Friday, December 23, 2005

no net...

grrr.. rash.. its itchy...*scratch*

yes Eva, I've broken out in a rash because I have no NET ACCESS!!!!

Lulu too actually.. "It must be contagious! OH NO!!"

Thursday, December 22, 2005

hmm... lazy...

Yesterday.. Tuesday, 20th December 2005... Last work day for Lulu at British Airways, and I popped around my old work place at Netengines to say a final goodbye (since I finished up on the 7th). Sad, sad sad... We've both made some good friends at work and we'll miss them dearly. Lulu got a Molton Brown boxset of liquid bath soaps and a box of Thorntons chocolates. Lulu has always liked the dress sense of one of my work collegues, Viresh... funky cool hip hop yet conservative kinda guy - thats wot she describes him as. So for my going away pressie I got a nice wool sweater from UNIGLO. Ironically its made from ozzie lamb's wool. hahahaha. Baaaa.. Baaaa :D

It really hit me sitting on the 88 bus going to the old work place that I'm really going to miss the ride in. You see, the tube (ie train) in the mornings is a bitch. Hence I catch the bus. Nicer.. cleaner.. but longer to get into the office. Best of all though the bus right is scenic! The old 88 goes via the MI6 building (you know the one from the James Bond movies!), Westminister Chapel, Big Ben, Whitehall (with the government offices - Ministery of Defense, No10 Dowling St, etc), and Trafalgar Square. Gonna miss that bus ride in a lot!

*Sigh*

Gonna miss London Town!

I've cancelled my broadband connection, and so Lulu and I find ourselves sitting in the Bellevue pub using their free wifi service stuffed after a nice luncheon. We're stuffed, we've packed.. and hmmm.. feeling so lazy too....

Sunday, December 18, 2005

Grrr Kong Roars!

We were invited to family friends Tedman and Annie's place for a lovely dinner. We had a nice seafood pasta dish topped with a complimenting white wine. Good food, good company... what more could a guy and his girl ask for....???? ROAR!!! a movie... ROAR... KING KONG!!!

We found ourselves at the local theatre waiting patiently for the movie to start. Well I won't give any spoilers for anybody who hasn't seen it.. but let me tell you.. that 3 hours of roaring black furballs went by so fast I dont think I even had time to blink.

Yes you might say that Lulu and I enjoyed it. Dang we sure did.. and not because I have a thing for Naomi Watts... *ahem*

Friday, December 16, 2005

Flight of the Siberian Swan.

Yes folks its true. Siberia has swans. More so they have been sighted in the skys of London.

And as everyone and their dogs' know that means there is going to be a white christmas this year for 'l London Town.

Lulu and I of course won't be in London for christmas, we'll be spending it with friends in Antwerp and Brussels. Brussels is a city of grey skys. Great. Hopefully we'll see some blue sky in Antwerp though. Fingers crossed for Antwerp.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Oh no.... now even my programming language of choice is old fashioned like a pair of flaired chordaroys! I haven't heard of this new technology called LAMP but I have heard of Ruby on Rails (thanks to Jonno). Maybe its time I jump the bandwagon and learn Ruby. Jonno will be so pleased: "HA... I remember the day that you scorned RoR"
Oh I'm so glad I'm not a sysadmin!! Its hard enough providing tech support for family and friends so I'm so happy to report that user support is not really part of my job function.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

I dream she screams...

Primark is an retail chain that has discount prices. The same girls top that would sell in any other store for £7 sells for £2 or £3. Its no wonder this chain is a woman's (read Lulu's) idea of heaven.

I have a dream... of a 3 floor Primark and everything on sale. The men's items encircle the women's - because men dont like to shop and just like to find what they need (not want) and head for the nearest cash register. Women like to hunt, scavenge, and claw each other's eyes out to obtain the better bargain. I liken it to men watching mud/jelly wrestling with the promise of catching a glimpse of titty.

Today Tuesday 13th December 2005 on the news - discount store chain Primark has announced it is to open a store on the fashionable Oxford Street. Oxford Street is perhaps the widest of all London streets where people can walk 15 - 20 across and still be crushed in the wide crush of female shopping frenzy. Add Primark. The already crazied females on shopping highes in the mud wrestling pits that is Primark. Its no wonder Lulu got so excited!

Still its kinda pyshic that I had the dream then heard the news.

Monday, December 12, 2005

BA Christmas Party

This year BA's Xmas party was at On Anon night club in Central London. Here are some of the people who partied into the night.



Carmen & Tracey
Half of the gang



Carmen & Gary
Aisha, Candice & Carmen

Did you know... Graphite Pencils

This from the Metro factfile:

The first pencils were sticks of Cumbria graphite used by the 16th century farmers to mark their sheep. The Germans later made pencils from powdered graphite held together with string. The Italians thought of the wooden casing still in use today. New Yorker Joseph Rachendorfer invented the rubber-tipped pencil in 1858.

Did you know... Peeping Tom

This from the Metro Factfile:
The term 'peeping Tom' can be traced back to the 11th century Coventry. The town's ruler Earl Leofric, had challenged his wife, Lady Godiva, to ride a horse naked through town to top him imposing an oppressive tax. She did - and a tailer called Peeping Tom was the only person who ignored her request to not be watched.

On Spontonaity

I wonder if my male friends have the same issues as me.. or is it just me....

Behind closed doors... ie in front of lulu.... and in response to a Starwars Revenge of the Sith radio ad I break out in quotes from the movie:

Denzil Obiwan
: But you were the chosen one [makes lightsabre sound and corresponding hand movements to indicate sabre slashing]

Princess Leia-Lu (unfortunately without the hair bun curls): Wot is wrong with you?!?! Are you right there?? You've lost it!!! See what computers do to you? The inner geek is coming out! [all the while looking over her eyebrows at me]

So do other males get the same sort of reactions from their partners when they break out in spontaneous bursts of random movie quoting/song/dance? Please leave comments and make me feel like I'm normal!!

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Yes Gordan I'm Another Year Older.

Another year, another year older. Time certainly does travel faster when you get older!! This year certainly has gone in the blink of an eye. I'm now alittle older at 33, and perhaps abit wiser.

For my birthday Lulu was able to secure a reservation at Gordon Ramsay's restaurant at Claridge's. Gordon Ramsay is a celebrity chief in much the same way Jamie Oliver is. (side note is Gordon Ramsay known back home in Australia?)

We had a brilliant 3 course meal with classy silver service. This is the kind of restaurant that celebrities and the social elite dine... commoners like myself generally have to book 6 months in advance! How on earth Lulu managed the reservation is beyond me! Gotta love that woman!

I can't get by the quality of service at this place. A waiter comes by with our orders while 2 other waiters present the food to our table. Considering that a glass of orange juice costs 5.00 pounds I don't know if this would be a regular occurance - despite that the quality and size of the servings being exceptional.

And the best part of the experience was that we saw the man himself - Gordon Ramsay! But unlike his cooking shows we didn't hear him swear.. hahahaha. Seeing Gordon at the restaurant added a special element to the lunch because we thought he would be like Jamie Oliver and not actually work in his restaurants anymore. Unfortunately he left before we could pin him down to get a photo with him! It's nice to know that Gordon himself could have made my lunch :D

Friday, December 02, 2005

FAME!!!

"FAME!!! I wanna live forever.... I wanna learn how to fly.. FLY!!! "

We saw Fame, the musical tonite. But I guess you figured that out already!! Cindy and Rossie joined us also. They too loved it. I think they loved it for the music, the dancing.. and most of all the hot guy dancers!!! I'm sure they were more than a bit flushed!!!

To be fair, I enjoyed it for most of the same reasons - except for the hot guy dancers.. the female dancers where drop dead geogous too! Definite something for him and her to look at!!

What really amazed all of us was how talented all the people in the cast are. Not only were they brilliant dancers but boy could they sing. The songs perhaps weren't as catchy as say Phantom of the Opera or Les Miserable, but the energy on stage and the story was great.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

She doesn't know it yet...

Lulu is fanatical about Australian Idol. I think it's worse that we're in London because its hard to see episodes and two, she watches to mock / cringe at the Ozzie accent. Without a doubt her favourite and hopeful to win is Emily, and she doesn't really like any of the blokes.

She'd be very upset if one of the blokes won. They just don't seem as strong as the sheilas.

She'll be happy to know that the final will be an all-girl shootout between Emily and Kate.

Lulu's faith in the Australian public's taste has finally been restored...

Sunday, November 06, 2005

Daily Horoscopes

This a real horoscope that was shown on public transport in London.

Sagitarious (Denzil): The universe comes together to bring you closer to your loved one.
Capricorn (Lulu): Your relationship is definitely over.

Weird. Contradictory horoscopes. Horror-scopes. With predictions like these its no wonder people don't really believe in this stuff. Still it amuses me reading them (but then the daily comic strips also amuse me).

Monday, October 31, 2005

I worry about my friends back home.

I worry about some of my friends.

Obsessive compulsive disorder. Net addicts. Physchological dependancy.

A mate of mine seems to log onto the net just so he can say goodnight to people. Ofcourse I could just be taking an extreme explaination of a perfectly ok situation - he (yes it's a he) could have been logged in for hours already. He probably had been. But I wonder if that really makes the situation any better.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Always wanting to be helpful...

A day in the life of Denzil:

Denzil: Let me do the washing...
Denzil: You thirsty? I'll get you a drink....
Denzil: I can see your cold... I'll get you a blanket...

I always like to be helpful and considerate of Lulu.

Rewind.. 5 minutes earlier....

Lulu: Do you remember what I got you for our first christmas ?
Denzil: ummm......
[DING]
Lulu: Remember what I got you for your 30th birthday?
Denzil: ummm....
[DING]
Lulu: Do you remember when we went to New Zealand?
Denzil: ummm...
[DING]

For those of us who are hearing impaired, the [DING] is the sound of Denzil rapidly loosing brownie points.

You Gotta Worry...

You gotta worry when a conversation with a mate goes something like this:

Chicken Hawk: im so depressed i want to go shopping
Chicken Hawk: and if i could eat
Chicken Hawk: id want some chocolate or ice cream
dwagn: hahahaa. spoken like a true woman!

perhaps.. hmmm.. i really don't know what else to say on that point.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

How to make rubber.

Forget the rubber tree. I've discovered a new way to make rubber... but wait it gets better... it's eatable too!!

6:00am... its dark.. its cold.. and my alarm goes off.
6:15am... I muster the energy to get up.
6:17am... Rolled oats + protein suppliment + milk + microwave = breakfast
6:22am... Ding... 5mins in the microwave. I pull out my breakfast. There's a big white blob in it.
6:22,50am... Realisation. Enlightenment. Call it what you will. I realise the protein has solidified into a rubber white mass...
6:23am... that tastes like shit. But then again most protein supplements do.

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

The cravings..

Weird....

Maybe its because I'm sick with the flu, but today I've had weird cravings... for red meat just after I got into the office for work, and just now for hot popcorn with butter... That was even after the 4 (yes FOUR) bread rolls and yoghurt that Lu made for lunch. Thank god I still have a banana, and rice cakes to snack on!

If I was a girl, I would be wondering if I was having some weird hormonal shifts... perhaps I'm pregnant.

Stranger things have happened.

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

NYC... We back!

Well folks Lulu and I got back from New York City this morning. We both enjoyed the city immensely. Lulu for the shopping... me for the shopping...

What?
Wait!
Rewind...
What was that?

Me for the shopping?? Well heck yeah!! But only because of this one shop. Ok. So its a camera shop. And I finally bought my new digital camera. I'm so happy I was literally bouncing on the bed the morning that I went to buy it!!! Stop laughing. I know you are laughing because I am :D

For those who care (most of you probably don't) I got the Canon 350D digital SLR. Actually in the States its named Canon Rebel XT. The Yanks like to give everything names. I prefer the 350D designation myself. But then I'm a geek (and photographer - most photographers have the same preference too).

We'll blog NYC properly later.... I just wanted to share my enthusiasm for my new camera first! hahaha.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

The Ashes...

Trafalgar Square erupted in celebration for the home coming of The Ashes.

Men of Valour fought to retain it in foreign Australian soil.
Men of Courage claim the victory.

Never before have I seen so many people in Trafalgar Square. Not even the announcement of the Olympic bid did Trafalgar draw so many people. Never before have I seen the English so jubulant in their excitement. So many voices ring out in victory song.

(And if you listened very carefully... you could hear the distance rumblings of "Aussie Aussie Aussie!!!")

hmm....

Its not a good day to be an Australian in Londontown.

Photos will be posted later.

The cravings...

Cravingings...
I have needs...
I have wants...
Chicken..
BBQ chicken goodness...
Greasy KFC....
Protein...
Protein shakes...

Every since I wolfed down an entire chicken and tried a few protein shakes I've been getting cravings for protein. I've starving... Went to the gym yesterday. And today. I'm craving. I need a chicken...

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

For all you women out there - RETAIL THERAPY

*sigh*

The Sydney Morning Herald has a short video with tips to become an expert shopper.

The high streets of London have great sales on. Some places you can get everything in store for £5!!! Lulu and Cindy has already hit those.... good thing they havent seen this video yet...

On protein shakes...

Many moons and winters ago, a younger Denzil once tried his eldest brother's protein shake. It tastes like shit...

Fast forward to today.

Denzil gets up early.
Denzil goes to the gym.
Denzil feels pain.

Denzil tries a protein shake £3.60 for 46grams of whey protein in a milk chocolate shake.

It still tastes like shit. To be fair it tasted ok - the first half did. The taste became overpowering in the second half and made me feel sick. The sway of the bus (note to self: don't sit on the top deck of the bus - this exaggerates the sway) didn't help.

You'd think after many years they'd be able to improve the taste.

Last time I went to the gym I ate an entire chicken afterwards. I didn't feel that crash hot afterwards either. Maybe steak is the way to go to get my protein...

Read this if your interested about protein shakes.

Sunday, September 04, 2005

Saturday Gym Junkie

11am - 1pm... Oh my lordie! Did I really spend all that time at the gym??

Must have... coz afterwards I was so hungry I could have eaten a horse... Of course no horses were hurt in the preparation of my meal, but one entire medium BBQ chicken did sucumb to my stomach of steal. I'm also thinking about starting to drink protein suppliments for muscle growth.



Denzil's 3 point plan for muscle growth:

  This is what I looked like before I started going to the gym. Skin and bones despite having a pretty healthy appetite. One day I hope a small t-shirt will not look like a large on me.
Me. Perhaps in a few more months, many gym sessions and lots of protein shakes later - me with a decent bit of muscle. Perhaps I'll have to start wearing medium t-shirts.

This is what I would like to look like. A solid ball of muscle that would rip a t-shirt at the slightest flex of a muscle. Ok, ok.. so I probably could do that now, but that would mean wearing very very tight t-shirts.

Saturday Afternoon Movie: Paint Your Wagon

It always amuses me where you find pearls of wisdom and things for thought. This one is from Paint Your Wagon, the only musical Clint Eastwood starred and sang in.

PARDNER: Ben, do you uh.. you get the feeling you need a drink?
BEN: How did you know?
PARDNER: 'Cause I do too.
BEN: But Pardner, you don't drink.
PARDNER: No, but I'm changing.
BEN: Hmmm, and it takes a woman to do it. Bless their hearts

And another:

Mrs. Fenty: You should read the Bible, Mr. Rumson.
Ben Rumson: I have read the Bible, Mrs. Fenty.
Mrs. Fenty: Didn't that discourage you about drinking?
Ben Rumson: No, but it sure killed my appetite for readin'!

More here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064782/quotes

I'd say this movie has more good quotes than a single episode of The Simpson.

Monday, August 22, 2005

Sunday Nite Blues...

Sunday night. Last few hours of my 72 hour pass. Lulu gets home in the morning and heads straight for work (good thing she doesn't have to travel too far from airport) so I don't see her until Monday night.

Its true. Absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder. I believe too, I can appreciate her more for it.

So what have I done in during my free weekend? I made bread. I gymed. I ate some suspect olives that didn't agree with me. Went to the park to relax. Caught up with Cindy. Did some reiki. Did the ironing. Cleaned the room. Burnt some incense. Killed a nasty spider.

See. When the cat's away, the mice don't always come out to play!

Oh.. and I also blogged.. but i think you gathered that one already :D

Sunday, August 21, 2005

It even tastes good!

Our friend Cindy came over today to entertain me while Lulu is away. You see last week we organised a baking-date. Below are the spoils of our wonderful time together:



Bread. Wonderful bread. Onion, garlic and herb makes for wonderful bread. The 4 buns on right didn't last long.. all that kneading makes one hungry!!

Saturday, August 20, 2005

She left me!!!

I'm sad...
She's gone...
She left me...

For a woman...

Yes its true... I'm a free man now... for a count of 72...

Lulu works in the airline industry and gets some great perks. One of these is called an ID72 - a free return flight to just about anywhere on the map, the catch? You must be back in your original port of departure within 72 hours.

Her original plan was to go to Montreal, Canada, but that didn't happen as the flight was full. After much nail biting and calling back to the help desk they re-scheduled for Boston, USA. The only cost for the flight is the airport taxes - a whooping $GBP12!!!!

Being a standby flight you get no choice of seats - which means you could get cattle class... or... business class with flat beds, good food, free alcohol, more space...

but....

the catering firm is still in dispute with its workers so they have no food or alcohol on board!!! ARGH!!! They have to buy their own food for the 8+hours of flight time!!! Does that suck? Hell yeah!!!!

Still, $GBP12.00 business class return to Boston is still a deal! Man I'm jealous!

The 72 hour pass.

So how is Denzil planning on spending his 72 hours of Lulu-free bliss?!??

I'll be missing her dearly of course!!!

Other than that I can see myself do some very man-ly things.

Sports. Don't think so.
Down at the local. Definely not.
Gym. Perhaps.
Baking. Yes, most definitely!!!

My last loaf of bread that I made actually was pretty reasonable, and eatable too. So some of that is on the cards - now you know why I was looking at bread recipes on the net earlier :D

Oh yeah.. I have to put the apron on and do some house chores too...

I think I'm a Londoner now...

Before I arrived in London, those that came before me said "many afternoons in the pubs on a pure liquid carb diet". Yes it is true. Much of the London lifestyle is spent down at the local beer glass in hand getting pissed.

No. Before you gaze at wonder at your screen and disbelief that I have become the latest member of Alcoholics Anonymous, NO I have not adopted this habit as my own.

After a nice lunch in Chinatown (conveniently located within minutes of my office at Picadilly Circus), I get back to the office for about 1/2 hour, my boss screams "pack your bags and grab your jackets... we're going to the pub!"

Who am I to question the wisdom of the elders... :D

(Note to self: why did I pause and first want to finish what I was doing!?? Perhaps its true, you can lead a Denzil to London, but you can't put the London in Denzil. Actually scratch that. I wasn't lead here, I chose to come on my own accord)

Friday, August 19, 2005

I Love Bread Baking Websites

I just love bread recipes that say put all the ingredients into your bread machine and turn it on!!!

Kinda defeats the purpose of learning to make bread really doesn't it!!

Sunday, August 07, 2005

A few Barcelona pictures.

The photo album has been updated with pictures from Vienna, Hong Kong and Barcelona.

Below are some from our most recent at Barcelona:

  
Beach made from reclaimed land. There was even a muscle beachsection.Along the promenade of the beach.
The city of Barcelona, Spain, as viewed from the castle fortress. The fortress was originally a castle, then converted to a fortress for navel defense.Dude selling donuts whilst singing and dancing with that thing on his head.
Sculpture by the Sea. Okay so it's not the same as the annual Sculpture by the Sea event Bondi Beach, Sydney holds, but this is a permanent piece.Mussels, Salty prawns & Seafood Paella. Mouth watering. Seafood there was, is, always will be amazing. My favourite were the salty prawns!! *drool*
Roof top terrace at La Pedrera. La Pedrera is an apartment block designed by Barcelona's favourite (though dead) architect, Gaudi. His organic style of design makes Barcelona architecturally unique and breathtaking.Another of Gaudi's works. The Sagrada Familia. A temple dedicated to the Holy Family. Unfortunately Gaudi died by being knocked over by a tram stepping out of the very building. He himself anticipated that its building would take several generations, much like the building of any cathedral. Its funding is purely by donations - the $EUR8 entry fee is really that... a donation.

Monday, August 01, 2005

Oh its so hard!!!

Life is oh so hard when you've spent 4 days in beautiful, sunny, blue-skyed Barcelona, Spain and you get back to shitty, grey, gloomy London.

Barcelona is a gorgeous city. Remarkable architecture, the most notable pieces by their beloved son Antonio Gaudi. Its tempting to write all about it but I won't go into a full write up of our adventures in Spain - I'll leave that for a later post. I just wanted to announce my great displeasure of having to come back to the overcast skies, the rude fair-skinned locals (Spanish people all have tans!!), people scared of terror attacks, shitty transport systems that shutdown if its too cold, or too hot - just don't mention the rain.

Its a low energy level day today I think....

Its been scientifically proven that sunlight affects peoples moods. This goes a long way to explain the rudeness of people...

I think perhaps I need a reiki treatment... and damn I left my crystals at home too.

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

The Lure of the Dark Side...

Jonathan and I have had a long standing argument about a (not so) new programming language called Ruby and one available framework it has called Ruby On Rails - RoR.

Myself I have been a Java programmer for a while and I'm at the point where I probably can do anything I want with the language. Java is similar to C in that its in many ways a low level language - meaning you have to work harder to get the same result. Ruby on the otherhand (especially when coupled with RoR) is more of a higher level language and promises to reduce the effort to produce the same result.

Perhaps it was curiosity, perhaps I was fishing for arguements against Ruby/RoR but I have started to read some of the RoR websites... And I'm liking what I'm reading. If it delivers on its promises and reduces the pain of development, surely that is a good thing??!? Then again, my personal trainer at the gym says: "pain is the weakness leaving your body".. Ruby then is for weaklings. Java is for real men!

There are 2 things I actually don't like about Ruby.
1. The syntax. It isn't as readible as Java as it borrows somethings from Perl.
2. You can dynampically add methods to objects. Doesn't anybody else hear the word VIRUS or DANGER when you hear that?

Addicted To New � Blog Archive � Ruby on Rails < First Impressions

Gawd I hope Jonathan doesn't read this entry....

Friday, July 22, 2005

Its good to be Aussie

I copped a lot of crap from my English colleges this morning. Australia is playing English for The Ashes. Australia was loosing. "It's the weather.. its too cold, we're used to a warmer climate! We can't function under these colder conditions. You just wait until we thaw out!" I scream in defiance!

I believe The Green and Gold has thawed. 21 for 5 wickets... According to my English college, this may be the worse Ashes score in history.

The whimpers of pain eminating from the English corner of the office amuses me greatly...

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Feeling Kinda Buff Today...

On a slightly different topic than the previous entry....

One of the benefits of working at my current employer, Netengines, is that I get £50 to put towards gym membership. Monday I finally got up my fat arse and joined after looking at several gyms close to where I work in the city. The Soho Gym that I joined is close to where we live which was the deciding factor.

My trainer put me through my paces and worked out a program to achieve my goals. It seems I'm quite unfit. No shit Sherlock! It only took my 5minutes on a treadmill to turn my legs to jelly (I wasn't just walking it, I was really pushing against the treadmill too!!).

With the explosions today, I might walk home again and cut my training short tonight.

More London Explosions... But we're OK!!!

More blasts have hit London. Both Lulu and I are fine.

The blasts this time around appear to me to be copy-cat like with no real intention to cause the devastation. Three blast on trains, and a single blast on a bus. The explosions themselves appear to have been rather small. Not serious injuries have been reported. Witnesses suggest that the people responsible where British (no mention of them being from any ethnic background)

It is possible that no harm was actually meant by the incidents - perhaps this was some sort of (sic) prank. Or its a warning to say we still can hurt London.

Friday, July 08, 2005

Oh one more thing...

The attacks were no were near where we work or live. They were also not widespread across all of London. Most of London was actually untouched, and now it seems the attacks are over. I say that based upon what has happened elsewhere.. 9/11, Madrid train bombings.. they were not prolonged attacks, but targetted to go off all at once.

I'm not suggesting its all over... sure the attacks seem to be... there is still the aftermath... the clean up.. the investigations to perform, etc

We safe! Don't worry!

Yes we are safe at home. But you probably heard it first here or there.

I left work about 2pm this afternoon to avoid any problems getting home. I had atleast a 2 hour walk back. I knew the route back, atleast the bus route. The problem is that my bus route takes me past Whitehall (where the goverment offices are - e.g. MoD / Ministry of Defense, etc , the Houses of Parliment (i.e Big Ben), Westminister Abbey, and the MI6 building (remember the one used in a James Bond film?). To me these would also be targets for terrorist attacks as they are large tourist attractions. Where possible I walked the back streets.

Lulu and her mother couldn't resist the lure of the bargin. There is nothing like a 4 letter word to elicit such excitement, such anticipation like the word "SALE". This I know from experience with Lulu. Harrods was having a sale. An upto 50% off sale.

My 2 hour march home turned into a hike to Harrods. Unfortunately my trail through the back streets meant that I over shot Harrods and ended up at South Kensington (where many of London's great museums are located). My first savour was in the fact shops were closing early due to the attacks, so we didn't stay long at all (it closed at 5pm, normally 8pm).

My second savour was the resumption of bus services, which otherwise would have meant probably another hour walking! Due to an accident up ahead, the bus had to detour close to our home, so we had to walk the final part of the journey.

When we finally got home I was dead tired. Lulu and her mum were lucky, they didn't have to walk as much as me!

Lulu's mum certainly has had an exciting trip to Europe. They were in Paris when it was announced Paris lost the Olympic bid (while I was in Trafalgar Square, London :) She's seen how London can respond to terrorist attacks. I wish now that she could resume being a normal tourist and go back to shopping and seeing the best London has to offer. Tomorrow I hope things will be more normal.

Thursday, July 07, 2005

London - Ghost Town

In the wake of the explosions, which the authorities are saying are terrorist attacks, London has turned into bit of a ghost town. Below is a picture of the streets outside the office building where I work. Few people seem to be on the streets. Few cars on the roads. The eerie silence is broken by the sirens of police and ambulances.


My office is between Picadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square (they are very close). Picadilly Circus, for those not London savy, is where that big neon Coca-Cola billboard blazes away over the Eros statue. The funny thing about the Coca-Cola billboard, yes it mainly advertises Coke, is that there are McDonalds signs below it, and below that there is a Hungry Jacks. Does that amuse me? You bet!

By an order of magnitude.

Regular readers might remember I posted an entry about Jonathan my work colleage who runs his own blog and wrote up a 'Denzil Squirts' entry. The other day Jon (who I might add looks like Dean Cain and somehow also like Johnny Bravo) was showing me his site statistics.

Should I be worried that the average hit for any entry on his blog is no more than 10, while the Denzil Squirts one was a whopping 54?!?!?

Perhaps its google's fault and the 1000's of old geezers / pimply kids who google with 'squirt' as a keyword.

*sigh*

What will my mum think if she only knew...

2012.. And the winner is... **BOOM**

Yesterday the city of London celebrated at the news that London will be an Olympic city in the year 2012 and hold the 30th Olympics. At 12:30pm Irfan (work colleage) and I went down to Trafalgar Sq to here the vote live on big screens. The hoards of people cheered at the announcement as jets flew overhead streaming coloured smoke in their afterburners.

Today London is in chaos as explosion rip through the capital. Explosions on trains, and stations. Explosions on buses, tearing them open like a can of sardines. It started out with the tube (ie the trains) and a couple of explosions. At first they are saying it was power surges, but the power companys were saying there was nothing to indicate that. 3 buses have reportedly been bombed also, only one have been confirmed.

Getting in to work was murder (probably a bad choice of words for the current situation). But people were not being allowed onto the tube. Score of people were waiting at the gates of the stations. Others tried to catch buses which were already overcrowded. A screaming mother told off my bus driver because he would not let her and her baby in a pram get on. With the number of people on the bus it would not be safe for her and her baby he argued. I could see his point.

As I got into work I called Lulu. I told her what was happening but still wanted to come into the city to go shopping with her mum. Later news reports told of the havic in the city. The bombing of buses. Dead bodies covered on the pavement. I was getting really worried about Lulu. Her mobile was not ringing (the mobile networks overloaded), and no answer on the house phone either! I kept trying until I finally got through. She and her mum had gone down the road to the supermarket for food. I was so relieved that she hadn't come out!!

We're ok. No need to worry. Although I'm stuck in the city for abit. Not sure if / how i'll be able to get home yet. But I will, don't you worry about that. I can always walk... 2 hours is all it'll take :D

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

7-5, 6-4, 6-2 - Wimbledon

In a satifying 7-5, 6-4, 6-2 win over Karol Beck, Mark Philippoussis goes to the next round of Wimbledon on the first day of play.

Andrew, Lulu and I made our way in blistering 32 degree heat and humidity to Wimbledon to support the green and gold. We figured we should go at least once to Wimbledon to hear the crowds roar. The hiss of the ball as it speeds across court... And the agony of people in pain as they get whiplash from swinging their heads left to right to left at incredible speeds!


Wimbledon 2005 lawn/Andrew and Lulu by the 2005 Wimbledon lawn.
Acting cool.. Acting swarve.Mark Philippoussis about to serve another ace.

Monday, June 20, 2005

Bread making. You learn something new every day.

My dough... my dough.. my dough won't rise!

I followed the same steps as last time to make my pimpkin seed bread, but for some reason the dough refused to rise. Bummer! The used by on the yeast is fine. I used a little less butter this time, but that shouldn't stop the dough rising.

Google. Google is my friend. Google good.

Yeast is a living thing. A plant / fungus that eats gluten that comes in packets perfect for one loaf when mixed with warm water. Warm water it seems does not mean adding yeast to boiled water, and then adding cold water. The problem is that this kills the yeast culture.

Damn.

Wish I had known that before. The bread faq is now required reading it seems.

I'd wager the bread is going to come out heavy again because of the yeast. Note to self - yeast + sugar works... should give a softer loaf.

Oh.. and if you like sourdough then you might like to read the faqs available here.

Friday, June 17, 2005

It just doesn't pay...

It doesn't pay to work with fellow geeks especially when they blog too. Jonathan is more geek than the rest of the team put together but I probably wouldn't encourage him by saying that to his face (the fact that he reads my blog defeats that though!). Either way, Jon is a wonderful bloke, cheers to you mate!

Reading through more of Jon's blog, I seem to get mentioned every so often... the latest regarding twig tea!!

Thursday, June 09, 2005

Here's the rest

A couple of posts ago I posted a Dilbert comic strip... here's a few more in the series:





Monday, June 06, 2005

We 'av bread G'ovna

Harrods isn't just a place of expensive merchandise. It is the reason for my latest inspiration for a bit of bread making (despite walking out with a loaf of pumpkin bread). This attempt sure beat the first time when I made Chinese Fighting Muffins, or bread that was just eatable.

This is the way we knead the bread, knead the bread, knead the bread...Flour, yeast, heabs, butter, salt and bird seed = the basis of one nice bread loaf.
I actually used a pack of Omega Seed Mix that I got from a health food store in Bath, UK.And there it is folks.
It turned out a bit heavy (could do with more rising) but quite tasty!! All in all I think I'm getting closer. Closer to the perfect loaf!

Friday, June 03, 2005

The English Accent

When I come home to Australia, I hope I come back with an accent (and not sound like Kylie Minogue):


Saturday, May 21, 2005

Lulu on Starwars...

Lulu: Whats that tinman's name?
Denzil: [smile] C3PO!
Lulu: D3What?
Denzil: [slower] CEE 3 PEE OHH
Lulu: oh.. CEE 3 DEE OHH
Denzil: close enough....

Lulu: What's that little green man's name?
Denzil: you mean like the green man that represents Nature, in paticular Spring?
Lulu: No!! Like yoga.. yoghurt....
Denzil: oh... [arggggh] yoda.. YODA .. YOO DAA!!!!

Sometimes I wish I had a girlfriend that will, at a whim, dress up as Princess Leia and do that hair bun thing... *sigh*

Help me Obi-wan your my only hope!

Leicester Square on Monday was transformed for London's Starwars Celebration Day. (Read CNN's coverage here)I'll just presume you know what that is and haven't been on Yavin4 for the last hundred years. London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra played the theme music from all the previous movies while a squadron of Stormtroopers keep the public in order. Boba Fette watched as Jedi mingled with the crowd and Hans Solo and Chewbacca posed for pictures. Somebody carelessly landed an X-Wing that drew crowds so it had to be sectioned off. Kenny Baker (of R2D2 fame) was at hand to answer questions from reporters.

(I'll post pictures later as they're on my work computer)

The question most fans will be asking themselves is not will they see Starwars, but how many times they'll be seeing it. For me, I had to strike a deal with Lulu to get her to watch it, only to find out later that she actually WANTS to watch it. I want to watch it in a nice big theatre with kickass sound. All you guys understand me right? Unfortunately that means I would be paying 11 pounds (approx $AU23) which to me is reasonable. Any subsequent viewings can be in local theatres at around half the price on cheapass Mondays. This, my beloved readers, was a point of much heated debate and tension. The impasse was only broken when I had to compromise (hell why can't she!!) and realised that I could see it TWICE for the price of one. Besides I can still see it later with the guys in the city.

And so the tickets are booked. Seats allocated and we'll be watching it Monday at 6:30pm at Clapham Picture House.

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Why can't Lulu be more like...



Why can't Lulu be more like the girl in this comic strip?

I'm all blogged out!

Oh now! After blogging about Belfast and Stockholm.. which took about 2 hours.. I'm all blogged out.

And I'm not even upto date!! grrr.... Still have to blog about Saturaday's trip to Bath, and Sunday's Kylie Concert at Earl's Court.

Perhaps I'll do it tomorrow... or perhaps Lulu should do it!!!

Stockholm, Sweden

[Stockholm, Sweden. 25th - 28th March 2005]

Phoebe of "Team Oz in London" fame describes Stockholm as expensive, full of Ikea furniture and everyone is good looking (think tall, blonde blue-eyed). Lulu and I both agree.

Shockholm is based on14 islands all connected and the area I enjoyed the most was the old town "Gamla Stan". In Gamla Stan you travel back 750 years to experience its medieval atmosphere along narrow streets and alleys. The Royal Palace is also sited here. The Royals themselves no longer live here so sections are open to the public. As fate would have it the parts of the palace we wanted to see was closed, so we had to make do with the free entry to the Armour.

And since this was not enough for us we caught the ferry over to Skansen Open Air Museum. The museum is an open park with buildings donated by various towns all over Sweden. There are also people dressed in period costume and a zoo. Its kinda like an Old Sydney Town actually.

We also caught up with Lulu's college friend Jenny in Skansen, who doesn't work there but did a great job as Tour Guide! Thanks so much Jenny!!! What I like about the Swedish language is that they have a form of "G'day" that can be heard here.

An experience of any culture must include the local cruisine. Lulu choose Swedish meat balls, I choose reindeer. Yes hunny, in Sweden you can really eat Rudulph! Asking the waitress, the meat is described as a red, wild game meat. Getting past the eat Rudulph mentality, the meal was nice.

What we did in Belfast in a weekend

[Belfast 12th-13th March 2005]

Well its taken almost 2 months but here it is... the eagerly awaited "What we did in Belfast in a weekend" blog entry. I really should have blogged this earlier because as I scratch my head about what to write I keep coming back to watching some home shopping network and being really impressed by the Magic Bullet Food Processor. Perhaps it is a sign of the times that my memory keeps returning to some infomercial about a food processor. Then again Wil probably would mention something about Denzil and Lulu "nesting". Anyhow I'm determined for this entry not to become a review on the Magic Bullet which has nothing to do with Belfast, let alone anything Irish, so onward Christian soldiers as we used to say in school...

Belfast. What has Belfast ever done for us you might say? News of us going to Belfast was received with mixed responses. Most notably were those of apprehension as people first thought of the IRA and comments of wearing flak jackets and getting caught in the cross fire soon followed.

Perhaps it was the luck of the Irish, but there is one export that the locals are proud of. A ship, a famous one, that sank on its maiden voyage. You all know the one, the Titanic. In its hey day, Belfast was a glorious industrial city and the Titanic was just one of its many fruits born from its labours.

As a young Denzil in the 80's I grew up enjoying the Back to the Future movies. If you too have seen these movies then you must remember the car.. the Delorean. Yes, the Delorean is another fruit of its loins. There is a Titanic exhibit and a Delorean on display at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum.

We were told that the North Irish aren't particularly friendly compared to the southern brethren. Not true I say! Perhaps it was my dashingly good charm or devilishly good looks but the attendant at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum insisted we were students and charged us as such.

One particular aspect of Belfast I liked was the City Hall (webcam looking out from the building) at Donegall Square [the following is quoted from GotoBelfast.com]:

The home of Belfast City Council. A magnificent Edwardian “wedding cake”, built to reflect Belfast’s City status, ranted by Queen Victoria in 1888. The Dome is 53 metres (173 feet) high. Figures above the door are “Hibernia encouraging and promoting the Commerce and Arts of the City”. Go inside to find out about guided tours and to pick up a leaflet about the statues in the gardens.

Having seen the building I must agree. Photos are in the photo album if you haven't already seen them.

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Despite popular belief

Despite popular belief I do no, I repeat, DO NOT break out in a rash if I don't have internet access.

Monday, April 04, 2005

On the Starwars Boxsets

The boxsets were actually rather cool despite having Eva calling the Nokia 3220 a granny phone (a reference to the fact its an old model). Either way its an upgrade from my old nokia which is not colour, has no camera, can not play polyphonic ring tones, does not run JME games, etc etc etc...

Since we have two of these boxsets we'll probably ebay one of them.

Lulu's Blogging Bitch...

The last few week weeks have seen a power struggle between Lulu and I develop. Since I've started my new job... (I'll blog that later) I have been pretty much been abit mentally exhausted when it comes to computers and that means no blogging from me.

Lulu, despite having blogged before, quite simply refuses and states "I don't blog and its your [ie denzil's] responsibility [to blog]".

In an effort to break to empasse I agreed to blog about our 2 recent trips: Belfast (the one and only home of the IRA) in Ireland, and Stockholm, Sweden. This I would do if she blogs about our Saturaday's adventures that saw us score some pretty cool.. well I better let her tell that tale.

And in offering 2 blogs to her 1, there is no doubt a precident being made that makes me her blogging bitch.

[note to self... she'll expect me to blog all trips from now on too]

Friday, April 01, 2005

News from the "Metro"... and I'm glad I didn't give up the day job...

Some weird and funny shit reported over there at the Metro.

Re: Magician's Rabbit story: For those that don't know, at one time in my youth all those many moons ago, I was into magic. No, not the slay the demon type, or wicca stuff, I mean the card and coin tricks type. But after reading this story I'm glad I didn't give up the day job.

Re: 22 cases of 'ignition or melting of nightwear': I'm so glad I don't like baked beans... and I definitely don't eat it for dinner despite the fact they have no fat in them (prolly no nutritional value at all for that matter).

Oh.. just incase you were wondering, the ignition/melting was really caused by cigarettes or electric blankets.

Thursday, March 24, 2005

The Good Thing About...

The good thing about horror movies, and birds in Stockholm is that Lulu gets scared and grabs onto my arm.

Its nice to be in the part of Prince Charming protecting his fair maiden Lulu...

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

There be whales.

The BBC has an interesting article about whales. What I find is that this is just another symptom of humanities failure to recognise its place within the whole balance of nature. We need to tread with lighter footsteps on this planet if we want to survive.

There are around 200-300 NEW chemicals within the human body that were not there 1 generation ago.

Insecticides and other chemicals that are spread on fields can now be found in whales in the sea.

Whale song can traverse the oceans but with acoustic noise polluting the oceans the ability for whales to communicate has been drastically affected. This in turn will affect whale populations.

Read the article and join Greenpeace...

Scarey.

Saturday, February 26, 2005

Moroccan Massives.

   
Perhaps Morocco isn't known for strawberries but they certainly do grow a mean one!Massive. I don't even recall seeing one this size back home in Ozland.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

Its been snowing lately in London. Mostly at night but also during the day. The snow flakes can be so large they are over 1cm. With the over night dump being the best today I went out to take snow photos! Unfortunately by the time I got out into the city it had all melted. The snow that did fall during the day wasn't heavy enough to put any ground cover on at all :(

   
The view from our lounge in the morning.Snow flakes on my sleeve. Some, like this one, is rather large and can be made from several crystals
Single snow crystal/flake.Another one. The amazing thing is that the crystal shape is large enough to see with the naked eye.

Thursday, February 24, 2005

Cooking with Denzil 101... Pasta!!!

This is my internationally known pasta dish, atleast it is within my household when I cook for 1 at home.

Ingredients
  1. 1/2 Onion finely chopped.
  2. 2 garlic gloves finely chopped
  3. 3 mushrooms diced
  4. 1/2 can of spam (yes... spam.. the other white meat hehee) diced
  5. Dolmio spagetti sauce - I like the extra garlic and onion one myself.
  6. 1 portion of spagetti or your favourite. 1 portion is enough for 1 meal
  7. Extra virgin olive oil
  8. salt

Cooking
  1. Fry the spam until cooked and put aside into a bowl.
  2. Fry the onions and garlic until lightly brown.
  3. Add the mushrooms and fry until lightly cooked.
  4. Put the onions, garlic and mushrooms aside into a bowl.
  5. Add the pasta to bowling water with 1 teaspoon of olive oil and salt. Cook until al dente'.
  6. Stir in the Dolmio sauce to taste. For me that is a small amount just enough to coat the pasta for taste.
  7. Add the cooked spam, onions, garlic and mushrooms.
  8. Stir until well mixed and serve.


The raw ingredients. From the left clockwise: spam, 2 cloves of garlic, half diced onions, and diced mushrooms. Onions, garlic, and mushrooms all fried up (The spam is underneath).
The cooked spaghetti with the Dolmio sauce added. The delicious final garlic infused meal for one!

Friday, February 18, 2005

Why Women are from Venus, Men are from Mars.

Extract from the Life and Times of Denzil and Lulu In London:

Lulu: Can you get me the thing...
Denzil: [pause...]
Denzi: And you wonder why we have communication problems....

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Well we did warn you.

UK warnings at the start of tv programs are definitely not the same. By most counts they start off the same but:

The following program contains scenes of extreme violence, sex and projectile vomit.

The show is called 'Extreme Detox'... Fortunately its not the same detox program you can get at the local health food shop!!

Himalyan Gurus pouring water into your nostrils. Forcing yourself to vomit. Drinking urine. And hanging things off your nether regions. hmmm.

It was never said that detox was easy. You just wait until we start on spiritual enlightenment... Reiki I'm glad to say is much more subtle and that suits me just fine.

Saturday, February 12, 2005

According to Google...

According to Google there are 1590 pages where my name Denzil, happens to be on the same page as Lulu.

According to Google there are 169 pages where my name Denzil happens to be on the same page as the word weasel. I'm not impressed.

Lulu's favourite Venetian Memory.

Lulu loves to laugh.
Often at me.
I think its funnier for her when its about me.
Its seems to be quite habitual for Lulu actually.

Her latest was in Venice, ITALY, when I approached a group of 5 or so costumed people and asked if I could take their picture.

They allowed me.
I thanked them.
I said Merci.

Astute readers, and seasoned travellers will notice the flaw, the error, the faux pas.

Merci is French, not Italian.

Realising my mistake, Lulu took it well in her stride and burst out laughing and pointed out my mistake.

By this time the 5 strong troupe too were laughing at me.

I apologied quickly and corrected my mistake by doing it in Italian. It ofcourse was already too late.

Google Fame, or Shame. You decide!

Inspired by Steph's blog where he typed his name into google, I just had to do the same. I think the results speak for themselves:



Of all the things I want to be known for, burping is not one of them