The true meaning of Christmas

The winter solstice, the darkest time of the year when the days are at their shortest, the nights are at their longest and people are at the furthest point from the last summer and the next. In ancient times people needed to mark this time. It was the point after which each day would be a little longer, a little brighter and one step closer to summer. It was a time when people need some joy, hope and belief that the frozen world would be warm again. Many ancient civilizations had solstice celebrations and legends that accompany them. The Germanic peoples believed that at the solstice Odin would lead a hunting party of gods and the spirits of fallen warriors. Children who placed thier shoes by the chimney filled with straw and carrots for Odin's horse would find them filled with treats the next morning.

Unfortunatley like other pagan celebrations the winter solstice was hijacked by Christianity. and we got Christmas. Christmas has been contantly adapting and we now have the celebrations of today.

I find it shocking that we have gone from a point where people drew together at the darkest time of year in the hope that summer would return to a festival that is centered around high street retailers meeting their end of year profit forecasts. We see stores pushing christmas on us earlier and earlier in an attempt to buy as much as possible. People who have no fear of food shortages or that summer may not return and no belief in the Christian version of Christmas spend time and money preparing for a day that has no meaning other than presents, food and bad television.

I am an athiest and even I find the lack of spirituality and excess of commercialism in this festival very sad. But what really irks me is the fact dispite the fact that for most people Christmas doesn't have a shred of it's original meaning it is still compulsory (even for athiests). Any hint of not joining in turns you into a social pariah. It doesn't seem fair.

However although christmas is past I would like to try a get into the spirit of things.

I hope your grain stocks are plentiful and summer comes again.
Merry Solstice

Finding a new coke dealer pt 2

I would like to apologise to the Coca Cola company for the things I said in my last Coke related post. I accused Coca Cola of : -

• Hiring paramilitary death squads to murder and torture union members at bottling plants in Colombia.
• Causing local water shortages in regions of India.
• Selling lead and cadmium bearing toxic factory byproducts as fertilizer.
• Selling tap water as mineral water.
• Cutting donations to schools that fail to sell enough fizzy drinks to their pupils.
• Creating that awful red and white Santa Claus image.
• Using 3 litres of water to make every litre of coke.

I would like to say that I have learned that the story of Coca Cola creating the Red and White Santa Claus image is probably an urban myth. However if you want to find out more about the unethical behaviour of Coca Cola as well as other companies you may give your money to click here.

On the up side I have completely broken my Coke addiction now preferring water and fruit juice. I had a couple of cans of diet coke over Christmas and found not only that it tasted a lot worse than I remember but that I felt pretty ill after drinking it. I have no desire to try it agian.

The blood is still the life

I gave blood again yesterday. After failing to give a full donation on my first visit and having to try both arm on my second visit I was a little nervous. However everything went really well. It seems my right arm s the best for donations and if a nurse can put the needle in then it's better still. I think a lot of donors end up getting a feel for what works for them. I also found that fiddling with a juggling ball can sped up my blood flow by about 3 times!!!. The idea is that moving something around in your hands moves muscles and tendons in the arm which helps blood flow through the veins in that area. The donor carer told me that they used hand out glass rods to fiddle with but had to stop due to fears of cross contamination. I am not sure what makes a glass rod more likely to transfer germs than a donation bed, a chair, the information booklets or anything else that the donors share. However there is no arguing with these things so the next time I go I will take my own juggling ball.

I also arrived on the day the NBS team recieved their award for "Most improved team in London". Many members of the team said they would have prefered a better name for the award. It does sound like they used to be awful (which I can say is not at all true). The award had the upside of lots of celebratory snacks which the team were happy to share. The award also had the downside of being presented by a man in a Billy Blood Drop costume. I have snowboarded, zorbed and bungy jumped, but I never knew fear until coming face to face with a grinning six foot tall mound of blood. AAAAAAAAARGH

Humorous announcements

Heard over the PA at Padington station today: -

"Would customers please be aware that the floors at Paddington station are wet and slippery, this is due to the the large quantity of water falling from the skies."

Words of wisdom pt 2

Here is a brief lesson that life has just taught me: -

If you mix Cillit Bang, Cif Oxy Gel, Fairy Power Spray and Detol Multi-Action spray in order to clean stubborn bathroom tiles then wear gloves (or better yet do't do it.)

As I type this my entire body is covered in blotches, lumps and blisters. It is not nice

Finding a new coke dealer

I have decided to stop drinking products from Coca Cola. The reasons are two fold. Firstly that much diet coke cannot be good for me and I think I was developing a mild caffeine addiction. Secondly I have learned about some of the things the coca cola corporation, it's affiliates and contractors have done. These include: -

• Hiring paramilitary death squads to murder and torture union members at bottling plants in Colombia.
• Causing local water shortages in regions of India.
• Selling lead and cadmium bearing toxic factory byproducts as fertilizer.
• Selling tap water as mineral water.
• Cutting donations to schools that fail to sell enough fizzy drinks to their pupils.
• Creating that awful red and white Santa Claus image.
• Using 3 litres of water to make every litre of coke.

I have to say that giving up drinking the products made by Coca Cola has proved a bit of a wrench but a friend has introduced me to Whole Earth Organic Cola and it certainly helping. Whole Earth Cola contains all natural ingredients and doesn't taste bad. Unfortunately it is not helping my caffeine cravings.

If Coca Cola can demonstrate any of the above fact are incorrect I will happily correct them.

Religious rantings

I am an atheist who is about to try to voice some views on religion (please hold tight and don't lean out of the vehicle).

World events always evoke a lot of discussion and opinion and the events of the last few years have been more evocative than most. The subject of religion in conflicts has repeatedly come up as many people claim their beliefs give them rights or moral superiority. It seems that God's primary occupation is being asked to take sides in wars and then justifying the slaughter that results from them.

The US president and UK prime minister claim to be devout Christians but declared war on Iraq based on false evidence and then gave away Iraqi resources to western companies (in breach of 4 biblical commandments and the UN charter). Many Islamic states have claimed that this is a crusade against Islam and the cry has been taken up by suicide bombers. Some of these states have denied that Israel has a right to exist. Israel in turn have used religious doctrine to claim a right to their holy land and commit brutal acts against the Palestinians.

On the smaller stage many people have used their religion as a focus to perform acts of extreme compassion and bravery, others use religion as a platform of smug superiority where they can stand without a trace of human decency and others still use it as a stick of authority to force others to conform to their belief or will. Many people who claim to be religious choose not to be led by the doctrine and rules of their religion but rather to do what they want and interpret the doctrine in such a way as to justify this.

Contrary to the impression I may have given although I am an atheist I try to have total respect for all religions but here is what I believe: -

• Although a persons religion is sacred to them it is worth remembering it does not have to be sacred to others.
  
• Compassion, courage, sympathy, generosity, tolerance and ethical strength make people good, religion simply makes them religious.

Man's humanity to man

I installed the Ubuntu Linux distro on my machine today (Ubuntu is an African word meaning "Man's humanity to man"). As a software developer and tester for Windows based software I have to use Windows all the time. Because of this and the fact that it took me a week to set my machine up the way I like it I didn't remove Windows. Instead I set Ubuntu up in a virtual machine. I have a lot a friends who are dedicated Linux users and like most of their kind they divide their time between declaring Linux to be the single greatest thing that man has ever done and pouring red hot scorn and contempt on anything created by Microsoft. They may have a point. I have tried to get into Linux a few times but never really gave it the time or effort it deserved. The last time I tried it was a long time ago and Linux was a lot less friendly for those with a Windows background but things have changed. Hopefully this time will be different. Who knows I may even join the other side.

I also made few updates to the front page and links page of my homepage.

The roots of hatred

I have just watched Shooting Dogs. The film covers the true events of a school caught up in the Rwandan genocide of 1994. During the genocide that lasted from April to July over 800,000 Tutsis were massacred by Hutu extremeists. The school (L'Ecole Technique Officielle) became a refuge for over 2500 local Tutsi people because UN peace keepers were stationed there and seemed to offer protection. The title of the film refers to the action or rather inaction of the UN peace keeping forces. The UN mandate did not allow the UN forces to fire on the Hutu extremists that were camped outside the school with guns and machetes screaming for blood unless they were fired upon first. They were not able to act to defend Tutsis in the surrounding area. However they were able to shoot the dogs that were feeding on the bodies of killed Tutsis and therby posing a health risk.

Shooting Dogs covers a small slice of what is one of the worst attrocities of the later half of the 20th century and shows the UN's inability and unwillingness to do anything to prevent it. The film was filmed in the actual locations were the events happened and many of the production crew roles and smaller parts were filled by survivors of the massacre. Much more information can be found here

During the genocide people who had lived side by side went from being neighbours to a relationship of murderer and victim. I feel that this brutal and tragic twist in the human spirit is not as uncommon as we like to imagine. The human race has the ability to split the world into two halves and does this at almost every opportunity. Those halves can be male & female, rich & poor, black & white, gay & straight, christian & muslim, faithful & godless, rational & crazed, group A & group B. However it ultimatley comes down to the very simple idea of "Us & Them". Once we have taken a group of people and seperated them into the group called "Them" it allows us to abdicate moral responsibility for participating or being complicit in the most brutal and barbaric acts: inequality, bigotry, hatred, murder, torture, imprisonment, starvation, genocide, ethnic cleansing, terrorism, apartheid, war. The list is as long as the human imagination chooses to make it. I believe this driving instinct to break the world into "Us & Them" has caused and enabled us to heap more misery and suffering on ourselves than anything else.

I think there must be something terribly wrong with us.

Simple technology for a better world

I studied engineering at university and now work in the IT industry. Some people might think that this would make me a fan of advanced technology. In all fairness they would be correct, I have a very fast PC, a mobile phone, MP3 player and even a GPS. However I am also a fan of appropriate technology. By this I mean technical solutions that are no more advanced than they need to be. This philosophy can best be summed up by two well known sayings: -

1. The right tool for the right job.

2. If it's not broke, don't fix it.

Why put nails in a piece of wood with the nail-o-matic ultra 4000 when a hammer is cheaper, simpler, doesn't require batteries and if properly cared for can last a lifetime? I suppose this does tie in with my time studying engineering. Engineers like to solve problems and they usually like their solutions to be simple and elegant.

It is when market forces come into play that technology is driven forward further than is really required. I want a phone that can make calls, send text messages and has a decent battery life. As a consumer, phone manufacturers want me to be able to stream TV clips over 3G networks because if I don't they won't be able to sell me their new phone. These market forces have given us a population desperate to buy gadgets that will only have 5% of their features used.

But what about people who can in no way be called consumers. People in the developing world are among the most vulnerable in the world. For people whose main concern is getting clean water and a steady supply of food appropriate technology can have a profound effect on their lives. It can help them solve problems such as transport, agriculture, home building, energy, water supply and purification. It can help them create successful and profitable industries. Because the technology is simple it is reliable and can easily be maintained, improved and replicated by local people using locally available materials. It doesn't need to be complicated, it just needs to work and it certainly never needs to be able to stream TV clips over 3G networks.

One charity that has done incredible work in this area is WaterAid. WaterAid works in 17 countries across Africa and Asia. When they come to a village they help local people design and install clean water supplies and sanitation, they also teach those people all they need to know to maintain these systems as well as the importance and application of proper hygiene. Having a clean water supply can lead to incredible changes for a village. Women and children who had to walk for miles every day to collect water now have their time freed up for other things. This means more time for family life, education, work on other areas that improve their financial wellbeing. Clean local water supplies and sanitation also dramatically reduce health issues related to water-related diseases. WateAid have helped some of the 1 billion people in the world who do not have access to clean water.

I used to walk past a bookshop on my way to work. It was called "The Intermediate Technology Bookshop". The books in the window fascinated me, they covered such topics as wind energy, water purification, solar cookers, human and animal powered transport, hut building, agriculture and international trade on a small scale. If an asteroid hit us and civilization went back to the stone age this shop would tell the lucky finder everything they needed to know to pick up the pieces and start again. The shop closed (perhaps I should have gone inside and actually bought something) to be replaced by a down-market Italian restaurant which also closed to be replaced by an empty shop.

Fortunately the shop was just one part of the Intermediate Technology Development Group who have renamed themselves to Practical Action (Their site is even more fascinating than the bookshop was). Practical Action are a charity that design and implement a range of solutions to problems faced by people in developing nations around the world. They also make many of their designs freely available online along with a host of technical information. Go on, try making some of them, I dare you. Practical Action have provided such life changing solutions as: -

• Solar powered cookers.

• Improved wood burning stoves that require less fuel and produce less smoke (Excess levels of cooking smoke kills 1.5 million people a year.).

• Gravity powered rope ways in Nepal.

• Composting toilets.

• Wind and hand powered water pumps.

• Bicycle trailers and bicycle ambulances.

• Small scale electricity generation from wind, hydro, and biogas.

• Solar water distillation.

Practical Action was founded by a guy called E.F. Schumacher, an economist who wrote a book called "small is beautiful: a study of economics as if people mattered" The book suggested that the current economic model of profit and progress that leads to large corporations was damaging both the environment and the developing world. It is hard to watch the news without at least considering that he might have had a point. Schumacher attempted to befriend tree-hugging hippies and scruffy communists alike by suggesting that a better way for man to move forward is the use of intermediate technology based on communal ownership and regional workplaces using local materials. When he published the book 33 years ago it caused a sensation and although the developed world clearly didn't pay that much attention the methods he described are being used by people through the developing world (aided by many fine NGO's) to create improved resilience, prosperity and quality of life for themselves. It can put the lives and futures of people across the world into their own hands. It can help make a better world.

50 films to see before you die

Channel 4 recently showed a programme called 50 films to see before you die. It was yet another one of the countdown shows that has insidiously worked it's way on to our screens by being cheap and requiring very little creative thought to make. Unfortunately these shows contain some sort of secret chemical that makes them addictive. This means they will force otherwise rational people into spending three hours of their lives finding out what the 250 most shocking moments in a soap opera were.

I found that I disagreed with most of the choices and decided to compile my own list. I have to say as the list filled up it became increasingly difficult to decide which films to include and even worse which films to leave out. I also found the list kept changing as I thought of films that were more deserving of a place. This is my (possibly)final list (in alphabetical order): -

12 Monkeys
2001: A Space Odyssey
Alien
Apocalypse Now
Apollo 13
The Big Lebowski
Blade Runner (Original Cut)
Blazing Saddles
Brazil
Donnie Darko
Dune
Enemy At The Gates
The Exorcist
Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas
Fight Club
The Fisher King
Forrest Gump
Gattaca
The Green Mile
The House Of Flying Daggers
Interview With The Vampire
It's A Wonderful Life
The Italian Job
Jaws
Kill Bill (1 & 2)
Leon
Life Of Brian
The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy
Lord Of War
National Lampoons Animal House
Natural Born Killers
Oh Brother Where Art Thou
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Pleasantville
Pulp Fiction
The Rock
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Run Lola Run
Se7en
Seven Samurai
Seven Years In Tibet
The Shawshank Redemption
The Shining
Shooting Dogs
The Silence Of The Lambs
Sin City
Spirited Away
Time Bandits
Trainspotting
The Truman Show

Words of wisdom

A conversation with a friend reminded me of a piece of wisdom that life taught me a few years ago and that I now want to share with you all.

If you are going to drink so excessively that you are violently sick, don't do it while wearing sandals.

The blood is the life

Prompted by my friend's premature baby (see Jamie and Tom) and my mum's constant nagging I decided to start giving blood. The first time I went was 3 months ago and I was amazed at the high level of precautions taken to ensure the well being of the donors and the safety of the donations. I was also disappointed that the needle slipped and I was only able to give half a bag which is at least enough for lab use.

The second time I went was yesterday and I thought I was going to fail again. I flinched as the needle went in and they were forced to remove the needle and could not use that arm again in that session. I also acquired a fantastic bruise (shown below). They wanted to give up but I was so desperate to give my first full donation that I insisted. They swapped arms, made me sign a new set of consent forms, got a new bag and called in their senior donor carer who apparently has 20 years of being a nurse and sticking needles in people. 10 minutes and no discomfort later I had given a lovely fresh pint of O+. Hooray.

One of the frightening facts about blood donations is that the stocks of blood are always so low. At the time of writing the national blood service has only enough O+ to last 3.8 days. Without sufficient stocks of blood care of serious injuries at A&E units as well as many operations would be impossible. Yet only 5-6% of people who are eligible to give blood actually do so. I am ashamed that I took so long to start giving blood and fully intend to continue for as long as I can.

Btw the people at donation centers are always as friendly and helpful as possible. Donors are volunteering their time and effort and this is very much appreciated. I urge anyone reading this who can give blood and doesn't to at least consider becoming a donor. The National Blood Service have a great web site with lots of info. Now for the bruise (which doesn't hurt at all).

V For Vendetta

I recieved my copy of V for Vendetta on DVD today and cannot wait to see it. The film (like the graphic novel it is based on) paints a bleak distopian view of Britain under the heel of a fascist government. In both versions the fascists came to power after promising safety, security and prosperity during a period of global chaos. They then go on to perform a vast range of human rights abuses and create surveillance state where draconian laws are enforced by a brutal police force. The main protagonist (a mysterious man in a Guy Fawkes mask going by the name "V") proceeds to overthrow the government through a series of well plannned explosions, murders and public announcements.

The novel by Alan Moore was originally written during the Thatcher years. However the themes covered in the story are probably more relevant now than at any time in the past 50 years. We are in a period in history when the percieved threats of war and terrorism are being used to strip away our freedoms one by one. Guantanamo Bay, UK ID cards, The prevention of terrorism bill, The patriot act. The list goes on.

The government claimed that the prevention of terrorism bill would protect us from terrorists by giving police the ability to detain suspects for extended periods without trial based on suspicion of terrorist activities. This act was used to detain Walter Wolfgang, an 82 year old Labour Party member who heckled Jack Straw at a Labour Party conference. The same legislation was used to prosecute Maya Anne Evans who stood near Downing street reciting the names of British soldiers killed in Iraq.

Fear is a powerful means of controling a population because a fearful people will let a government do a great deal to make them feel safe. Unfortunatley once we have sold our freedoms to buy the illusion of security we may find that the price was far too high and we cannot get a refund.

I would rather be free than safe.

Learning to love the train

Like many British people I loathe commuting to work by train. The reason for this is simply that railways in Britain are some of the worst run, unreliable and over-crowded services that the human race has ever had the nerve to create (I may rant on this subject again in the future.).

That said I find a long journey on an uncrowded train a really pleasant and relaxing experience. You can sit back and read, listen to music, sleep or simply watch the scenery roll past. Although trains are not as fast as aircraft they offer a far better experience. I have traveled by plane many times and although I have no fear of flying I have learned to hate the experience; rushing to the airport to make the baggage check-in, security checks and passport controls followed by sitting for hours in a rumbly metal tube with no leg-room. Once you reach your destination you have more security and passport checks followed by the possibility that your luggage went somewhere else and the fact that the airport is miles from where you want to be.

Train travel to some parts of the world is difficult or impossible However trains can get you to far more places than most people would believe. A site is called "The man in seat 61" gives vast amounts of info on how to travel from the UK to places all across Europe and the rest of the world by train and ship. There are lots or reasons to avoid flying: -

• It creates a lot of pollution.
• Some people are afraid of flying (although it is very safe).
• Some people feel the journey is as important as the destination and an adventure in it's own right.
• The awful experience of air travel I have already outlined above.
  

If you have to fly and are wracked with guilt over the pollution created to to get you where you were going you could try carbon offsetting. Some companies will plant and maintain trees for you. They will even calculate how many trees are required to absorb the carbon created by your journey (or household utilities). Some companies will offset carbon use through a range of different project. All they ask in return is that you give them your money.

Two such companies are: -

CO2Balance.com

The CarbonNeutral Company
(They take part in various carbon reduction schemes and also sell a range of environmentally friendly gifts and gadgets.)

I am going to try to use the train for as much international travel as I can (certainly all travel to Europe). if more people did this rather than forcing themselves through the misery of air travel the world would be a cleaner and happier place and maybe we can once again learn to love the train.

Irrepressible.Info

I remember the first time I used the internet (or at least the World Wide Web). It was 1993 and I was at university studying for my engineering degree. I downloaded a picture of a dalek, the picture was not very good and it took about half an hour. I can only begin to describe the excitement I felt. The internet was full of promise; it would let people share their thoughts, ideas, feelings and troubles with the world and by doing so we would all be brought closer together. It was a new fresh frontier that would not obey the old rules and it could not help but empower ordinary people. Sitting in front of the screen looking at the dalek felt like the start of something incredible, like watching the first few pebbles move and knowing that an avalanche is not far behind.

It is now 13 years later and to be fair the internet has lived up to most of my dreams and in many cases surpassed my wildest imaginings (I certainly never saw eBay, Amazon, Google Earth or Flickr coming). However there have also been some bitter disappointments. I watched as the internet bowed inevitably to the rules of established economics and politics as governments and corporations started to notice this new creation. It started in simple ways with pay for use services and adverts included on pages. The realist in me knew that the only way for the internet to move forward was for large companies to be involved and they would only do so if there was money to be made. The romantic idealist in me felt like he was watching a newly discovered rainforest get bulldozed to build a shopping centre.

The one dream that I though was holding true was the empowerment of ordinary people. At first glance it seems ok, I am sitting here writing a blog and sharing my photos on flickr, I can use email and websites to contact my politicians find out what my local and central government is up to and protest if I feel the need to. I can contact likeminded people and join with them in common cause. The internet has given us a voice and when we make the effort that voice can be very loud. However we are the lucky ones there are many countries where the new electronic frontier comes to sudden stop. In these countries speaking your mind online is just as dangerous as speaking it anywhere else. Governments with a history of repression have extended their grip to the internet and many major IT corporations have been happy to help.

Criticizing the government, exposing human rights abuses or calling for democracy has led many internet users to be imprisoned or persecuted by their governments. China, Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia are amongst the countries where this has happened. The governments of these countries have been aided by major western IT companies who have contructed filtering systems to aid censorship, shut down websites and handed over email addresses and other personal information belonging to people who have been wrongly imprisoned as a result

Amnesty International has launched a new campaign called irrepressible.info to put pressure on companies and governments to stop political repression on the internet. From the site you can sign their petition and link your blog (if you have one) to their site and undermine censorship by displaying fragments of blogs that someone in power somewhere in the world never wanted to be read.

I honestly believe that this is a cause worth supporting. That romantic idealist in me feels that maybe if enough people take action then the internet can become the incredible tool for freedom of thought and expression that it looked like becoming 13 years ago.

Airships of the future

I know this is a bit of an odd topic but I think airships are pretty impressive. We live in a world of increasing environmental concern and one of the largest causes of pollution is jet aircraft. The good thing about jet aircraft is they are really fast. However lots of people don't need fast, in which case jet aircraft are loud, polluting and expensive. I have often thought that for cargo and passenger transport airships are seriously under used.

Imagine that you have a cargo that you want to get to a location on the far side of the world but you don't mind it taking a few days to get there. An airship could take it right to the location of your choice even if there is no airstrip (even in the middle of the ocean). The envelope could be covered in enough solar cells to run the motors by day and charge the batteries to keep it going through the night. Using GPS and satellite comms would allow it to arrive unmanned to it's destination while avoiding restricted airspace and bad weather and letting you track it's location or control it remotely if required. Helium filled airships are very tough (even shrugging off bullet holes) they can deliver goods and aid to the harshest environments on Earth. Cheap, clean, safe and convenient.

But what about passengers? Many people take holidays in which the journey is as much a part of the event as the destinations (think about cruises). How about a cruise where you look out of the window to see clouds and hills rolling past below you instead of miles of featureless ocean. Also such cruises could take place anywhere not just to coastal locations.

Airships can also play a roll in communications. How much money is spent and pollution created launching a communication satellite into orbit? A solar powered airship equipped with GPS can be told to sit at location over 65,000 feet above the ground and hold that position for years on end relaying signals from the ground and aircraft. It can then be told to return home for maintenance and upgrades.

I have often thought about this and wondered why we don't use these things more often. Was no one else thinking like me? Of course they were, lots of companies are looking at airships now and lots of projects are already in place. such as: -

World Skycat

21st Century Airships

Aeros

Sanswire Networks LLC

It would be nice to think that in a few years the sight of airships gliding silently and cleanly across the world carrying people, cargo and humanitarian aid will be a common one.

Knotty problems

Yesterday I met with friends for a meal at Soho Spice, a nice little indian resteraunt in Wardour Street London. The service and food were pretty good and I would recommend it. We then headed off to Regent's Park where I attempted to teach them some basic knots (with mixed success). I am still not sure why I was aked to do this (and maybe it's best that I don't ask), but fun was had by all.



Afterwards we strolled round Regent's Park taking a few pictures and admiring the scenery. I am always surprised by the way the parks in London can make you feel like you are so far away from the traffic, pollution and noise of the city. Suresh also claims to have seen David Schwimmer but I alas did not. Here are some pics (without celebrities).

Welcome one and all

I have finally decided to start a blog to record and share any thoughts, ideas and ramblings that I deem worthwhile. Maybe it will be interesting, maybe it will find a theme or subject, maybe I will get bored very quickly and stop posting. Let's find out.