Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[Tal]

The making of Wish You Were Here?



You really do watch some rubbish.

[Karabiner]

Doesn't "embellished non-fiction"= Historical Novel?

Looks like there's a whole new genre for you to get stuck into...

[tikay]

Loved Benn and Eubank , and the Hagler Hearns fights , but my favourite was always "the gifted one "  Kirkland Laing .

http://www.britishboxers.co.uk/2014/09/nottinghams-kirkland-laing-shocks-roberto-duran-in-the-1982-boxing-upset-of-the-year-full-video.html

Such a talented fighter. When he was good , he was very very good.

I sort of missed the whole "Marvellous Marv" era somehow, I invested so much of my life & time at that stage to my work.

I often wish I could turn the clock back, I've done so many dumb things in my time. I wish I was young again, & had no self-doubt. I knew everything when I was young. No, I did.

Is that why you missed out on all of that 1960's music that all of the rest of us were so taken with, such as rock&roll, blues, and soul?

60's music?

No, music was a huge part of my life in the early to mid sixties, not so much late sixties.

I was a Beatles man, through & through, blues & the like was not my thing, just personal taste I suppose.

My musical tastes are very shallow, but that's just how it is. I try to spend 30 minutes on You Tube every night, just watching & listening to the music I like. Beatles, Knopfler, Robbie, Cure, Eminem, Lightning Seeds, Floyd (adore Gilmour), Gwen, Chilis, Aerosmith (I want to be Steven Tyler), The Eagles, especially Don Walsh, that sort of stuff, just mainsteam really. Poor palate in music & food, me, but I enjoy what I enjoy.

What about The Moody Blues? I loved them, especially this number:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9muzyOd4Lh8

I was "OK" with them, but not especially taken. I saw them in a show at The Boathouse, Kew, back in the day, & they were pretty good "live", but that was before they were famous, & anyway, I had other things on my mind that night.

"The Boathouse" was on the banks of the Thames, right by Kew Bridge, & it had a cracking towpath, wide enough for cars to park up at night, so that was my nightly spot to take my young lady. There would be dozens of cars, windows steamed up, or even with "screens" over the windows. Heaven knows what the others got up to whilst my young lady & I were looking for herons, cormorants & the like.

[tikay]

The making of Wish You Were Here?



You really do watch some rubbish.

Oh my lord, Judith Chalmers (sp?), who stood for eveything bad & bland about British TV. Lovely person, I'm quite sure, but not exactly the sort to set one's hair on fire.

[tikay]

Doesn't "embellished non-fiction"= Historical Novel?

Looks like there's a whole new genre for you to get stuck into...

Technically, yes, I suppose so. Many bios are "embellished" of course.

I think "Papillon" was the perfect example of embellished non-fiction. I suppose much of Mad Frankie's writing was too, but I want to believe it all, so I do. Or most of it.

[tikay]

PewDiePie's Youtube throne has been taken, by a woman who shows us children's toys.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/nov/26/youtube-dc-toys-collector-disneycollector

400 million views in October alone?

It defies the imagination. That's about 6 times the population of Great Britain, or thereabouts.

The way the internet has changed life is extraoirdinary.

[tikay]

I have a Meet tomorrow at St Pancras Station of all places (BOOM!), & they have a Foyles there, so I'll see if they have that in stock.

Foyles in StP is no more, it's now a John Lewis.

John Lewis.

In a railway station.

Anyway, there is still a book shop in the station, Hatchards has opened next to Fortnum & Mason.

SO much to think about in those few lines.

Dealing first with Foyles.

I arrived an hour early at St Pancras yesterday for my meeting, so as to give myself some perusing time in Foyles. Which is no longer there.

Instead, I found the Hatchards Bookshop.

Toodled in, made for "Non-Fiction", a whole wall of it, excellent.

And there the "excellence" ended.

I must be wrong, but the books did not seem to be arranged in any particular order, not Author, Title, anything, pretty sure they were deliberately ordered "higgledy piggledy".

After 10 minutes during which I went cross-eyed searching, & as I could feel myself becoming more & more irritated, I voted with my feet & flounced out in high dudgeon. 

Never again, never ever.

I was sort of half annoyed before I even entered the dreadful place, as I looked at the name of the store & could not even bloody well read what it said. If that's a Company Logo, someone needs shooting.




Anyone who can successfully find half a dozen specific titles in there must be a genius.

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

I have a Meet tomorrow at St Pancras Station of all places (BOOM!), & they have a Foyles there, so I'll see if they have that in stock.

Foyles in StP is no more, it's now a John Lewis.

John Lewis.

In a railway station.

Anyway, there is still a book shop in the station, Hatchards has opened next to Fortnum & Mason.

Incredible, isn't it?

They also have an M & S. In a Railway Station.

And of course the obligatory WH smith, complete with those horrrendous self-service checkouts, & a queue 30 yards long, as with all WH Smith outlets. It used to be a pleasure to go browse & shop in WH Smiths, we used to spend our Saturday afternoons in them as kids, but now I find those queues just turn me right off.

They all have those "queue barrier" things. Says it all. Don't find ways to serve people more efficiently, just get everyone in a nice straight line. That's upside down thinking to me.  

Queue HERE, facing THIS WAY.

You can bugger right off Mr Smith.

Click to see full-size image.

This is how a WH Smith in a Railway Station should look.

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

I have a Meet tomorrow at St Pancras Station of all places (BOOM!), & they have a Foyles there, so I'll see if they have that in stock.

Foyles in StP is no more, it's now a John Lewis.

John Lewis.

In a railway station.

Anyway, there is still a book shop in the station, Hatchards has opened next to Fortnum & Mason.

You've really touched a few nerves with me this morning......

I had the pleasure of "Afternoon Tea", proper job, at Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly recently. It's ridiculously expensive, but also good value. It's not my usual thing, but it was a Bucket List job, so it had to be done, just the once. And it was perfectly wonderfiul, in every single way.  

I toured the whole shop - emporium? - too. The whole place is just wonderful. Never purchased anything, way too pricey, Tom would have a fit if he saw a candle lighter priced at £165.

But the whole ambience of the place was just perfect. The airy spaces, the beautiful displays, the ornate wooden staircase balustrades. A proper "institution".

So I was particularly interested that they had a branch in St Pancras, & paid it a (mercifully brief) visit.

It was horrendous. Just an overpriced tat shop, with modern decor & furniture. Yuk yuk yuk.  

And I'm thinking WHY would they devalue their wonderful brand with that sort of thing?

But like every other shop there yesterday, it was rammed full, not a seat to spare. (There must be at least 20 eateries & cafeterias in St Pancras, & there was barely a spare seat in any of them).

Anyway, I got home, & went googling, to see if I could find how successful the St Pancras F & M was.

And it turns out it is extremely profitable, sales per sq ft compare well with the Piccadily Flagship Store. & is helping spread the brand further afield. All in all then, a good thing for the Business, but maybe not so much for me.

As a punter, a big thumbs down, as a business, a big thumbs up.

Reminds me a bit of the Amaya-Stars thing.

We are customers, or poker players, not retailers or gaming site operators. We might not like what they do, but we have to accept they very probably know better at how to run their business, in their specific area of expertise. And if we don't like it, well we can exercise our rights to go elsewhere, or refrain from giving them our business. So that's me sorted, I won't go to Hatchards, WH Smith or F & M @ St Pancras ever again. Somehow, though, I fancy they'll manage without me.

Click to see full-size image.

[Jon MW]

...
I was sort of half annoyed before I even entered the dreadful place, as I looked at the name of the store & could not even bloody well read what it said. If that's a Company Logo, someone needs shooting.




Anyone who can successfully find half a dozen specific titles in there must be a genius.
....

I think it's perhaps a misguided updating of the original Hatchards sign


It's the oldest bookshop in the country so I wouldn't want to be too mean, but I think it is similar to the St Pancras F&M in that it's there for the money rather than for any particular reflection of service and quality.

[booder]

Yeah, but £12.50.

[bobAlike]

Yeah, but £12.50.

I did lol

[tikay]

My latest Bluff Europe waffle.

I get 1p per click, so if 290 of you click that link, that's a Costa Cofeee sorted at the Esso Garage.


http://bit.ly/1rHbmdv

[tikay]

Lee Davy, in an interesting piece, discussed Re-Entry Tournaments, & how they affect recreationals.

It was all the usual stuff, very nicely written though, but it ended like this, which I rather liked. It applies to so many things, of course.


It’s the first time that I think about the re-entry rules. All the stars keep getting knocked out, and then re-entering, and I can’t because I am skint. I start getting moody. Life is unfair and all of that nonsense. Then I remember that I understood the rules before I sat down. I made the choice to play, and would I have complained had my single bullet taken me all the way to a six-figure winning check?

Of course not.

Re-entry tournaments are tough.

So is life.

And I’m not about to give that up.

[tikay]

What?


http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/29/pig-doesnt-fly-airline-bans-disruptive-emotional-support-animal-and-owner


Say it ain't true. The lady had an emotional support pig? (Not a typo).

What a world we live in.

Click to see full-size image.