flanerie.org

First day of school

2009-09-24T11:02:04Z

And she loves it. Only half days at the moment, with the rest of the day spent in the nursery. The nursery that she once loved but is now 'rubbish' because school is so much better.

Okay, now I am

2009-08-31T11:54:28Z

I am in Mississauga, Ontario. City tag line: Leading Today for Tomorrow It would be difficult to come up with a more vapid slogan, although many cities try on a daily basis. Arrived Sunday, leaving Friday.

I am not in Canada

2009-08-26T17:25:03Z

Many a slip 'twixt cup and lip. The acquisition I am relying on for the gig in Toronto has hit an impasse, with all three parties blaming each other. I could be back on in the next few days. Or weeks. Meanwhile I am working in central London and currently enjoying my trip home via one Tube and three trains.

Canada - it's on

2009-08-12T18:36:15Z

Tomorrow morning I am going to quit my current temporary job and in ten days time I will go to Canada to start a new one. Initially it is for four weeks, but it could become a permanent gig, in which case wife and child will need to pack their cases and join me. It will be based in Toronto. I have visited Toronto twice, the first time for one and a half days and the second for three days. Barely enough time to get over five hours of jetlag. Actually, the first time I flew there from Tel Aviv, so it was seven hours of jetlag and I was in such a state I couldn't find my own nipples with a satnav. This time I can acclimatise and should get a chance to be a tourist as well as a corporate ninja. Exciting times.

The old snake-on-a-bike folly

2009-08-10T18:03:15Z

[from bbc news] A Thai man is unconscious after almost being squeezed to death by a four-metre python he was carrying on a motorbike. Samrauy Phonlerk, a local villager, had volunteered to take the snake to a national park after it was found in Pracinburi town, east of the capital Bangkok. A friend agreed to drive him there on his motorcycle, but as they were setting off the friend noticed that the snake appeared to have escaped from a bag and to be strangling Samruay. The friend abandoned the motorcycle at a busy intersection and ran for help. Emergency workers who came to the scene found the python tightly coiled around its victim. More than a dozen people beat the snake with sticks for over 20 minutes before it relented. "Samrauy lost a lot of blood because he was bitten and constricted, but he came out of the intensive care unit this morning, although he is still unconscious," a police spokesman said. The python was later released into the jungle.

Verityism #1

2009-08-09T09:54:53Z

Aged 4 years, 3 months "I've got good news and bad news. "The bad news is that Michael Jackson is dead. "The good news is that we can still listen to his music."

Grandad, scattered

2009-08-08T07:59:20Z

Grandad completed his final ascent of Great Gable last week. Above is the photo, below is the route. Shyt weather. You need to zoom out the map a few times to see it - Google Maps is a little off beam.
View Great Gable in a larger map

Let them eat cake

2009-08-05T17:37:15Z

We have sponsored an African child through the charity Plan International. We haven't really sponsored a child, of course, since sponsorship is just a money-raising gimmick, but it is a smart gimmick and we are using it to give Verity an appreciation of those who don't have the same feather-downed gilt-edged fully-loaded childhood that she is experiencing. So, we have sponsored Kaligueta from Burkina Faso. She is four years old, although in the photo of her and her mum, she is up to her mum's shoulder, which would make her mum a hobbit, or Kaligueta a future WNBA player. No matter. Kaligueta walks a kilometre to get water and food is not plentiful. It is a tough life and the average life expectancy is just 53 years. We explained this to Verity. She was puzzled that people might not have enough food. Not enough food, not enough money to buy food, we said. Oh, she said, so they have to eat in restaurants?

12. Carlisle

2009-08-04T17:14:42Z

The tour of British racecourses has arrived in Carlisle, a half-decent town in the far north. They like a drink in Carlisle and, in order to discourage this, the entire pub and brewing industry was nationalised in 1916, and only returned to the private sector in 1971. Along with state ownership, which was expected to reduce sales of beer due to disincentivised salaried managers, the buying of rounds was also outlawed. None of this has any relevance to the racing, but I think it is an interesting story. Anyway, Carlisle Racecourse is pretty good. They were holding a family fun day, which is the only way I can get the wunderkind to enjoy a day of turf action. I am becoming something of an expert on horse racing family fun days, and Carlisle gave a good account of themselves with the inclusion, alongside the bog-standard bouncy castle and face painting, of a petting zoo. And free chocolate. Genius. I couldn't pick a winner in a one horse race, but Sally managed to preserve Verity's inheritance with a tidy win in the last.

Drugs make you stupid, part 18

2009-07-15T19:09:35Z

[from El Reg] A 23-year-old Sussex woman's cunning plan to smuggle cocaine into the UK concealed in the shafts of golf clubs fell apart, when she mistook suspicious customs officials' quizzing about her handicap for a request for information as to whether or not she was disabled. According to the Sun, Kayti Ella Dryer from Lewes jetted in to Manchester Airport from Jamaica's Montego Bay on 3 April. Despite her claims she'd been on a golfing holiday, she failed to recognise the terms "birdie" and "fairway". Mike O'Grady of HM Revenue and Customs said: "When Dryer was asked questions about golf, it was clear that she was totally unfamiliar with the game and she had no legitimate reason for travelling with the sports equipment." An airport source elaborated: "When asked about her handicap, she looked blank and asked them to repeat the question. It appeared as if she thought they were asking her if she had a disability." Customs operatives found a kilo of Bolivian marching powder - estimated value £83k - inside Dryer's golf clubs. She pleaded guilty to attempted drug smuggling, and was jailed for four years at Manchester Crown Court last Thursday.

Italian show-offs

2009-07-14T18:03:02Z

[from BBC news] The traditional throwing of a bride's bouquet for luck ended in disaster at an Italian wedding when the flowers caused a plane to crash. The bride and groom had hired a small plane to fly past and throw the bouquet to a line of women guests, Corriere della Sera reported. However, the flowers were sucked into the plane's engine causing it to catch fire and explode. The aircraft plunged into a hostel. One passenger on the plane was badly hurt. But about 50 people who had been in the hostel escaped unscathed, as did the pilot. The incident happened at Montioni park in Suvereto, near Livorno, where the wedding reception was being held, Corriere della Sera said. A passenger on the aircraft, named as Isidoro Pensieri, 44, had the job of throwing the bouquet as pilot Luciano Nannelli flew past. It is believed the bunch of flowers became entangled as it was thrown, and was sucked into one of the engines. Ms Pensieri suffered multiple fractures and a head injury. She was taken to hospital in Grosseto by helicopter and then transferred to another in Pisa, Italian media reported.

Blackpool

2009-07-13T06:29:30Z

This is the 'golden mile'. It wasn't very golden when I was there, but it did look quite long. Possibly a mile long.

From Blackpool

Blackpool definitely looks better in black and white. In colour everything looked faded and grim. Monochrome hides that. Perhaps this is a metaphor for Blackpool's status as yesterday's town.

No chickens no more

2009-06-24T10:44:30Z

A fox got the chickens last night. May Shadow and Yoda pok for evermore in a heavenly garden.

Work

2009-06-20T08:23:39Z

After five months of funemployment, I have a job, albeit a temporary one. Sadly it involves being in Blackpool three days a week, but needs must and I am staying in Preston to maintain my sanity as we head into the tourist season. The job itself is running a small eCommerce business, and is hectic, as I am trying to do everything at once, but enjoyable. The contract is for three months. Verity is impressed that I am visiting the seaside every week, and I have promised to take her one weekend.

A dose of clap

2009-06-05T07:37:27Z

Not an especially useful skill, but impressive all the same.