In a token shout out to London teams in the Champions League - a hearty congratulations to Arsenal, and some well-deserved snickering behind the back of Chelsea (I’m a little biased…).

Still, no matter who you cheer for, or however loudly, UEFA have a great competition on that everyone can enjoy: The Shot. Great photography competes, ‘Champions League’-style, throughout the tournament. There are some pheneomenal images (see above) and it’s well worth a view.

Although according to the government, foxes are a nuisance, I’m definitely in the group of people that ‘positively enjoy the experience of encountering the urban fox’.

I think ‘pest’ is a harsh word. Granted, I don’t have a garden to have befouled, or a housecat to have eaten, but I do think foxes add more than they take away - think of them as some sort of charming, tourist-oriented anachronism.

Plus, my neighborhood fox clearly lives on or right by the Oval, which entertains me to no end. Perhaps its a form of protest - Prince Charles hunts my family, I’ll crap on his cricket ground….
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Could Bird flu actually make burgers desirable again? I’ve always had a problem with chicken as it, well like everything else tastes like …. chicken.

Actually, most chicken we eat tastes of absolutely nowt. Maybe the wholesale slaughter of millions of birds might bring back the real taste of chicken to our tastebuds.

Sean

Thanks to my mom, I am sitting pretty with a full course of Tamiflu in my medicine cabinet.

But the rest of the city is going bird flu mad: The Tower of London has locked up Branwen, Hugine, Munin, Gwyllum, Thor and Baldrick, the legendary ravens.

And Mayor Ken has asked us to stop feeding the pigeons, poor little sky rats.

Given the resurgence in cowboy chic (Brokeback Mountain successfully accomplishing what Madonna failed to do…), this slightly aged (2003) clipping from Dazed & Confused now seems awfully prophetic.

DJ Shadow was asked to give his ‘ten favourite country or country-related songs’… A shopping list for those of you with too much time (and too many Napster credits) on your hands. [Or, go local and hit the shops on Berwick Street]
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I’m a massive fan of the Evening Standard posters - the ones they put out every morning that give the day’s top headline in a dramatic and misleading fashion. This morning, there was a particularly good one:

LOCK UP CHICKENS, SAY SCIENTISTS

I love it. Without any hint of bird flu mentioned, it sounds like a McCarthy-era Communist plot. Stalinist chickens are threatening our morals!

Although they don’t advertise it nearly as much as they ought to, the British Museum is constantly showing an assortment of interesting movies. Theoretically, they relate to current exhibitions, but since that encompasses most of the world’s history, they’ve got a fairly broad amount of leeway.

This Friday, they’ll be showing the 1964 epic, The Fall of the Roman Empire. A movie remade (without the plot, but with more tigers) about thirty-five years later as Gladiator.

The screenings generally take place in one of the lecture halls, which, although not brilliant, are still more comfortable than your generic Odeon. And the cost is great - where else can you see a movie in Central London for a fiver? (£3 students…)

Finally its coming. I should have posted about this earlier but other stuff got in the way. You know how it is. Le Tour comes to London for the first time and hasn’t been in the SE (Sorry Birmingham) since 1996.

This will be the BIGGEST thing to hit London for years. The last time there were this many cyclists on the streets of London it was one of the Mass rides that creates chaos every month.

Now guys like me will always be trying to help out at the tour, but what about others? Have a look here and see if yo’d like to be a part of what will be THE event of summer 2007.

Allez!

All of my friends and their grannies are trying to set up businesses. It seems like a royal pain to me, but they insist it’s the way to go…Limited Liability Partnerships or some such whatever. No doubt everyone has heard of Companies House wot set up companies for people. Friends swear by Business Link, also a government-run website. Now, ya’ll know how I feel about government-run websites (see earlier post regarding taxes not having to be taxing), but this one is easy enough for even me to use. The person or small country running the site should be given an award. They are running it as if their lives depended on it. Ship shape! After surfing around on it, I am seriously thinking about starting my own company. Now, I just need a product or service….hmmm.

So I am not in London right now…
I decided back in October that febuary half term is the perfect time to escape the cold wet windy rain of London, and find a much warmer climate … So i come to Holland. 2 degrees colder- AND its raining hmmmmmmm..
But I Love Holland, its very nice here and a very good place to be if you are English. All the dutch speak perfect English, in fact the majority better than me.

Personally I find this place is the perfect getaway for a few days, all you have to do is get to one of the buget Airports (the hardest part I think is getting there) and then is a 20 minute flight,with a 20 minute taxi on each side all in all an hour, Ive been on the tube longer than that - and without the promise of a day trip to Belgium.

Yeah!! Sunday afternoon myself and the wonderful Kitty Von Purr Purr drove all the way to Belgium - THAT WAS GREAT!!!! It took like two hours from The Hauge, which is nothing , and by the time we got to gent it was a full blown snow storm. Yes, we are mad but a girl will do a lot for real belgium chocolates…

So there we have a little English girl, in Belgium, with chocolates and in the snow.. A total of maybe 5/6 hours adventure from the heart of London? Something like that.

\The Only problem I had so far is my accent.. to qoute a guy -

‘She is english with a VERY English accent’

Dude I am a londoner and I was trying to order Coca Cola… I think I might just have to work on my accent for real if they arent understanding Coca Cola !!!

SO anyway I am back in Holland - in the rain, and its 2 degrees colder than England I dont speak any dutch apart from a few swear words and how to order a cup of tea, and its bloody great.
This is my Perfect palce to hide away from London when It gets too much. A great place to chill out, relax, eat really good food, and only a short flight.

Im due home on Monday - but I will see how I feel. Lekker!!