« October 2004 | Main | December 2004 »
November 26, 2004
Urban Glamour
Been a while since Iast posted. And how very different our weather has been since then! With December almost upon us - we've had some really bizarre warmth over the last few days. 14 Celcius - it's been like the Bahama's out there! The sun shone bright and low as I stepped off the Route 83 bus at Ealing Broadway this morning. It occurred to me, suddenly, that the term "Broadway" has a semi-glamourous ring to it. I suppose there is something slightly glamorous about urban London High Streets in a way - but it's hard to pick out just one thing that makes them so. The kebab shop with pavement-cafe, al-fresco-style, seating for a variety of exotic-sounding breakfast options certainly makes a brave attempt at being so. Not quite Paris. Not quite the Mediterranean. But - hey: it's November, it's warm - and this is London.
 |
Glamorous Ealing Broadway.
Posted by jag at 07:41 PM | Comments (8)
November 19, 2004
Cold Snap
It was so cold that I could see my steamy breath - even on the upper deck of the bus. And the yellow poles on the tube could only be held with the thick sleeve of my jacket covering my hands, it was that cold. Warm relief came when severe signal failures in the Paddington area caused the 7.56 from Ealing Broadway to be cancelled. Meaning that a million people tried to get on the 8:08 - meaning that we packed ourselves in like sardines - meaning that we got warm again. It's always easier to cope with overlapping personal spaces in situations like this if you've got your own personal music to listen to. It takes the sensory focus away from the eyes - and from making eye contact with your fellow passengers - who are probably close enough to get really familiar with the eau-de-toillete you splashed on earlier. Squashed up in a narrow "briefcase-compartment" behind a cluster of seats in the first class compartment of the First Great Western Link train to Slough, the position I was forced to stand in afforded me a mundane view of an oriental-looking girl with bright-dyed hair and oversized jumper-sleeves, channel-surfing the FM radio on her mobile phone - which glowed alien-spaceship-red everytime she pressed a button.
 |
Stuck behind her in the First Class compartment on the 8:08 to Slough.
Posted by jag at 11:10 PM | Comments (9)
November 17, 2004
Sushi Roll
A lot of people in the West mistakenly think of Japanese sushi as "raw fish". This is most certainly NOT the case! The term "sushi" is Japanese for "vinegar rice" - which is the classic short-grained rice that, when cooked, is rather sticky - and then folded in seasoned rice-vinegar. The sushi rice is typically served with various fish and vegetable accompaniments - and in various styles. Today I got up early in the morning to prepare my lunch to take to the office: "Sushi Roll".
 |
 |
Preparing Sushi.
Click here to learn how to make this really tasty (and healthy) lunch-time dish.
 |
Sushi Roll - today's lunch!
Posted by jag at 10:45 PM | Comments (15)
November 15, 2004
Hare Krishna guy on bus
A white "Hare Krishna" guy got on my bus tonight. He nearly missed it. I saw him sprinting at full speed to get on before the bus pulled away from the stop. He climbed up to the top deck - gasping for breath - and sat down near the front. I was way behind him - right at the back. But I could see that his head was shaved bald. Even though he was wearing a woolly hat. His thick grey coat protecting him from London's cold November chill betrayed his bright orange clothing underneath. He was more "Oxford Street" than "Wembley High Road"- and proceeded to wire himself up to his walkman/discman/IPOD/MP3-player. I then wondered what he was listening to - and wondered what he was doing round these parts. Attending a puja or kirtan perhaps? Meanwhile - a Michael Palin travel documentary is being played out on the flat-panel TV screen in front.
 |
White Hare Krishna guy on my bus.
Posted by jag at 11:39 PM | Comments (9)
November 07, 2004
Take five
Track number 10 on a free CD attached to the front of Cosmo magazine had a very Pink Panther-esque feel about it. (The 1970s cartoon - not the film). It's a tune that most people will recognise. It accompanies the following photo montage presentation: 25 previously unpublished, random images of things in my neighbourhood, or my bus, or places I've been to. All in or around London. Real London.Posted by jag at 05:40 PM | Comments (7)
November 02, 2004
It's not everday ...
... that you have to give way (yield) to a "Jumbo Jet" passenger plane on the way to work in the morning:
 |
Waiting for a Boeing 747 to pass me by.
(Heathrow Airport perimeter road.)
Well I suppose it's not every day that I have to go to a place called "Bedfont Lakes" - which is a hi-tech business park near Heathrow where the best road-route from my home involves navigating my way through the suburbs of West London and around the perimeter of the Airport. Problem is - you might have to wait a few minutes whilst a Jumbo crosses the road.
Also - it's not every day that you end the day spending time with a film crew on the London Underground:
 |
Film crew on the London Underground.
(This is in a Northern Line train Northbound from King's Cross)
Had to spend a few hours reconstructing and recalling parts of my nightmare journey home from January 2003 with a TV crew filming a documentary for Channel 4's "Cutting Edge" series. It was a very strange experience being a "movie-star" for the evening - and even stranger observing ordinary London commuters from the director's perspective. Very strange indeed.
Posted by jag at 10:42 PM | Comments (15)