Hot Or Lot

Recently, I've seen a bit of a fuss about Salem. At first listen, the Cocteau Twins Do Dubstep would seem the obvious comparison but certainly the chilling & ethereal electronica is an appropriately autumnal alternative to the big bright bangers of the summer. And some of their videos are, quite frankly, disturbing. Anyway, this is their latest offering, 'Frost':


Yes, I like it, but why do I feel the sudden urge to put a jumper on?

Overheard #89

A discussion about the recent cold & wet weather led to this:

"So if you only have a small radiator in the hall, how do you get warm?"

"I have a gas fire that doesn't work in the living room."

"..."

Weather

There's a lot of it about:


Night night, everyone.

Snow Goal

Inventive goalkeeper abuse from those cheeky Atletico Madrid fans.



They still lost.

Change 04

Today's change was a drop of 24 degrees in temperature, arriving back in the UK (-1°C) from Dubai (23°C). Brrrr!

En Vacances

Currently, here at Lascombe (just outside Cahors in southern France) the temperature is a blistering 34C (93F in old money) and the sky looks like an Yves Klein canvas:

Now some of you will be thinking, "Yeah, right, he's just put a bit of Yves Klein canvas up, the cheating monkey" so here is the same shot with a bit of foliage in it, innit:


It's bloody hot :)

April (Snow) Showers

The barmy weather continues - is someone playing 'cloud bingo'? We've had tic-tac sized hailstones, full-on thunderstorms, umbrella-busting gale force winds and now 3 - three! - inches of snow, all in the last month. Still, we wrapped Freyja up well and lobbed her into the garden for her first real lark about in the white stuff. She absolutely loved it.

Cheered me up after Arsenal's (second) feeble 1-1 draw with the Scousers. We've been linked with Quaresma again, who is worth ~£5m of anyone's money; come on Arsene, get the chequebook out...

Within Tent To Kill

Too good not to share. Brooker goes to Glasto:

Oh good, it's raining again

(Yes, yes, I know it was published two weeks ago. So sue me for being in a dial-up wasteland in SE6 eating cold beans. Off packing cases. With chopsticks :)

Watch The Birdy

This is awesome (thanks, musiclikedirt). French outfit Birdy Nam Nam* were DMC World Team Battle Champions and last year released their self-titled debut album as well as a live CD, 'Stephane'. Anyway, not content with just your clever-fancy-tricksy scratching, they use the decks like an instrument. I'm really impressed:



* apparently their name was taken from that great Peter Sellers film, 'The Party'. So now you know...

Doyouthinkhesaurus?

After lunch at Alex & Kat's new house down in Gipsy Hill yesterday, we decided to walk off all that excellent coq-au-vin with a stroll in the afternoon sunshine (surely "light drizzle" - Met Ed.) and took Freyja down to see Crystal Palace Park. On the way, there was some crazy talk regarding Victorian dinosaurs and, after meandering past the remains of the 1851 Great Exhibition building (which unfortunately burnt down in 1936) lo and behold, there they were:

Quite bizarre but really rather splendid. Apparently, the sculptor once took tea inside one of the beasts but ended his days as an invalid in the Debtor's Prison. Fascinating stuff.

And Freyja, true to form, slept all the way round :)

(Thanks once again to AutoStitch for the automagic panoramic photo)

Got wind?

So London Bridge mainline station was completely closed last night after two panes of glass fell from the roof in the high winds. Full-on 999 sirens Police-Do-Not-Cross move along now please flashing blue light mayhem. But although trains were still passing through the station on platforms 1-6, nobody was allowed in to try and catch them. Isn't it pathetic how we have turned into such a 'Nanny State' - if I want to try and dodge a 60mph whirling maelstrom of razor-sharp Victorian roofing materials on my daily commute, I should be allowed to do so :)

Anyway, it's good to test one's on-the-spot London Transport knowledge in these situations so in case you were wondering:

1. Walk to Borough High Street


2. Jubilee Line* to Southwark


3. Walk to Waterloo East


4. Train to Ladywell


5. P4 bus to Honor Oak Park

Total journey time: 1h 45m

* I wonder if the people I was on the Tube with ever got home to Brighton?