Central Station: the transport hub of the city. Trams and metro to all parts of the city; buses to all parts of the suburbs. Ferries to get you across the harbour. And trains, of course, to the airport, to the rest of the country, to the rest of Europe. Underneath the station a crisscross of subways provides the usual transport-hub range of things a traveller in need might be looking for. New luggage, flowers, quick food. There are fast food units in the subway, selling chips, fried chicken in a bun, other forms of quickly-cooked meat, where the shy but hungry traveller need not even speak to the staff; and conversely a shy fast-food-frier never need speak to their customers. The whole front of the unit is a wall of clear plastic coin-operated boxes, each with a door at the front and a door at the back, each hopefully containing some tasty but unhealthy morsel. The hungry traveller puts their coins in the slot and opens the box; at the back, the staff fill up empty boxes with more hot food. Everything is, under heat lamps, on display behind its little perspex door to tempt you.
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Keyword noise: holiday, travel, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Nederland, Holland, Noord Holland.
In which we have a trip out by train
Published at 5:50 pm on June 1st, 2010
Filed under: Dear Diary, Geekery, Trains.
Never mind “Spring Bank Holiday”: it’s June, and it feels like it’s summer already: last weekend, we had a day at the beach, and both ended up horribly sunburned. As shorts aren’t an option for work, I winced every time I moved my legs. Yesterday: a bank holiday weekend, and beautiful sunshine again, so we went off for a cream tea and a steam train ride.
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Keyword noise: Buckfastleigh, countryside, Devon, railway, River Dart, rural, seasons, South Devon Railway, Staverton, steam, steam train, summer, Totnes, travel, weather.
In which we visit a small corner of London
Published at 8:42 am on May 29th, 2009
Filed under: Photobloggery, Dear Diary.
Regular readers might recall that recently, we visited the London Zine Symposium, and I mentioned it on here. That post, after lots of rambling about the aristocratic “anarchists” of the zine world, ended with us leaving the zine symposium and heading off into the big city, with no hint of what we might do next.
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Keyword noise: cemetery, City of London, G F Watts, graveyards, London, memorial, Postman's Park, travel.
It had been a while since I’d been to London. We stumbled out of bed early to get to the Zine Symposium, to give us time to get to the station and get the first London train of a Bank Holiday Sunday. The guard didn’t bother to unlock the whole train; he unlocked one door and stood by it, so he could manage the queuing passengers and let us wander along the inside to find our seats.
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Keyword noise: amateurism, anarchist, Brick Lane, cake, class struggle, Lapdogs Of The Bourgeoisie, left wing, libraries, London, London Underground, London Zine Symposium, publishing, radical, self-publishing, small press, Spitalfields, travel, trustafarian, vegan, zines.
In which we discuss similarities between books and blogging
Published at 9:56 am on January 26th, 2009
Filed under: Artistic.
Last week, in the last Book I Haven’t Read post, I mentioned By Hook Or By Crook by David Crystal, and predicted that – in contrast to the book I was actually writing about – I’d have By Hook Or By Crook rattled through and quickly finished off.
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Keyword noise: blogging, books, By Hook Or By Crook, David Crystal, information, inspiration, journey, road trip, travel, writing.
In which I remember arriving in Riga
Published at 10:43 am on December 30th, 2008
Filed under: Dear Diary.
In which we're warm on holiday
Published at 12:26 pm on February 17th, 2008
Filed under: Dear Diary, The Family.
“Ooh, how are you going to cope with the weather,” everyone said, when I told them I was going to Riga. “You’d better get some warm clothes.”
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Keyword noise: climate, clothing, cold, holiday, Latvia, Riga, shopping, travel, weather.
In which we enjoy ourselves on the Baltic
Published at 6:21 pm on February 14th, 2008
Filed under: Dear Diary.
In which we anticipate a holiday
Published at 11:14 pm on January 14th, 2008
Filed under: Dear Diary.
I’ve already told this to just about everyone, because I’m bouncing up and down already. In a few weeks time, we’re off on holiday. To Riga! I thought I’d mention it here, though, just to say: if any readers know anything good to do in Riga in winter, let me know. I know it’s a long-shot, but you never know who reads this and where they’ve been.
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Keyword noise: E Shrdlu, holiday, Latvia, Riga, travel.
In which we remember things we’ve done
Published at 4:25 pm on December 31st, 2007
Filed under: Dear Diary.
Last year, I spread my favourite memories over a series of posts, and wrote each one up properly. This year, I’m still feeling rather woozy and fuzzy-headed; but, nonetheless, these are the things I remember most clearly about the year.
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Keyword noise: Devon, flight, flooding, memories, travel.
I’m always sad when a holiday’s over; when it’s time to pack up the tent and drive home again, leaving nothing but a little patch of yellow-white grass behind.
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Keyword noise: camping, holiday, travel.
Or, checking in from Devon
Published at 10:53 am on June 1st, 2007
Filed under: Dear Diary.
Right now I’m sitting on a quayside in Plymouth, in front of some white fluffy clouds, lots of yachts, various “rustic” harbourside buildings, and an Apple Mac. The Mac is nearly as much a holiday as the rest of it: I keep forgetting that British Macs have American-style keyboards, with the ” and @ keys the wrong way around.*
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Keyword noise: Apple Mac, Devon, holiday, keyboard, Plymouth, travel.
Or, postcards from Cornwall
Published at 1:35 pm on May 28th, 2007
Filed under: Dear Diary.
In which we go away for a while
Published at 7:28 am on May 26th, 2007
Filed under: Dear Diary.
Time for a holiday – the tent’s ready, the car’s all loaded, and we’re going camping. Someone will be looking after the site whilst I’m away, I promise.
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Keyword noise: camping, holiday, torch, Torche, travel.
In which we leave for home
Published at 11:02 pm on January 30th, 2007
Filed under: Dear Diary.
Glasgow just wasn’t Glasgow last Saturday. Why? We walked down Queen Street, and there weren’t any goths or skater kids standing around outside the art gallery. None. Not one. The pavements, though, were wet. “They must have all just been hosed away,” said C. We looked around the art gallery, but the main gallery was closed off for installation, and none of the rest was particularly impressive. Being too lazy to get on the subway and go out to Kelvingrove, we ambled back up Sauchiehall Street and got ready for our night out.
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Keyword noise: Glasgow, holiday, photography, Scotland, travel, Wemyss Bay, railway station.
In which we return to Scotland for the first time in a few years
Published at 2:21 pm on October 16th, 2006
Filed under: Dear Diary.
When I looked out of my hotel window, I remembered why I missed the place. In a tower block above Charing Cross station, the random architecture of the city looked lovely in the early morning light. To the west, I could see the spire of the university.
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Keyword noise: Charing Cross, Glasgow, holiday, Scotland, travel.
In which travel is a bad idea
Published at 1:42 pm on August 10th, 2006
Filed under: Media Addict.
In which we go self-catering
Published at 11:14 am on June 29th, 2006
Filed under: Dear Diary.
…was the headline on the Evening Standard billboards when I was wandering around Islington this morning looking for a bus. It’s not a headline you hear every day. It turns out that the manic in question was a ‘heavy plant operator’, which at least might explain how he knew how to get hold of a JCB at 7 in the morning, never mind how to drive one.
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Keyword noise: Archway, food, fry up, greasy spoon, holiday, Indian, JCB, London, photography, travel.
In which power goes to people’s heads
Published at 5:57 pm on June 24th, 2006
Filed under: Political.
I said yesterday that politics hasn’t been interesting me lately. It’s not so much that I’m feeling a lack of interest, but I’m trying to block out just how authoritarian this government is becoming. As was shown by yesterday’s prime-ministerial speech on Justice: “Justice should mean summary justice” was one of its messages. The other was: “I want to lock up anyone I don’t like, but those nasty judges won’t let me.”
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Keyword noise: authoritarianism, civil liberties, government, holiday, justice, liberty, media, power, travel.
It’s not only Friday again, but it’s my last day in the office until July. Hurrah! Come Sunday, I’m off down to London for a week, to mooch around museums, go to a Shimura Curves gig, do some geek-shopping, and generally get up to nefarious stuff. I’ve already arranged to meet a few intimidating internet people, who, I suspect, are not to be trifled with; but if anyone else would like to stalk meet me, get in touch.
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Keyword noise: Big Dave, campaigning, camping, congratulations, gig, holiday, London, music, rain, Shimura Curves, travel, weather.
It does come around fast, doesn’t it? Here it is, a beautiful day outside, a clear blue sky, and here I am sat inside updating the blog. Still, it’s almost too hot and sunny to go out. What I could really do with: a laptop, a wireless card, and a deckchair, so I could sit in the shady bit at the bottom of the garden, surfing the web with a nice big G&T. I can’t sit in the sunshine, I burn too easily.
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Keyword noise: geek, graphs, holiday, luggage, monitoring, MRTG, SNMP, networking, travel.
On top of the timezone confusion, work is getting a little pressured this week. I’ve been driving about between branches carrying equipment backwards and forwards, because if you’ve got a large amount of data in the wrong place, the quickest way to sort things out is still to put your computer in the boot of your car and drive it down to Another Part Of The Forest’s branch office. Squeezing it down an internet pipeline takes all day; driving to the other side of the county only takes an hour.*
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Keyword noise: busy, commuting, data transfer, driving, Sneakernet, travel.
In which we recognise someone
Published at 8:36 pm on March 8th, 2006
Filed under: Dear Diary.
In case you were wondering: last week, I was away in Wales. I was staying in the small, snowy town of Penrhyndeudraeth, Meirionydd, doing some volunteer work.* Of course, I came back from my holiday needing another one to recover from it.
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Keyword noise: advertising, celebrities, Meirionydd, tourists, travel, Cymru, Wales.
I always enjoy W’s parties, even the ones I can’t remember afterwards.* And, because it was their wedding, this one seemed extra-special.
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Keyword noise: bounce flash, celebration, Civil Partnership, London, marriage, party, photography, travel, wedding.
In which I return from London
Published at 8:01 am on February 20th, 2006
Filed under: Dear Diary, Meta.
Well, I’m back at the office again, pleased to see that WordPress‘s advance-publishing feature works as advertised, to get Saturday’s post up whilst I was still waking up in my hotel bed in Barking.
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Keyword noise: Civil Partnership, holiday, London, travel, wedding.
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