Paul in London

No photos today. The high street retailer that sold me my phone (oh which has a camera) on Saturday took it back today. It is all a rather long and involved story involving me, a sales assistant who didn't know what he was doing, and my strange desire to keep my old number. Keeping your number if you change mobile providers apparently isn't a popular thing to do in London (or at least you are given this impression by the store I went to), and it probably makes sense as if you have given out your number to so many loonies, every now and then it is probably smart to just disappear. Of course there are only one or two loonies who have my number and I have set them up in my contacts as "DO NOT ANSWER - Mormon" in my phonebook. To keep my number, I needed to set up a new contract and return the old phone… So some rather smashing photos of London were lost. Actually they probably weren't that great, but I was perplexed by returning a phone and then getting another bran...

Scenes from a Bloomsbury Art Gallery Wednesday 17:05 - Paper mach� animals anyone? 

Scenes from the bowels of the Barbican Tuesday 17:38 

Scenes from Tooting Common Tuesday 15:52 - A bit damp today... 

Tonight I caught the movie of The Producers as the weather is great for seeing a few films at the moment… As for the film, it isn't bad although I think Will Ferrell can neither act nor sing and Uma Thurman can neither sing nor dance (nor does she have the big tits required for the role). In a way it is amazing how little talent movie and television stars need nowadays. Unfortunately for Will and Uma the need to sing, dance, act and be funny in this movie does not make them look so good… Anyway the movie is pretty much the same as the show and the original 1968 film. Some scenes seem to be lifted straight from 1968, including the way they were shot which seemed either homage to the original movie or the movie musicals of the 1950s. Whatever the inspiration it looked great (not sure about Broderick's hair colour however). Pity about the cutting of "The King of Broadway" number however. Apart from being funny, if it were included it might have prepared the audience for...

Scenes from a Soho cafe Monday 20:51 - After catching a movie this afternoon went into Soho for a spot of people watching through the large glass windows facing out on Old Compton Street. There were people out there, but none worth zooming in on...

Scenes from Tooting Bec Common Monday 14:17 - Another lovely overcast day. It had warmed up considerably today as it was at least eight degrees this afternoon. Actually it may have been warmer... It could have been nine or even ten... 

Scenes from Soho Sunday 12:02am - Just after midnight and the party gets in full swing. New Year was a bit long for me as A and I got into Soho around 8pm. Four hours later I couldn't wait for 2006 to (finally) roll by. After midnight as I started sobering up and the rest of the punters started going the opposite I noticed: My friends slurring their speech A rough looking Scotsman taking an American tourist down to the bathroom By taking two steps back after some big scary person wishes you "happynewyeeaaaah" you avoid all physical contact with them As my friends got their coats to leave, the same rough looking Scotsman walking up the stairs putting his clothes back on... Being sober did have its pros and cons...

Scenes from various parts of London Thursday evening. I kept getting the strangest of looks on the tube home with my luggage covered in plastic wrap. It was if I was carrying Laura Palmer home. Cling-wrapping your luggage probably isn't as popular here as it is in Australia as Londoners don't know that loud mouthed drug smuggler from the Gold Coast otherwise known as Schapelle Corby . I got the "Schapelle Wrap" as I wasn't confident that the zips would contain the 30kg of stuff contained within, and I didn't want my Aussiebum pants flying all over the cargo hold, rather than over any concern about what baggage handlers in Brisbane would do with them (or stick in amongst them)... Of course since everyone in Australia now is paranoid about 4kg's of dope being inserted by Brisbane baggage handlers the wrap is de rigeur. Incidentally while in Oz I heard a new jingle: Don't blame it on the sunshine, Don't blame it on the Bali Nine, Don't blame it o...

Scenes from Heathrow Thursday 19:36 - After nearly an hour at immigration (where someone was arrested after walking around for 10 minutes yelling out what sounded like "Stella" in another language), Paul walks back into London... Incidentally as the plane was getting ready to land one could glimpse all the major landmarks of London (Tower Bridge, Westminster, The Eye etc)... Just another winter's night in London. Oh and it wasn't as cold as I was expecting... Temperatures were somewhere above zero for most of the night...