-history. Warning you might waste an hour or two playing with this one.

Firebox can always be relied on to offer up some unlikely purchases. They'll let you in on the joke pretty quickly if you try and buy one.

Some smaller sites are even getting in on the game. Local site Greenwich.co.uk notes a spelling blunder gives Greenwich an extra 'e'. They may have changed their mast-head but they haven't changed their web-address!

AdBlock for Chrome has decided to replace ads with cats. Some very cute cats on the page. Not really an original idea though as there is already the add-on for Firefox Kitten Block.

Of course the masters of the on-line prank are Google. They serve up a veritable feast of pranks - here are a few of my favourites:

Google suggest that the latest use for their self-driving car might be NASCAR. The very comprehensive page takes you through the whole pitch, including other uses for the technology.

Google China has taken it's search engine 'under the sea'.

The Really Advanced Search Engine gives a whole host of advanced features. This includes 'rhyming slang' and the option to narrow your search results by 'content that is true'.

I also quite like the idea of Click-to-Teleport - do note that it is only in beta!

And last but not least, Google Nigeria - search for your inheritance by bank account. If you do type in some numbers you'll just get a standard search engine return.

Here are some April Fools from years past:

April Fools (2008)

April Fools (2009)

April Fools (2010)

And yes, I know it is all over in the UK now - but it has taken nearly two hours to write this post!