I ventured inside the Trocadero today. Man will I be returning! There are so many weird and wonderful shops in there just a stone’s throw away from work.
Today I managed to pick up a skinny white tie and a pinstriped gangster hat in preparation for tomorrow.
I must admit though that the escalators freak me out. You shouldn’t be allowed to see what happens when the steps disappear!
Technology is fast becoming one of my favourite travel buddies. This past weekend in Brussels I found new and exciting ways my BlackBerry can work harder for me.
Reason #1: the built-in camera
I’ve never been the biggest fan of camera phones. I never saw the point in having a phone in your camera when a separate camera is far superior in image quality. However, I’ve begun to see the advantages.
To explain: one of my favourite past-times is frequently supermarkets, especially foreign ones. When I lived in Italy it was a weekend ritual. And one of the best things about foreign supermarkets are the weird brand names. So when, for example, I am wandering around a Belgian supermarket and come across a box of chocolate pudding with the word “Plop” emblazoned across it my first instinct is to take a photo of it.
Now many people get annoyed if you take photos inside a store so when you want to get a quick pic for posterity you want to aim for stealth-like movements. Getting your camera out, switching it on, lining it up and shooting the picture isn’t gonna cut it. Whipping out your phone and pretending that you’re tapping out a text message while aiming it at the box of Plop and snapping your pic in the meantime, on the other hand, is super-stealth and guaranteed to get that shot you can then go and post on Facebook.
Given that my built-in camera takes photos at 1600×1200 resolution the shots actually turn out quite well.
Reason #2: TwitterBerry
What’s the fun of going away if you can’t tell everyone where you are and how much fun you’re having? Twitter is set up to receive SMS updates but at 25p a pop on O2 I’d think twice about sending a tweet. Enter TwitterBerry. Coupled with pay-as-you-go data it allows you to update Twitter for a fraction of the cost. Bragging hat: present.
Reason #3: GPS & Google Maps
What’s the easiest way to spot tourist in the street? Look for the lost soul holding up a map. Maps are all very well and good but what if it’s raining? Your map will turn to pulp before you’ve found the square with cathedral. And what if you don’t want to look like a tourist/mug-ee target? Rather than announcing to the general public that you are in fact lost and are waiting for your money belt to be stolen why not look like you are simply writing a text while waiting for the crosswalk sign to turn green?
Using the GPS function in my BlackBerry coupled with Google Maps and O2’s reasonable data charges I could find out exactly where I was in Brussels and where I wanted to go without drawing unnecessary attention to myself. I just looked like someone who was incredibly engrossed in text messaging (which is actually the case 99% of the time anyway).
Now I just need to find more weird and wonderful ways my BlackBerry can help me when travelling.
I must say I do like St Pancras. With WH Smith, Foyles, M&S, Accessorize, Paperchase… the list goes on, I had plenty of ways to kill the two hours til I was due to depart.
Once I exhausted those stores I pulled up a very cold pew and read my book for this trip: Paperback Raita.
When it was about time to go through the checks I wandered over to the forex place to see exactly how good a deal I got on my euros. €0.9605 to £1… eeshk! Glad I got mine ahead of time with Thomas Exchange: €1.06 to £1!
Time for my March review of my new year’s resolutions.
And of course the underlying goal that I didn’t write down: the gym. As of today I have a three month membership! Bring on March!!!
The way the world is today you’d think that nothing was too sensitive to discuss. The internet provides us with more information than we can poke a stick at and yet the thought of actually saying something out loud scares the bejesus out of us.
Take this post on The Lost Boys blog for example. Lane wrote about a concern he has for his prostate. Straight off the bat he says that he’s “in two minds about whether to divulge”. Big ups to him for actually writing the post but boo to some of the comments.
One person commented and said, “Lane, forchristsakes, what did I tell you about putting it all out there? Shezuz, tone it down. Stick to your miseryguts moping, anything, but this…”.
Another simply wrote, “ T . M . I”.
I’m sorry, but since when should we be ashamed to talk about these kinds of problems?
It makes me so infuriated every time I hear about situations where people could have helped themselves but were too scared to. Why were they scared? In the case of prostates it’s usually because they didn’t want some scary examination (note: you can get blood tests to check for these things now). Do people not understand that it’s a trade off between getting tested and let’s say, dying. For me, there’s no competition.
My closing statement: quit being scared, reserved babies and bloody well start talking about it!
Stuck inside on a lovely wintery day is just O for awesome. It’s been snowing all day and there’s no sign of it melting any time soon!
I took a quick wander down to the Common and it is covered in snow with kids and dogs and snowmen scattered everywhere!
The one thing that y0u do notice is that people are so much friendlier in this weather. In a city where no one utters a word to a stranger for some repressed fear of having actual human interaction it was a nice surprise to see people talking to each other. I saw strangers swapping cameras to take photos of each other in the snow. I even joined in and handed over my precious DSLR without the fear of someone nicking off with it. I tell you, it was better than Christmas cheer out there today.
I was totally made for this kind of weather and yet if I got it all the time it would just be an annoyance rather than a treat.
Time for my February review of my new year’s resolutions.
And now for a few more:
And a couple of long term goals:
That’ll do for now. I’ll review again next month.
Food – street food is particularly nasty to cater for the crowds who don’t know any better. Blurgh.
Outfit – if you plan on wearing a long scarf (a good idea when it’s freezing outside) tuck it into your coat before you move into the crowd or you’ll find yourself slowly being strangled as you move through the masses.
Against the grain – there is a time and place to go against the grain, in the middle of the fireworks display is not one of them. Don’t try and go against 100 people moving your way. Just wait it out and follow people out of the crowd once it’s over.
Photography – if you want photos of the fireworks display then consider leaving your SLR at home and taking your pocket camera. Trying to hold it up over the crowd to get a shot of the fireworks will be just as much of a pain in the ass as trying to stop it from strangling you/digging into your ribs while you manoeuvre through the crowd.
Options – remember, there are four entrances to Leicester Square’s tube station. Why would you queue to go through the same one everyone else is going through when you can cross the road and go straight in?
I missed my blogging birthday two years in a row!
Two years on the blog and some signs of waning have shown.
We’ll see if we can make this year a good blogging year. Try and keep up with all the events that go on and thoughts that stream through my brain.
With the onslaught of Twitter in my life blogging has taken a back seat. But sometimes 140 characters just isn’t enough.