things that happen today

getting old me. These are the reading glasses i bought for £1 . strength 1.0 I like them because they look like ordinary glasses instead of half moon.

london

It's not even 2pm and allready I had an interesting morning.

At about 9am, my friend, Thierry,who lives in north london, called me to say he will be coming to victoria, to visit an old lady pensioner friend of his. he said he is not sure if she can see him, but he is coming to town anyway, and hope to meet up with me.

I think he called me early this time because last time, he called at about 12pm, when i was at the gym and I missed his call and so by the time i got the message it was at night, far too late to call him or for him to come to my flat after visiting his old pensioner friend who lives near me.

Anyway, i said to him if he is early, or if, as he said she is too ill to see him, he might come to the gym instead of my flat. i had taken him there before so hopefully he would know where it is.

After my workout, and after i have read the papers, he still had not come.So i went to clintoncard's in victoria station to redeem the free voucher for a roll of wrapping paper which i cut out from the daily mail.

It costs £1.99 (very expensive paper) retail price but i got it free. The daily mail costs 50p so i wonder how they are able to make a profit, unless the wrapping paper, (there was only 3 choices of colours, gold, silver and red, I picked the gold) is very cheap to make.

I was passing the Chamama tea shop opposite the sainsbury's and there was a guy giving out this free tea voucher. I asked for two thinking my friend might like to have tea with me there. (in the end, we did not use it. i had another look at it, and there is no date, so maybe i can use it another day. It's not that i crave tea, not at all, but it is a pleasant place to sip tea and read the papers.

I passed the tesco, and saw outside the entrance two metal carts overflowing with bakery goods, doughnuts of all kinds , bread, etc and I thought so that is why they dont sell it cheap, preferring to throw these away. Bloody wasteful. I heard freegans raid these carts and take away the foods, and i wish them all the best. I only wish i know where they store these carts so i can raid it too.

That is the capitalist system for you. The profit from their products is large enough for them to make it worthwhile to manufacture the goods, so u get large choices and easy availability in the shops at a price. The correllary to that there is waste... the excess is thrown away. It cannot be sold cheap or given away to the needy, or people will wait for it rather than buy it at full market price.

How do we get hold of these thrown away stuff?????By doing what the freegans do, raid the waste bins at night.

After seeing all that food wasted i simply did not feel like buying anything from the store at their inflated prices. I walked in and walked out again.

Added. 1/12/09 I am putting in a correction to the above. I think i jumped to the wrong conclusion about the food. I think it was a new delivery, just offloaded and waiting to be rolled into the store through the goods entrance next to the customer entrance. So it was not old food. there were no price labels on them, now i recall. Lucky i did not take any, otherwise it would be theft. haha. my apologies for castigating tesco. sorry.

I thought i shall put this apology instead of erasing the embarrassing bit above, to show that we can make mistakes and make false accusations.

many times i have read other people's ranting about something in their post and realise they were mistaken. I did not write in of course, but had hoped that they would find out their mistake and post an apology. There would be no harm in admitting mistakes. So i thought now this opportunity has arisen, i shall follow what i preach. haha.

I got home and was surprised that john M is still here. In a way i will be glad to get privacy again when he leaves tomorrow early to catch his flight back to the usa.

When I got back to the flat, I got a few calls on the phone from a marketting company asking me to do a survey, but i put the phone down on the first time they called. And usually they dont call again, but for some reason this company called soon after, so i asked them to take me off their list.

Then, my friend Thierry called to say he is not feeling well, and prefer to go home rather than come to my flat and asked me if i mind. i said, i dont mind. he sounds a bit down, and i hope his old lady friend had not depressed him.

I know now why old people like the company of the young, because if they visit their old friends, it will only be to listen to more groans about old age, and that I think will depress anyone.haha.

I have to admit i dont really like being with really old people.They moan too much, and the thing is they have good reason, so u cannot tell them to snap out of it, haha. but it is still very dispiriting to listen to it. Or if they dont moan, they are actually showing the effects of age, and it is just as dispiriting to see them with their disabilities.

Added. I know it all sounds bad thing to say about old people but it is how i feel then, and i just write how i feel. sorry if it sounds offensive, but hey this is my blog and i shall write how i feel, even though it may reflect badly on me.

I think generally i dont like to be with people who moan a lot. So whether young or old, i tend to avoid them.

I am saying all this about old people when I am getting old too. I just bought a reading specs for 99p in brixton from the 99p shop. Though the receipt the cashier gave me was for £1.99. Did she make a mistake? It cannot be a mistake right? because everything in that store is supposed to be 99p. Anyway i did not bring it to her attention, because as far as i m concerned she charged me the right price nevermind what it says on the receipt. In fact if these glasses are actually £2, and she had asked me for £2, i would not buy it. I did not see any price on the glasses, so assumed it is £1 or rather 99p. The cashier gave me 1p change.

Ah well, all i can say is i hope i die before i get to that stage where old age takes its toll. My soul will make sure i do, i hope.haha.

This afternoon, i decided to cycle to brixton to buy garlic and ginger as I have run out. The garlic, 4 usually for 50p is now 60p. The ginger is still 50p. I saw 3 red peppars for 50p and bought them. Lets hope the increase in garlic is a seasonal one.

The temperature was about 6C, when i cycled there, but i did not feel it was cold. maybe all that exercise cycling there kept me warm.

Change always happens. The reason i say it is because right now my hot air gas heater is not working. It worked yesterday. The pilot light wont light up. Sometimes i wish i know how to maintain these things.

Is it better to stick to just electricity usage? rather than dual power? In other words just have the flat use electricity only? Well, i m going to find out, whether i like it or not.haha.

The way the tariff is structured, there is an initial very high cost for the first amount about 1.3kwh a day electricity used, then after that the cost is halved. It drops to 11p a kwh from the 22p a kwh.

Gas appears to be cheaper at 6p per kwh initially, dropping to 2.5p a kwh later. But one unit of gas is actually 33kwh. And a unit of gas gets used up very quick. I figured one hour of gas burnt uses up 1unit; that would be 33kwh.

In the past, gas was cheap, but since they increase the tariff by so much more, it has become closer to electricity now. That is why last time i used only electricity for heating, it was expensive, but now i think it will be cheaper.

The stand alone electric heater use about 1kw an hour. So i have to use 33 hours heating by one electric heater to use up 1unit of gas or 3 heaters going for 11 hours non stop. but of course, cost per kw in electricity is 5x more expensive.

maybe after all, gas will still be cheaper.

Well, I shall find out at the next electricity bill for I shall be using only electricity now. Unless by some miracle I am able to get the pilot light on again.

Tonight we are supposed to have temperatures as low as 0C. We shall see if the reality fits the forecast. It's about 3C now.

Original weather data dumped

london
It seems the original data from the weather stations that was used to compile the paper that concluded global warming is man made is dumped.

The credibility of the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia (UEA) had allready been questioned with the revelation of the emails hacked from their website, and now this revelation that they had dumped the original data must be the coup de grace.


The UEA’s Climatic Research Unit (CRU) was forced to reveal the loss following requests for the data under Freedom of Information legislation.
The data were gathered from weather stations around the world and then adjusted to take account of variables in the way they were collected. The revised figures were kept, but the originals — stored on paper and magnetic tape — were dumped to save space when the CRU moved to a new building.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6936328.ece

What might surprise many of us, who are not scientists but at the minimum know that peer review must involve original data, is to read that the original data was never published and made available for peer review.

The scientific journal where the first paper warning of global warming by man, is at fault for not being rigorous in its peer review.

So many reputable scientists have believed the conclusion of the CRU paper and never thought to check the original data... and now their reputation has been tarnished by association.

It is frightening to see that this global warming scare has been based on non peer reviewed work.

I found this when i googled 'university of east anglia'.

In relation to the specific requests at issue here, we have handled and responded to each request in a consistent manner in compliance with the appropriate legislation. No record has been deleted, altered, or otherwise dealt with in any fashion with the intent of preventing the disclosure of all, or any part, of the requested information. Where information has not been disclosed, we have done so in accordance with the provisions of the relevant legislation and have so informed the requester.
http://www.uea.ac.uk/mac/comm/media/press/2009/nov/homepagenews/CRUupdate

it looked like their lie have been exposed.

There was a comment that the bbc is biased against reporting sceptical views of global warming, and it is true that as from this writing, the bbc website has no report on this in their science and environment page, nevermind the front page.

Perhaps the times is the only one breaking the news. If so, than it has a scoop. If murdoch gets his way and we have to pay to view it, in future we might not be able to read it for free. But sooner or later, this news will be picked up by the other websites.

free public conveniences

london
Yesterday, we enjoyed the slo cooked curry beef so much that simon took out the other lot of beef which he had frozen and thawed that and cooked it. This time he divided it into two batches. One he slo cooked using the bottled sauce(adding a lot of chilli, like me he likes it chili hot), the other he cooked in the pressure cooker as a beef stew with dumplings.

It's one of the simplest and nicest pleasures of life to eat stewing beef.

My day today, has been rather ordinary. It was raining when i woke and chatted with John M who had come back from amsterdam, and is going back to usa on tuesday. he is now having a final fling at a piss club and has not come back yet.

I decided not to work out today,so delayed going to the gym till about 12noon and just go to the gym to read the mail on sunday paper.

Yesterday there was no saturday paper in the gym, and i asked why of the receptionist. But she had no idea why either. So i was glad to see the paper there today.

I enjoy reading the paper there and would be rather sad if they decided it is too expensive to carry on with it.

I enjoy walking about the neighbourhood, even in the rain and sussing out the supermarkets to see what bargains to be had,(none today).

Using the toilet in the gym,even though my gym membership only allows me entry before 11am but the receptionist let me; and also the public toilets at the streetmarket near the tesco. It is paid for by the market traders in their rental, but everyone can use it.

You might say i am scrounging on it, but then my council tax is used to pay for these things too. EVen if my council tax is used to pay for other facillities that i dont use, I dont mind it. It is part and parcel of living in a community and letting others have free use of the facillities.

Unlike other countries, even malaysia, where all these toilets have to be paid for with an entry fee, these public toilets are free to use.

The public toilets in the westend, in trafalgar square, in leicester square and elsewhere are free too, and i like that. so many places in other countries wants u to pay for it. And of course the toilets in the free museums and art galleries in uk are free to use too.

It's a good thing. I think if i were a tourist i would appreciate that. I certainly appreciate it as a local person living here. Nowhere in the rest of the world do u get to use public toilets free. Now dont u agree that is unique to the uk?

overdrawn accounts

london
banks will charge u a hefty fee if u get overdrawn without permission.
A lot of people who got caught out, were aghast to be fined £35 or more for being even 1p overdrawn. it might be unfair, but perhaps it would make them ensure they have enough money in their currant account.

I remember once, a long time ago, my bank charged me £35 for telling me i was overdrawn. I successfully persuaded them to waive that fee. But then, i am a customer who very seldom if ever go overdrawn. I would rather put my currant account in credit rather than be overdrawn.

I wonder whether my present bank, first direct,(it is an internet bank) knows i am a careful customer and wont abuse this facillity. That is why it allows me to overdraw by £250 on my currant account without penalty. Theoretically, i can from now on incur a minus balance up to £250 and not have to pay interest on it either. But even though i can, I still dont. Habits die hard and i am still very loathe to go too much overdrawn. What this facillity do is to make me less meticulous about keeping the currant account always in credit.

That is why i agree with the writer of the article (link below) which says dont all of you assume it is the poor who are always overdrawn.

More often than not , it is the person who spends more than they earn and some of these people earn a lot. It is just that they spend a lot too.

It is the reckless and careless who do. And i think they should pay for it, rather than have the bank forced to charge everyone for currant accounts.

The uk is unique i think in having free banking.

It would be a shame if that is withdrawn all because of some who abuse it by being always overdrawn which they will do if they dont have to pay a penalty fine.

Even with a fine, if the fine is not large, these people will be tempted to use it to get credit and then keep borrowing without permission, until the debt gets so big, they cannot pay.

Better that the bank show them they cannot do that by charging them a huge fine and that will make them stop.

We all know such people exists who if given an inch, will take a yard. That is typical of some humans, and if i were to be unkind i would say majority of humans.

having said all the above, I know the banks are relying on human nature to take that yard, and go overdrawn. They love it because than they can fine that person and make lots of profits. haha. It is because so many go overdrawn that the banks can make so much money that they can give the rest of us free banking.

There was a tv program showing two houses next door to each other and saying one house did not claim on his flood insurance and has an excess of £100. The house next door had claimed about 10times and has an excess of £10,000.

The tv program said it is unfair that two houses next door to each other have different excess.

I cannot help thinking that it is fair. That house that claim so much thought it was onto a good thing, and claimed every time it could, whilst the other did not wish to claim. So i think it is fair that the one that claimed have its excess go up and up. That might teach him not to claim every time it floods. All insurance have no- claim bonuses.

But everyone seems to side the house that claims and say it is unfair. No one pointed out that if u claim so often, ur excess is bound to go up to reflect it. I wonder why the presenter did not point it out either!!

If the insurance companies treats everyone the same, premiums will go up for everyone, and it will penalise the prudent and careful houseowner who did not claim, whilst the one who claims all the time gets a lot of benefits without any penalties. So u will have the situation where everyone subsidises the few who are mavericks.

Actually, if u r really wise, u wont bother to have flood insurance, but spend the insurance money on watertight seals to the bottom half of ur doorway or make ur doors waterproof. That way u wont have flood waters getting into the house. You prevent it happening, rather than the stupid way... wait for it to happen and claim the insurance.

It is the same with bank accounts. All of us careful account holders will have to subsidise those reckless people. That would be really unfair.

Right now, allready tax payers and ordinary people have to pay for the propping up of the banking system by govts. That is manifestly unfair. There should be a tax on all investment transactions for the banks and financial services to pay for this subsidy. That is why i am all for the Tobin tax.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6932397.ece

expiry date oct 2007

london
Yesterday,I made a curry beef out of a bottle of tesco's balti indian curry sauce which bears an expiry date of oct 2007. Simon bought it long time ago and left it at his mother's house and forgot about it. He brought 3 of these bottles back to the flat. The other two bottles expired june 2008, but if they are like this one i opened, the contents should be edible.

I tasted the contents of this oct 2007 bottle when i opened it, and smelt it, and it was fine so i poured it over the stewing beef, that simon bought cheap at the butchers, and cooked it in the slo-cooker.

I started it at about 2.30pm and went out to visit a friend and when i returned I ate it at 9.05pm and it was delicious.

What pleased me all the more is that it took only about 1kwh of electricity.

I was at the tescos, and looked up these sauces and found out these readymade indian curries in bottles cost about 85p. the other two bottles were sharwood brand, which are about £1.30. I am sure cooking from the curry powder is much cheaper than buying these bottles of curry sauce,(for eg, the malaysian curry powder pack 150mg £1.25 each,can make 5 dishes.But then a lot of westerners like the convenience.You just pour it over the meat and cook. (If you use curry powder, it has to be fried first with garlic, onions, ginger and water or canned tomatoes added. Alot more effort needed).


I am surprised that simon did not buy the ones labelled jalfrezi, korma, dopiaza, all names the indian restaurants give to the various indian currys because what makes british indian curries so nice is the different types.

And it is difficult to copy it and make your own because the different spices that make them up are known only to the cooks.

This episode shows that it is safe to eat bottled sauces well past their sell by date. Curry sauces are particularly safe to eat even long past their sell by date as the curry is a good preservative.

a little bit of joy in my life.

Three-tier tea trolley which i found near the recycling bin. It is missing its top tray. I converted it into a two tier trolley


london

I have not been picking up things from the recycling bin for some time, and I think when i saw this yesterday, the urge to do so came over me. I actually pass it and then turned round and went back to pick it up.



I have seen many of these in charity shops before, but never bother to buy them.



Why now? maybe because this one is a particularly well preserved specimen even though its top tray is missing.It's free, and i just felt like making myself happy and find something to take home. haha. I find joy in such small things. I am easy to please, aren't I? No wonder I am always so happy.



After all, if later i find it is not useful, or if i tire of it clogging up my flat, i can always return it to the recycling bin.



I have been googling these tea trolleys trying to find out how the top tray slot onto the pegs at the four corners of the top shelf. But I was unsuccessful. It is only of academic interest of course, as i dont have the top tray and the spare tray(which i picked up in the recyling bin, and is part of a tea trolley too) that i have is of a different design to this.

The two trays at the bottom are fixed and not detachable.

I find these tea trolleys evoke another age. Do people still use them? They are very old fashioned, and reminds me of elderly spinster aunts. haha.



They are very useful when i have a lot of people come for tea. The crockery , teapot, milk jug, suger bowl,biscuits, cakes etc can be loaded up on it and wheeled into the lounge from my kitchen in one trip.

I went to sleep early that night but woke up at about midnight and thought of going online in the lounge. My gaze fell on the tea trolley there, and i took a closer look. I noticed that the protruding rods at the top shelf were really screws. The lower trays were held by screws. Without the upper tray the whole thing was very wobbly. And it occurred to me that i could unscrew the middle tray and bring it up and make this a two tier tea trolley instead of a 3tier one. It would serve my purpose better in fact if it were a two tier trolley and as it came to prove, it was more stable too.

So I did it. And it is much more effective as there is a lot more space and easier to put in and get out the things in the lower tier.

I am delighted at the new look of this tea trolley and at my ingenuity.

I realise it looked like the two tier tea trolley I inherited from the previous owner of my flat. They left it behind when they moved. I had been using it all these years as a shelf for keeping odds and ends and things. And I realise this new found trolley can also double as a shelf for things when it is not being used as a tea trolley.

showfashion at somerset house

london

Even the entrance to the show was arty. so much so that i did not know it was the entrance. Ian, who i invited because i had been given a pair of tickets, found the entrance, jokingly said I obviously do not have the credentials. haha.

There were glasses of wine and apple juice. I took an apple juice, ian took the wine.

The first room we came to was one covered with mirrrors all over, and i had a chance to see how i look to others. And i must admit with my fleece hoodie, and backpack i look like a refugee from the great homeless fraternity. haha.

Ian was more fashionably dressed, so I was glad he was there to give me some credibility.

There was a large statue of 3 naked women supposedly of the same woman. I thought it was kate moss, but a notice said it was naomi campbell. There was mulitcoloured lights played on it, and people were supposed to write messages on it using a control panel. When we first saw it, a woman was meticulously using the pencil marker to erase all the colours on it.

I walked behind the statue where there was another control panel and looked up onto her bare bum.

Ian came up and asked me to write something, but i said i would if it was a naked male bum. haha.
Later, i read that they record what is said and play it back, and i hope they did not catch my comment. I dont want to spoil their fun.

It was quite a big exhibition, and from some empty spaces we knew that in the day time it would be filled with live models, either taking part in a live fashion model shoot, or photo shoot in a mock up studio.I suppose our private viewing this evening, which is for evening standard readers, is to bring us here to see it so that we can spread it by word of mouth, or be tempted to come back in the day time and pay the fee of £5 to see the live action.

For those interested in these things it will be worth the money. There is a camera to take the picture of those who want to be take part and be casted. They will be select from the entries and used as models for the live show which will go on during this exhibition. I am sure the exhibition would want a lot of these people so the chances of being featured must be quite high for any budding actor or model.

There were lots of interactive exhibits.

Once we saw a video of a man painting by throwing paint on the canvas, and i said he looks a bit like brad pitt. Ian agrees and ask could it be? 'Naw, i said, why should he do this thing, when he can make millions in a film'?

Ian then read the notice next to it, and lo and behold, it was brad pitt. In the video he looked young and v handsome, so i guess it was done before he got well known.

The notices that explain the exhibits were all written in a very convoluted style (using 10words when one can do) so impossible to read, i give up. That is why ian has been the one reading it and translating for me.

Ian says the sad thing for him about seeing all this is leaving the exhibition feeling all these people are so enjoyng their lives, and doing all these things, while he is not.

I said, I feel the opposite. I leave feeling glad i m not them, haha. So much of it is pointless, and you can see so much effort have been spent to produce it; but as I said, when we were walking back after seeing it, 'That is not a question u ask of Art. Art is pointless'.

We make it because we enjoy making it, and that is all the purpose it needs.

A bit like Life really. Maybe that is why some people say Life is akin to Art.

samuel delany's 'tides of lust'

london

Who would have thought my local public library would stock this book, and what is more, place it in a prominent place amongst the recommended bookshelf for all to see. haha.

When i saw it on the shelf, and read a bit of it, I was wondering who will be the people brave enough to proclaim their sexuality or their willingness to read pornography by borrowing the book.
I, of course, dont care who knows , so i borrowed it and did not bother to hide it either. I think gone are the days when we are ashamed of our sexuality. Certainly, it is true of me.

This is a sex book describing in detail about all the gay and straight sex amongst the low life in a port. Printed in 1973, it would not be possible to write this and find a publisher for it nowadays. There is necrophilia,underage sex (this one will make it unpublishable nowadays), and rape of a woman, and gay sex between black and white men. I daresay in 1973 anyone of these would be taboo, nevermind all of them in a book.

The author is a black man who is still alive and a professor of english in an american university. He can be found in google.

Is it really as nasty or erotic as they say? I must be a jaded gay man, because i found the things done in the book not really shocking. As for erotic, some parts are i suppose but it did not really make me go hard. maybe i m not into those things depicted in the book. necrophilia, underage sex, straight sex, dont really interest me.But perhaps I am not shocked because I have lived a bit and have seen and done a lot of sexual things and so I am not so easily shocked.

I think the main reason i m not aroused is the way he wrote. It is in a staccato style, and sometimes it is not easy to figure out what is being said, or what it is referring to.

My friend has told me of more shocking things going on in a sex club in berlin.

Either the things going on in the real world in 1973 are quite tame by our standards, or are much more shocking than anything in fiction and delany knows it, but has been rather restrained about writing about them, knowing that if he were to really write about the things people get up to, he would never be allowed to publish the book or be accused of making it all up. Or Delany made it all up.

As it is, the book publisher was hounded and the books seized.

How did my local library got this copy? and how come it was not pulped or disposed off as so many other less pornographic books have been?

Just curious. I am glad it is available in my library.

Added 26.11.09. I checked my library account and this book is not entered. So no record that i have borrowed it nor any return date.

Added. I mentioned it to the librarian when i returned the book and he said he knows, it is not entered into the computer.

http://www.savoy.abel.co.uk/HTML/tides.html

our old cherry blossom tree cut down today

one tree cutter on the tree, cutting branches, before cutting the main trunk.

london

this morning there was a racket outside the lounge window and i saw the tree in our courtyard being cut down.

It is to be replaced with another different species of tree tomorrow. This one is damaging our courtyard brick flooring with its roots.

It has brightened the courtyard no end with the tree gone.

they have left the stump, i wonder how a new tree is supposed to grow there. it will be interesting to see where they will plant the new tree that replaces it.

Added 28.11.09 To date they have still not planted the new tree. The old tree stump is still there. It has to be removed first and the hole filled with compost, but so far nothing has been done about it.

I hope they wont bother to plant the new tree.

In the courtyard across the road, which mirrors this one, they have cut down the cherry blossom tree there and replaced it with another. But someone had stripped the bark from the new tree, and now i see it has been chopped off completely and only a stump remains.

When full grown these trees cast a lot of shade and block the sun in summer.

sadness is infectious

london
My friend john M is sad and it is making me sad too. Its rather strange but when someone is happy you dont necessarily feel happy, but when someone is sad, u feel sad too.
It wont do him any good if i start moping so i try to be optimistic but really I understand his losing all that is saddening and he has good reason to be sad.

I know that providing him a place to stay is a secure haven for him at this time. So I hope staying at my flat gives him that feeling of stabilitywhich will be of some help to cope. I know I will be glad for a place to stay and have no hassle from a easy going host if something like that happen to me on my travels. So I endeavour to provide him with that environment. He is a very easy going guest so it makes it easier for me too.

this afternoon when i got back from the gym i saw he was still in the flat. I was surprised because this morning he told me he will be going to the passport office in eccleston square (very near me, a good thing about living so centrally everything is within walking distance from me.) to get a new British passport and that he will go to bromley afterwards to visit his sister and to stay overnight.

When i saw him in my flat i thought the worst, so I was really happy when he told me he is waiting to get his new passport at 3pm. That is quick I said. I am so glad for that, I said. We had thought it will take a week and were prepared for me to send his passport to him in the usa by registered mail. I am glad we dont have to do that.

he said when he got to the passport office they ask him if he got an appointment.

When he said,no, they ask him to join a queue of about 10people. But a guy came to him and quietly told him he can go to a desk and jump the queue. it seems they have the police report of the theft, and he brought along a passport form that was sent to my flat, and from there they were able to link it to who he was. He did not even have to show ID.
Simon helped him report the theft when john first arrived at my flat, and I think it is fortunate that simon is home, because he could not hope for a better person to guide him through the process than simon.


I am surprised at how easy and quick it was to getting a new british passport. It costs about £190 but he gets a new passport. Money well spent i think.

Anyway, we hugged each other, because it was such good news and i said its time he got a break after all that he has gone through. And his spirits were much lifted with this development. I feel so much happier myself too. Things are looking up. I dont know about him, but i feel even more optimistic for him.

Coincidences

london
I was coming back from a new shag today, (it was very nice, if you are asking) and on the tube i thought i shall get off at victoria station, to go to my gym before it closes and grab their mail on sunday paper. I did not go to the gym earlier today, because i woke late and also i was preparing to go to colindale, where this shag lives.

Anyway, when i sat down on the tube, i saw a newspaper behind the seat, and it was the mail on sunday.(It was the european edition, costing 3.80euros.) Well, that is v nice, because it means i dont have to get off one stop before my stop, and so I don't have to walk back from victoria station.

I do not know whether they sanitise the european edition, or the mail on sunday is produced by a different editorial team, but this paper was not so interesting as the usual daily mail.


How many times these kinds of serendipitous finds happen to you? It happens to me quite a lot.

Talking of coincidences, my shag today have mutual friends that we know.

I was passing the recycling bins in the housing estate where i live, and picked up a strap. It looked useful but when i examined it, it was not quite what i was looking for. I was looking for a strap to carry a case, this one looks like it is to bind a toddler. Anyway i turned back and returned it to the recycling bins, and then retracing my steps i saw this woman wearing a short mini skirt and a fur hooded top standing in the dark by the building. She is a lady of the night, (as they say. Though I did not approach her to verify it, as i did not want to waste her time and be mistaken for a customer).

I am surprised to see her, first time in fact i noticed them hanging around our estate, because i did not think our estate is a place frequented by streetwalkers. It is not a throughway where lots of people walk by. In fact it is a desserted area.

It is a mild night, tonight, and so it is not cold for her to be soliciting outdoors. Still, it did seem a hard way to make a living. Far better to be a belle du jour, the phd researcher who has outed herself as the woman who kept a blog about her days when she was a high class prostitute.

She had a lovely time and made lots of money (£300 an hour,amazing that there are straight men willing to pay that much, of which she kept a third, the other 2/3 the escort agency kept) and she said she never had any trouble with her clients.

A lot of woman scolded her because they did not like her to say it is a nice profession. This is because they all believe it is awful to be a prostitute and so anyone who is one must have been forced to do it and not chose to do it; and by saying she was not forced and she did not get raped, she is giving them the lie. So they say she is lucky to not get raped, and she is the exception that proves the rule.

Personally i wish govts would legalise prostitutes and include it as a honourable profession that any woman can aspire to. But i think a lot of wives are worried that if it is legal their husbands will use them and where will that leave them? haha.

chatting to strangers

london


I was reading the daily mail at the gym when someone sitting at the other table, asked me what date is today. I looked at my paper and said nov 21st. he said are you sure?


What a strange thing to say, so i took a good look at him. I asked him 'are u from another planet or from the future'?



he said his mobile phone gives him a different date. I said, 'u have taken ur sim card out or changed your sim card'.



he is a coloured guy, with rastafarian dreadlocks. i thought he was about 25yrs old, but he later told me he is 39, and that his birthday is a few days away.


he is in very good shape and unlined face for 39. he said he brings his two dogs out walking in hyde park and they pull at the lead and that is why he got such muscular arms. He gave me a spring hand grip and asked me to try it. he said he exercise his forearm by gripping it 100 times and asked me if i could. i tried it and it was easy, so i told him the spring is too weak. i suggested he get a 4 coil one instead of the 3coil he got now.

When I told him of this, he tried the grip himself and had to admit it was weak.I asked why he only had one, because if he had two he will be able to exercise two hands at the same time, saves him a lot of time. But maybe it costs more to buy two.

This just goes to show my advise is quite useless.haha.

He was waiting for a friend who is a member to introduce him but his friend did not turn up so he had the interview anyway. He was quoted £42.50 a month for the lowest. later i told him that he can get a off peak membership and he asked the interviewer, and she said it will cost him £35 a month. so it looks like my tariff of £26 a month is not available anymore.


It's quite fun to chat with guys who are at the lounge. A few days ago i chatted with a chinese guy from shanghai. I noticed him because he was drinking his coffee with great gusto as if he had not had coffee for ages. haha. slurping it long and hard. he just arrived 1month ago to study an MBA, it will be 2yr course, and he is staying in Crystal Palace in south london, paying £60 a week but sharing a room with a roommate who he says keeps him awake always playing computer games. So i told him of my friend who lives in his flat near crystal palace who has a room for rent.. he said he is interested, so i contacted my friend, who said his present lodger is leaving in dec, so i gave them each other's contact number.

its strange that the gym dont have a members' notice board but on second thoughts maybe it is not strange. I guess they dont want us to start exchanging notes and find out the different costs of tariffs, etc. or find gym partners, as that will affect the business of the personal trainers they have hired to give one to one training; and there is no incentive for them to provide an advertising board for members to advertise.

Added. Simon asked me what i want from the chinese takeaway, as he fancied ordering some. I looked at the menu trying to find something that i cannot cook myself, and found nothing. So told him i will just take some of what he orders but primarily i m going to cook rice with the steamed minced pork on top, and that will do me. (That dish will cost 50p and it can feed 2-3people.)

he ordered noodle dishes , two of them, and prawn balls but instead of the usual sweet and sour sauce that comes with it, he wants curry sauce. To me it is a weird combination, but ah well, that is how the english eats chinese, mixing and matching in the strangest of combinations. The take away people will follow what he wants, for after all the customer is always right. haha.

Frankly, i think the price of the dishes at £4 each is expensive for what it is, after all noodle dishes are real cheap to cook, but i did not say anything to simon as I dont want to take their business away. Afterall, takeaway businesses must make money, and i dont begrudge them making money. Simon can well afford it haha. and what is more, right now he craves eating some chinese food. I remember they do a good noodle dish, with what the chinese call 'wok hey'. It is something that a good cook can do with a really hot wok.

I am thrifty with myself, but i dont discourage others from spending their money however they like, even though i personally may think it is not good value. I always remember that I must be neutral on this, because the person who is doing the business has put in good money and time and deserve to make a good living out of it. And if others want to buy from him, so be it.
That is why I sometimes dont tell others about bargains that i find. The business have to make money, and if there are people who are rich enough not to bother with buying reduced priced goods, let them do so, and subsidise us who want these reduced prices.

That is why I hope those who can afford private medical treatment do so, and free the nhs for those of us who dont want to go private. The general thinking is everyone must support the nhs and not have it provide a two tier system of care, but i personally feel if u can afford it, dont use the nhs, but go private, so that u free the nhs to treat others who are not so rich as u.

i know a lot of people dont think like that. They resent that rich people can jump the queue, or be able to get special treatment just because they can buy it. I dont mind. i consider a rich person going private and not using the nhs will mean another place available for a nhs patient.

Added. one of the noodle he ordered is a crispy noodle, but he was disappointed that it was not crispy. The sauce softened it. I suggested that next time he might ask them to put the sauce in a separate container. It might work, or it might not, because the noodles could soften during transit. these things have to be eaten straight away.

each person has his own way of viewing his life

london
I have no trouble about my life, as i have a clear idea of what it is about. So it was quite a jolt to me to find out that not everyone is as clear sighted about their life as me.
(added 21.11.09 I have forgotten I used to be like that but it was so long ago)
Talking with John M brought it up.

I thought he wanted to go live in florida, from key west; now he tells me he has not wanted to do it. His then boyfriend suggested the idea, and even suggested buying the farm which he bought. So he went along with it. The whole thing soured when his boyfriend decided not to join him afterall.

The curious thing to me anyway is why he continued to live there for 5yrs. Why not sell off even if at a loss and move to where he really wants to be?

And he tells me his whole life has been like this, with things or people forcing him to do things which he had not wanted. hmm.

Glad i am not like that. And it wont happen to me because i would have sold off and move to where i wanted to be. that is if i ever do things because of a boyfriend. It won't happen.

It is so much easier to decide for myself rather than have someone else decide. I will never let a boyfriend dictate to me. With me, i do things i want, and the boyfriend, if he is still around will decide whether he too wants to join me, if not, nevermind, he can do his own thing. haha.


I dont rely on another person to make me happy. haha. My attitude sounds selfish , i know but i cannot please everyone, so i might as well please myself.

That is the modus operandi of any bachelor who loves his singledom. Anyone else who follows a different philosophy is not a happy bachelor. Now and then, the bachelor will have a boyfriend (or girlfriend if he is straight), but the boyfriend/girlfriend is dispensable.

it is strange that his actions belie his feelings. Ever since he has been here, he has been very busy, chatting on the phone to lots of his friends, who seem to all want to meet him, and he says he has got a lot of support from them, and so i had thought he likes these things, being busy, busy. But he tells me in our talk that if he has his rathers, he would just like to be alone in his house, never go out and meet people, just stay at home. And all this while i had thought he wants the busy life and be always on the go.

I got tired just seeing him rushing about.

What surprise me is if he really wants a quiet life, why dont he? but then, i do notice many people say one thing and do another. A clue to this behaviour may be from something he said, that he do not think it is healthy to stay at home and be alone.

I thought it is normal, haha. I like staying at home, and not meet anyone at all. What bliss. But he said it is bad. hmm is it? if it is , why is it bad?

I remember a friend calling me a long time ago, to ask me if i am alright? Asking me to go to his party out of town and when i said 'no, i rather not', asking if everything is alright because he thinks i might be depressed. He said he has noticed i like to stay at home a lot and not do anything. hmm. i was a bit taken aback when he said it, because i did not feel depressed at all, but then when he suggested it, i wondered maybe i am depressed without knowing it. Is that possible? Then luckily i got back my sanity, and realise what nonsense. This is the kind of pseudo speak indulged in by psychotherapists that may have made paranoids out of perfectly normal people. hahaa.

So maybe my friend john M may also have been talking to these psychotherapists who may have put it in his head that time spent on his own will lead him dangerously on the slippery slope to depression. Who knows. really. And may be for some people it is a slide to depression. it is difficult to judge whether it is a symptom or a desire; without really getting to know that person really well, even then we can only hear what he says and he may not know anything at all as to how he really feels, and may just say things he thinks u want to hear.

My view is be honest with yourself, if you are really happy being on your own, then it is ok. just ignore all those who darkly hint that u might be on the verge of depression. haha.

naked sunbathing at highgate ponds

london
this is the only official naked spot where you must be naked. And there was a petition to extend it into the changing area next door; but i read in the gossip column in the daily mail that it has not succeeded.

It would only increase it by a small amount anyway.

this naked area is a throwback of the olden days when nudists wants to have special areas where they can be naked without being stared at.

As it is, the present naked area is enclosed by walls, and so it is not a very nice place to be in, esp in summer when it can get v hot, what with the concrete flooring. In winter it might be ok, being enclosed from the winds.

The trouble with uk is that it is too cold to go naked outdoors. Unlike germany, which has been cited as a great place for nudists, (they even have a so called 'english garden' where u can be naked and it is all unenclosed), uk is too cold even in summer. Why the germans think nakedness is associated with the english to make their english garden naked, may just be coincidence. that garden may just be private enough for it. It does not mean it is suggesting being naked is a english thing.

I have signed the petition to extend it, but I am not too upset that it is not approved. In uk, nakedness will have to be done indoors(in our homes or in clubs/pubs); or in enclosed spaces. It is too cold to do it outdoors.

Anyway, the courts have clearly ruled that public nudity is not illegal, so we could find any secluded spot and go naked so no need to have a enclosed space. This space may only be good for those nudist who want to be naked but dont want people to see them naked or dont want to offend other people with their nakedness. Frankly, I find these nudists who are so afraid of others seeing them naked should just do it at home or join a nudist club where they can hide away inside it.

Well, there is a big disagreement amongst nudists about this. bare it at let anyone see u naked, or hide away in specially designated areas where everyone must be naked. Perhaps it will be nice to have both options.

those of the general public who dont want to see naked people may well feel hard done by as they dont seem to be listened to. They do have a grievance, but then so many of us have to tolerate seeing things we dont like to see, haha, they will just have to join the queue. haha.

Comedian Julian Clary, pictured, and gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell are among over 1,000 Bohemians who have lost a bid to set up a bigger naked sunbathing area at Highgate Men's Pond. Their spokesman Michael Peacock, 50, says: 'Germany has nudist areas in most major parks. Prague has a population of 1.2million people and seven facilities for naturists.Yet London has six million people and all we've got is this tiny strip of concrete.' A City of London spokesman says: 'Nude sunbathing is an ancillary activity.' Quite so. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1229577/EPHRAIM-HARDCASTLE-New-ITV-boss-need-biggest-gallon-thinking-hat-faces-mega-rich-Cowell.html#ixzz0XQ6AECN3

a good laugh

london



I was at the gym this morning and read this in the daily mail. i could not help laughing. I started to laugh uncontrollably when i read the answer to the question 'name six animals which live specifically in the arctic', that 'three' crossed out is hilarious;and my laughter escalated as i read the rest leaving me helpless with laughter in the lounge in the gym.


Have a good laugh go to link below.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1229099/Revealed-The-student-howlers-dumbed-exams-pupils.html

I find I laugh at the strangest things. There was a rant by a writer in the daily mail, about how bad a mother this girl was to leave her children alone at home when she goes out to party and booze, and the writer says she should have been locked up to show her she cannot just leave her kids like that. And i cannot help laughing that if the woman was jailed that would leave her children on their own without her for even longer. I find that funny that the writer did not realise the implications of her words.

aftermath

london
John M is very busy making and receiving phone calls. My phone had never been busier; because school friends who he had not seen for 40 yrs were all now calling him. They had allready planned to meetup and they were calling to see if it is still on.

They have all heard of his robbery because he told one of them and that guy told the rest. They had a class reunion last month, and he missed that, and now they all want him to travel up to grantham where one of them had organised a 'meet john M' reunion.

John M at first booked a car rental, to be picked up on friday at victoria, costs about £70 for 3 days , but when i told him it wont include the congestion charge of £8, plus petrol, he changed his mind about driving up. He did not feel up to driving anyway, being used to driving the wrong(right) side in the usa.

Anyway we found out the train fare single going to grantham, and there to cambridge and back to london will total about £60. he have friends and family near cambridge who he wants to visit over that weekend.

I thought these towns are near each other but grantham is miles further north fr london than cambridge. (even though the train takes the same time from london to grantham , as grantham to cambridge, both costs about £19 one way.)

Frankly i think the train fares are ridiculously expensive.

I would not bother to go to all this trouble for a reunion with classmates that i have not bothered to keep in touch with for 40yrs. haha. but then that is me, so maybe rather thankfully not everyone is like me. haha. John said he at first also wanted to cancel, but so many of them urge him to keep the reunion, that he feels oblige to do it. And he hopes meeting them will cheer him up and take his mind off his troubles. Well, he is going to be in uk for some time, so he might as well go up and see them.

I wonder whether this losing of all his business data in his lost laptop is something that may turn out to be a good thing. A sign to change direction perhaps?. He makes feather masks for a living, and had been thinking of doing some other thing. He lives in florida, and wants to move to california, where he plans to start a new business, but his house bought for $600,000 about 4-5 yrs ago is now worth £250,000 if he can sell it, that is. Sigh, he has not been very lucky with his properties.

He had his mobile charger stolen as well, and it being a samsung he wont be able to recharge his mobile phone using our nokia charger. Pity that it is not a nokia, we have lots of nokia chargers. That is why i say to people, buy a nokia.(Added. 20.11.09 he bought a samsung charger in a shop in victoria station for £10). He has a usa sim card. that would make it v expensive for him to make calls here and for uk to call him.

ah well, i m glad i m not him. I dont think i want to live his life. But of course no one else will like his life except him.hahah. That is why we are we, and he is he and I am me. (hope that makes sense).

here is a joke to lighten the mood and make me laugh.

Bus driver: Now the road may get a bit bumpy. Just keep in mind it's not my fault, it's not the bus's fault, it's the asphalt.--Port Authority Bus Terminal

(say it outloud and hear it. hope u get it. it just makes me laugh so much.)

http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/020959.html

my visitor fr usa robbed at heathrow airport

london
RAther sad news. My friend John M who lives in florida, was robbed of a bag containing his laptop , wallet with the cash , when he arrived at heathrow this morning.

He was a bit jet lagged and said he was pushing his trolley one moment with his laptop bag (with his wallet and passports) on top of another bag and next moment he noticed his laptop bag gone.

He never noticed who stole it or when it was stolen. Amazing isn't it. Such brazen thieves, but it was early in the morning and they must have noticed and targetted the really weary travellers.

Even the cctv did not catch the thieves at it. I wondered if the bag fell off and he never noticed... he said he would have heard it, but those trolleys are very noisy. We shall never know .

He is now at the American embassy hoping to get another passport, he has dual nationality.

Luckily simon was at home to let him in. Simon is not working because he is on sick leave. Naturally i have gone on with my usual routine of going to the gym. When he did not turn up this morning at 10am I don't worry if people dont turn up , i carry on doing my own thing and let them fall in with my routine. haha.

That way i dont worry about anything until it is over. Not much point worrying about things really. Afterall, what has happened has happened. It is one of those things that can and will happen to all of us and more than once. I only heard all about it when i got back at about 2pm.

Added 5.37pm. My friend came back just now and showed me the new USA passport given to him at the american embassy at grosvenor sq. How easy for Americans to get a replacement passport. No wonder no british or american ever gets panicky when their passports are lost or stolen, unlike us malaysians. We know there will be hell to pay and at the end there is no guarantee we will get a replacement malaysian passport if we lose it.

In a way, this easy replacement of their passports makes the british and americans very careless about looking after their passports, and because their passports are highly priced by forgers, they are a favourite target for thieves. There must be tons of altered uk and usa passports around the world from the passports lost throughout the ages.

Added. John M has gone to a club at king's cross. He said to drown his sorrow. He lost his ipod as well as his laptop with his business data as well as money. He said any one of which would be a disaster. What a sad start to his holiday here. It was all in one bag. I am glad it did not stop him from wanting to go to the gay club tonight. Better than moping in the flat thinking about what happened.

Since I had my camera and wallet stolen from our hotel room in penang a few years ago when john G and I were visiting malaysia, I have put my things separate from each other. It is so tempting to put things all in one bag and then it becomes so easy when a thief steals it to lose all. But even then, it is easy to fall back into that habit.

I guess it is best to be philosophical about it if we get robbed but I just want to send a silent message to my soul and ask my soul not to ask another soul to give me that experience of being robbed.

added. simon tells me he was not robbed, because that is stealing with violence. This was theft. I said isn't stealing with violence mugged? he said it is not an official word. he said it was first used in a report about a string of people who had things stolen from them, 'those mugs who walk through central park at night ' to describe those who are foolish enough to go into central park at night and the name stuck.

Somehow theft is not a good word for this. He got theft, does not sound that appropriate.

daily mail.

london
I have been reading the daily mail for some time now since i joined the gym and i can see why it is such a big selling newspaper.

I look forwrd to reading it which is something i never have for the other papers.It is not a paper i have read before.Partly because the pimlico library do not buy it but also I have heard that it is an obnoxious paper pandering to the 'little englander' attitude of the middle classes; which just goes to show you must not listen to other people.

Read it yourself and make up your own mind. I am not saying the other gay people who read it and consider it homophobic are wrong, to them it is right. And who knows when u read it u too might reach the same conclusion.
Most gay people dont like the daily mail, because we have heard from some gay people saying the paper is homophobic.

First off, it is important to point out it is a whine-y paper. And that might grate on your nerves and even though u can always skip those stories, you might find them too many to stomach. In which case u will decide to stop reading it.

My impression having read it for some time now, is that the paper is simply publishing stories and slanting its stance to what it thinks will attract attention, and may on any story adopt a anti gay stance, or might not, depanding on how it thinks the majority of its readers would reacte. Or whether it wants to provoke.
The skill of the editor must be to reach a balance where it pleases as many as possible, without alienating anyone so often that they leave.

It might even go both ways, with two writers for and against. Like the two writers, one argueing for and the other against jane fonda's saying she enjoys sex at 70.

Whether u agree or not with the paper, its articles are thought provoking, and written in a very easy to read way and sometimes its writers are lyrical and eloquent and forceful.
Sometimes you catch yourself agreeing with the writer,when normally u dont like her views at all; for eg this one by melanie phillips. She expresses my own feelings about all this apologising for the past.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1228122/Im-sorry-Gordon-apologise-things-ARE-fault.html

This one with a series of pictures showing the death of a crocodile who walked into a herd of rhinos is particularly gruesome but very suited to the internet format, is not featured in today's paper version but is online.

Now that is unusual, because most online papers would just ape the physical paper or even restrict the coverage rather than put new content online.
The daily mail website is very nice to look at and easy to read and easy to find articles as well.

(Added 17.11.09 Been to the gym and read today's daily mail and saw the pictures of this hippo attack there. so it looks like the website is just a day early in its reporting.)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1228242/Oops-werent-logs-The-moment-crocodile-killed-taking-foolish-shortcut-herd-hippos.html

This one is another news not found in today's daily mail paper version, about budgies dying mysteriously.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1228218/Fumes-riddle-prize-budgies-drop-dead-perches-horrified-judges.html

A £3 cure for snorers.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1227806/The-3-miracle-jab-snorers-available-NHS.html

Its website is the only one where there are more articles online than in the paper version and is just as interesting to read as the paper version.

Every other paper that i have read, and i have been following both their paper and online versions so i should know, has less content in its online version than the paper version so that i prefer to read the paper version than the online one. But with the daily mail i like both.

It is obvious why the daily mail is so popular.
Oh yes, mustn't forget its freebies. You won't like everything they give out free, since it has to cater to all its readers, so u just select the ones u like and ignore the others.

here is a link where it shows how homophobic and bigotted the daily mail can be.

two writers in particular seem to generate most of these anti stories. So it could be argued that the paper is simply providing a platform for people to represent one point of view, and if we recognise the freedom of speech even though what is said may not be to our liking, we have to accept their right to say it.

The paper slags other people too so we gays cannot say it is only targetting its phelgm at only us.

of course we dont have to buy the paper and support it. I dont buy the paper, i get it free from my gym. but it is one of those things where by reading it and referring to it, other gay guys might be justified in accusing me of propagating its popularity,(though i hardly think i m that influential haha) but then we gay people are very insecure indeed if we cannot take criticism.

My view is let's not accuse any person who criticise our lifestyle as homophobic. Other people are in their right to say they dont like the gay lifestyle and dont approve of it. As long as they dont advocate killing gays, they are entitled to say that.
http://www.mailwatch.co.uk/