Route 79

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October 28, 2004

Pret

Bond Street tube station. Just a few metres away; a Pret is born. Unusual looking bloke is standing there reading the paper - not just for a few seconds - but for several minutes. Unusual place to be doing that.

Posted by jag at 09:25 PM | Comments (6)

October 27, 2004

Subway

Ever the get the feeling that McDonald's is trying to reinvent itself? Well that's because it is! They have a story all about how they're changing it - and lovin' it. This story is available on their website as a PDF. Quite apart from the absurdity of "one day we might be more famously known for our salads" (now with Hellmann's mayo) - the emphasis is on specially selected Russet Burbank, Shepody and Portland Dell potato for their fries (have you EVER heard of these varieties of potato? They are obviously so exotic that my local famous-name supermarket doesn't even carry them - so I guess they must be healthy) - and of course; the fish in Filet-O-Fish is either Icelandic or Norwegian cod (caught in the cold waters of the North Atlantic) or high-quality Hoki from New Zealand. Cool eh? And just look at their brand new breakfast line-up: it's now not just coffee - it's cappucino (With Kenco beans too). And that grotesque thing that they used to sell called "Big Breakfast" has now been replaced by hip and trendy "Oatso Simple" (i.e porridge) - and even those stodgy thingy-and-egg-MCMuffin's have been de-emphasised in favour of - wait for it: fruit toast - and bagels - yes bagels - with optional Philadelphia Light cream cheese. (Doesn't it seem as if McDonald's are shifting to selling the sorts of breakfast things that you'd usually make for yourself at home?) It's kind of clever of Mac's to go into cobranded partnership with the category-leaders in mayonnaise, coffee, porridge and soft-cheese. (Apologies for the deliberate use of corporate marketing jargon there.) Perhaps this is all a sign that McDonald's is no longer a category-leader itself? Perhaps not - for there is a not-so-new food retailing phenomenon that is making all the noise at the moment in our high streets crowded with brand haze and competing for our health-concious savvy - and that is the phenomenon called the "Subway franchise". Opening near a McDonald's near you. (If not already right now - there will be real soon.) American readers here will testify to that - practically every downtown street-corner and urban strip-mall has a Subway franchise. Almost as prolific as Starbucks. (Now there's an idea for co-branding ....) Anyway - here is the Subway franchise that suddenly appeared in my local London High Street a few weeks ago: Is this the beginning of the end for McDonald's? Some would say yes - because it is a FACT that there are more Subway's in the USA than there are McDonald's. It is a FACT that (in Europe) sandwiches outsell burgers by ten times to one. (Bear in mind that McDonald's owns a piece of Pret a Manger.) It is also a FACT that Subway's stated aim is to outnumber McDonald's - and right now they are at 22,134 restaurants In 77 countries compared to McDonald's 31,000 restaurants in 119 countries. HOWWEVER: it is a FACT that McDonald's has the biggest fast-food market share by far - the next biggest being a company called Yum! Brands (owner of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC) - so Subway has a long way to go - but right now it is a FACT that Subway is the fastest growing franchise opportunity on the planet. What makes the Subway franchising opportunity so compelling? A Subway franchise location needn't be big - a Subway can fit in any small shopfront location - everything is as cookie-cutter as a franchise operation should be - the margins are relatively high (I'm hearing reports that Subway is the fastest way to become a millionaire in food retailing) - and most of the traffic (and the product) is targeted exclusively at the short and lucrative "eating" hours of "lunch". (Which means no real need to work an 18 hour day.) For the customer - the opportunity is also great: it's different - it's seems healthy; because it's made in front of you from what looks like healthy, freshly prepared ingredients, it's not too far from the McDonald's and you seem to get more for the price of a Big Mac Meal than a Big Mac Meal. And this, along with the relatively high cost of franchise acquisition: circa 130,000 UK Pounds (around 200,000 Euro) is the reason why many wealthy second-generation Asians in the UK are shifting their aspirations from continuing with the first-generation legacy of that most Great British an institution: the corner shop newsagent/convenience store - to the Subway franchise: It's easier (no working around the clock) - it's more professional (you employ people to run the store whilst you are out playing golf) - and providing you have a good location (near a McDonald's) then you'll make your million in no time at all. It was the first-generation Gujurati, Punjabi and Pakistani immigrants of the 1960s that saved the Great British corner shop from extinction - as these folks had every incentive to work it in order to make a living - providing such great services to community along the way. Consequentially - the next generation have it made. And they are no longer "foriegners" - they have become British - and middle class - and they want professional careers - or at least a taste of the corporate life etc. whilst their parents continue running the "shop". However, right about now - these first-generation Asian parents are fast approaching retirement - and the second generation have some hard choices to make: What should we do with the shop? What should I do with my corporate job? The Subway franchise provides a fantastic answer to the problem: sell the shop for a Subway franchise - and ditch the corporate job to run the business. I mean - admit it: you're never going to make it to CEO anyway. Will this be the demise of the corner shop? Almost certainly not - there are plenty others who will fill that void - and are already doing so - notably the more recently arrived immigrants - e.g. Eastern European, African, South Asian etc. But one thing is for sure - you can bet your bottom Dollar/Euro that behind many Subway franchises here in UK - stands a new generation of Asian businessman/businesswoman.

Posted by jag at 09:27 PM | Comments (15)

October 26, 2004

Blue sky office

Far too often I find myself waiting around on platform 3 at Ealing Broadway station in the mornings. And far too often I gaze up at the office block that's built on top of the station complex. And every time - I wonder what it must be like to work in an office block bang on top of a busy railway station. On bright, sunny, cloudless mornings like this - the office block adopts an almost surreal quality. I noticed this effect all summer. I only got round to taking a picture of it this morning. A few people around me wondered why I was taking a picture of it - and gave me strange looks. I have to say that I felt like a bit of a nerd.

Posted by jag at 10:43 PM | Comments (5)

October 25, 2004

Jubilee Line

Posted by jag at 09:39 PM | Comments (3)

October 24, 2004

Reflecting on the train

Ealing Broadway: "The next train to arrive at platform 3 is ... ... calling at Southall, Hayes & Harlington, Slough ..." And so begins the last leg of my journey to work. Except I don't normally hear it - being aurally shut off from the rest of the world by my MP3 player. The twenty-minute journey to Slough is a musical daydream of window-seated, visual cross-fading between the sharply sunlit world passing by outside - and the reflections of the world inside in the train carriage. Sometimes the cross-over between outside and inside is involuntary; the girl occupying the seat in front moves about - and shuffles a few bits of paper about - or the darkness of train in a tunnel provides a short and temporary focus on the inside. On what I thought would be last brightly lit morning of this year - I captured some of the moving images of this "focus cross-fading" phenomenon - and dubbed it with some music typical of my MP3 player train journeys: Do a "right-click and save target as" here to download the video - it's a Windows Media Player (WMV) file of approx 7 Megabytes in size (nearly 3 minutes running time). Save it to a folder of your choice - and when it's downloaded (which should only be around 3 minutes on broadband/DSL/Cable) - double click on it - and turn up the volume.

Posted by jag at 08:30 PM | Comments (0)

October 17, 2004

Without Prejudice

Yesterday I went to see Bride & Prejudice at my local cinema multiplex (VUE cinema in Harrow). It's obvious what the story is about - so there isn't really much by the way of "spoiler" in this review - but if you don't want my opinion before having seen it yourself - then don't press MORE below to continue ... Well - what can I say? Being Aishwarya Rai's number one fan in London - I just have to say that the film was great - and it truly was! Although it was only as the film developed - and perhaps even only afterwards, i.e. in retrospect, that this opinion took shape in my mind. First of all - let me say that there were two particular moments in the film that caused a surge of "patriotic" emotional excitement in me - and these were: * The opening sequence of the chapter which finds the Bakshi girls arriving in UK - here there is some spectacular footage of London - amongst which there is a rather breathtaking "fly-over" of Canary Wharf at night - culminating in a car pulling up onto the front drive of an ordinary 1930s suburban semi-detached house in West London! * A scene shot in the kitchen of Mr Kholi's house in suburban Los Angeles - where Lalita (Aishwarya) is "kneading the atta" (atta = roti/chappati dough) and Chandra (her best friend) is washing a bunch of fresh dhania (coriander) and picking the leaves off the stems! (This scene of ordinary Punjabi cooking really got me going!) It also has to be said that this film is, unashamedly, first and foremost an exhibition of Aishwarya, followed closely behind by an exposure of all things Punjabi & "Bollywood" designed for Western audiences (specifically American audiences - and irritatingly so - more on this point later) - all pretty much loosely held together by the storyline from Jane Austen's famous novel. And the only reason why the story works at all - is becase it's well-proven Austen. The Pride & Prejudice storyline provides a foundation for director Gurinder Chadha to thrust Ash onto the international stage, showcasing Indian cinema, and educating the niaive American public with some clues as to what India - and Indians - are all about - and all in that order. And the reason why the storyline works so well is because once again, rather sadly, it centres around the theme of arranged marriage. (When *will* we start thinking of other stories to cross-over with?) So - starting with Ash: Stunning Aishwarya gets centre stage in the movie - with much of the screenplay focussing on each and every demonstration of her ability to engage the audience with her beauty and her expressions of every type of emotion - right down to the slightest facial twitch. All credit to Chadha and Ash for limiting the amount of "flesh" too - the film is extremely family friendly - and no; you will not see Ash in a swimsuit - and no you won't see her snogging (kissing) - not even a peck. Not only is this a play by Chadha on the sensibilities of Indian Cinema - for she teases us with several obvious about-to-kiss-but-no-not-this-time moments - I am dreading the day when Indian female talent in international cinema is "Angelina-Jolied" or "Halle Berried" or such as like. I know it *will* happen at some point - but not at this stage, please! Not only does Ash captivate with her looks and gorgeous smile - she gets to show off her ability to dance in some Johar-ish style stage sets with some Devdas-ish edges (not surprising as the choreography was by Saroj Khan) - as well as showing off her fluency in English - which although accented mildly Indian - works perfectly in the context. Aishwarya's role as Lalita (paralleling Elizabeth Bennet of the Austen novel) does not test her (or indeed any of the actors) at all. There is very little by the way of "difficult" dialogue, expression or challenging cinematic action. Thus - there is very little that can go wrong, and conversely, very little that shines in terms of acting performance. And so; on quality of acting overall - I give the film 5 out of 10 precisely because there is so little to challenge the cast. However, if there was one person that deserves being singled out in terms of quality of acting - it's Anupam Kher playing the father Mr Bakshi. Once again - Kher puts on a very convincing and credible portrayal of the father (he was the Jesse's father in Bend It Like Beckham) - but this is something we have grown to expect from him: solid and dependable acting. I must also mention that Nitin Ganatra (playing the comical Mr Kholi) does a fantastic job of making us laugh - and his own laugh and hand gestures on screen will be something that surely all audiences will go home remembering! The showcasing of Indian cinema - or "Bollywood" as it has come to be known - is done reasonably well - but there is a lot of satire in the exposure of this dimension that will probably not "click" with audiences not already familiar with Bollywood and it's nuances. This is not necessarily a bad thing - as it provides some entertainment for those of us who are - but it risks leaving the non-Asian audience with a "well I suppose that's just the way it is" feeling as opposed to the "that's an excellent spoof or piss-take" feeling. Examples of this: When Balraj breaks out into athletic Hrithik Roshan style dance at the wedding - where the "Balle Balle" song setting is so obviously a Karan Johar spoof (think the opening song to K3G) - to the bit in the song where Ash ties the "choonie" of her sari around her waist during the boy-girl "baiting" in the song. Further parodies include the "cobra dance" - which appears to be a play on one time popular-in-the-seventies actress Sri Devi, and a song/dance scene that takes place amongst some fountains hinting at a "wet-sari" arrangement - as well as the "dishoom" fight-scene bit towards the end. There was one aspect to the film that I found initially quite jarring - and that was the singing in English to all except the "Balle Balle" song. I almost had my head in my hands when it first occured in the "celebration" song near the beginning. It just didn't work for me at all with that song - this being the most cringe-worthy part of the whole show. The more objective side of me says that Chadha can get away with it in this film because it's a comedy - but I would rather that she had stuck to recording the singing in Hindi and parodied on the interpretation using exaggerated subtitles rather than going full hog with the lyrics in English. As the film develops though - almost all of the rest of the musical numbers are ballads (with the exception of the highly situational "no life without a wife" song). And so the English singing to Indian-style musical inflexions works quite well - and you certainly get used to it as the film progresses - and there are some moments during the songs when you feel like you're watching Oliver Twist - or Annie - or something like that. As for the "no life without wife" song - well this passes too - and only because it serves quite a useful comical interlude in the film. Aspects of Indian culture are well represented - the emphasis on "family" (this film could be just and Indian version of My Big Fat Greek Wedding), food (as the essential focal point of all social goings-on), the highly-tactile nature of Indian siblings (which some Western audiences might find a little disturbing at first), the fact that the older generation Indian woman tends to openly and incessantly stare at the younger Indian man - yep this aspect is alive and well in London too: I still get stared at in this way whenever I get on the bus in the mornings - by the older Indian ladies sitting on the bottom deck. (Which is why I always proceed straight to the upper deck!) And so on to the aspect of the film that involves educating Westerners. Specifically American Westerners - as the more culturally sophisticated British audiences have less of a need for it. Essential to the plot is the initial rejection of Darcy by Lalita - and her politics come across quite assertively. Is this an attempt by Gurinder Chadha to get her own politics across I wonder? I sure hope so! There is a strong condemnation-of-lack-of-American-sophistication undertone in the presentation - not only in the casting of Darcy as an American - but also in Mr. Kohli as an American Desi. (Desi = Indian outside India - or NRI - non-resident Indian). This contrasts with the pro-British undertone - exampled by the character of Balraj being cast as a British Desi - and the storyline just *wanting* to make sure that Balraj and Jaya Bakshi (Lalita's sister) get it together in the end. There are two specific dialogues in the film that provide clues that serve to illustrate these things: * Lack-of-American-sophisitcation: When Lalita challenges Darcy's imposing mother with an assertion that goes something like - "you don't stop going to Italy just because there's a Pizza Hut on every street corner." * Pro-Britishness: Darcy is having an argument with Lalita - and she delivers a tirade in his direction about the negative American attitudes towards Indians - mentioning Britian in the same sentence - and he tries to correct her by saying "Actually I'm American - not British" - and she responds with "Exactly!" So, to conclude - it was an interesting film - and will absolutely make it into my DVD collection when it's released - but only because 1) It has Ash in it - and I have every film that features her - and 2) because it's made in UK - is partly set in London - and is about a Punjabi family. All these things in my mind make it a great film. But if I put these things to one side - is it really a "GREAT" film? Probably not - the acting isn't great - the storyline isn't original - the arranged marriage theme is getting a little tiring - and the experiments with English lyrics in English vocal lines applied to Indian songs sung by Indians gives mixed results. The comedy is good - but not brilliant - and is supported (only-just) by the parts of Mr.Kholi and Mrs.Bakshi - although the most memorable funny moments are definitely those of Mr.Kohli. And because it's a comedy - it's *not* a GREAT film - and it's a "showcase" film - and for these reasons alone it's worth seeing. In my opinion, Bend It Like Beckham was a GREAT film - and a much better film from director Chadha. All in all - Bride & Prejudice does not disappoint too much - and where it does - it makes up for in what it showcases. Worth seeing just to see how versatile Aishwarya Rai can be in terms of screen presence - and marks the first of her adventure in crossing over into the International cinema world. In fact - worth seeing for this reason alone! PS - if you watch this film in the cinema hall - then don't walk out in a hurry when the film ends - as there are some interesting and funny out-takes in the end-credit sequence. Out-takes that feature Gurinder Chadha and other members of the film crew. PPS - and just in case British audiences "poke fun" at the somewhat absurdity of the bhangra dancing (the style of dancing that involves holding your arms up above your head and shouting "balle balle") - director Gurinder Chadha features traditional English Morris dancers in the scenes set in UK. And when you see this bit - you realise that Morris dancing is simply another form of bhangra! :-)

Posted by jag at 04:49 PM | Comments (13)

October 15, 2004

Slough in Pictures Part 4

Just behind my desk at work - there is a huge window. This is the third floor - and it affords itself probably the most spectacular view of Slough: The ICI factory, Slough Mosque - and housing estates a-plenty. It rained pretty hard today. On and off. All day a very grey day. I rolled my office chair backwards to said window - and stared out across the brick and concrete valley. There was nothing really wanting of inspiration. But I was reminded to trawl my archives for what I managed to snap from earlier this year. May, in fact. A spectacular view of the most fullest rainbow I've ever seen; yes - right here in Slough. From right here through the window behind my desk! Of course - the camera's autofocus targeted the drops on the window instead of the rainbow - but, in retrospect, I think it captured the moment suitably. (The ICI Dulux Paint factory is directly below the arch of the rainbow. The minaret of Slough Mosque is the vertical white artefact on the far right of the frame - not far from the end of rainbow. The housing estates are everywhere else.)

Posted by jag at 11:17 PM | Comments (11)

October 14, 2004

Back again

Well - this journal is back. I have fiddled around with Windows Media Player methods in order to suppress "autoplay" - as well as referring to more up-to-date Class IDs. This means that those of you using Mozilla variants shouldn't have to suffer automatic (irritating) playback of sounds and music. (Although in doing so - I think I have disabled the ability to play sounds altogether at the moment - I am trying to work on a solution to this - so please bear with me.) I also adapted the stylesheet a little so that the pages render in Mozilla Firefox more "properly" than they did before. The pages should render fine now in most recentish variants of MSIE - as well as Mozilla Firefox - as well as Apple Safari etc. Thanks to Stu for pointing it out - and no thanks to those of you who suffered in silence; I wish you would have told me! Anyway - I can't guarantee that these pages will look good in every possible, different type of browser - but I hope that I've been able to fix most of the irritations - and will continue to try to fix the rest.

Posted by jag at 11:14 PM | Comments (9)

October 11, 2004

City Lights Continued ...

Have modified the picture in the previous entry so that when you click and hold your mouse on it - it switches to another picture taken a minute before. You will notice the reflections of passengers sitting behind me. In fact - for an interesting effect - try clicking in the picture frame rapidly, several times in succession.

Posted by jag at 11:48 PM

City Lights

Travelling home from work later than planned served as a stark reminder of the days to come: the increasingly earlier darkness brings with it a completely different perspective of urban London. Time to start taking the front-most seat on the upper deck if possible. For some reason I feel that this mitigates somewhat the depressing lack of anything to see out the window when seated at the back. Strangely - but unsurprisingly - I spend most of the journey home staring at a reflection of myself - and vigilantly looking out for the passengers sat in the rows of seats behind me. Tonight I am rewarded by the spectacular sight of the lighted-up arch of the new Wembley Stadium under construction as the bus meanders it's way through the mid-evening traffic on Wembley High Road. It's not very often that the arch is lit - and in doing so - puncturing the rare glimpses of what remains of an urban horizon with a magical brightness that dazzles. It's hard to not be captivated by the spectacle.

Posted by jag at 09:33 PM | Comments (9)

October 10, 2004

Stressed

Been trying hard this weekend to get a backlog of work stuff out the way - but the power socket that my laptop is plugged into seems to be a bit flaky. I have to keep reaching down under my desk to give the plug a bit of a push every now and then. It's driving me mad - and I'm getting very stressed. Give the plug a little push yourself - right there in the picture below. It's the first plug on the second distribution board from the left. (Hover over the space bar on my keyboard for a hint.) This will load a shockwave flash movie - "pop-video" of a song called "Stress" by Jim's Big Ego - from around 4 years ago. It's around 1.5 Megabytes - so won't take long to load - even on dialup. Once it's loaded - you won't have to load it again.

Posted by jag at 12:32 PM | Comments (7)

October 06, 2004

Slough in pictures Part 3

More exciting stuff from Slough. (You can catch up with all the amazing things I have ever written about Slough here, here, here, here, here and here.) There is a stuffed dog in a glass cabinet on Platform 5 at Slough station. The inscription on the plaque at the base of the cabinet is titled "Station Jim". I see Station Jim every day. It's kind of spooky knowing that he's dead and stuffed - on display to the world since the late 1890s. It seems that he his remembered fondly by people who have long sinced left Slough - all over the world. Including someone called Krissie who grew up in Slough but now lives in Australia. (Krissie has reproduced the words on the plaque in front of Station Jim on her blog entry from a few days ago.) Although I'm not very fond of dogs myself - it's quite a touching story of the life of Station Jim. Seeing him there - with the plaque and all that - makes me wonder: Station Jim lived such a simple and uncomplex life - but it was a life that moved people to want to remember him in this way after he died. By the time I die - I will have worked a hard and infinitely more complex lifetime trying to leave my own mark on society - and yet in all likelihood a contribution so inconsequentiallly undeserving of recognition in the same way as that was afforded to Station Jim. Depressing isn't it? Still - I find the idea of being stuffed and on display in a glass cabinet very spooky.

Posted by jag at 11:38 PM | Comments (19)

October 05, 2004

Bride & Prejudice

Being a bloke - it shouldn't come as any surprise that I have some mainstream "bloke-ish" tendencies. For those of you not familiar with the term: "bloke" is a peculiarly British colloquialism for "man" - or "male" - often used in a very informal, stereotypical (straight) context. Think "crude", "crass" and perhaps "uncouth" and you'll know what I mean. One particular manifestation of this characteristic is a fan-like fascination and affinity to celebrity "chicks". (I'm assuming that the latter term has crossed over into non-western vocabularies more so than "bloke" so I probably don't need to explain that.) So - apologies in advance for the lack of sophistication in this posting but I have to admit that there are two particular celebrity "femmes" that I bloke-ishly covet. And those are BBC London news presenter Nina Hossein - and Indian Cinema (aka "Bollywood") megastar Aishwarya Rai. (Once rumoured to be the next "Bond girl".) You might've gleaned this dimension of character from prior postings - e.g. explaining the mathematical magic of the "normal curve" with Aishwarya's help - as well as a montage of Aishwarya with my beloved Route 79 bus - or a photo montage, along with an animated audience with Dilbert - and even chronicling the day I met Aishwayra herself (well - squinted at her from a distance anyway.) And - as for Nina: my own tribute to her presenting the local BBC London news at the end of every day. Well - today I can report that I have been excited by seeing Aishwarya Rai beaming a gorgeous smile on my very own London bus! And this is all down to the fact that "Ash" (as Aishwarya Rai is lovingly known) is starring in a film called Bride and Prejudice - opening in London this Friday - Bride & Pred is an "English dialogue" comedy film directed by Gurinder Chadha - the director of the legendary Bend It Like Beckham - and based somewhat on Jane Austen's most famous and most popular novel from 1813; Pride and Prejudice. In an interview, Chadha was quoted as saying: I'm not sure whether I'm really looking forward to watching the film - as I can imagine it being completely different to Bend It - but I know I will just *have* to watch it - if only because of Ash - and not least because of a massive sense of pride seeing her smiling face on double-decker buses all over 21st Century London! How times have changed since my Mum and Dad first arrived here from India in the late 1960s! OK, OK - that's enough bloke-ishness for now. But *do* look out for Aishwarya in Bride & Prejudice! To view a very brief (Windows Media) trailer - click here. (Be patient - for broadband viewing only!)

Posted by jag at 10:02 PM | Comments (15)

October 03, 2004

Bus Stop Parisienne

Went to Leicester this weekend. Here is a picture of a bus stop by the river Seine - taken on my fleeting visit to Paris last Thursday. I have uploaded the best of the "taken from a back seat of a taxi" shots here: http://www.etongrove.com/galleries/paris/

Posted by jag at 08:09 PM | Comments (3)