A trip to the tailor.

I had a really pleasant trip on Friday afternoon when I went to have my new suit trousers taken up. The legs were in that unfinished state about 10 inches too long.
I’d found a tailors in Portsmouth via the internet and the Yellow Pages that I sort of remembered from my dim and distant apprentice days in the Dockyard, Tailor Lee.
The shop was mostly empty apart from a glass topped counter containing a lot of Naval badges and scrambled egg, a curtained changing area and a rail of items awaiting collection.
Tailor Lee appeared from the back of the shop like Mr Benn, a slight chinese guy that used to work on the ships when the Navy had onboard laundries and their own tailors. He was such a sweet guy.
I tried my trousers on so that Mr Lee could pin them up and when he said when do you want them, I asked how long they would take.
“Ten minutes, twenty, thirty maybe… you come back in thirty. Over road is nice coffee shop. Have coffee. Come back in thirty.”
We duly obliged.
On our return he chatted for ages about his life at sea and how much he now enjoys cruising.
“You try cruise? You try cruise? Very good. Lots of food. Food all day. You eat all day. 24 hours. You eat all day.”

He then warned us of going to Morocco, which he pronounced as Morro-Co.

“One hour in coach. Awful. Morro Co bad place. Waste my money.”
All the while he was looking at the jacket, turning it over, his expert eye checking over the stitching, the detailing, the lining, everything. He was so complimentary about the work on it too and about what a bargain it was.
“I no make myself for £175.” “Nice pockets.” “Nice detail.” “I go buy.”
For £10 he did such a great job on my trousers too. Perfect, invisible stitching.
I’ll be using Tailor Lee again I feel sure.

California dreaming…

I admired the Golden Gate from across the bay,
with the wind blowing in my face,

I crossed the bay to visit Alcatraz prison,
with the wind blowing in my face,

I took in the view from Bakers Beach,
with the wind blowing in my face,

On a cable car’s boards I rode Frisco’s hills,
with the wind blowing in my face,

And I explored the ruins of old Sutro Baths,
with the wind blowing in my face,

I think they should rename San Francisco the Windy City !!!

Back in old Blighty…

I can’t believe how fast three weeks holiday can whistle past, it’s amazing isn’t it, you spend 49 weeks of the year looking forward to your holiday, then ZAP, it flies past in the blink of an eye.

Good ol’ BA delivered us into LAX a little ahead of schedule, where we negotiated immigration unusually smoothly with the help of a VERY polite and chatty Immigration Officer who was more than happy to offer us advice on places to see and stay during our trip to California. Very rare and most welcome after 11 hours sat on a plane.

Once again California was a pure delight.

The weather was amazing, clear blue skies and warm comfortable temperatures and again Santa Monica Beach was as white and as perfect as it was last year.

The only fly in the ointment that took just a little of the shine off of our first few days was the hotel. Last year the Ramada Hollywood was so nice that it was almost perfect. The room was great, large and airy with an amazingly comfortable bed, a cracking view and the staff were friendly and helpful, a complete 180° opposite to this years experience where our room was pokey and very grubby and had no view whatsoever and the staff, without exception, were rude and disinterested. Everyday we had to ask for more towels, despite them knowing that there were four of us in our room we somehow only ever got towels, coffee and tea supplies and enough cups for two. And asking if it was possible to extend our stay by one extra night was greeted with a blunt, “NO! Where full.”.

Oh well, it’s a small gripe and it didn’t interfere with our enjoyment of Los Angeles.

So, while in Los Angeles we visited…

The Walt Disney Concert Hall. Frank Gehry’s absolutely awesome concert hall is simply nothing short of stunning. Every angle is a sheer delight and totally breath taking, and the reflections of sunlight from it’s shiny metallic surfaces are truly amazing. Contrasting sharply against the brilliant blue LA sky it was majestically beautiful.

The Bradbury Buildings. Amazing restoration of an simply beautiful building.

We also passed by the location of LA Ink aka High Voltage Tattoo.

We also visited the Hollywood Bowl to see Diana Ross who was wonderful. She sang lots of her old classics which got the audience singing along nicely with her. She also changed into some wonderful frocks about six times in the hours performance. It’s a great venue marred only by the appalling parking and simply mind-blowing grid-locked traffic and two VERY large and very rude people taking up four seats in our row, two of which were ours !!! Sitting watching Diana doing her stuff and gazing up at a starlit summers evening sky was simply wonderful. Truly a night to remember.

And we did Disney Land. Did I mention the queues ?? Despite being almost 23 our eldest Charlotte is obsessed with Finding Nemo, and during last years visit to LA she pestered us relentlessly to take her to Disney Land as Disney had recently opened a new Finding Nemo ride. Seeing as this year might be the last time that she holidays with us we thought we’d stay an extra day in LA and ‘do’ Disney Land. It WAS fun I have to admit and I must say that Disney is still magical, especially when you get to meet Mickey in person, but blimey, it was hard work. Despite not arriving at the ticket booth until about lunch time, about 12:30′ish I think after driving down from Hollywood, we still managed to spend almost 12 hours in the park !!! The Nemo ride was wonderful, but after queuing for 70 minutes to ride it some of the magic had worn off just a little. The park is a lot smaller than it’s Florida counter-part and everything is crammed in very tight, which I guess adds to the busy crowded feel. The parade was wonderful and the fireworks and Mickey’s laser show were simply amazing. It was a wonderful but incredibly tiring day, it was great to meet Mickey & Minnie and the rest of the gang too, but it’s one trip which I have no inclination to repeat anytime soon.

Once I’ve emptied my camera I’ll post up some photo’s. Being a photogenic sort of place I’ve collected quite a few pictures as you can imagine…

Go West young man…

Four week update.
It’s been almost four weeks now since I started my new job here in the wilds of Hampshire and I think it’s all gone pretty well. I’ve had a week of finding my feet and reading all the company procedures and handbooks etc. I’ve had a weeks training on the tester that I’ll be using the most, followed by a couple of weeks of programming new devices, all of which I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. The team here are friendly, the office atmosphere is nice and relaxed and overall it feels good. I think I’m going to enjoy working here.

It’s that time of year when the schools are finishing, swallows are screaming and zipping around and massive rain clouds are starting to gather on the horizon and when everyones thoughts turn to taking a holiday to escape the British summer. Yes, it’s time once again for yours truly and family to head West to visit the Colonies !! As we all enjoyed ourselves so much in California last year, we’ve decided to return again this year to explore it a little more.
Our agenda for this year is…
Spend a few days in L.A. seeing some of the bits we didn’t get to see last year, like taking in Disney Land to keep my 22 year old daughter happy. She LOVES ‘Finding Nemo’ and they have a new underwater ride there. Also we managed to get tickets to see Diana Ross at the Hollywood Bowl !!
We will then take a couple of days to drive up the coast, maybe stopping in Carmel or Big Sur on the way towards our final destination, San Francisco. I think we will have to be a little flexible in where we stop on the way though as California is experiencing yet more raging forest fires and parts of our preferred route have recently been closed because of them.
In San Francisco we’ll be doing the Golden Gate Bridge and of course paying a visit to Alcatraz. Maybe we’ll take a look at Fishermans Wharf too, Golden Gate Park and hopefully the site of the old Sutro Baths.
After gorging ourselves on the delights that California has to offer, we then head back East to our time-share in the North Georgia Mountains, Helen for two weeks of sunshine and peace. The thought of waking up each day with nothing much to do and not having to think about what to wear to keep warm or if I should maybe pack a cardigan or sou’wester just in case it rains is heavenly. Afternoons sat by the pool listening to nothing more than the trees rustling, the birds singing in the woods and the gentle lapping of the water in the pool is a pure delight and it fills my soul to bursting with joy with the very thought of it.

That about wraps it up for today.

I’ll see you all again in about three weeks….

Back in about 35,000 minutes

Random things

A quick round-up of recent ‘things’ that have occurred recently.

1. The I.T. guy at my new place, lets call him Phil, ‘cos that’s his name, is a nice but odd character. My manager advised me to take Phil with a large pinch of salt. Nice eh? Personally, I’ve only had positive dealings with the chap… so far. But one odd thing about him that I HAVE noticed is his bizarre collection of ‘things’ on his desk. Now, considering his position within the company, an I.T. expert Phil has the following peculiar items of debris on his desk…

a box of blackcurrant herbal tea bags,

a can of Mr Sheen,

a hair dryer without it’s lead,

a Tupperware box of Celebration chocolates,

a massive bright yellow tape measure,

a scrunched up hi-viz tabard,

a ripped open box of Imodium,

a pair of white plastic sunglasses,

several dirty teaspoons,

and a can of 3-in-1 oil.

2. I’ve watched a couple of good movies recently.

“Charlie Wilson’s War” A delightful, often witty film about the covert political machinations involved in bringing about the cessation of the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. Scary to think that it’s so recent too, and that our troops out there are suffering because of the amount of arms that we and the US put into Afghanistan to help stop the Russians. A good movie though and one to recommend for your ‘to watch’ list.and

“Closing The Ring“. A nice war-time tale of a kept promise set in the times of the Irish ‘troubles’ in Belfast. It kept us guessing right to the end.

3. It’s funny how after you’ve driven a newer car than your own one, how different it feels when you drive it again? I rented a brand new 7-seater Zafira the other weekend to transport my daughter home from Uni. It was very capable and carried three adults and about 2 tonnes of Charlie’s rubbish all the way home down the M1 from Leeds. There didn’t seem to any appreciable difference between driving the thing empty or driving it packed from floor to ceiling with household items, handbags and shoes. A very nice car. But….. on getting back into my Megane after dropping of the rental car… whoooooa, it felt so baggy. Everything felt loose and saggy. The gear stick seemed to be stirring jelly, not gears. It felt so weird.

4. I’m on the look-out too for some decent reading material for my upcoming holiday. Has anyone read any good books recently? I like a good thriller eg: Bourne Identity. I don’t mind a good love story either eg: Nicolas Sparks

OK, that’s it for now….

Day one…

Well, that’s day one over with !!

I must say that it went pretty well.

Coming from a BIG multinational, it’s weird that from my desk I can see everyone in the company, well, apart from 8 guys downstairs. Weird eh?

On the upside, I get a new mobile phone, although it’s lost in the building somewhere, and a DELL laptop as part of the ‘tools’ for my work. (wooooo) But on the downside, I can’t access my home emails or my BLOG from the company internet !!! But hey ho…. it’s all swings and roundabouts I guess.

Most of today was spent reading up on the HR and H&S stuff… [yawn]. Tomorrow I get my hands on one of the testers I’ll be working on though. =:o)

TTFN, bp.

The penultimate day…

My desk is now totally cleared, yup, it’s a first for me I must say !!! Feels kind of odd though having a completely clear desk, bare walls and totally empty drawers.  All my personal ‘data’ has been removed from my PC too, being carefully backed up on various CD’s, USB drives and an online data storage site, so my PC now appears to be running a lot quicker than it ever did ??? (Was I abusing it THAT much??) Now it’s just a case of turning up at work and burning up the hours until I leave. Feels like a waste of time. It’s certainly a waste of petrol !!! So, I’m almost out of here. ALMOST !!!

Tonight though, we’re off out.

First we’re eating out at Las Iguanas. They’ve recently opened a place in Gun Wharf Quays near us and are doing a 2-for-1 offer in conjunction with the local newspaper. So tea tonight will be ever so slightly Latin !! Following that we’re off up the road to the theater to see “The Now Show” being taped for BBC Radio 4 !! Tickets were free, which was a bonus. We all love listening to radio comedy at home, so it’ll be a treat to actually be a part of the audience for once. We’ve been in a couple of radio audiences before, once at the Drill Hall in London to see “The Hudson and Pepperdine Show” which is sadly no longer running, and also for “Just A Minute” with Nicholas Parsons, both of which were so funny to see live. So it should be good and I’m quite looking forward to it.

I’ll report back tomorrow on the dinner AND the show !!!

TTFN… BP.

A BIG job !!!

One thing about moving on is starting to get to me. It’s not just the fact I’ll be sad at leaving some good friends and colleagues behind. That goes without saying. But the fact I’ve got to empty my desk out !!!! What a task !!! With nearly six years of accumulated ’stuff’ to sift through and decide whether it’s going to make the journey to my new desk it’s a daunting task.

Festival thoughts…

One of the things I like about going to the Isle of Wight Festival is not just being able to enjoy the music, but it’s about enjoying the whole atmosphere. Everyone, well, about 99.99% of them, are there to have a good time and almost everyone you bump into during the festival is smiling, happy and friendly. Obviously, with drink available 24/7 over the three days there are a lot of ‘happy’ people around but it’s rare that you see any bad behavior because of it.

So while your there you sort of leave the ‘real’ world behind.

Personally I find that I don’t really think about anything at all while I’m there apart from “Who’s on next?” “Have we got time to grab a coffee?” and “What shall I have for dinner/tea/supper?”

On Saturday afternoon the sun was shining, I was laying on my back having just eaten a scrumptious falafel wrap and became aware that I was just looking at the clouds and I began seeing all kinds of funny shapes in them. Bunnies. Snails. Dogs. All sorts of ‘animals’ just floated by to a gentle background of music and crowd noise. It was delightful.

Changing sides…

Hi fellow bloggers, it’s Blue Pixel once again. I was getting a little lonely over on Blogger.com so I thought I’d hop over the fence and set up shop over here in WordPress land. It seems to be a little busier over here. And I must say it looks rather nice too… lots of lovely layouts to choose from and a lot more customisable too.

More later…

BP