Hoodie
On Tuesday lunchtime, I saw a hoodie cruising round the Albert Dock in Liverpool, blaring gangsta rap from his pastel-blue Peugeot 205.
Not exactly a gangsta's car.
Iconography
Horrendously misfiled
Spotted in Borders while buying Christmas presents the other week:
The late Simon Gray would be laughing his head off to see his diaries on sale in the self-help section. If you are thinking of giving up smoking as a new year's resolution (and you really should), then Simon Gray's books about utterly failing to do so are almost certainly not for you.
See also:
Anything to keep Nite Owl happy
Meretricious, and condiments of the season to one and all.
21 not out
It's Christmas Eve. You've guessed it, I went up Moel Famau again.
You will let me know if I'm becoming predictable, won't you?
See also:
Away in a Pret a Manger
I bought my lunch from Pret a Manger today. They're expensive, but their butties are rather good. Or so I thought.
I hadn't tried their all-day breakfast sandwich before, but I like breakfasts, and I like sandwiches, so I thought I'd give it a go.
Have a guess what Pret a Manger put inside their all-day breakfast sandwich. Go on, have a guess.
Well, yes, obviously they put bacon in their all-day breakfast sandwich. And egg. And sausage. And tomato. Yes, but try to guess what else they put in their all-day breakfast sandwich. Something you wouldn't necessarily expect.
Cress.
I shit you not. Cress. For breakfast.
See also:
A toast
Farmer
(1926–2008)
Cheesy grin please, Prime Minister
I don't know who picks the photos for BBC News stories, but I'm pretty sure the person who chose the photo to accompany the current top story must be a closet Tory:
Not into cars
I'm not into cars. As long as it's reliable, has reasonable acceleration, and gets me from A to B, I'll drive pretty much anything. I don't get people who want to change their cars every couple of weeks. My own car, Murphy, passed the 140,000 mile mark this week. I'm kind of hoping he makes it to 200,000. If he does, I'll be hoping for the quarter-million. Murphy has been a great little car.
To be honest, I don't know much about cars either. I even find it difficult to tell them apart. Jen is very good at identifying cars. She says cars are easier to identify than birds (which I am good at) because, unlike birds, cars have their names written on the back. I suppose she has a point.
Sometimes, when we're driving together, Jen will tease me by asking me to identify the car in front.
"What's that car?" she asked me once.
"No idea."
"Yes you do. You do know what kind of car it is."
"Give me a clue."
"OK… You're driving one."
Like I said, I'm not into cars.
But what I am into is Top Gear. The thing I like about Top Gear is that it is unashamedly for something. The entire premise of the show is that cars are utterly brilliant, and anyone who says they're not isn't worth bothering about. It makes no pretence at neutrality. It is totally biased, and totally entertaining. It's also beautifully shot, and pretty damn funny. Last week's review of the new Ford Fiesta was particularly so: