Reilly's first trip to London

London's flooding, London's flooding, Water water, water water.

It's the midlle of July. Summer in the Northern Hemisphere. At midday today, it was so dark that the street lights came on. Now it's absolutely caning down with rain. Our office building is shipping water thru the electrical plant room. Mobile networks and Satellite TV have gone down. Luckily beer is pumped manually this side of the globe....

Drum Roll Please

I've just finished wading through the reams of entries generated by last month's caption contest, set around the above picture. For the full list of entries, click here.

But down to the important part, the prizes for best caption. there were a coupe that tickled my fancy, namely:

• Iam from Hackney: "Where's that paddle?"

• Simon from Sydney:"Shredders working overtime/Tryin to taste the difference/Tween a lemon and a lime"

But I do feel the simplest is often the best, therefore I am awarding the prize of two bottles of the Real Ale of your choice* to:

Holly from Sydney for "Dodgy Dossier Dump"

Holly nervously awaits the verdict at last night's glittering ceremony.

Congratulations Holly, Drop me a line here at Euroblather Central with your pick*, and two bottles of finest British Real Ale will soon be winging their carbon burning way to your doorstep.

*Prize must be easily obtainable at local off licence or Supermarket.

Tour de France Prologue

A bunch of us found our way down to Hyde Park a couple of weekends ago to watch the Prologue of the Tour de France. It was quite spectacular watching the various competitors race against the clock in one minute intervals. We perched ourselves at the top corner of the course, just before they turned to hurtle down the Serpentine, down towards the place where the ruler of our empire lives (when she just HAS to be in London, it's so dreary and full of commoners you know), and up to the finish line in The Mall.

Of course, we furnished ourselves with ample provisions, and ate and drank our way merrily until the sun went down.

There's an album full of pics (action shots by Dave) here.

Clarke and Dawe: Pulp Fiction

John Clarke and Brian Dawe of the ABC's 7.30 Report turn their satirical skills to Paul Lennon and Tasmania's "Bi-Cameral" System of "government". Click for the ABC's video.

Nice ad

Check this youtube out.

Shakespeare Pub Quiz: Post smokeban: Edition 1

Be like the Squirrel, Bobby (link needs sound- LOUD!)

Last Gasp

Katie and Don savour one of their last legal cigarettes in a pub, at The Shakespeare on Saturday night. From opening time on July 1, smoking is illegal in all public enclosed spaces in the UK. I'm all for it, as long as they don't make the ale their next target!

My New Iron Horse

Click pic for full size.
After six years of faithful (and un-stolen) service, I've pensioned off my Claud Butler bike for a brand spanking new Specialized Globe Comp Hybrid. It's nice and light, with carbon forks and larger wheels. And it's driven through a Shimano Nexus eight speed internal gearbox, which I'm finding quite responsive and speedy so far, definitely a step up from the 3 speed t bar on the Roadmaster dragster of my youth. It's excellent being able to shift gears at low speed while weaving through the traffic,or stopped at the lights (I do stop at lights!).

I bought it on the government's "Cycle to Work" scheme, where I basically buy the bike over twelve months as a salary sacrifice. Combine the twelve easy payments with no VAT and income tax deductions, it means about a forty percent saving on the cost of the bike. A great scheme for getting people's bums in saddles. I'm co-ordinating the scheme at KLP, and am the first to buy a bike (of course!).

Caption contest

The scene: New Labour's birthplace and heartland, a few hours after Mr Blair's resignation took effect:

Two bottles of the Real Ale of your choice (sent anywhere in t'world) for the best caption.
caption@plimpton.org

The replies thus far:

• Damo from London:
• "Gordon impatiently kept an eye on his stuff and awaited the removal van to get into Number 10..."
• Iam from Hackney:
• “good riddance to bad rubbish”
• “where's that paddle?”
• “all the new ideas are on the pallet”
  
• Simon from Sydney:
• "Shredders working overtime/Tryin to taste the difference/Tween a lemon and a lime"
• "As well as peace in the Middle East and solving global warming, Blair's
  term in office helped achieve the UK's complete independence from
  imports of Hamster bedding."
• Pugsley from Sydney:
• "CHANGES TO NEW LABOUR UNDER THE STEWARDSHIP OF GORDON BROWN – RUBBISH!!"
• Holly from Sydney:
• "Will anyone think to glue those shredded pages back together?"
• "Dodgy Dossier Dump!"
• Hanesy from West London:
• "all the evidence was ready to go up....all that was needed was a match"
• Nick in the Swedish Forests:
  
• "No more spin"
• Danny from Adelaide:
  
• "It was a great relief to Gordon to finally find all the mail that had been stolen from his letterbox at No 10."

Iggy and The Stooges on Jonathan Ross

Jonathan Ross interviewed Scott, Ron and Iggy on his BBC chat show last Friday, before their appearance at Glastonbury. There's two halves to the interview (the second one finishes with a studio version of I wanna Be Your Dog) on YouTube.

Use this link.

The Royal Festival Hall

Jo, Sonia, Katie and I all went to see the Jesus and Mary Chain at the Royal Festival Hall last Friday. The band were excellent, in fact it was their first gig since they broke up very acrimoniously nine years ago. Jo was almost catatonic in ecstasy (that's IN ecstasy) for most of the show.

However, the venue....the RFH has just reopened after an eighteen month, £100M+ renovation. It's a listed building, so there have been no structural alterations. They seem to have run out of budget somewhere along the way though, as the place is still very tatty and dirty, with not even the carpet replaced. I'd be happy if they poured all of the money into the acoustics of the place, which I guess they have. Unfortunately though, that didn't extend to sending somebody around with a screwdriver to ensure everything was tightened up. The aircond vent above our seats gave off quite a vibrato rattle every time the band hit the bass! Not good. Have asked them for a refund or credit towards future tickets.

Still, they have managed to get in a couple of new posh restaurants and knock up a new building against the Hungerford Bridge which houses offices and, surprise surprise, more retail! I wonder where the bulk of that hundred mill really did go???

Cycle to work

An interesting article by Emily Thornberry, an Islington MP, about riding to work. Well written, and presents some good arguments to jump on your bike in the morning.

I think (and have told her) that she has been very irresponsible for her to be pushing such a strident anti-helmet message, whatever her personal opinion may be (I think it's patently obvious she thinks they are useless). There is apparently some "research" that proves that motorists are more likely to drive closer to a cyclist who is wearing a helmet. Tosh! Email her and tell her what you think.

Also please note that the page sponsor for this story is none other than Royal Dutch Shell!

Rant over. Basic message is GET ON YOUR BIKE!

Free Wheeling

If you have a short commute and still don't cycle to work, why not? Emily Thornberry busts 10 persistent myths about this easy, green and healthy way to get on the move

Saturday June 16, 2007
The Guardian

'You cycle to work? You must be mad," used to be the reaction when I told people about my commute. Today, especially in London, cycling to work is at last becoming "normal": it is no longer the reserve of Lycra-clad men.

Joining the swarm of cyclists travelling south towards central London from Islington in the morning, I feel like I could be in Amsterdam or Copenhagen - where cycling accounts for a third of all trips. But in the UK, we still have a long way to go. Just 3% of commuters here cycle, with around 4 million people still driving less than three miles to work - a 20-minute bike ride each way. If all of these people swapped their cars for bikes it would save around 1m tonnes of CO2 a year.

Click here for the full story.

Didn't take long....

Van Eyck has been foisted from his frame:

Last week:
















Monday morning....

Napoli, Amalfi and Rome

Katie and I jetted off to Naples recently for ten days R&R. 'Twas fantatsic, with much pizza to be eaten and many sights to be seen (Positano, Pompeii, Sorrento, Ischia amongst many others). The weather was kind, the people friendly, the traffic completely random. We rented a great flat in the middle of town, complete with 130 steps from the street, and old ladies gossiping from balcony to balcony.

We got a couple of albums of pix (one edited, the other not so) right here.

The Grand Tour

The National Gallery on Trafalgar Square has just launched a new exhibition, called "The Grand Tour", which is basically a publicity drive for the gallery. They have put exact replicas of some of their most famous works on the walls of buildings around Soho and Covent Garden. It's a brilliant idea, and there about 45 around the streets. The wall between my office and the sushi joint next door is the temporary home of The Amolfini Portrait by Van Eyck. There's Holbeins, Van Goughs and Turners stuck to the walls of pubs, cafes, sex shops and building sites right through the West End.

I went for a bit of a short stroll around Soho and took a few pix of some of the installations. The album's right here.

Here's a blog from the Guardian on the subject.

Cider: It's officially good for you.

Written by: Rosie Davenport

Researchers at the University of Glasgow have found that some ciders can be good for you as they contain high levels of phenolics - antioxidants linked to protection against strokes, heart disease and cancer.

The study looked at a number of ciders with some containing forty times the amount of "phenolics" than others.

Serena Marks, who heads up the cider research at the University of Glasgow said: "Unit for unit, the top cider had levels of phenolics comparable to red wine.

"The cider with the highest levels of phenolics had 18 times more phenolics than clear apple juice and 7 times more phenolics than cloudy apple juice."

The next stage in the research is to analyse how humans absorb these phenolics.

Volunteers have been drinking doses of cider (where do I apply? ed) in a controlled environment and samples of their blood and urine taken to measure the quantity of phenolics absorbed into the body.

The results of these trials are currently being analysed.

Marks added: "The more information we can get about phenolics in cider and what happens to them in the body, the more chance we have of positively influencing the phenolic content of English cider, for example, helping manufacturers chose production processes that leave a higher levels of phenolic in the final product.

"This could mean that drinking a glass of cider is not only enjoyable, but a great way for people to naturally increase the amount of phenolics in their diet."

The research is part of a project funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the National Association of Cider Makers.

jhdj

Out of Control : The Tragedy of Tasmania's Forests

Out of Control
The tragedy of tasmania's forests
By Richard Flanagan

This story begins with a Tasmanian man fern ( Dicksonia antarctica) for sale in a London nursery. Along with the healthy price tag, some £160, is a note: “ This tree fern has been salvage harvested in accordance with a management plan approved by the Governments of Tasmania and the Commonwealth of Australia.” If you were to believe both governments, that plan ensures that Tasmania has a sustainable logging industry – one which, according to the federal minister responsible for forests, Eric Abetz, is “the best managed in the world”.

The truth is otherwise. The man fern – possibly several centuries old – comes from native forests destroyed by a logging industry that was recently found to be illegal by the Federal Court of Australia. It comes either from primeval rainforest that has been evolving for millennia or from wet eucalypt forests, some of which contain the mighty Eucalyptus regnans. These aptly named kings of trees are the tallest hardwood trees and flowering plants on Earth; some are more than 20 metres in girth and 90 metres in height. The forests are being destroyed in Tasmania, in spite of widespread community opposition and increasing international concern.

Read the full story here.

Naples, here we come!

Katie and I are off to Napoli tomorrow morning for a ten day break in the land of sun, volcanoes and pizza. Hopefully I'll be able to post some pix while on the road...we'll see.

They're trying their best to dissuade us from our visit though:

• There's been no garbage collection for the last ten days or so, as all the local landfills are either full or controlled by the mafia. Locals have taken to setting the alleged ten foot tall mountains of waste alight.
• Air Traffic Controllers in Italy staged a 24 hour walkout yesterday. Apparently they're back on the job
• I just read on the 'net that Naples Airport would be closed for three days from the third of June. We fly back on the fourth. I called Lufthansa to confirm. I was put on hold for five minutes. They then confirmed this was true (I think I was the first to let them know this was happening). when I asked them what the solution would be, they replied "we don't know, please contact the airline's desk at Naples Airport"....

Luckily, we've already bought some travel insurance. Sounds like it could be a wise investment for once...

Anyway, I'm sure once we get there, all will be peachy pie.

A few drinks on the 27th of June then?

Blair resigns

Asparagus season!

Last week, bunches of Spanish Asparagus were about three quid a pound. Yesterday, wandering through Berwick Street market, the first of the English spears have appeared for a pound a pound. the English aspaaragus season is only about a month long, usually through mid may to mid June. this year, owing to the new warmer clime that the UK seems to be basking in, they're a couple of weeks early. Anyhow, I love 'em, all joking about stinky secretions aside. Bought two pounds of the buggers last night. I was going to do a standard steam-butter-parmesan kind of thing, but when I got home I realised there was a couple of litres of scrumpy going begging from last weekend. Put the words "cider" and "asparagus" into Google, and what came up was "Asparagus in cider sauce". While I do wholly endorse the basics when cooking the green, I was quite happy that I could incorporate Burrow Hill's finest into my cooking somehow. Still, that's my novelty asparagus dish outta the way for 2007. Although, risotto......

All Tomorrow's Parties

Katie, Andrew, Hanesy and myself tripped off to Butlin's Minehead, Somerset last weekend for the All Tomorrow's Parties Festival, programmed by Oz band, The Dirty Three. It was quite a small and intimate few days, with only 6000 punters. On the way down, we stopped in at the Burrow Hill Cider Farm (home of the beloved Cider Bus...alas it was in the workshop at the time) for a bargain twenty five litres of finest scrumpy for twenty quid. After that, it was off to a Farm Shop just outside West Quantoxhead(tiny village, excellent name) for other supplies (assorted pork product), and then to the resplendent glory of Butlin's, complete with three water slides, a Burger King and Pizza Slut.

The acts kicked off late Friday afternoon with The Only Ones, punk rock reunionists from the seventies. They ripped through most of their catalogue before closing with their hit "Another Girl, Another Planet". Age (and hard drugs) have obviously wearied the lead singer, but his voice is most defo still there.

And from then on, the cavalcade of Rock n Roll continued unabated. Owing to the Curators being who they were, the lineup was mainly populated by their mates, eg Nick Cave, members of The Bad Seeds and just about anybopdy else associated with them. There's a full line up here. Highlights for me were Nick Cave's request show, Ed Kuepper, The Drones, and of course The Dirty Three. The Scientists were pretty good, but not a patch on the gig I saw at The Spitz a few months back. Another nice aspect of the festival was the way the talent was just wandering around taking in the gigs. It was on a few occasions we found ourselves standing next to the Cave guy at the back of the venue. Aviators in the dark is a look only Nick can get away with!

Lowlight would have to be Blixa Bargeld's Einsturzende Neubauten, who, while they had moments of absolute brilliance were reasonably pretentious (Blixa seemed to be having strops at the crew throughout the gig). Blixa's wife, who I understand is also their webmistress decided that we were being too noisy (we were seated directly behind the sound desk), and asked us to quieten down, as "we're recording the concert". Cue response "well, we've paid lotsa money to see this gig, so put up with it darling" kind of responses. Also reasonably ridiculous, as you would thin that a live recording would be done via a cable out of the sound board, and noise would be a non-issue. Anyway, we have since spoken to other people who know said musician's life partner, and opinion is reasonably solid that she is like this all the time.

The drinks were reasonably expensive and ordinary (Tetley's creamflow or Carlsberg), so luckily we had uncle scrumpy to hand. Managed to sneak in quite a few litres of the stuff, thus having some quality alcohol, and paying about 25p a pint, about £2.75 less than the bars were asking. All in all, a fantastic festival. ATP and The Dirty Three are to be congratulated for the net result. There's some reviews here and here, and the inevitable photo album here.

Scott & Hanesy, World Record Holders

Last night we were at Trafalgar Square as part of the Guinness Book Of Records' attempt to break the "World's largest Coconut Orchestra" record. the previous record was 1800 odd people in New York. Naturally, the gig was sponsored by the good people of "Spamalot", The Monty Python musical playing up the road. Basically, we registered, were given our nuts (marked "L" and "R", and with instructions). We then rehearsed the clopping a few times, and then the leader of the Spamalot orchestra led us through a full rendition of "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life" (whistle bits changed to coconut clanking). We smashed the record, with almost 4400 people taking part. As a reward, we were the treated to an outdoor screening of "Monty Python And The Holy Grail", which I hadn't seen for a good twenty years I reckon.

There's some more photos here.

Radar - The story

As an adjunct to The Whitey Stuff's coverage of the recent surge of interest surrounding the doyen of 70's Hobart Radio, Tim J "Radar" Franklin, herewith the text of the story from tome of note, The Mercury:

There's treasures in the Batcave
By LINDA SMITH

HE is a well-known identity in Tasmania, his beaming, bespectacled face a regular sight on television advertisements and at charity functions.
But if the South Australian native hadn't made a miraculous escape from the jaws of a savage white pointer shark in his teens, he might never have found his way to Tasmania.
The then 15-year-old was surfing at Southport in South Australia in 1971 when the predator sank its razor-sharp teeth into his thigh.
A friend dragged the bleeding youth ashore and applied a tourniquet to his leg before he was rushed to hospital.
Franklin says he is grateful he lived to tell the tale, but still bears the scars of the ordeal, which resulted in 262 stitches and the loss of one-third of the muscle in his leg.
The shark attack made front page news, and the framed clipping is one of many items on display at his inner-city Hobart home and office which have proved to be great talking points for visitors and clients.
As well as newspaper clippings and charity certificates -- from organisations including Ronald McDonald House and Camp Quality -- the walls boast countless caricatures and posters and other mostly music-based memorabilia.
Shelves and coffee tables brim with candles, trophies and trinkets collected during the DJ's many years of travel around the world, where he has worked in New York nightclub Studio 54 and interviewed some of the world's best known entertainers including Elton John, Meatloaf and Michael Jackson.
He even has ornamental guitars which were a gift from Jon Bon Jovi.
But while his tastes are eclectic -- a trait he says he inherited from his mother -- Franklin is adamant that none of his bits and pieces are junk, and he says he has a very good reason for collecting it all.
``It's for when I get Alzheimer's,'' he says. ``I'll be able to look at everything and then say, `Did I really do that?'.''
Everywhere you look in his home you are confronted with teddy bears sporting different outfits and poses -- evidence of Franklin's love of handmade character bears.
``People just make them for me and my collection keeps growing,'' he explains of his 140-strong collection. ``I reckon Tasmanian arts and crafts people are the best in the country.''
Franklin also has a collection of panama hats, and over 105 watches and more than 40 pairs of glasses.
But his main love in life -- besides his black labradoodle appropriately named Radar Junior -- is DVDs.
Thousands of discs fill floor-to-ceiling shelving in the lounge room -- with hundreds more VHS videos filling another set of shelves -- and Franklin says the lounge room is his favourite place in the house.
He has nicknamed it The Batcave -- all of the rooms in his home have names -- and with the exposed brick walls, stained glass detailing and an assortment of memorabilia, he has created a haven for relaxation and reminiscence.
Franklin says he likes nothing better than relaxing in his reclining armchair -- remote control firmly in hand -- enjoying his favourite music and movies.
He buys around 10 new DVDs a week, and counts Ray and Platoon as his all time favourite films.
The Batcave is also home to a cream couch sporting an animal print throw rug and a timber coffee table which is just one of Franklin's many furniture pieces and sculptures made from Tasmanian timbers.
There is also a rarely used pinball machine in one corner, a conga drum which the keen drummer sometimes has a belt on and a surfboard up against a wall, although Franklin says he has never been back in the sea since his brush with death.
A white kitchen with stainless steel appliances opening up into a leafy courtyard completes the downstairs area, and the amateur cook admits his skills extend only to stir fry. Or toast.
Upstairs is a bedroom and a recording studio, again dotted with mementos, and Franklin says he is quickly running out of space to store all of his bits and pieces.
But having lived in the cottage for almost two decades -- after being drawn to Hobart to work for radio station 7HT in 1977 and then setting up his advertising and events business Radar Promotions -- he says he would be reluctant to leave.
``This home is my passion because there's stuff in here from every corner of the earth,'' he explains. ``It's like a sanctuary in every room.''
And he can thank in part the shark that spared him his life all those years ago.
``If I hadn't survived the shark attack I would never have made it to Tasmania,'' he says.
``And that would have been a real shame.''

For pictures of Radar and Radar Jr, as well as Laurel & Hardy, check Whitey's page.

Here's some info on another larger-than-life former Radio DJ, Jimmy Saville.

SMH goes one better

Check this link out. You can now view the whole print edition of the Sydney Morning Herald (and, I assume, The Age) online. It's free. At the moment!

The service provider, Newspaper Direct currently has over five hundred newspapers available.

".....it would be like allowing a gravel company to quarry Stonehenge."

The art of darkness

Richard Flanagan has been accused of seeking out controversy. His new book about the 'war on terror' supposedly reveals a 'messianic agenda'. But, the Australian novelist tells Stephen Moss, when the country is going to the dogs you have to speak out

Friday April 20, 2007
The Guardian

Hanesy's film cracks the festival circuit

Hanesy's film "The Truth About Weapons of Mass Destruction" has been shortlisted for the "Best UK Documentary" "Tinny" at the 2007 Swansea Bay International Film Festival. It's also been selected as an official entry in the Everglades Film Festival in South Africa.

Filmed in Belgium, France and the UK, the film documents just how easy it is to get hold of chemical weapons armaments left in what were once the trenches of WWI.

Hanesy's brother also seems to have a bit of a penchant for the camera (tho admittedly, production values are not quite as slick)....check out the Wollongong Rocket Club.

****Newsflash****

The snowball keeps on rolling....word has it that TTAWOMD will also soon be screening at a regular London documentary night. Watch Hanesy's space.

The Tory Atlas Of The World

Or "What do you mean, the world's not pink anymore?"

Thanks to Simon for sending this thru. Click image for full size.Image originally found here.

Travolta: Is a new renaissance (in oblivion) on the way?

From this:
Virgin Radio, (Christian O'Connell, how do you feel?) to which I have the slight misfortune of listening to most days (hey, it ain't 6Music, but it certainly isn't the wrist slashing numbness that is Heart) has been plugging the absolute bejesus out of the latest John Travolta vehicle, Wild Hogs. Along with a relatively humiliating appearance on Jonathan Ross and a "mystery mechanical problem" with his personal 707, the publicity machine has been running overtime. Well, the reviews have hit the papers now, and surprise, surprise, it's no Wild Hog, more like a lame dog.

It's also a shame to see William H Macy relegated to such turgid Disney dross.

I'll let Peter Bradshaw from The Guardian give it his single star best......












....To this

The Boat Race 2007

Most of the Australian expats in London seemed to gather along the banks of the Thames on Easter Saturday for the annual Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race. As you can see from these pics, the race itself took a bit of a second precedence to events more onshore based......

Cambridge did it by a length and a quarter or so, by the way.

Giggedy

The Quagmire compilation. There's a heap more where that came from.

The Fall - Last stand @ Hammersmith Palais

Dave, Chris, Hanesey, Pandora, Andrew and myself went to the Hammersmith Palais last night to watch Mark E Smith and The Fall. The place was rammed, as it was the last night before The Palais, London Music institution closed forever. the bulldozers move in mighty soon to reduce it to rubble..to be replaced by an office block and restaurtant (probably Starbucks). Anyhow, the gig was great, Smith was incoherent. The band (all yanks now at the moment, apart from his wife on keyboards/vox, who is from Romania) were amazingly tight. There was a one number encore, before Smith announced "Thank you for allowing me access to your secured area" and left the stage. Unlike other venue closedowns, the crowd then filed obligingly and quietly out of the building that has seen many thousands of acts for the very last time. There's a few more pix on smugmug.

Next act: Jim and the JCB's